In your Facebook: Examining Facebook usage as misbehavior on perceived teacher credibility

Teachers sometimes do things that negatively impact their own credibility in classroom settings. One way instructors maintain credibility among students is by keeping a veil between their personal and professional personas. The advent of Facebook presents new challenges for instructors seeking to keep their personal lives private in order to maintain credibility among students. In educational settings, Facebook communications can blur the personal and professional boundaries that students and professors are accustomed to. As such, instructors in higher education sometimes struggle with the implications of ‘friending’ students in the context of social networking. The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not educator usage of Facebook had any impact on student perceptions of instructor credibility. Facebook presence was examined in the context of teacher ‘misbehaviors’ (that is, actions by educators that negatively impact their credibility). A modified version of Teven and McCroskey’s (1997) Source Credibility Instrument was given to a sample of college students (N?=?187) to compare instructors that use Facebook with those who do not. While students appear to be generally accepting of instructor usage of the social tool, some findings suggest that there are probably ways to abuse it in a manner that could lead to negative perceptions of credibility. Ultimately, results from this study indicated that there were no significant differences among student perceptions of instructor credibility based on whether or not an educator used Facebook.     

The Impact of Instructional Technology Use,Course Design,and Sex Differences on Students’ Initial Perceptions of Instructor Credibility

This study explores the impact that instructional technology use, course design, and sex differences have on students’ initial perceptions of instructors’ credibility (i.e., competence, trustworthiness, and perceived caring). Participants included 864 students from two Midwestern universities who were randomly assigned to one of 16 experimental conditions (i.e., scenarios) manipulating the use of technology across two types of courses and across two types of instructors (i.e., male and female instructors). Multivariate analyses revealed a two-way interaction effect of technology use by student sex on perceptions of instructor credibility. Follow-up procedures revealed both a curvilinear and a linear effect for technology use on students’ perceptions of instructor competence. In terms of instructor trustworthiness, however, only a curvilinear effect emerged. Finally, the results suggested that technology use has both a curvilinear and a linear effect on perceptions of perceived caring, though the linear effect size was marginal at best. Among the most important implications of this research is the fact that technology use produced the strongest effect size for the perceived caring dimension of instructor credibility.     

Antisocial classroom communication: Instructor influence and interactional justice as predictors of student aggression

The present study investigated potentially destructive instructor and student communication. In particular, it examined the relationships between instructor use of antisocial behavior alteration techniques (BATs), student perceptions of instructor interactional justice, and students' likelihood of indirectly aggressing against their instructors. Results indicate that student perceptions of instructors' use of antisocial BATs and instructor interactional injustice predicted increased student indirect aggression. In addition, student perceptions of instructor antisocial BAT use and interactional justice were negatively correlated and interactional justice was a stronger predictor of student indirect aggression than was instructor antisocial BAT use.     

The role of student academic beliefs in perceptions of instructor ideological bias

A common perception exists in the media that university instructors are a liberal elite who use their positions to instill a biased perspective in their students. Exploring student attitudes in the United States and Australia, the present study examined how students’ academic beliefs are related to their inferences of instructor ideological bias and the degree to which they identify as reacting to these inferences in the college classroom. Results of regression analysis using previously validated survey instruments revealed that students’ academic entitlement and grade orientation (GO) predicted perceptions of instructor bias. In addition, students’ GO predicted students’ reactions to such inferred bias. Institutional differences, pedagogical implications, and areas for future research are discussed.     

Underlying Consumer-Valuing Structures of Baby Boomers as Older Adults in Community Colleges: A Grounded Theory

The purpose of this study was to present a grounded theory that fills in gaps in the higher education literature on the concept of educational consumer value and perceptions that support consumer value. Specifically, this study focuses on the learning experiences of Baby Boomers (40–60 year old adults) as older adult students attending community colleges. This study examines value as a factor in the consumer behavior of these students. An understanding of Baby Boomer consumer behavior, the processes which drive this behavior, and the aging Baby Boomers' potential as continuously returning learners, could help develop programs and marketing plans for community colleges interested in attracting and retaining the Baby Boomer market.     

Facebook-Induced Motivation Shifts in a French Online Course

This study explores the effects of instructor’s self-disclosure using the Facebook social networking online platform on students’ motivation types in an online language course. The participants were 104 beginning French students enrolled in an online French course at a major research university in the southeast U.S. The participants were divided into a Facebook group, where they could access the instructor’s Facebook profile throughout the semester, and a control group. The Academic Motivation Scale (Noels, Pelletier, Clement, & Vallerand, 2003) was used for determining whether the participants were intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, anchoring this research within the Self-Determination Theory model (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Post-treatment results indicated that participants assigned to the Facebook group experienced a significant shift in motivation type that research has determined as being beneficial for language learning (Gardner, 1985). No such shift occurred in students assigned to the control group. This shift is of particular importance in an online course environment where the instructor’s Facebook profile was the only means of teacher’s self-disclosure unlike a face-to-face environment where teacher self-disclosure can occur spontaneously.     

