INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS USED IN THE UNIVERSITY, FOUR YEAR COLLEGE, AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Several recent trends in higher education have direct implications for the improvement of undergraduate teaching quality. One such trend is the retrenchment which is taking place due to factors such as demands of accountability, declining enrollments, and financial pressures. Others are alterations in the composition of student bodies, most notably the influx of nontraditional students (see Cross, 1971), and the changing status of students towards that of an educational consumer (see Stark, 1976; 1977). Countering these positive influences, however, are such impediments to improvement of instruction as the nature of the faculty reward system (see Eble, 1972) and a long history of lack of concern for undergraduate instruction. Therefore it is unclear whether instruction will remain unchanged or will become more innovative. The results of a survey of instructional practices during the late 1940\u27s (Umstattd, 1954) indicated that formal and informal lecture, discussion, laboratory, and audio-visual aids were most frequently used by faculty in 28 colleges and universities. This finding was replicated 30 years later in the Instructional Methods Survey included faculty and student samples from 5 Nebraska universities and four year colleges. Little had changed in the 30 year span. The present study extended the Instructional Methods Survey to include samples from a total of 2 universities, 4 four year colleges, and 5 community colleges. Community colleges have a reputation for being student- and teaching-centered and enroll the largest number of nontraditional students. For these reasons, it was suggested that perhaps more innovative teaching would be evident if community colleges were also included in the survey. Both descriptive and comparative information regarding teaching and grading method usage across three types of higher education institutions were obtained. Responses from 1259 faculty and 5459 students indicated that the traditional teaching methods which have always been used in American higher education institutions remain prevalent today. The relatively new and innovative teaching methods, such as the field or experiential method, are being used to a very limited degree in universities and four year colleges, but are more frequently used in community colleges. Discriminant analyses of reported usage of 23 teaching methods by community college faculty distinguished them from university and four year college faculty. Faculty from the community colleges reported using independent study, discovery, and guest instructors less, while they reported using the Keller plan, experiential learning, programmed instruction, and laboratory more than did other faculty