Great teaching: models and evaluation

Abstract

What constitutes good teaching has been at the focus of theories of pedagogy for thousands of years. However, recent research (Coe, Aloisi, Higgins & Major, 2014; Kornell & Hausman, 2016; Duke, 2012; Harmer, 2014; Grant, Stronge & Xu, 2014; Strong, Gargani & Hacifazlioglu, 2011; Hamre, Goffin & Kraft­Sayre, 2009) suggests that this seemingly mature and well­researched concept needs to be re­examined in view of the burgeoning research in the field. Coe et al. (2014) propose that recent research into best teaching practices brings up questions about elements of good teaching and ways of measuring it. The issue of evaluating teaching attempts to answer these seemingly obvious ques­tions about what makes good teaching. This paper aims to address some of these questions. First, it examines the concepts of good teaching and the aspects which need to be considered in its evaluation. Next, it explores the frameworks deter­mining good teaching which are delineated for different research and/or institu­tional needs. Based on the evaluation of these frameworks, the paper proposes a model for a specific set of needs of evaluating teaching from a student perspec­tive at an Australian university.

Keywords

• good teaching model
• evaluation
• frameworks
• best teaching practices