How to Improve Teaching Quality

This week, I would like a concise summary on continuous teaching improvement by Mintz published this week in IHE entitled, "How to Improve Teaching Quality and Effectiveness." In this, the author shares four pedagogical styles that can, depending on the professor, engage or repel students.

• The autocrat, who relies on direct instruction and Socratic questioning.

• The facilitator, who shifts the classroom’s focus from the teacher to the students themselves.

• The delegator, who cedes pride of place to the students, who are responsible for introducing class sessions, initiating and managing discussions, and making classroom presentations.

• The puppeteer, who prompts students to undertake various activities and follows up by helping students unpack the meaning.

The author reminds us that that teaching is a science. Effectiveness can be enhanced by applying cognitive processes, intrinsic motivation, cognitive load, and short- and long-term memory; integrating mental modeling, metacognition, spaced practice; and how to apply principles derived from the science of learning. Mintz (2021) offers five suggestions:

1. Initiate a systematic process of course redesign.

2. Incentivize departmental conversations on research-based teaching.

3. Give faculty the support they need to be innovative in their courses.

4. Conduct a course equity and outcomes overview.

5. Create a campus conversation about transformational teaching.