PBL Pearl Vol 2 (#17): Traits of successful teachers

What makes a good teacher? A study was done at the San Diego School of Pharmacy to identify faculty characteristics and teaching methods that initiate and maintain student attention and engagement throughout the classroom experience.

Current 3rd and 4th professional year Doctor of Pharmacy students were invited to complete a web-based survey regarding their perceptions of faculty attributes and teaching techniques that maintain or enhance engagement. Each questionnaire consisted of 23 multiple choice questions using a 1-4 rating scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree and 5 open ended questions. Preferences of teacher characteristics, active learning techniques and lecture structure were examined.

Ninety eight questionnaires were completed (48%). Students strongly agreed that enthusiasm (73%), genuine interest in student learning (71%) and preparation/organization (69%) were engaging faculty attributes. Strong agreement was also observed for techniques including multiple examples/patient cases per subject (71%) and end of class summaries (72%).

Reference:
http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/1/8/2/0/p118208_index.html

Posted on behalf of Dr. M. Luterman