Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Effective teaching. Education Higher College teaching'

The instructor-student relationship is an important predictor of students' attitudes, motivation, and learning. Students benefit when they believe their instructor cares about them and instructors demonstrate caring for their students by supporting their needs. Instructors can support students' emotionally or academically. However, little is known about instructor characteristics that influence instructors' responsiveness to students.

Compassionate and self-image goals are powerful predictors of relationship dynamics because of their association with responsiveness (Canevello & Crocker, 2010). Compassionate goals, or goals focused on supporting others out of genuine concern for others' well-being (Crocker & Canevello, 2008), initiate positive relationship cycles. I proposed two types of compassionate goals, focused either on supporting students' learning or supporting students' emotions. I hypothesized that instructors' compassionate goals to support students' learning would be most beneficial to students. Self-image goals, or goals focused on creating and maintaining a desired impression in others' eyes (Crocker & Canevello, 2008), undermine healthy relationships. I proposed two types of self-image goals, focused on appearing either likable or competent and hypothesized that both forms of self-image goals would undermine the instructor-student relationship.

The present work was the first investigation of the association between college instructors' compassionate and self-image goals and students' experiences in the class. In Study 1, I created a scale to measure instructors' compassionate and self-image goals for teaching. In Study 2, college instructors' compassionate and self-image goals for teaching were used to predict end-of-semester student evaluations. In Study 3, students' interpretations of their instructors' goals were measured and used to predict student evaluations.

Results indicated that that students respond most positively to instructors' goals to compassionate goals to support their learning. Instructors' compassionate goals to support students' emotions are largely unrelated to students' experiences in the class. Surprisingly, instructors' self-image goals are unrelated to student evaluations.

Overall, this research advances research in several domains. It advances understanding of effective teaching by indicating that instructors' compassionate and self-image are important components of the college classroom. This research also advances theory on interpersonal goals, as this is the first time that a non-relationship compassionate goal has been identified.

Within the framework of hope defined by Snyder et al. (1991) as being comprised of agency and pathways thinking in the context of goal achievement, this study investigated the potential of faculty hopeful teaching practices to positively influence college student hope and success. Hope functions in student success frameworks as a factor that contributes to improved academic outcomes including test scores, GPA, persistence, and graduation. It has state and trait-like qualities that may be influenced during a student’s time on campus, particularly through interaction with faculty. Hope has been previously shown to correlate with improved outcomes across multiple life-domains relevant for post-graduation and lifelong success, achievement, and happiness.

Using a quantitative, self-report survey methodology, student perceptions of the frequency of hopeful faculty teaching behaviors were collected from a convenience sample of undergraduate students (N=236) via the Hopeful Teaching Practices Inventory (HTPI), an instrument developed specifically for this study. Factor analysis resulted in the HTPI structure consisting of three distinct scales representing faculty caring, hope, and feedback practices as suggested by Snyder (2005), all with α reliability scores > .84.

The frequency of the teaching practices measured by these scales were moderately correlated to student hope, and significantly related when controlling for background characteristics. The HTPI scale scores, and particularly the scale representing Snyder et al.’s (1991) conceptualization of hope, predicted student success when controlling for background characteristics. Student hope was also found to be a significant predictor of student success, confirming prior research on the positive benefits of hope. Several interactions with student and professor background characteristics were also observed, yielding further insight into how student-faculty interactions based in hopeful teaching may individually influence student hope and success outcomes.

I conducted this autoethnographic research study to explore how I as a freshman orientation instructor meandered into college teaching through writing, which I used to develop my pedagogical content knowledge. Focusing my research as college faculty development, I reached back in the past and also in the present to select particular experiences to portray as vignettes, thus creating a kaleidoscopic lens. This kaleidoscopic lens serves to provide insight into my perspective of how my teaching philosophy based on the use of writing prompts developed. By connecting the personal experiences that had established my teaching philosophy using writing prompts to the classroom culture of first year students in a northeastern Alabama public two-year community college, the scholarly significance will be perused through integrating the theoretical framework of Lee S. Shulman’s (1986, 1987) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) with additions of Otto and Everett’s (2013) context knowledge and Zepke’s (2013) threshold concepts.

I as a differently-abled instructor-researcher self-narratively depict how writing prompts supported my teaching experience as pedagogical content knowledge. Thus, my use of writing prompts as pedagogical content knowledge is purposefully intended for providing significant learning experience for my students, improving their readiness for writing college papers and also for communication skills as a potential employee and productive citizen. Over the course of spring and fall 2015 terms totaling four different seventy-five minute Orientation 101 courses, the data purposefully sampled from the students’ written responses to the prompts given and also from dyadic interviews with several peers ranging from active and retired faculty to acquaintances serve to support my own perspectives and experiences that determine use of writing prompts as effective pedagogical content knowledge.

