Filipino and American student perceptions of teacher effectiveness

Filipino and American undergraduate students rated college instructor characteristics according to their perceived importance for effective teaching. Items were selected to reflect relevant value orientations in Filipino and American cultures. Factor analysis of the ratings revealed six underlying dimensions. MANOVA results showed that the group ratings on the six corresponding subscales were significantly different. Discriminant function analysis revealed that Filipino students rated items pertaining to authoritarianism and personal appearance of the instructor as significantly more important for effective teaching than did American students. This suggests that cross-cultural differences in perceptions of effective teaching may be predictable from a knowledge of both similar and conflicting value orientations in the specific cultures. Implications for the academic adjustment of students from different cultures were discussed.     

Video lecture capture (VLC) system: A comparison of student versus faculty perceptions

A Video Lecture Capture (VLC) system was implemented to address issues relating to retention, and to reverse the trend of high drop, failure, and withdrawal (DFW) rates. The purpose of this study was to examine student perceptions of how using VLC impacted their academic performance. Areas of interest surrounded students’ perceived benefits, value, and helpfulness of using the system. In addition, the study probed the concern of many about the impact using VLC would have upon class attendance. Finally the study compared students’ perceptions about their performance as a result of using VLC with faculty perceptions about their students’ performance as a result of using VLC. It was hypothesized that there is a significant difference between student and faculty perceptions.     

The effect of college course evaluation feedback on instructor and student perceptions of instructional climate and effectiveness

An experimental study was undertaken to examine (1) effect of early course evaluation feedback to instructor on subsequent end-of-course class evaluations by students (n=1484) and instructor (n=78), and (2) stability of course evaluations by students and instructor. These voluntary class-instructor units were randomly assigned to experimental (feedback) and control (no feedback) groups. After attrition the feedback group contained 37 units and the control group 41 units. The 26 item Faculty-Course Evaluation Form (FCEF) was administered approximately three weeks into the quarter and again eight weeks later. The FCEF reflected the frequency of occurrence of certain instructor behaviors and over-all opinions of course value and teaching ability.The five-factor structure of the FCEF can be described with the following labels: Subject Organization and Competency, Motivation-Stimulation, Instructor-Student Relations, Reasonable Work Load and Tests, and Clearness of Grading Procedures.Individual class, instructor, and total score results were fed back to instructors in the experimental groups from the early FCEF administrators. Results indicated significant differences in favor of the feedback group on the Subject Organization and Competency, and Motivation-Stimulation scale. In addition moderately high stability of ratings for both classes and instructors was noted, but little agreement between classes and instructors.     

The motivational paradox of feedback: teacher and student perceptions

The notion that future performance can be affected by information about previous performance is often expressed in terms of ‘closing the gap’. Feedback has long been recognised as a mechanism through which teaching and learning may be influenced. The current wave of support in the United Kingdom for assessment for learning echoes these sentiments. This paper examines the feedback strategies employed by two experienced literacy practitioners in England. Using data gathered from field observations, interviews and documentary sources, the paper presents evidence of espoused practice associated with feedback, demonstrating that whilst teachers may claim that they make effective use of some feedback strategies to support pupils’ learning and motivation, that this is not supported by empirical data. The paper also identifies that whilst some teachers aim to mark every piece of pupils’ written work for perceived motivational benefits; such a strategy can undermine pupils’ intrinsic motivation and lead to a culture of over-dependency, whereby the locus of control with regard to feedback lies solely with the teacher. The paper concludes by exploring some possible implications for practice with regard to the provision of written feedback in particular.     

The role of teacher, student and ICT in enhancing student engagement in multiuser virtual environments

This paper reviews the teaching and learning practices and processes that were adopted in a study that incorporated multi-user virtual environments to support General Paper teaching and learning. The paper discusses the roles of the teacher, student and ICT in facilitating engaged learning. As this project is the first of its kind for the subject in Singapore, the paper seeks to highlight strategies that were adopted or could have been adopted to facilitate the enactment of such teacher and student roles as well as ensure effective deployment of ICT to support engaged learning.     

Teacher anxiety,teacher effectiveness,and student anxiety

The relationships between teacher anxiety while teaching, student anxiety, and student perceptions of teaching effectiveness were examined. The teachers were 19 nurse educators and the students were 72 student nurses in Sydney, Australia. The teachers taught a lesson selected at random and completed a state anxiety questionnaire before the lesson began and, again, after the lesson in terms of how they felt while teaching. After the lesson, the students completed an assessment of the teacher's effectiveness and a questionnaire to record the anxiety levels experienced while being taught. Teacher A-State while teaching was found to be closely related to student perceptions about lesson organization, teacher affect, and teacher confidence. Teacher A-State while teaching was also found to be significantly related to the level of A-State experienced by the students while being taught.     

