Implicit Person Theories and Change in Teacher Evaluation: A Longitudinal Field Study

Adopting a longitudinal field study, this paper investigates whether entity theorists (students who believe human attributes are fixed) are less likely than incremental theorists (students who believe human attributes are malleable) to change their evaluations of a teacher in accordance with his behavioral changes. An instructor exhibited some forgetful behaviors in the first half of a course, and ceased doing so in the second half. Consistent with our hypothesis, incremental theorists adjusted their perceptions of the instructor. They rated him as less forgetful accordingly at the end of the course than at the middle. Entity theorists, however, did not show this change. With improved ecological validity, this study extends previous laboratory studies to teacher evaluation.     

Using computer-mediated conferencing to facilitate group projects in an educational psychology course

A course design is presented as a model for incorporating computer-mediated conferencing (CMC) in support of administering, organizing, and evaluating group projects in a psychology course. Students in an educational psychology course use e-mail and an electronic bulletin board system to communicate within and between student groups as well as with the instructor. Critical elements for the implementation of CMC are discussed, and suggestions for ways to avoid problems are offered.     

Locus of control and attribution of responsibility for academic performance

This study tested Phares, Wilson, and Klyver's (1971) hypothesis that locus of control differences are unimportant in a situation which provides very explicit cues arousing specific expectancies regarding the locus of blame for poor performance. Two hundred and seventeen undergraduate students (134 men and 83 women) completed Rotter's I-E Scale as part of classwork in midsemester. During the last week of the semester they were routinely administered a questionnaire containing items on course evaluation, instructor evaluation, and expected grade. Expected grade was significantly correlated with ratings on several course evaluation and instructor evaluation items for internals and externals in the male, female, and total samples. However, these correlations were not significantly different for internals and externals in each sample. These results provided strong empirical support for the tested hypothesis.     

The influences of course effort,mastery and performance goals,grade expectancies,and earned course grades on student ratings of course satisfaction

Background. The positive relation between course grades and student ratings of course satisfaction is well established but controversy continues concerning the magnitude, interpretation, and implications of this association. Aims. This study examined the within course relations of a set of variables often implicated as potential contributors to the grade‐student rating relation. Sample. Two‐hundred and twenty students enrolled in an internet‐based university course. Method. Measures of course mastery and performance goals, expected grades, course effort, cumulative GPA, and final course grade were prospectively collected. The dependent variable was a global measure of course satisfaction obtained at the end of the semester. Results. A path model fit the data very well and all study variables directly or indirectly predicted course satisfaction. Grades had a moderately strong effect, half of which was independent of other model variables. Adjusting for all model variables, students high on mastery course goals evaluated the course more positively whereas students high on performance goals provided less favourable evaluations. Conclusions. Students can assess the same course and instructor in different ways depending upon such factors as their degree of success, their motivations for taking the course, and the amount of effort invested. Course satisfaction, then, can be substantially influenced by factors loosely or unrelated to course or teacher effectiveness.     

Changes in syllabus tone affect warmth (but not competence) ratings of both male and female instructors

The syllabus is often the first meaningful piece of information that students receive about a course. Previous research has indicated that students form more positive impressions of a course instructor after reading a syllabus that has been manipulated to convey information in a friendly, rather than unfriendly, tone (Harnish and Bridges in Soc Psychol Educ 14:319–330, 2011). While a friendly syllabus leads to increased perceptions of instructor warmth and approachability, it is unclear from this previous research whether a friendly syllabus may also lead to decreases in the perceived competence of the instructor. Thus, we aimed to clarify whether changes in syllabus tone affect perceptions of instructor competency. We also wished to explore the possibility of gender bias affecting these syllabus-based impressions of instructors, and to examine whether differences in syllabus tone impact the impressions formed of male and female instructors in the same way. Participants read a friendly or unfriendly course syllabus from either a male, female, or gender-unspecified instructor. Regardless of instructor gender, participants receiving the friendly syllabus perceived the instructor as being more approachable, more caring, and more motivating, but not any more or less competent, compared to those receiving the unfriendly syllabus. While instructors will be relieved to know that efforts to appear friendly on a course syllabus do not appear to negatively impact student perceptions of instructor competence, more research is needed to examine the potential role of gender bias on students’ initial impressions of instructors.     

