Notions of effective teaching: an exploration of students perceptions of first year education underg

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Notions of effective teaching an
exploration of students perceptions of first
year education undergraduates in a UK university.

• Jo Allan, Karen Clarke and Michael Jopling

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• The Context
• A modern University charter in 1992
• teaching underpinned by research
• applied and vocationally oriented
• funded through Ciel located within CeDARE.

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• The literature
• effective is inherently contentious
• through student outcomes
• may stand as a proxy for other kinds of
  learning (Campbell, 2004 p.457)
• May be associaetd with perfomativity
  marketisation (Ball, 2003)
• 3 Es of economy, efficiency effectiveness
• some consensus re dimensions of effective
• teaching in HE (Ramsden, 1991).
• funded through Ciel located within CeDARE.

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Supportive learning environment
Academic expectations
Scaffold Learning
Clarity
Scaffold Learning
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Methodology of our research

• Phenomenographic (Marton, 1981 Marton Booth
  1997).
• Initial focus group (16 students).
• Focus groups (65 students).
• Student survey (80 respondents).

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• Our findings effective lecturers
• demonstrate excellent knowledge of their subject
  (99)
• include group activities during sessions (95)
• encourage discussion (94)
• are approachable (91)
• start sessions on time (91).

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• The top 5 characteristics with the least
  dissension.
• demonstrate excellent knowledge of their subject
  
• ensure the relevance of information within
  sessions
• are patient
• respect students opinions
• are enthusiastic about learning.

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• Students are not sure if effective lecturers
• explain inconsistencies clearly
• limit the information given in any one session
• convey knowledge in a way that is accessible to
  students.

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• Importance of affective dimensions

Correlations between respect enthusiasm and other
variables
plt.01
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• Importance of affective dimensions

Correlations between respect enthusiasm and other
variables
plt.01
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• Conclusions
• Students rank the provision of a supportive
  learning environment very highly
• lecturers rank high academic expectations
• students dont rank any items relating to clarity
  in Table 1
• students see themselves as partners in learning
  not recipients of knowledge
• do we need to (re) conceptualise HE lecturers as
  subject-specialist-cum-teacher?