We surveyed representatives of faculty search committees seeking candidates who demonstrated “excellence in teaching,” a “commitment to excellence in teaching,” or the like in an attempt to determine how such committees conceptualize and assess excellence in teaching. In order, respondents rated student evaluations, letters of recommendation, quality of previous teaching experience, statements of teaching philosophy, and the quality of the teaching demonstration or job talk in gauging the teaching excellence of applicants. We offer suggestions for preparing graduate students and faculty to compete successfully for academic positions that specify excellence in teaching.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BaioccoS. A.DeWatersJ. N. (1998). Successful college teaching: Problem-solving strategies of distinguished professors.Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
2.
BenjaminL. T.Jr. (2002). Lecturing In DavisS. F.BuskistW. (Eds.), The teaching of psychology: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer (pp. 57–67). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
3.
BuskistW.SikorskiJ.BuckleyT.SavilleB. K. (2002). Elements of master teaching In DavisS. F.BuskistW. (Eds.), The teaching of psychology: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer (pp. 27–39). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
4.
CliftonJ.SikorskiJ.BuskistW. (2003, February). Preparing for an academic position: What search committees are seeking in the application packet. Poster presented at the Southeastern Conference on the Teaching of Psychology, Atlanta, GA.
5.
EricssonK. A. (2002). Attaining excellence through deliberate practice: Insights from the study of expert performance In FerrariM. (Ed.), The pursuit of excellence in education (pp. 21–55). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
6.
GillV. (1998). The ten commandments of good teaching.Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
7.
KornJ. H. (2002). Beyond tenure: The teaching portfolio for reflection and change In DavisS. F.BuskistW. (Eds.), The teaching of psychology: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer (pp. 203–213). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
8.
LowmanJ. (1995). Mastering the techniques of teaching (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
9.
McKeachieW. J. (2002). McKeachie's teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers (11th ed.). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
10.
MeyersS. A.PrietoL. R. (2000). Training in the teaching of psychology: What is done and examining the differencesTeaching of Psychology27, 258–261.
11.
PerlmanB.MarxenJ. C.McFaddenS.McCannL. I. (1996). Applicants for a faculty position do not emphasize teachingTeaching of Psychology23, 103–104.
12.
SeldinP. (1991). The teaching portfolio: A practical guide to improved performance and promotion/tenure decisions.Bolton, MA: Anker.
13.
WannP. D. (2001, January). Faculty and student perceptions of the behaviors of effective college teachers. Poster presented at the National Institute for the Teaching of PsychologySt. Petersburg Beach, FL.
14.
WeimerM. (1993). Improving your classroom teaching.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
15.
AndersonT. H.ArmbrusterB. B. (1991). The value of taking notes during lectures. In FlippoR. F.CaverlyD. C. (Eds.), Teaching reading & study strategies at the college level (pp. 166–194). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
16.
BlighD. (1998). What's the use of lectures?Exeter, England: Intellect.
17.
CharmanD. J.FullertonH. (1995). Interactive lectures: A case study in a geographical concepts course. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 19, 57–68. Retrieved June 4, 2000 from the EBSCOhost database.
18.
CollingwoodV.HughesD. C. (1978). Effects of three types of university lecture notes on student achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 175–179.
19.
HartleyJ. (1976). Lecture handouts and student note-taking. Programmed Learning and Educational Technology, 13, 58–64.
20.
HartleyJ. (1998). Learning and studying: A research perspective. New York: Routledge.
21.
HersonK.SosabowskiM. H.LloydA. W. (1999). Intranet-based learning: A one-year study of student utilization. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 15, 269–278.
22.
HohnR. L.GallagherT.ByrneM. (1990). Instructor-supplied notes and higher-order thinking. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 17, 71–74. Retrieved June 13, 2002, from the EBSCOhost database.
23.
KatayamaA. D.RobinsonD. H. (2000). Getting students “partially” involved in note-taking using graphic organizers. Journal of Experimental Education, 68, 119–133. Retrieved February 5, 2002, from the EBSCOhost database.
24.
KiewraK. A. (1985). Learning from a lecture: An investigation of notetaking, review and attendance at a lecture. Human Learning, 4, 73–77.
25.
