October 1997 Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 1
Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Bowling Green State University

Recently, I was privileged to join a small knot of faculty and students for lunch and discussion about my favorite topic, teaching and learning. We had barely sat down when somebody asked, "What's a 'good' teacher?" That's always a thought-provoking question, and it provoked an hour-long debate. As usual, of course, the answer was "It depends." Who wants to know, for example? Whom are you asking? Why do you want to know?

Researchers have addressed this topic from many directions. One common approach focuses on student perceptions. Suppose that a neutral observer asked your students to characterize a "good teacher," perhaps to establish objective standards that might be used for career development or for performance evaluation. What would they say?

A couple of years ago, the Journal on Excellence in College Teaching carried a report on just such a project, entitled "The Prototypical Features of the Ideal Professor From the Female and Male Undergraduate Perspective: The Role of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication."1 The authors, a five-person team from Michigan State, asked a large sample of undergraduates two questions: "What qualities do you believe the ideal professor should have?" and "What communication skills, both verbal and nonverbal, characterize the ideal professor?" From the responses, the authors then distilled a set of 24 "prototypical features." By studying the frequency with which each of the 24 was mentioned and then massaging the statistics carefully, they produced a rank ordered list that gives some insight into how students might define a "good" teacher.

Their list includes a mix of what we might call "personality traits" (empathic, for example) and "teaching behaviors" (such as encourages interaction). In the language of our lunchtime discussion, they address both who you are and what you do. As a result, some items on the list are easy to change, while others are deeply held components of your personality, not open for negotiation. Whatever the label "good" means, it's likely that each of us will have some difficulty earning it.

The investigators then separated the student responses into two lists on the basis of gender. Although knowledgeable is on both lists, it is not at the top of either one. What this says to me is that students take it for granted that you know what you are talking about, and are more concerned about how well you relate to them. Communication skills and interpersonal behavior are absolutely crucial to your success in the classroom, from the student perspective. Your colleagues and department chair are in a better position to judge whether you know your subject, and are more likely to put knowledgeable at the top of their list of "good" traits.

The thing that I find most interesting about the lists is that men and women not only order the top eight characteristics differently, they don't even agree on which characteristics belong in the top eight. Humorous, for example, is #4 on the men's list but is a distant #12 for women. Approachable is #2 among women, b ut only #10 for the men.

What does this tell us? No surprise: students are not all alike, and gender is only one of many differences among them. What they value in a teacher varies from one student to the next, so it would be risky to assume that we can draw a unique profile of an "ideal professor" from their responses. It would certainly be a mistake to evaluate the performance of any teacher against such a profile. The exciting revelation, not apparent in this study but borne out in many, many others2, is that even though students cannot agree on what an ideal professor looks like, they can agree on whether an individual professor is "good" or not. Each student uses slightly different criteria for "goodness," but like the apocryphal neophyte in the art gallery, they each know good teaching when they see it. So, what is a "good" teacher? As I said at the outset, it depends on who wants to know, why they want to know, and who's being asked. Perhaps the best assessment lesson in this brief essay is that if we consider "goodness" from our students' perspective, their detailed answers are less revealing--and less important--than how they apply their personal criteria in rating specific teachers.

It would be dangerous to advise all teachers to fit the same mold, and it would be foolhardy to penalize them if they pursue different definitions of "good." To the extent that student ratings are useful in assessing teaching, the most important question we ask students is the most basic one: "How effective is your teacher?" It cuts right to what we really want to know, without quibbling about all the ways students think teachers can be "good."

1 Smith, S., Medendorp, C., Ranck, S., Morrison, K., and Kopfman, J. (1994) The Prototypical Features of the Ideal Professor from the Female and Male Undergraduate Perspective: The Role of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication. Journal on Exce llence in College Teaching, 5(2), 5-22.

2 e.g., Theall, M. and Franklin, J. (1990) Student Ratings of Instruction: Issues for Improving Practice. Jossey Bass Publishers, San Francisco.

What are the qualities of an educated person? Come hear a panel discussion and take part in a town meeting to explore this question.

If we are to become the Premier Learning Community in Ohio and one of the best in the nation, then we need to articulate the outcomes that characterize learning at BGSU. This, of course, is not an easy matter, and many viewpoints must be considered.

On Monday evening, November 3, President Ribeau and the Student Achievement Assessment Committee will host "Visions of Learning Outcomes for BGSU." Four panelists will start the evening by addressing the educational process as seen from their viewpoints: (1) legislative and public affairs, (2) corporate America, (3) a university much like BGSU, and (4) learning outcomes for majors at BGSU. The key question is "What outcomes do you want graduates to be able to demonstrate?"

Panel Member Descriptions:

(1) Representative Randall Gardner, Ohio House of Representatives

(2) Craig Decker, manager of worldwide recruiting, Proctor & Gamble, Cincinnati

(3) Roger Sell, director, Center for Enhancement of Teaching, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Rapids

(4) Milt Hakel, chair, Student Achievement Assessment

Following the panelists' remarks, the microphones will be open for general discussion. Given the divergent views expressed via e-mail this autumn on many different lists, the discussion is bound to be lively. President Ribeau will make some summary remarks to close the meeting.

The meeting will be held in Olscamp Hall, room 101 B, on Monday, November 3, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. All members of the learning community are cordially invited to attend.

Articles and excerpts published in The Student Learner in Focus are occasionally reproduced from The Teaching Professor by permission from Magna Publications. A copy of The Teaching Professor is available in each academic unit for use by all faculty, graduate students, staff, and administrators. The Teaching Professor is published monthly, except July and August by Magna Publications, Inc., 2718 Dryden Dr., Madison, WI 53704-3086.

The Jerome Library has a comprehensive list of materials related to assessment on reserve. The following resources represent just a sample of recommended readings:

Plan for Assessment of Student Academic Achievement by Kent State University

Annotated Bibliography of Higher Education Assessment Literature (Selected References from 1970-1989) by the SCHEA Network

The Student Learner in Focus is a newsletter published by the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The newsletter serves to inform the academic community at Bowling Green State University of new and innovative learning strategies at the programmatic and classroom levels. The Student Learner in Focus also summarizes ongoing assessment programs on campus. Comments, suggestions, and questions are welcome and may be directed to Dr. Steven Russell, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Education and Allied Professions at 372-7401

Editor : Steven C. Russell
Associate Editor : Leigh M. Hayes

Return to other issues of The Student Learner in Focus

Return to BGSU Assessment Central Homepage