Teaching effectiveness: A comparison between designated and not-designated outstanding college teachers

Two groups of college teachers were studied: designated outstanding teachers who had received university distinguished teaching awards, and those not designated as outstanding, who had not received a distinguished teaching award. The sample was randomly selected from teachers currently at the University of Nebraska in the colleges of Agriculture and Arts and Sciences. Each teacher was observed in the classroom and evaluated using the COKER, Classroom Observations Keyed for Effectiveness Research, a low-inference observation instrument. Three hypotheses were developed for this study to determine any differences in the teaching effectiveness between the two groups as a whole, according to subject matter taught, and adjusted for years of experience in teaching. The results were determined using fifteen competencies defined by the COKER instrument. The results indicated there was no significant difference between the teaching effectiveness of the two groups. When compared by subject taught, there were significant differences in only two competencies. When scores were adjusted for years of experience teaching, differences were found in four competencies. Analyzing the mean scores of each teacher determined that fewer of the teachers not-designated as outstanding teachers scored under the effectiveness level, but still there was no difference between the two groups. The scores of the designated outstanding teachers were analyzed according to teaching method. The effectiveness level of the teachers were ranked as follows: (1) Active learning (highest); (2) discussion; (3) lecture plus small groups and/or discussion; and (4) lecture only (lowest). The designated outstanding teachers were interviewed in order to obtain their views on teaching effectiveness. The responses were compiled into four categories: personality traits of outstanding teachers; collegiality; the outstanding teacher selection process; and promoting better teaching