KiewraK. A.DuBoisN. F.ChristianD.McShaneA. (1988). Providing study notes: Comparison of three types of notes for review. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 595–597.
26.
KiewraK. A.FrankB. M. (1988). Encoding and external-storage effects of personal lecture notes, skeletal notes, and detailed notes for field-independent and field-dependent learners. Journal of Educational Research, 81, 143–148.
27.
KiewraK. A.MayerR. E.ChristensenM.KimS.RischN. (1991). Effects of repetition on recall and note-taking: Strategies for learning from lectures. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83, 120–123.
28.
KiewraK. A.MayerR. E.DuBoisN. F.ChristensenM.KimS.RischN. (1997). Effects of advanced organizers and repeated presentations on students' learning. Journal of Experimental Education, 65, 147–159.
29.
LockeE. A. (1977). An empirical study of lecture note taking among college students. Journal of Educational Research, 71, 93–99.
30.
MayerR. E. (1983). Can you repeat that? Qualitative effects of repetition and advanced organizers on learning from science prose. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 40–49.
31.
MaqsudM. (1980). Effects of personal lecture notes and teacher-notes on recall of university students. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 50, 289–294.
32.
MurphyT. M.CrossV. (2002). Should students get the instructor's lecture notes?Journal of Biological Education, 36, 72–75.
33.
PottsB. (1993). Improving the quality of student notes. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 366 645).
34.
RuffiniM. F. (1999). The impact of undergraduate preservice teachers' use of hypermedia to review lecture notes. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 31, 292–304. Retrieved June 2, 2000, from the EBSCOhost database.
35.
RussellI. J.CarisT. N.HarrisG. D.HendricsonW. D. (1983). Effects of three types of lecture notes on medical student achievement. Journal of Medical Education, 58, 627–636.
36.
ThomasG. S. (1978). Use of student notesand lecture summaries as study guides for recall. Journal of Educational Research, 71, 316–319.
37.
American Psychological Association. (1999). National standards for the teaching of high school psychology. Retrieved January 26, 2004, from http://www.apa.org/ed/natlstandards.html.
38.
BristolA. S.GillisJ. M. (2001). Recent developments in high school psychology education: An extension of Hakala (1999). Teaching of Psychology, 28, 62–64.
39.
DambrotF. H.PopplestoneJ. A. (1975). High school psychology revisited: Student performance in a college-level psychology course. Journal of School Psychology, 13, 129–133.
40.
EngleT. L. (1967). Teaching psychology at the secondary school level: Past, present, possible future. Journal of School Psychology, 5, 168–176.
41.
ErnstR.PetrossianP. (1996). Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS): Aiming for excellence in high school psychology instruction. American Psychologist, 51, 256–258.
42.
GriggsR. A.JacksonS. L.MeyerM. E. (1989). High school and college psychology: Two different worlds. Teaching of Psychology, 167, 118–120.
43.
HakalaC. M. (1999). Some observations of the current state of high school psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 26, 122–123.
44.
HakalaC. M.ErnstR. M. (2003, September). A national survey of high school psychology: TOPSS at ten. Poster presented at Taking Off: Best Practices in Teaching Introductory Psychology Conference, Atlanta, GA.
45.
MillisK. K. (2001). Comparing two collaborative projects in a cognitive psychology course. Teaching of Psychology, 28, 263–265.
46.
Connor-LintonJ. (1995). An indirect model of service-learning: Integrating research, teaching, and community service. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 2, 105–111.
47.
HardyM. S.SchaenE. B. (2000). Integrating the classroom and community service: Everyone benefits. Teaching of Psychology, 27, 47–49.
48.
MillerKnutson K.YenS.MerinoN. (2002). Service-learning and academic achievement in an undergraduate child development course: Findings, challenges, and recommendations. In FurcoA.BilligS. (Eds.), Advances in service-learning research: Service-learning through a multidisciplinary lens (Vol. 2, pp. 199–213). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
49.
MarcusG. B.HowardJ. P. F.KingD. C. (1993). Integrating community service and classroom instruction enhances learning: Results from an experiment. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 15, 410–419.
50.
ReebR. N.SammonJ. A.IsacksonN. L. (1999). Clinical application of the service-learning model in development: Evidence of educational and clinical benefits. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 18, 65–82.
