Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Meanings Underlying Student Ratings Of Faculty, Carolyn Ridenour, Stephen J. Blatt

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine how undergraduate students interpret the items on a faculty evaluation instrument. Most research on faculty evaluation is quantitative (Marsh and Bailey 1993). Our first study was also quantitative. After we produced a profile of quantitative ratings of faculty by students across all departments in our university in an earlier study, we wanted to go beneath the numbers to their meaning. We designed the present qualitative study to investigate what the items on that form meant to students.

The Power Of An Idea..., Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

IMSA History

It is our privilege to share with you the First Decade Report of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, an educational laboratory engaged in serious inquiry about critical issues of teaching and learning.

Ten years ago, IMSA opened its doors with 210 students, 12 faculty members, 21 courses, no residence halls, no computers, no external programs, many unanswered questions and an uncertain future. During our early years, we faced many challenges; these strengthened our resolve and deepened our commitment to transform teaching and learning in mathematics, science and technology.

While IMSA is still a very young enterprise, in ten short …

Active Learning Beyond The Classroom, Edward Neal

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Attending class is akin to regular religious observance: The ritual or sermon is less important for what it teaches directly than for its motivational impact on what believers do between services. Lowman, 1984, page 165

Even carrying a full course load, students spend a relatively small proportion of each week in class, typically about 15 hours, and research has shown that most undergraduates spend only a few hours a week studying outside of class. How do they occupy their time? According to a national survey of college students (Boyer, 1987), almost 30 percent of full-time students work 21 or more …

Integrating Research And Undergraduate Teaching, Anne Bezuidenhout

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

I would like to describe some of the benefits and difficulties I have encountered in my attempt to integrate my research and teaching in an introductory logic course. My introductory logic students work in groups on semester-long research projects. The research that these students are involved in belongs to the scholarship of integration, rather than the scholarship of discovery (Boyer, 1990). It is highly unlikely that most instructors will ever teach a student who will break new ground in their field. However, what most students can begin to do is to think about what role one body of knowledge or …

Students' Reactions To Performance-Based Versus Traditional Objective Assessment, Anthony L. Truog

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

In summary, the struggle to obtain more performance-based evaluation goes on. The results to date support the idea that more student involvement is better. The issue of cost-benefit analysis must be continually addressed, while not losing either the vision to make assessment intrinsic to the learning process, nor the efficiency of objective detachment. The really exciting aspect will be the personal growth of the students and their instructor.

Transactional Analysis Of The Creative Process, Donna Glee Williams

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Teachers of the creative process understand intuitively that different types of students need different types of teaching. The art students who splash paint with abandon over miles of canvas but have no interest in craftsmanship or self-evaluation need a different sort of intervention than the young artists who are so bullied by their own self-criticism that they can hardly bear to make a mark. The music students who by dint of excessive practice produce music-box accuracy--completely without fire--need a different sort of help than their sloppy but passionate colleagues. Our task as instructors is to understand our students’ needs and …

Honoring The Process For Honoring Teaching, Laurie Richlin, Brenda Manning

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Few ideas are as appealing on the surface as encouraging professors to gather and reflect on materials that best represent their teaching excellence. Indeed, developing a teaching portfolio, or dossier, has become a popular faculty development activity in many departments and on many campuses. To create a portfolio, faculty select syllabi, tests, student work, and student evaluations about one or more courses, and add a reflective statement, usually called a teaching philosophy, about their teaching goals. In almost all cases, reports from the field state that professors find reaffirming the teaching portfolio process and the opportunity to reflect on their …