Teacher clarity is widely considered an essential element of effective teaching and student success. The same holds true in the IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction system (SRI). On Diagnostic Feedback (DF), the item "Explained course material clearly and concisely," which IDEA considers a measure of teacher clarity, has consistently been…

A critical aim of teacher quality research is to identify and distil its multiple components. While many such components have been identified in the literature, there is a scarcity of research that has attempted to empirically investigate how these elements integrate within a larger profile of teacher quality, including how particular teachers'…

A steady increase in online instruction occurred from the 1990s to 2019, with a swift change, during the pandemic. However, during an instructional delivery change, are university instructors prepared to shift to the virtual classroom that appropriately aligns with student expectations of a meaningful online course? This is significant since…

We studied Brazilian faculty and psychology undergraduates' perspectives on excellent teaching using the Teacher Behavior Checklist. In two studies, we found that students and teachers showed strong agreement with those TBC items relevant to developing a profile of excellent teachers and that students valued some qualities more than others in…

IDEA's Teaching Essentials (TE) is a useful tool for gathering student feedback on how frequently an instructor exhibits each of seven behaviors that correlate most highly with student perceptions of course and teaching excellence. TE is appropriate for instructors who desire quick, sound student feedback on (a) displaying personal interest in…

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are often used as instructors in undergraduate introductory science courses, particularly in laboratory and discussion sections associated with large lectures. These GTAs are often novice teachers with little opportunity to develop their teaching skills through formal professional development. Focused…

This study investigates college student perceptions of instructor credibility based on the content of an instructor's Twitterfeed and student beliefs about Twitter as a communication tool. Quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized to explore the effects of three manipulated Twitter feeds (e.g., tweeting social topics, professional topics,…

With much attention being placed on the use of Twitter and other social media in the classroom, educators are grappling with the question, "Is Twitter a valid tool to increase classroom effectiveness?" Yet, many responses to this question come from anecdotal and case-study-based information. The present study offers a preliminary quantitative…

Student success is dependent on effective instruction. Yet, effective teaching is difficult to define and described differently by students, faculty, and administrators. Nursing and dental hygiene education programs require faculty to teach in both classroom and clinical environments. However, accreditation agencies for these programs mandate…

Students have traditionally been viewed as passive recipients of knowledge and their contributions to understanding good teaching have been largely ignored. This study presents first-person account of university students of their professors' teaching. A total of 210 undergraduate students from China wrote about their best and worst professors.…

This study concerns the relation between teachers' beliefs towards teaching behaviour and their actual teaching behaviour in teacher portfolio assessment. We analysed the beliefs and behaviour of 18 teachers as described in their portfolios. In addition, each portfolio was independently assessed by two trained raters on eight content standards and…

I surveyed 2 samples of Canadian undergraduates (N = 629) concerning their views of a "perfect instructor." Students identified as many descriptors as they wished; I categorized them into 26 sets of qualities and behaviors. The top 10 categories included: (a) knowledgeable; (b) interesting and creative lectures; (c) approachable; (d)…

A methodology for designing rating scales which will maximize diagnostic feedback by students to college professors is presented. Mid-semester and end-of-semester administrations allow for judgment of changes in instructional strategies during the semester. (JMF)

According to responses from 145 secondary agriculture teachers and 2,400 students, students thought instructional clarity increased when teachers actively involved them. Systematic differences between teachers' and students' perceptions (especially teachers rating themselves more highly than students did) indicate a need for teachers to reflect on…

Six high school student teachers were video-taped during the first, seventh and fourteenth weeks of their teaching semester. Pupils in these classes evaluated the personal characteristics and instructional behaviors of their student teachers. The Classroom Teacher Inventory was used to solicit pupil ratings of 15 teacher presage characteristics…