Spoken organizational lecture cues and student notetaking as facilitators of student learning

Previous research has shown that providing written organizational lecture cues boosts notetaking and that boosting notetaking raises achievement. Lecture learning literature, however, is silent on whether spoken organizational lecture cues boost notetaking and achievement. To find out, participants listened to a lecture that contained or did not contain spoken organizational lecture cues. Participants either recorded lecture notes or refrained from notetaking while listening to the cued or uncued lecture. Results showed that spoken organizational lecture cues boosted the number of noted organizational points and details by 39 and 35%, respectively. Results also confirmed that lecture cues and notetaking work to raise achievement. Notetaking resulted in about 13% higher test achievement than not taking notes. Cueing raised test achievement 15–45% versus noncueing. Educators are encouraged to use spoken organizational cues while presenting lectures.     

TEC programmes evaluated: student progress and employer perceptions

Increasing levels of violence in the classroom even amongst primary school children lead to concern as to the processes involved in imitation of anti‐social models. This study investigates the cumulative effect of repeated exposure to such models. In a laboratory setting it was found that five‐year‐old boys who watched two aggressive models added proportionately to their repertoire and time spent being aggressive. Watching an aggressive model, after having first seen a constructive one, reduced the impact of the constructive model. These results highlight the need to minimize models of misbehaviour in the classroom and for teachers to ‘manage’ the class in order to produce maximum exposure to ‘good’ behaviour models.     

The Practicum: student‐teacher perceptions of teacher supervision styles

This paper describes a study of 28 student‐teachers during a three‐week practicum in which participating students were asked to keep an unstructured journal describing their experiences and reactions to the practicum. The paper examines the perceptions that these students had of the supervision provided by their cooperating teachers. It identifies four distinct styles of teacher supervision, ranging from neglectful practices which alienate students from the practicum experience, to collegial practices which prove to be empowering. The paper concludes that supervision which is collegial is more likely to facilitate the professional growth of student‐teachers and enhance reflective action.     

Online student perceptions of engagement,transactional distance,and outcomes

This study explores student perceptions of engagement, transactional distance, and outcomes in online courses. Researchers also investigated linkages between these elements. Data were collected from students enrolled in online courses at three private universities located at different geographical regions in the United States. Six hundred sixty-seven students completed the Revised Scale of Transactional Distance developed by Paul, Swart, Zhang, and MacLeod and a modified version of Dixson’s Online Student Engagement scale during spring 2016 semester. Results indicate students experienced a relatively high level of engagement and a moderate level of transactional distance. Respondents perceived outcomes such as satisfaction, progression, and learning very positively. There were significant differences in responses based on gender and college standing. Student engagement, transactional distance, and outcomes were moderately correlated, and researchers confirmed transactional distance is a valid predictor of student engagement.     

The impact of digital distraction on lecture note taking and student learning

Instructional Science - Laptop computers allow students to type lecture notes instead of relying on the traditional longhand (i.e. paper–pencil) method. The present research compared laptop...     

e-Assessment and the student learning experience: A survey of student perceptions of e-assessment

This paper describes a piece of research carried out at the University of Bradford into student perceptions of e-assessment. An online questionnaire was delivered to 130 undergraduates who had taken part in online assessment (either formative or summative) during the academic year 2007–2008. The survey looked at six main dimensions: (1) affective factors, (2) validity, (3) practical issues, (4) reliability, (5) security, and (6) learning and teaching. The aim of the survey was to identify possible risks in planning e-assessments, as well as to gauge student opinion. The findings of the survey indicated a range of opinions across the student body, with greatest concern about the fairness of item banking. It was also found that the most positive aspect of e-assessment in the eyes of students concerned the benefits that it can bring to teaching and learning. In addition, the paper concludes that age and gender did not significantly affect student responses in any of the areas studied.     

The relationship of student interest and advance organizer effectiveness

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the relationship of learner interest and advance organizers with test performance. Student interest was measured before instruction and at several different times following instruction. The advance organizer, in a chart format, presented the key information upon which the instruction was based. Results indicated that the advance organizer had no positive effect on test performance in either study; however, student interest appeared to be affected by the presence of an advance organizer. Interest was a significant covariate. Specifically, the level of interest immediately following introduction of the material but prior to actual instruction changed when advance organizers were introduced. An “overjustification” hypothesis is discussed in relationship to these results.     

