Effective teaching: an exploration of students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of first year Education undergraduates

1. Effective teaching: an exploration of students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of first year Education undergraduates Jo Allan, Karen Clarke and Michael Jopling CETL

2. Context • Whilst quality assurance processes have long taken into account students’ perceptions of the teaching they receive, their views have not been as influential in the UK as, for example, in the United States. • There is a dearth of research relating to students’ conceptions of effective university teaching (Reid and Johnston, 1999). • This project was designed to explore both students’ and teachers’ perceptions of what constitutes effective teaching in a modern UK university. CETL

3. Methodology Qualitative approach combining phenomenographic (Marton, 1981; Marton & Booth 1997) and ‘appreciative enquiry’ approaches (Brighouse and Woods, 1999) using: • Focus groups (16 students) • Non-participatory observations • Student survey (80 respondents) CETL

4. Sample findings Supportive learning environment Effective tutors: • create a warm atmosphere; • offer encouragement - ‘you know smiling’; • make students feel comfortable asking question. CETL

5. Activity Take a few minutes to jot down 2 or 3 other characteristics of effective teaching that you think students are unsure of.. CETL

6. Survey findings’ Not sure if effective lecturers… • explain inconsistencies clearly; • limit the information given in any one session; • recognise that students learn at different rates; • explain inconsistencies clearly. CETL

7. Volunteers We are looking for volunteers to be involved in further development of this work. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact: ruthrobinson@wlv.ac.uk CETL