In the December issue of The Teaching Professor, I really enjoyed the article titled “Teachers Who Improved”. Two researchers examined end-of-course teachers’ evaluations to gather a sample of 200 faculty members who had consistently improved in the past 3 years. This group of faculty members included full-time tenured faculty, full-time non-tenured faculty, as well as part-time faculty. The researchers surveyed the faculty members and asked them to think about and reflect on the factors which led to these changes in their teaching performance. The results were very interesting.
Here are the top 5 factors mentioned by the faculty members studied: 1) greater active or practical learning strategies and techniques such as an effort to relate course material to the students and what is relevant to them; 2) improved teacher/student interactions including some very simple ones such as learning the students’ names; 3) making expectations for learning clearer without lowering academic standards; 4) being better prepared for class; and 5) revising the evaluation policies and procedures to evaluate students’ work.
The first three of these factors accounted for about half of the faculty responses. What was most striking to me was to realize that the first three factors mentioned by faculty members relate very closely to the motivational factors identified in my own research. The use of greater active and practical learning strategies which student see as relevant is one way in which we can foster the satisfaction of the basic need for autonomy. Improved interactions between teachers and students is a strategy related to fostering the satisfaction of the need for relatedness. Making expectations for learning outcomes clearer for students while maintaining rigorous academic standards is closely related to the need for competence. In motivational terms, these faculty members improved because they created learning environments which satisfied students’ basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The fourth and fifth factors mentioned by faculty members also relate well with the need for competence. Better prepared faculty members who take the time to revise their evaluation policies will create learning environments that will be more suitable to foster the development of skills and competencies in students. If you are interested to find out more, I have written about the satisfaction of the three basic needs in a recent FCTL Director’s blog (October, 2009).
Importantly, small changes can make a big difference. The vast majority of the faculty reported that the effort required to implement the changes that led to the improvement in their teaching was minimal. The biggest hurdle to change was to realize and be willing to admit that they needed to change something in their teaching. Awareness in this case was critical. One faculty member talked about how after almost a decade teaching, he received his lowest ratings. Although he was shocked this prompted him to understand why this happened. This process of inquiry into your own teaching and students’ perceptions of the learning environment is fundamental to change. In addition, for most of the faculty surveyed, it was more about fine-tuning their teaching as opposed to making radical changes. Incorporating new techniques and strategies to build on what teachers already do well is the most efficient approach to improvement.