The college student grant study: The effectiveness of student grant and scholarship programs in promoting equal educational opportunity

During the last few years there has been an increased emphasis on the use of student scholarships and grants to promote postsecondary access and choice. This study of scholarship and grant programs in California, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania examines the extent to which this goal is being achieved. Highlights of the findings are that these state aid programs (1) induce a substantial number of students from low-income families to attend college, although they fail to have much impact on the very lowest income students; (2) are particularly helpful to women; and (3) overall, are responsible for the postsecondary attendance of nearly one half of the aid recipients.     

A virtual student: Not an ordinary Joe

Some researchers and educators contend that distance education is the new, student-centered paradigm for future learning and one of the fastest growing areas in education. Despite its continued growth and popularity, distance education suffers from a number of problems. One of the most troubling is a much higher course “dropout” rate in online courses compared to traditional campus-based education. There are a number of factors that contribute to course noncompletion in Web-based distance education: feelings of isolation, frustrations with the technology, anxiety, and confusion. This article provides a discussion on certain tools used by the author to mitigate these negative factors, such as the use of electronic office hours. Explored in depth, however, is a tool that the author has had the most success using in reducing some of the chronic problems that seem to assail students taking online courses. This same tool promotes learner interaction and collaborative learning at a distance. This “magical” tool the author has created for his online classes is a fictitious virtual student who is “not an ordinary Joe.”     

The effects of flipped instruction on out-of-class study time,exam performance,and student perceptions

This study assessed the impact of flipped instruction on students’ out-of-class study time, exam performance, preference, motivation, and perceptions in two sections of a large undergraduate chemistry course. Flipped instruction caused a shift in student workload without appreciably changing the overall study time. The treatment impact on student performance gradually diminished over time, showing a small but statistically significant effect with the final exam. No marked interaction was identified, indicating that flipped instruction benefited students of diverse backgrounds uniformly. Students in the flipped section showed mixed feelings with about one fifth of them displaying polarized attitudes. Open-ended student survey responses revealed non-compliance with pre-class studying as a serious implementation issue: By slowing down the overall pace of the class, it negatively affected students with different study behaviors and characteristics in ways that partly explained the small, diminishing treatment effect and absence of marked interaction.     

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.     

Honesty on student evaluations of teaching: effectiveness,purpose, and timing matter!

Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are an important point of assessment for faculty in curriculum development, tenure and promotion decisions, and merit raises. Faculty members utilise SETs to gain feedback on their classes and, hopefully, improve them. The question of the validity of student responses on SETs is a continuing debate in higher education. The current study uses data from two universities (n = 596) to determine whether and under what conditions students are honest on in-class and online SETs, while also assessing their knowledge and attitudes about SETs. Findings reveal that, while students report a high level of honesty on SETs, they are more likely to be honest when they believe that evaluations effectively measure the quality of the course, the results improve teaching and benefit students rather than the administration, and when they are given at the end of the term. Honesty on evaluations is not associated with socio-demographic characteristics.     

An integrated lecture,virtual instrumentation lab approach to teaching UV-Vis spectroscopy

In a chemistry instrumentation course, the teachers explain to students how instruments function and which their basic technical principles are. We integrated an interactive UV-Visible spectrophotometer simulator into a chemical instrumentation course in an attempt to improve the teaching procedure. The students were divided into two groups, the experimental group (EG) and the control group (CG). The students of EG participated in an instrumentation course in which we distributed to them the components of an old spectrophotometer and presented them with figures and animations about the component’s functions using Power-Point presentation. During the presentation a discussion took place and we posed questions to the students in order to make them think about the technical principles of the UV-Visible spectrophotometer. After the presentation, the students performed virtual experiments using UV-Vis spectrophotometer simulator on personal Computers and they shared measurements, observations and conclusions about their experiments using the LAN (local area network). In the students of CG we presented the spectrophotometer and its components following the traditional way, drawing the components’ function and the structure of instrument on the blackboard. Comparison of the two groups showed that the EG students valued the opportunity to collaborate with other peers during the lecture and also they found this teaching procedure useful. As a result they felt more confident to manipulate a real instrument and the EG students better understood the function and the technical principles of the instrument than the CG students.