The authors report on a pilot project designed to integrate habits of mind into a skills-based first-year seminar. This project featured the development of a curriculum map outlining the primary learning objectives for seven habits of mind--curiosity, perseverance, introspection, courage, humility, empathy, and civility--and this study shares that…

An adaptation of Halpern's (1998) model of critical thinking (CT) was implemented for seven semesters of data collection involving 904 students in 44 classes. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was utilized for evaluating student growth in CT. The model comprised the development of higher education students' CT skills and dispositions by…

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in student perceptions of instructor and course characteristics for courses that students deemed to be high in learning versus high in enjoyment. Realizing that students differ from faculty in how they view the traits of a highly effective instructor, the authors created a survey of student…

This study examined online student feedback to determine the extent to which students identify strengths of character in their perceptions of professors and whether student-identified character strengths could distinguish between teaching-award winners (n = 120) and research-award winners (n = 119). A content analysis of posted comments on…

Several reports have highlighted the need to improve teaching within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, particularly at the undergraduate level. These reports have encouraged the use of more evidence-based teaching practices in the classroom to improve teaching. The authors explore how faculty members' decision to…

This study aims to reveal the factors behind students' personal biases and preferences in the evaluation process in order to assess the value of using students' ratings of professors' teaching effectiveness. A questionnaire was completed by 330 students at Lebanese universities asking them to provide their feedback on 23 traits commonly regarded…

Fostering students' intellectual curiosity is a common goal of first-year seminar programs--especially in liberal arts settings. The authors propose an alternative method to assess this ambiguous, value-laden concept. Relying on data gathered from pre- and posttest in-depth interviews of 34 students enrolled in first-year seminars, they construct…

The author looks at the meaning of specific terminology commonly used in student surveys: "effective teaching." The research seeks to determine if there is a difference in how "effective teaching" is defined by those taking student surveys and those interpreting the results. To investigate this difference, a sample group of professors and students…

A survey of 295 college students and 116 faculty investigated perceptions of how professor behavior contributes to an improved student-professor relationship, focusing on four dimensions of the relationship: fairness; caring and individual attention; flexibility and open-mindedness; and trust and credibility. Results varied by gender and major,…