Instructor–Learner Interaction in Online Courses: The relative perceived importance of particular instructor actions on performance and satisfaction

This article examines the relative perceived importance of 19 instructor actions in online courses according to both instructors and students. The instructor actions were culled from guidelines in the online learning literature base and then reviewed and rated by 14 experts. Thirty‐two online instructors and 170 students from their classes at a large public university and a private online university were asked to review and rate these guidelines. Findings show that the instructors believe that learner performance is more likely tied to instructor actions that are focused on course content and provide both proactive (models, expectations) and reactive (feedback) information to learners about their ability to demonstrate knowledge of course material, but learner satisfaction is more likely tied to learners’ feeling that their interpersonal communication needs are met. Learners rated items focused on communication needs and being treated as individuals as most important, aligning their stated preferences with the instructors’ perceptions of what actions are most satisfying to online learners.     

Preservice elementary teachers' perceptions of their science laboratory instructors in a phenomena-based laboratory and how it impacts their conceptual development

Phenomena-based approaches have become popular for elementary school teachers to engage children's innate curiosity in the natural world. However, integrating such phenomena-based approaches in existing science courses within teacher education programs present potential challenges for both preservice elementary teachers (PSETs) and for laboratory instructors, both of whom may have had limited opportunities to learn or teach science within the student and instructor roles inherent within these approaches. This study uses a convergent parallel mixed-methods approach to investigate PSETs' perceptions of their laboratory instructor's role within a Physical Science phenomena-based laboratory curriculum and how it impacts their conceptual development (2 instructors/121 students). We also examine how the two laboratory instructors' discursive moves within the laboratory align with their's and PSETs' perceptions of the instructor role. Qualitative data includes triangulation between a student questionnaire, an instructor questionnaire, and video classroom observations, while quantitative data includes a nine-item open response pre-/post-semester conceptual test. Guided by Mortimer's and Scott's analytic framework, our findings show that students primarily perceive their instructors as a guide/facilitator or an authoritarian/evaluator. Using Linn's knowledge integration framework, analysis of pre-/post-tests indicates that student outcomes align with students' perceptions of their instructors, with students who perceive their instructor as a guide/facilitator having significantly better pre-/post-outcomes. Additional analysis of scientific discourse from the classroom observations illustrates how one instructor primarily supports PSETs' perspectives on authentic science learning through dialogic–interactive talk moves whereas the other instructor epistemologically stifles personally relevant investigations with authoritative–interactive or authoritative–noninteractive discourse moves. Overall, this study concludes by discussing challenges facing laboratory instructors that need careful consideration for phenomena-based approaches.     

The influence of individual- and class-level fairness-related perceptions on student satisfaction

This study advances two contributions to the study of student evaluations of teaching: (a) a multilevel conceptualization that allows for the simultaneous analysis of individual- and class-level correlates of evaluations and (b) an application of recent social/organizational psychology theory and research on fairness. Thus, this study examined the relative influence of individual- and class-level perceptions of fairness and expected grades on students’ satisfaction with their instructors and with their grades. Multilevel regression showed that, at the individual level, grade satisfaction was significantly related to perceived fairness of the instructor’s grading procedures, the perceived fairness of the expected grades, and the expected grades themselves; instructor satisfaction was significantly related to perceptions of the fairness of grading procedures, the fairness of instructor–student interactions, and the fairness of the expected grades. At the class level, instructor satisfaction was significantly influenced by the average perception of the fairness of interactions. The implications for research on student ratings are discussed.     

Academic support model for post-secondary school students with learning disabilities: student and instructor perceptions

ABSTRACT

While post-secondary school students with learning difficulties confront many challenges, there is little research on methods of support. In the current study, the ‘adapted course’ model was qualitatively examined from the perspective of both students and instructors. The main goal was to explore how students and instructors perceived the instruction in adapted courses. Five pre-service students with learning disabilities (LD) and/or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and three instructors were interviewed. Responses were analysed using subjective analysis, with central content categories identified based on student and instructor statements. Six main themes emerged: (1) small class size; (2) emotional support; (3) adjusted teaching methods; (4) independent practice exercises; (5) instruction by modelling; and (6) instructor characteristics. The current study can inform pedagogical principles on which a support model for post-secondary students with LD can be based. It provides analyses of the effectiveness of one support model and presents the perceptions of both faculty and students. Moreover, the study provides an opportunity to learn about potential components of effective teaching-learning, not only in the specific context of adapted courses, but in any supportive learning situation (e.g. tutoring) or course.     

The effect of Twitter posts on students’ perceptions of instructor credibility

Greater numbers of instructors are turning to social networking sites to communicate with students. This study examined whether posting social, scholarly, or a combination of social and scholarly information to Twitter has an impact on the perceived credibility of the instructor. Participants were assigned to one of three groups: a group that viewed social tweets, one that viewed scholarly tweets, and one that viewed a combination of social and scholarly tweets. Participants were then asked questions about the instructor’s perceived credibility. Results show that participants who viewed only the social tweets rated the instructor significantly higher in perceived credibility than the group that viewed only the scholarly tweets. No other significant differences were found among the groups. These results have implications for both teaching and learning, as there is an established link between perceived instructor credibility and positive learning outcomes.     

