Effective Professors: An Insight into their Philosophy and Practice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.53.4302Keywords:
Effective teachers and professors, philosophy and practiceAbstract
This qualitative study investigated the philosophy and practice of effective professors in the Trinidad and Tobago education system. A purposive sampling method was employed, utilizing standardized, open-ended student interviews as the data collection method for the study. Data analysis consisted of examining, categorizing, and tabulating the evidence to address two research questions of the study. Three themes emerged from the study, namely, getting to know students; teacher as life-long learner; and teacher as role model. Findings of the study revealed that most of the participants believe that getting to know students is an important element in their teaching, while others embrace the idea of life-long learning as an essential requirement for a successful practice. Some professors in the study hold a somewhat idealist philosophy and focus on modelling positive behaviours for students to emulate. While the results of this study cannot be generalized to the larger population of teachers in Trinidad and Tobago, the study is important because it provides an insight into the different philosophic positions of professors. It also introduces the conversation of how effective teachers conduct their practice in the context of the Trinidad and Tobago education system.
References
Armstrong, D. (2003). Curriculum Today. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Arnon, S. & Reichel, N. (2007). “Who is the ideal teacher? Am I? Similarities and differences in perception of students of education regarding the qualities of a good teacher and their own qualities as teachers.” Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 13(5), 441-464. http://dx.org/10.1080/13540600701561653
Beck, Clive (1993). Postmodernism, pedagogy and philosophy of education. Philosophy of Education, 27: 1-13.
Carraway, C. & Burris, S. (2017). Common themes emerged from teaching philosophies and methods of effective postsecondary teachers. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Journal, 61(1), 27-32.
Conti, G. J. (1985). The relationship between teaching style and adult student learning. Adult Education Quarterly, 35(4), 220-228.
Conti, G. J. (2007). Identifying your educational philosophy: Development of the philosophies held by instructors of lifelong-learners (PHIL). Journal of Adult Education, 36(1), 19-35.
Coppola, B. (2002). Writing a statement of teaching philosophy. Journal of College Science Teaching, 31(7), 448-453.
Crano, W. D., & Brewer, M. B. (2002). Principles and methods of social research (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Crawford, P. L., & Bradshaw, H. L. (1968). Perception of characteristics of effective university teachers: A scaling analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 28: 1079-85.
Desai, S., Damewood, E., & Jones, R. (2001). Be a good teacher and be seen as a good teacher. Journal of Marketing Education, 23(2), 136–143.
Douna, P., Kyridis, A., Zagkos, C., Ziontaki, Z., & Pandis, P. (2015). The ideal university
teacher according to the views of Greek students. International Journal of Higher Education, 4(20, 145-158.
East, W. T., Jr. (2013). Educational philosophies and teaching styles of Alabama Cooperative Extension system agents. Retrieved from http://etd.auburn.edu/handle/10415/3738
Epting, L. K., Zinn, T. E., Buskist, C., & Buskist, W. (2004). Students perspectives on the distinction between ideal and typical teachers. Teaching of Psychology, 31(3), 181-183.
Giorgi, A. & Roberts, G. (2012). Exploring the teaching beliefs of excellent undergraduate professors. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Journal, 56(1), 60-66.
Hill, Y., Lomas, L.L., & MacGregor, J. (2003). Students’ perceptions of quality in higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, 11(1), 15–20.
Joseph, S. (2016). Teachers who attract or repel: A glimpse at student expectations of their tertiary-level teachers. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 15(2), 21-31.
Korte, L., Lavin, A., & Davies, T. (2013). An investigation into good teaching traits. Journal of Learning in Higher Education, 9(1), 141-150.
Lincoln, Y. & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Obermiller, C., Ruppert, B., & Atwood, A. (2012). Instructor credibility across disciplines: Identifying students’ differentiated expectations of instructor behaviours. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(2), 153-165. DOI: 10.1177/1080569911434826
Paswan, A.K., & Young, J.A. (2002). Student evaluation of instructor: A nomological investigation using structural equation modeling. Journal of Marketing Education, 24(3), 193–202
Rossetti, J & Fox, P. (2009). Factors related to successful teaching by outstanding professors: An interpretive study. Journal of Nursing Education, 48(1), 11-16. DOI 10.3928/01484834-20090101-09
Slate, J., La prairie, N., Schulte, D., Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2011). Views of effective college faculty: A mixed analysis. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(3), 331-346.
Sarantakos, S. (2005). Social research. Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan.
Swanson, S.R., & Frankel, R. (2002). A view from the podium: Classroom successes, failures, and recovery strategies. Marketing Education Review, 12(2), 25–35.
Tomlinson, C. A. (2014). The differentiated classroom. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD.
Tomlinson, C. A., & Imbeau, M. B. (2010). Leading and managing a differentiated classroom. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD.
Witcher, A. E., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Minor, L. (2001). Characteristics of effective teachers: Perceptions of pre-service teachers. Research in the Schools, 8(2), 45-57.
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.
