6: Effective College Teaching

Teaching effectiveness has become one of the most controversial issues in higher education, as pressures of student riots in the 1960's were followed by financial pressures from legislatures and donors. Thus a review of substantive knowledge about effective college teaching is timely. This review updates earlier efforts (McKeachie, 1963, 1970), and emphasizes insights gained since. When we think of teacher effectiveness, we almost inevitably think of the classroom and the teaching methods used by the teacher. Even though only a minority of the college teacher's working hours are spent in the classroom, it is classroom teaching that is the focus of efforts to evaluate and improve teaching effectiveness. Such a focus misses the importance of the instructor's hours spent in planning, counseling, tutoring, and encouraging students, and in meetings devoted to determining educational issues. Nevertheless, the classroom is the chief arena of instructor-student interaction. What goes on in classrooms is important in determining the learning experiences of students. Students can learn without teachers, but the teacher and his methods are rightfully perceived by students as crucial elements in determining their learning. In this chapter we deal with major instructional methods, with student characteristics affecting instructional effectiveness, and with microinstructional variables affecting the learning of a single lesson.