Adding Students' Voices to the Discourse on Effective Teaching

1994

Student teachers' journal entries during a 3-week practicum experience were analyzed to determine their perceptions of effective teaching. The students were given no guidance about journal content; they were simply asked to write abut issues or experiences that concerned them, to writ' reflectively, and to attempt to write daily. From analysis of journal entries, four themes emerged: classroom management concerns, characteristics of successful teaching, perceptions of practice teaching, and relationships with others. Effective instruction involved being able to cater to all levels of pupil performance and using reinforcement and praise. Student teachers moved from a teacher-centered, egocentric perspective in their initial year to more pupil-centered outcomes-based notions of effective instruction in their final year. There was an almost universal concern with "control" as a fundamental characteristic of effective management, especially among first and second year students. Students appear to have a reasonably holistic view of teaching, appreciating its complexities and the links between effective instruction, management, and the maintenance of good relationships. Implications of the study for teacher education are noted. (Contains 21 references.) (JDD)

The International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2020

The purpose of this study was to provide an integrated understanding of college students' perceptions of effective teaching centering on students' voices and learning experiences. Using a phenomenological approach, this study identified prominent attributes of effective teaching from interviews with undergraduate and graduate students at a Midwestern research university. The results concluded that a teacher-student relationship, engagement, and real-world experience are the most important qualities of effective teachers valued by students across disciplines and backgrounds. This study offers insight into teaching effectiveness and a useful guiding mechanism for teachers in developing a repertoire of effective teaching skills. This study recommends longitudinal research to understand how perceptions of effective teaching change as students mature and how their learning objectives and experiences shape and reshape the definition of teaching effectiveness. The study also suggests future research by looking into the comparisons between both students' and teachers' perceptions in order to gain a holistic understanding of effective teaching.

Journal of Education and Culture Studies, 2020

The Aristotelian triptych—tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them—offers an excellent organizational framework for successful teaching. Two essentialities for learners interspersed with the Aristotelian triptych are—why listen (i.e., what’s in it for me?) and so what now (i.e., what’s its use to me?). In combination, an effective teaching and learning process requires five sequential steps. First, teachers preview how the course’s disciplinary content is organized. Second, teachers communicate information clearly and specifically to convince students how and why listening will personally benefit them. Third, teachers lead interactive classes utilizing a variety of instructional approaches interspersed with engaging learning activities. Fourth, through learning assessments, teachers reinforce learning. Fifth, students use new knowledge and skills learned.

Reading & Writing

Instructional and personal qualities of the 'effective English language teacher' expounded by English language experts still surprisingly produced average English language proficiency in a majority of Malaysian students, instead of the targeted excellent. Therefore, this concept paper aimed to find out the extent to which student voice: agreed with expert opinion in its description of both the instructional qualities and personal qualities of the 'effective English language teacher,' tallied with expert opinion when suggesting how the English language teacher/lecturer could have been a more 'effective' teacher/lecturer, as well as through its student psychology sanctioned expert opinion on the developmental psychology of children, adolescents and of adults, in its description of how it deemed the English language teacher/lecturer 'effective.' In short, student voice in this concept paper is invaluable as an add-on to the current store of expert knowledge of what it takes to be a truly 'effective English language teacher.'

2013

Students come to class bringing their own cultures including their own voices and identities which influence them in how they learn. Acknowledging them in teaching and learning process is very important to ensure the success in learning, and a failure to notice these will cause mismatch between students’ culture and classroom culture. This mismatch may cause the students to failure, simply because the students do not learn the same way as the schools teach them. Nieto (2010) suggested that schools need to be more responsive towards the students' voices and identities that they bring into schools and tried to utilize these to maximize teaching and learning process. However, acknowledging students' voices and identities in teaching and learning process may not be easy since there may always be a doubt on the teachers' minds whether students voices will actually have positive effects in the teaching and learning process, since students often viewed as those who do not know ...

4 Setting up the learning experience 39 Teacher exposition 40 • Academic work 46 • Summary 55 • Discussion questions 55 • Further reading 55 5 Taking account of pupil differences 56 Ability 56 • Motivation 61 • Social class 64 • Gender 67 • Race 69 • Special educational needs 72 • Summary 75 • Discussion questions 76 • Further reading 76 6 Key classroom teaching qualities and tasks 77 Key classroom teaching qualities 78 • An exploratory study 81 • Key classroom teaching tasks 86 • Summary 99 • Discussion questions 99 • Further reading 100 7 Relationships with pupils 101

Student Evaluation in Higher Education: Reconceptualising the Student Voice, 2016

This book provides a comprehensive and engaging analysis of the purpose and function of student evaluation in higher education. It explores its foundations and the emerging functions, as well as its future potential to improve the quality of university teaching and student learning. The book systematically assesses the core assumptions underpinning the design of student evaluation models as a tool to improve the quality of teaching. It also analyses the emerging influence of student opinion as a key metric and a powerful proxy for assuring the quality of teachers, teaching and courses in universities. Using the voices of teachers in the day-to-day practices of higher education, the book also explores the actual perceptions held by academics about student evaluation. It offers the first real attempt to critically analyse the developing influence of student evaluation on contemporary approaches to academic teaching. Using a practice-based perspective and the powerful explanatory potential of cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), the implications of the changing focus in the use of the student voice - from development to measurement - are systematically explored and assessed. Importantly, using the evidence provided by a unique series of practice-based case studies, the book also offers powerful new insights into how the student voice can be reconceptualised to more effectively improve the quality of teaching, curriculum and assessment. Based on this empirical analysis, a series of practical strategies are proposed to enhance the work of student evaluation in the future university to drive pedagogical innovation. This unique volume provides those interested in student evaluation with a more complex understanding of the development, contemporary function and future potential of the student voice. It also demonstrates how the student voice - in combination with professional dialogue - can be used to encourage more powerful and substantial forms of pedagogical improvement and academic development in higher education environments.

2019

Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 2013

Background: Excellence in teaching and learning (ETAL) constitute important aims of nursing schools. At present, these aims are measured by course evaluations, students' passing rate of NCLEX exams (in the United States), graduate' students' employment rate, and positions, and graduates' continuing with post-graduate education. In order to continue improving ETAL in nursing schools, it is necessary to explore this phenomenon more fully.