The purpose of this research is to better understand curricular and pedagogical strategies that can play a role in college retention rates and the first-year academic experience for new students. This research aims to contribute to a larger effort to create a learning environment in which first-year students would be engaged, learn, adapt, and accomplish learning outcomes needed to be successful in university level course work. The two research questions are; how do college faculty prepare to help first-year students’ transition in to university level coursework and how do college faculty view their role in teaching first-year college students? The method of this qualitative case study included one survey taken by Cadence State University (CSU) faculty who teach first-year college students and two interviews with one staff member and one administrative staff whom both work closely with faculty teaching first-year students. The results showed professional development/training and university support for faculty from CSU is needed to educate and keep faculty informed on first-year students. It was also found that transformed pedagogy with utilization of active learning and various teaching strategies plays a significant role in helping first-year students adjust to university coursework, as well as, faculty understanding the impact they have on first-year students. The conclusion to this study reveals there needs to be a teaching culture shift where faculty take action, learn what is needed, and implement transitional pedagogy to help first-year students’ transition into university coursework. Faculty must understand their impact on new students and that they set the foundation of university coursework in their first couple of days of class. Additionally, faculty using communication and being approachable, yet not compromising their higher education standards will help faculty view their role with first-year students as important and necessary.

In 2014, the RAND Safety and Justice Program published a comprehensive analysis that “found, on average, inmates who participated in correctional education programs had 43 percent lower odds of recidivating than inmates who did not and that correctional education may increase post-release employment” Davis et al., 2014, p. xvi). The RAND report concluded that “the debate should no longer be about whether correctional education is effective or cost-effective; rather, the debate should focus on where the gaps in our knowledge are and opportunities to move the field forward (italics original)” (Davis et al., 2014).

Informed by Thomson, Turner, & Nietfeld’s Theory of Motivations and Beliefs about Teaching (2012); Beijaard, Verloop & Vermunt’s Theory of Professional Identity (2000); and Pratt and Associates’ General Model of Teaching (1998), Schlossberg’s Theory of Mattering and Marginality (1989) provided the theoretical frame to examine faculty members’ understanding of their professional and social roles within a women’s prison.

This study used a non-experimental, basic interpretative, qualitative research design, with thematic analysis. Interviews with 12 faculty members from two states who taught in college in prison programs at women’s state prisons resulted in nine themes that answered the overarching research question: How do higher education faculty members understand their professional and social roles within a women’s prison? The research provided four findings: (1) the commitment to maintain rigorous academic standards in the prison college classroom strengthened faculty members’ resolve against inconsistent procedures and lack of resources; (2) by modeling prosocial behaviors, faculty members’ personal and professional identities were positively impacted by the respect they received in the prison classroom; (3) faculty members believe that higher education is crucial to successful functioning in society and, therefore, a right deserved by incarcerated women; and (4) for established career educators, persistence in teaching in a women’s college-in-prison program was a satisfying option in their search for meaning in their professional lives.

This research serves to move the discussion of college-in-prison programs beyond just recidivism statistics, and provides recommendations to highlight the significance of college-in-prison programming in the higher education landscape.

The purpose of this study was to identify the learning styles of international college students and instructional styles of their teachers in specific content areas to determine if relationships existed between the two. In addition, this study examined whether relationships existed between academic achievement, learning style, and teaching style, as well as between demographic factors, learning style, and teaching style. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

This qualitative collective case study explored the experiences of faculty members in the social and behavioral sciences and SLO coordinators at community colleges in California as they engaged in student learning outcomes assessment (SLOA). Semi-structured interviews with eight faculty members and five student learning outcomes coordinators revealed common goals among the participants to use education to inform social change. Engaged student learning outcomes assessment practitioners shared characteristics with Rogers' (2003) early adopters. Participation in SLOA led to an invigoration of the teaching experience. Strategically-integrated dialogue among students in the classroom, faculty within departments, and across divisions within the institutions facilitated institutional change. Engagement in SLOA led to changes in teaching practice that align with research findings on best practices in higher education and participants perceived themselves to be better teachers as a result. However, participants were reluctant to claim responsibility for student learning or to identify improvements in student learning as a result of SLOA. Still, they were willing to consider the potential of SLOA as a tool to close achievement gaps. Recommendations focus on policy, leadership, and institutional strategies for increasing faculty engagement in SLOA.