Teaching Excellence: What Great Teachers Teach Us

Given the shortage of nurse educators, we sought to better understand teaching excellence because it is crucial for developing the next generation of nurses. A grounded theory approach was used. The sample included 17 respondents, thought to be excellent teachers, from universities across the United States. Consenting respondents were asked, “What do you do to bring nursing to life with your students?” Using line-by-line coding and the constant comparative method, five major themes emerged: (a) engagement, (b) relevance, (c) student centeredness, (d) facilitation of learning, and (e) dynamic process of becoming an excellent nursing educator. We found that the core category, engagement, included the faculty being (a) current and knowledgeable, (b) being clear in communication of objectives/outcomes, (c) being student centered, (d) being able to draw all students into active questioning and learning so that the process of discovery is enjoyable, and (e) using multiple strategies in teaching the content. The process of becoming an excellent teacher involved “change from ‘instiller’ to ‘facilitator’ and laid the foundation for continued development of my teaching self.” Those beginning to teach or seeking to improve their teaching may find the results enlightening

12th grade students’ behavior in the decision making process of educational choices

Irrespective of the level and the nature of decisions which he must make, the recruitment responsible for an institution of higher education needs, real, exact, actual, full and relevant information about potential students. To acquire this information, faculties must conduct marketing researches to determine pupil behaviour in decision making process of educational choice. This article presents information about 12th grade pupils’behavior obtained from a survey carried out in Cluj-Napoca high schools.educational marketing, institution of higher education, marketing research.

Review: A Synthesis of Qualitative Studies of Writing Center Tutoring

A Synthesis of Qualitative Studies of Writing Center Tutoring is refreshingly direct about a regrettable fact concerning writing center tutoring and tutor training: established best practices are difficult to quantify. Before reaching the end of the first page, Rebecca Day Babcock, Kellye Manning, and Travis Rogers outline the impetus of their research, relating Babcock’s difficulty in synthesizing information on the ideologies of writing centers when preparing for her doctoral comprehensive exams. That difficulty prompts the authors to admit that “there was no one common writing center theory, but rather a set of practices and a pattern of taking theories from other disciplines and applying them to writing centers” (1). Babcock, Manning, and Rogers then call upon Linda Shamoon and Deborah Burns’ infamous 1995 essay, “A Critique of Pure Tutoring,” referencing its indictment that writing center research does little to critically examine its preferred tutoring practices, reducing appraisal efforts to little more than hunches. On generally accepted techniques and strategies, Shamoon and Burns write that “these codes and appeals seem less the product of research or examined practice and more like articles of faith that serve to validate a tutoring approach which ‘feels right’” (135). Nearly two decades later, writing center research has arguably diminished old preferences for hands-off, minimalist tutoring. The message of A Synthesis is immediately clear: a unified theory of tutoring practice must prefer researched, verifiable practice and eschew unsubstantiated beliefUniversity Writing Cente

What does “student-centered” mean and how can it be implemented? A systematic perspective

Documento submetido para revisão pelos pares. A publicar em Biochemistry and molecular biology education. ISSN 1470-817

First year students' perceptions of excellent teachers

The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristic of a excellent lecturer as perceived by the first year students of Malay Woman Training Institute the similarities and differences in the responses based on education level. Knowing what characteristics are correlated with excellence in teaching is important because it provides both pre-service and in-service teachers with an opportunity to evaluate their own teaching, receive feedback from students, and improve teaching. Also, this knowledge aids teacher preparation programs in designing their courses and in recruiting the best candidates for teaching. This will help the Teacher Education Division in modifying the curriculum to enhancing specific skills that a teacher must possess. Two distinct samples were involved in this study: For the (5-point) Likert scale, data will be collected from a group of 56 post graduate students from local university and 205 O' level school leavers from Malay Women Teachers' Institute in Malacca. Data analysis using SPSS version 14 through comparing means frequency, percentage, t-test and One-Way ANOVA. The findings of this study indicate that good leader is an important characteristic that contributes to excellent teachers. More than 90% of the students agree that the teaching skills such as motivation, learning environment, facilitating learning, instructional approach and enhancement of student learning with technology should be present in an excellent teacher. .The comparison of the two means shows that students agreed that personal traits are more important than teaching skills in making an excellent teacher. There is no significant difference in the perceptions of excellent teachers between postgraduates and undergraduates students. The findings indicate that what matters most is employing a variety of teaching styles, positive attitude, establish a closer rapport with student can provide a better and conducive environment for learning. Lecturers must be more open to criticism, suggestions and constructive comments in other to change and adjust their personal traits to be a better person

Investigating knowledge building dialogues in networked communities of practice. A collaborative learning endeavor across cultures

We have analyzed data from two online courses, designed to promote collaborative online learning, and in the contexts of two different cultures. Ongoing assessment (self, group, instructor) that actively engages students within the course (as opposed to instructor assessment at the end) is a central feature for achieving collaborative knowledge building in online dialog. Careful articulation and deployment of assessment criteria is a design feature that promotes meta-awareness, which, in turn, together with student-centeredness and operationalization of student experiences in the design of the curriculum, enhances student participation, motivation and ownership in the dialog. From eight years of experience with online dialog and two quite different implementations we offer a set of design principles, having a sound theoretical basis, that enhance the quality and quantity of online knowledge building. Our analysis suggests that the characteristics of the discussion threads emerging under these design criteria give evidence of true collaborative learning.We have analyzed data from two online courses, designed to promote collaborative online learning, and in the contexts of two different cultures. Ongoing assessment (self, group, instructor) that actively engages students within the course (as opposed to instructor assessment at the end) is a central feature for achieving collaborative knowledge building in online dialog. Careful articulation and deployment of assessment criteria is a design feature that promotes meta-awareness, which, in turn, together with student-centeredness and operationalization of student experiences in the design of the curriculum, enhances student participation, motivation and ownership in the dialog. From eight years of experience with online dialog and two quite different implementations we offer a set of design principles, having a sound theoretical basis, that enhance the quality and quantity of online knowledge building. Our analysis suggests that the characteristics of the discussion threads emerging under these design criteria give evidence of true collaborative learning

Room for improvement

Some businesses have begun to make space work for their staff, while others are stuck in a different ag

Building the Learning Analytics Curriculum: Should we Teach (a Code of) Ethics?

This brief chapter explores the feasibility of teaching (a code of) ethics against a background which examines our views around data scientists, data analysis, data and, in particular, student data. It touches upon different approaches to ethics and asks whether teaching ethics would make any difference

Educational Research Abstracts

Editors\u27 Note: As noted in previous issues of the Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations, the purpose of this Educational Research Abstract section is to present current research on issues relevant to math and science teaching at both the K-12 and college levels. Because educational research studies are published in so many different academic journals and presented as so many different professional conferences, it is a rare public school teacher or college professor who is familiar with the range of recent reposts on a particular instructional technique or curricular advancement. Indeed, the uniqueness of various pedagogical strategies has been tacitly acknowledged by the creation of individual journals and professional organizations dedicated to teaching in a specific discipline. Yet, many of the insights gained in teaching certain physics concepts, biological principles, or computer science algorithms can have generalizability and value for those teaching in other fields or with different types of students. In this review, the focus is on cutting edge research. Abstracts are presented according to a question examined at a recent national educational research conference. Hopefully, such a format will trigger your interest in how you might incorporate new educational findings in your own teaching situation. The abstracts presented here are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather a representative sampling of recent research investigations. Please feel free to suggest future teaching or learning themes to be examined. Please send your comments and ideas via e-mail to [email protected] or by regular mail to The College of William and Mary, P. O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23185-8795