IDENTIFYING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTORS: WHAT DO STUDENTS SAY?

Educators often discuss teaching strategies as the means to enhance students’ education, however many effective educators share characteristics which also strongly influence students’ learning. Previous studies have attempted to identify the characteristics of effective instructors but difficulties with definitions and measurement have hindered progress. This study tried to help identify characteristics of effective teachers who taught online and onground college courses.

Specifically, it sought to answer two research questions:
1) What do students perceive as effective teaching characteristics?
2) How do the characteristics differ with regards to age, gender, student’s major, student’s year or level, and/or course delivery?

Undergraduate and Graduate students from a Catholic, Liberal Arts University were invited to participate in an online survey via email. A total of 733 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the study. Participants were asked to rate how important behaviors/characteristics are in an effective Instructor for online and onground coursework. Results indicated that the highest and lowest rated characteristics/behaviors for both onground and online Instructors were the same. In addition, no significant associations were found which suggests that gender, age, major, location, and level of education are not related to the qualities of Instructors. Therefore, these qualities are consistent across varying types of students and varying delivery modalities.

These findings and further implications will be discussed.