Student perception of instructors: the effect of age,gender and political leaning

Abstract

Students were asked to rank instructors, who differed by age, gender and political leaning, by their expected helpfulness, and how much a student expected to learn. Students selected older instructors as those from whom they would learn the most, but chose young instructors as the most helpful. Overall, male instructors were preferred over female instructors, especially when emphasis was placed on learning. The political leaning of the instructor was a discriminating factor in humanities classes, with liberal instructors preferred over conservatives. The preferred age, gender and political leaning patterns were distinctly different for instructors who were helpful, and from those from whom students thought they would learn the most, indicating a dichotomy between perceived helpfulness and learning. The stereotypic images of instructors did not differ significantly by the students’ own gender and academic major, except for male students ranking conservative instructors higher than females. Students do have stereotypical images of instructors based on the instructor’s age, gender and political leaning.     

Perceptions of tutoring roles and psychological distance among instructors,tutors and students at a Korean university

This study explores issues related to the tutor’s role when initiating tutoring as an institutional strategy at a conventional university. Based on a pilot tutoring program implemented in four college courses, we investigated the perceptions of instructors, tutors and students regarding the role of tutoring and whether it affected the psychological distance between the different types of participants. The results indicated that instructors’ perceptions of the tutor’s primary role and the psychological distance from the students and the tutors differed from the perceptions of the tutors and the students, perhaps because the instructors perceived tutors as a source of instructor support rather than student support. Implications and suggestions are discussed.     

Students’ use of power in the classroom: An investigation of student power,teacher power,and teacher immediacy

The purposes of this study were to examine: (1) students’ use of power to gain compliance from instructors, (2) the association between students’ use of power and their instructors’ power, and (3) students’ use of power and the nonverbal immediacy of the instructor. The results revealed that even though students did not feel they had a great amount of influence with their instructors, they used a variety of behavior alteration techniques (BATs) to gain compliance from them. Specifically, students reported using prosocial strategies most frequently and antisocial techniques least frequently. The results also revealed a positive association between students’ overall sense of power and their perception of their teachers’ power. Instructors’ use of reward power was also related to students’ use of prosocial BATs. Conversely, instructors’ use of coercive power was associated with students’ antisocial BATs. Finally, students tended to use expert power more with nonverbally immediate teachers than nonimmediate teachers. Students’ use of BATs did not depend upon the nonverbal immediacy of the instructor. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.     

Using a Facebook Group As an Educational Tool: Effects on Student Achievement

This study examined the effectiveness of using a Facebook group to increase pre-service teachers’ knowledge of core technology topics. Further, it examined their use of Facebook, their use of a course-related Facebook group, their participation habits in the group, and their perceptions of using Facebook for educational purposes. Results revealed a significant gain in achievement as measured by scores on pre- and posttests. Additionally, Facebook was most frequently used to maintain existing relationships, to share photographs, and to communicate. The Facebook group was used to lurk/read, post comments, “like” comments, and post additional information. The pre-service teachers indicated that the Facebook group was beneficial in improving readiness for course assessments, was convenient, provided a good means of communication, and enhanced learning.     

Fashion in the classroom III: Effects of instructor attire and immediacy in natural classroom interactions

This is the third of three studies using complementary designs to investigate the effects of teacher attire on student perceptions of instructors and instruction in contemporary college classrooms. In line with Studies One and Two, modest effects of attire on perceptions of extroversion and competence were found; however, previous conclusions that instructor attire has little meaningful, predictable effect on ratings of attributes related to either approachability or credibility were reinforced. Student judgements of such attributes were influenced far more by teacher use of immediacy behaviors than by attire. In particular, positive effects resulting from teachers’ choice of formal professional attire were not supported.

This is the final study in a three‐part series designed to investigate the implications of instructor attire in the contemporary college classroom. Interest in this topic was sparked by collegial conversations regarding advice for new teaching assistants: What can they do to enhance credibility, approachability, and teacher evaluations? Does what they wear make a difference?     

Relationship with instructor and other variables influencing student evaluations of instruction

This study examined some of the factors which influence college students’ evaluations of their instructors. Data were collected from 557 students enrolled in a basic speech communication course. Overall, a student's relationship with the instructor was the best predictor of the student's evaluation of the instructor. This study lends partial support to the idea that students evaluate male and female instructors differently. The variables examined in this study were better predictors of student evaluation of female than male instructors.     

Predicting student ratings: the relationship between actual student ratings and instructors’ predictions

This study examined the relationship between student ratings and instructors’ predictions of these ratings, taking into account other instructor, student, and course characteristics. Participants in the study were 198 instructors in the School of Education at a major teacher training college in Israel. Data corresponding to one randomly selected course per instructor were collected using student and instructor questionnaires and college records. Results indicate a systematic positive relationship between instructors’ predictions and actual student ratings with respect to overall ratings and the ratings of three dimensions of teaching. Results also demonstrate a systematic trend whereby low‐rated instructors tend to overestimate their student ratings, high‐rated instructors underestimated ratings, and moderately rated instructors gave accurate predictions. Results have implications for using predictions to motivate teaching improvement.