THE ROLE OF MOTIVATION AND THE CONCEPTION OF TEACHING OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS IN THE TEACHING METHODOLOGIES THEY USE

Since the launch of the EHEA, research on university teaching has increased significantly. Although, the conception of teaching of university professors has been widely studied (Lobato and Madinabeitia, 2011), it is essential to analyze what impact it has on the perception university professors have about the teaching methodologies they use in class.

Various research on the beliefs and convictions of teachers regarding teaching and student learning and on what they say they do when they teach, lead to two models: the transmission of knowledge model or education centered model, also called teacher-centered model; and the model of learning facilitation, or learning-centered model, also called student-centered model. Both would be the ends of a continuum in which intermediate categories would be located (Kember, 1997; Samuelowicz and Bain, 2001). Depending on where the university professors are located in that continuum, they will probably use some teachings methods against others (Gargallo et al, 2010).

The aim of this work is to know the role of the conception of teaching in the teaching methodologies university professors use in their clases and in how they think these teaching methods promote their student’s learning.

44 teachers from different areas of knowledge belonging to public and private universities participated in the study, who completed questionnaires for each of the studied variables: TAMUFQ Questionnaire to measure the concept of teaching and teaching skills, personal and professional qualities (Gargallo et al, 2010) and an ad hoc questionnaire to evaluate which methodologies the teachers used.

The analysis of linear stepwise regression show that the preferences on different teaching methodologies is mediated by the conception of teaching. The relationship between the conception of teaching and teaching methods used, and their impact on higher education is discussed.