Understanding Effective Teaching Beliefs of Instructors and Students: A Qualitative ‎Study at an Ethiopian University

Abstract

This article explores instructors and students’ beliefs toward effective teaching in higher education in Ethiopia. Besides classroom observations, we developed and conducted semi-structured interviews with ten instructors and 12 students at one higher education institution. We followed the data condensation and displayed it for interpreting the data. The findings highlight the qualities of effective teaching and the hope for a change in the current teaching approach to actively participate in the teaching-learning action. This, however, demands a change in designing the course syllabus and assignments and the continuous professional development of the teaching faculty.

Keywords

• beliefs
• effective teaching
• student-centered approach
• professional development
• higher education
• ethiopia