在线学习环境中教师幽默对学习投入的影响：一个多水平的结构方程分析

以教学幽默风格模型（Instructional Humor Styles）和教学幽默加工理论（Instructional Humor Processing Theory）为基础,通过构建多水平的结构方程模型探索在线学习环境中,教师幽默与学习投入关系。结果表明：（1）教师幽默与学习投入无显著相关;（2）在学生层面,仅学生感知的与课堂相关的教师幽默与学习投入呈显著正相关;（3）学生感知的与课堂相关,与课堂无关和攻击性的教师幽默均能通过积极情绪和消极情绪对学习投入产生影响。此外,自我贬低的教师幽默仅通过消极情绪对学习投入产生作用。本研究首次将教学幽默风格理论模型拓展至在线学习环境中,从教师层面和学生层面验证了该理论在我国的适应性。此外,本研究验证了教学幽默加工理论,揭示了教师幽默对学习投入的内在机制,这对改善在线学习环境中学生的学习投入具有一定的指导意义。     

Effectiveness of an ethics course delivered in traditional and non-traditional formats

This paper details a three-credit-hour undergraduate ethics course that was delivered using traditional, distance, and compressed formats. OLS 263: Ethical Decisions in Leadership is a 200-level course offered by the Department of Organizational Leadership and Supervision in the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Students in engineering, technology, business, nursing, and other majors take the course. In an effort to determine student perceptions of course and instructor effectiveness, end-of-course student survey data were compared using data from traditional, distance, and compressed sections of the course. In addition, learning outcomes from the final course project were evaluated using a standardized assessment rubric and scores on the course project. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology” meeting, New Orleans, 2003.     

“There Is a Lot of Junk on the Web!”: Using Web Site Evaluation in an Introductory Religion Course

This essay describes a web site evaluation project which served as the final assignment for an undergraduate “Introduction to Religion” course. The essay discusses lessons learned from the design and implementation of this web‐based research assignment over three consecutive semesters. It includes insights from an instructor and a reference librarian who collaborated on this project.     

Effect of syllabus tone: students’ perceptions of instructor and course

It is not uncommon for students to complain that faculty are unapproachable, while faculty complain that students are not engaged. Such perceptions, especially when formed at the start of a semester, can impact what students learn and how instructors teach; therefore, it is critical that these perceptions are prevented if a course is to be successful. A good starting point is the syllabus, which not only informs students about a course and its requirements, but creates a first impression about the instructor and his or her attitudes toward teaching. We conducted an experiment in which the course syllabus was manipulated to reflect a friendly or an unfriendly tone so that we could explore the perceptions students formed of the instructor and class. Results supported the hypothesis that a syllabus written in a friendly, rather than unfriendly, tone evoked perceptions of the instructor being more warm, more approachable, and more motivated to teach the course.     

Touching as Teaching: The Effect of Touch on Students' Perceptions and Performance

The effect of instructor touch on students' ratings of the instructor and students' performance in the classroom was investigated. A total of 171 male and female college students participated in individual conferences with their instructors following the first examination in the course. Half were touched by their instructors during the conference; the other half were not. Students then evaluated the instructor, the instructor's teaching effectiveness, and the utility of the conference. Analysis of results revealed that students who were touched during the conference gave their instructors significantly higher ratings than those who were not touched. In addition, students in the touched condition showed superior performance on the next course examination, scoring .58 standard deviations higher on the examination compared to the untouched students. The authors conclude that touching, when conducted in a conference situation to help students improve class performance, can be a highly effective teaching tool.     

Delsartean hypnosis for girls' bodies and minds: Annie Payson Call and the Lasell Seminary nerve training controversy

In the summer of 1890, news that two students at Lasell Seminary for Young Women in Auburndale, MA had suffered a complete nervous collapse as a result of being hypnotized by an instructor in a nerve training class caused a brief but sharp national sensation regarding hypnotism and nerve training in girls' education. The instructor, Annie Payson Call, denied practicing hypnotism, and the seminary's principal defended both Call and the "mind concentration" course she taught at Lasell. Call's approach to nerve training blended Delsartean relaxation exercises, New Thought psychology, and self-hypnotic techniques into a therapeutic regimen which can be termed "Delsartean hypnosis." Developed further in her 1891 popular self-help handbook, Power Through Repose, Call's variety of Delsartean hypnosis was incorporated into the procedures of proponents of suggestive therapeutics, and it served as a model for subsequent relaxation training programs in the early- and mid-20th century.     

