Good teaching
From CEITLWiki
[edit] What is good teaching?
Educators are frequently asked whether teaching is an art or a science. We might be better off viewing teaching instead as a craft, recognizing that there is something of an art to teaching, but that there is also a science based on a wide body of research. While we can improve our teaching to some degree by practicing it as an art, a person with little artistic talent is not likely to become a great artist. By combining the art with the science of teaching, however, we can become highly skilled craftsmen.
It is difficult to pin down just what is meant by "good teaching" because it can vary depending on content and learner characteristics. Nevertheless, we can use Chickering and Gamson's (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education as a guideline for specific behaviors we might use to demonstrate good teaching.
- Good teaching encourages student-faculty contact.
- Know your students.
- Develop a variety of methods to be accessible to your students.
- Advise students about career opportunities in their field of study.
- Attend events sponsored by student groups.
- Take students to professional meetings or other events in your field.
- Good teaching encourages cooperation among students.
- Create small group activities.
- Facilitate team building and competition.
- Assign class presentations.
- Encourage debate.
- Require peer assessments.
- Good teaching encourages active learning.
- Have pauses in lectures to allow students to work in teams and compare notes.
- Utilize surveys or questionnaires.
- Create self-assessment activities.
- Design lectures interspersed with short discussions.
- Require brainstorming.
- Assign case studies.
- Develop role-playing activities.
- Good teaching gives prompt feedback.
- Return coursework (examinations, papers, worksheets) within a week.
- Give detailed feedback, including strengths and weaknesses.
- Design exercises, problems, and worksheets to be completed and evaluated during the class period. This is a good way to summarize the material and to give students feedback on what they understand and what is more difficult for them.
- Require peer assessment and self-assessment.
- Good teaching emphasizes time on task.
- Be on time and start on time.
- Emphasize deadlines and explain penalties for late work.
- Provide five to ten minute "warm-ups" at the beginning of class for a participation grade that can't be made up.
- Assign timed, guided activities of varying lengths to be completed in class.
- Praise students for effective use of time.
- After completion of an assignment, require students to reflect on personal/group time management.
- Good teaching communicates high expectations.
- Have rubrics for assignments. Teachers should explain the wherefores behind the elements in the rubrics, showing how mastering these skills will help one with similar projects in the future--at school and on the job.
- Bring in articles about what the workplace demands. For instance, teachers can bring in articles about what employers expect to see in resumes, what they expect to see in memos and other reports.
- Show sample work from previous students, which will show students what good work HAS been done and therefore CAN be done while in a certain course.
- Model the behavior you expect to see in your students.
- Good teaching respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
- Provide learning alternatives for assignments and assessment such as portfolios and contracts, or multiple options for presentation of learned information including written papers, oral presentations, and poster sessions.
- Use collaborative teaching and learning techniques to pair students with lesser or different abilities. This aids the recognition of diversity and promotes cooperation and creativity to address the differences.
- Utilize multimedia presentations.
- Provide students with problems to solve that have multiple solutions.
- Recognize that some students are eager to learn new skills, some are afraid to make mistakes and hold back. Provide opportunities that accommodate both.
- Be aware of opportunities to learn about students learning preferences and personality traits, and then use a variety of means to communicate such as email, Blackboard, etc. This accommodates students who may require more time to put their thoughts together to respond.
- Provide opportunities for students to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses.
[edit] Web resources
Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, by Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson.
"But how can students and faculty members improve undergraduate education? Many campuses around the country are asking this question. To provide a focus for their work, we offer seven principles based on research on good teaching and learning in colleges and universities."
Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever, by Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann
"Any given instructional strategy can be supported by a number of contrasting technologies (old and new), just as any given technology might support different instructional strategies. But for any given instructional strategy, some technologies are better than others: Better to turn a screw with a screwdriver than a hammer--a dime may also do the trick, but a screwdriver is usually better.
"This essay, then, describes some of the most cost-effective and appropriate ways to use computers, video, and telecommunications technologies to advance the Seven Principles."
The Ohio Learning Network (OLN) adopted the 7 Principles in 2002; you can read the rationale here. The OLN site has its own section on the 7 Principles, which informs its online course check. (See Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses.)
Teaching tips for using technology to support the Seven Principles
