Students’ Perceptions of Effective Teaching in Higher Education

Abstract

Using a unique online approach to data gathering, students were asked to isolate the characteristics they believe are essential to effective teaching. An open-ended online survey was made available to over 17,000 graduate and undergraduate students at Memorial University of Newfoundland during the winter semester of 2008. Derived from this rich data is a set of student definitions that describe nine characteristics and identify instructor behaviours that demonstrate effectiveness in teaching. The survey also takes into account the opinions of students studying both on-campus and at a distance via the web, with the intention of determining if the characteristics of effective teaching in an online environment are different from those in the traditional face-to-face setting. Students identified nine behaviours that are characteristic of effective teaching in both on-campus and distance courses. Instructors who are effective teachers are respectful of students, knowledgeable, approachable, engaging, communicative, organized, responsive, professional, and humorous. Students indicated that the nine characteristics were consistent across modes of delivery. Respondents to the distance portion of the survey, however, did place different emphasis from the on-campus responses on the significance of each characteristic.