From a Distance: Pastoral Care and Theological Education

Abstract. This article is a presentation and discussion of a seminary course on the Corinthian Correspondence. The pedagogical model for this course was structured to parallel the pattern of Paul's pastoral care from a distance as he relates to the Corinthian congregation by personal visits, delegations from and to the congregation, letters from and to the congregation, and unofficial grapevine types of communication. The course was designed for dispersed students to interact with the Corinthian letters, with each other, and with myself as instructor in ways that 1) simulate a first‐century exchange between congregation and apostle and 2) facilitate careful interpretive work on the message of these letters, including their contemporary relevance.     

Models and modeling with the Louisville experiment simulation system (LESS)

A system is described which permits the average instructor, without programming knowledge, to prepare a simulation model that can be called up by students as a simulated experiment.     

College students’ prejudicial biases against instructors who smoke cigarettes

In an investigation of students’ prejudicial biases against instructors who smoke, 61 female and 16 male undergraduates watched and listened to a 20-min lecture about parasomnias, completed a survey asking for instructor evaluation ratings and ratings of perceived learning, and completed a lecture-retention test with multiple-choice questions to assess actual learning. In a between-subjects design, the lecture was given by either a man or woman, who was portrayed as a smoker or nonsmoker. The instructors’ sex and smoking status did not affect the students’ perceived or actual learning (all p’s > .05). However, a significant interaction on the instructor evaluation ratings revealed that students rated the female instructors equivalently (p = .78), but rated the smoker male instructor significantly lower than the nonsmoker male instructor (p = .01). These findings suggest that students hold prejudicial biases against male instructors who smoke, but that these biases do not affect student learning.     

A Multivariate Analysis of Selected Class Characteristic and Student Rating of Instruction

This study examined the relationship between selected class characteristics and student ratings of instructors. A large number of classes (N = 1247)and students (over 33,000) a t a large Midwestern University provided the data for this study. The results indicated that the class characteristics that had the strongest influence on the results of instructor ratings were the grades expected by students and the percentage of students in the class taking the course as an elective.     

Student MEL software support for instructors and teaching assistants in research methods course

A number of common problems plague the teaching of the undergraduate research methods course, from the training of teaching assistants to providing meaningful experimental materials to handling data acquisition and analysis. The Student Micro Experimental Laboratory (MEL) offers a systematic approach to the management of a computerized research methods laboratory course by combining high-quality experiments in many areas of psychology with background materials to help the instructor and teaching assistant. The software presents and collects data from 28 experiments. The data can be analyzed for single subjects and for classes as a whole. Students can rapidly implement new experiments in a variety of paradigms. An expanding library of experiments created by students and instructors should provide an expanding environment for teaching experimental research methods. Instructor’s materials provide background information, discussion questions, and data analysis for all experiments. The student workbook provides discussion of the background of the experiment, details of the methodology, and questions addressing various aspects of experimental design and interpretation of data.     

Three Group Approaches with Socially Deprived Latency-Age Children

The significant benefit of experiential learning in group work presents ethical complexities that must be considered by students, faculty, and programs. This article explores the clinical and ethical intricacies of teaching a group counseling course while facilitating an experiential group as part of the course curriculum. Specifically, the framework presented examines the dual roles of facilitator and instructor as complementary versus adversarial functions while analyzing challenges to both teacher and students. Guidelines for effectively running an experiential group as part of a group counseling course are presented utilizing five ethical principles: fidelity, beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice. Finally, guidelines and practice considerations specifically tailored for the educative role as instructor and the process role as group facilitator are provided.     

Teaching Science, Technology, and Society to Engineering Students: A Sixteen Year Journey

The course Science, Technology, and Society is taken by about 500 engineering students each year at Bilkent University, Ankara. Aiming to complement the highly technical engineering programs, it deals with the ethical, social, cultural, political, economic, legal, environment and sustainability, health and safety, reliability dimensions of science, technology, and engineering in a multidisciplinary fashion. The teaching philosophy and experiences of the instructor are reviewed. Community research projects have been an important feature of the course. Analysis of teaching style based on a multi-dimensional model is given. Results of outcome measurements performed for ABET assessment are provided. Challenges and solutions related to teaching a large class are discussed.