51.
ShastriA. (2001, March). Examining the impact of service-learning among preservice teachers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Dallas, TX.
52.
StrageA. A. (2000). Service-learning: Enhancing student learning achievement in a college-level lecture course. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 7, 5–13.
53.
BairdB. N. (1991). In-class poster sessions. Teaching of Psychology, 18, 27–29.
54.
BenjaminL. T.FawlC. T.Jr.KleinM. (1977). The fair: Experimental psychology for high school students. American Psychologist, 32, 1097–1098.
55.
ChuteD. L.BankB. (1983). Undergraduate seminars: The poster session solution. Teaching of Psychology, 10, 99–100.
56.
GoreP. A.CampC. J. (1987). A radical poster session. Teaching of Psychology, 14, 243–244.
57.
RosenbergJ.BlountR. L. (1988). Poster sessions revisited: A student research convocation. Teaching of Psychology, 15, 38–39.
58.
WelchA. A.WaehlerC. A. (1996). Preferences about APA poster presentations. Teaching of Psychology, 23, 42–44.
59.
BabbieE. (2001). The practice of social research (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson.
60.
CamicP. M.RhodesJ. E.YardleyL. (Eds.). (2003). Qualitative research in psychology: Expanding perspectives in methodology and design. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
61.
GergenK. J. (2001). Psychological science in a postmodern context. American Psychologist, 56, 803–813.
62.
KeeleyS. M.ShembergK. M.ZaynorL. (1988). Dissertation research in clinical psychology: Beyond positivism?Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 19, 216–222.
63.
KopalaM.SuzukiL. A. (Eds.). (1999). Using qualitative methods in psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
64.
KuhnT. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
65.
LeongF. T. L.PonterottoJ. G. (2003). A proposal for internationalizing counseling psychology in the United States: Rationale, recommendations, and challenges. The Counseling Psychologist, 31, 381–395.
66.
MarecekJ. (2003). Dancing through minefields: Toward a qualitative stance in psychology. In CamicP. M.RhodesJ. E.YardleyL. (Eds.), Qualitative research in psychology: Expanding perspectives in methodology and design (pp. 49–69). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
67.
McLeodJ. (2001). Qualitative research in counselling and psychotherapy. London: Sage.
68.
McMullenL. M. (2002). Learning the languages of research: Transcending illiteracy and indifference. Canadian Psychology, 43, 195–204.
69.
MorrowS. L.RakhshaG.CastañedaC. L. (2001). Qualitative research methods for multicultural counseling. In PonterottoJ. G.CasasJ. M.SuzukiL. A.AlexanderC. M. (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (2nd ed., pp. 575–603). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
70.
MorrowS. L.SmithM. L. (2000). Qualitative research for counseling psychology. In BrownS. D.LentR. W. (Eds.), Handbook of counseling psychology (3rd ed., pp. 199–230). New York: Wiley.
71.
NeimeyerG. J.DiamondA. K. (2001). The anticipated future of counselling psychology in the United States: A Delphi poll. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 14, 49–65.
72.
O'NeillP. (2002). Tectonic change: The qualitative paradigm in psychology. Canadian Psychology, 43, 190–194.
73.
PonterottoJ. G. (2002). Qualitative research methods: The fifth force in psychology. The Counseling Psychologist, 30, 394–406.
74.
PonterottoJ. G.GriegerI. (1999). Merging qualitative and quantitative perspectives in a research identity. In. KopalaM.SuzukiL. A. (Eds.), Using qualitative methods in psychology (pp. 49–62). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
75.
RennieD. L.WatsonK. D.MonteiroA. M. (2002). The rise of qualitative research in psychology. Canadian Psychology, 43, 179–189.
76.
SciarraD. (1999). The role of the qualitative researcher. In KopalaM.SuzukiL. A. (Eds.), Using qualitative methods in psychology (pp. 37–48). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
77.
TakooshianH. (2003). Counseling psychology's wide new horizons. The Counseling Psychologist, 31, 420–426.
78.
TaylorS. J.BogdanR. (1998). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.
79.
Walsh-BowersR. (2002). Constructing qualitative knowledge in psychology: Students and faculty negotiate the social context of inquiry. Canadian Psychology, 43, 163–178.
