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The Chinese Ministry of Education recently called for improvements in undergraduate teaching. One way to meet this mandate is to codify what Chinese undergraduate students consider to be poor teaching behaviors. Across three phases, this study investigated poor teacher behaviors and compared them to existing data from American students. The categories of poor teaching generated by both sets of students overlapped considerably. However, some characteristics of poor teaching--such as teachers being unfair to students--may be unique to China. The specific behaviors that are representative of poor teaching qualities differed across the two cultures, suggesting the need for a nuanced approach to examining what students perceive to be poor teaching.

Teachers often think of student engagement in terms of hands-on activities that get students involved in their courses. They seldom consider the larger aspects of the teaching--learning environment that often influence the extent to which students are willing to become engaged in their coursework. In this chapter, we describe five "rules of engagement" that help promote safe and supportive classroom environments, which in turn increase the likelihood that students will feel comfortable--and indeed willing--to become engaged learners.

We summarize the history of the development of the Teacher Behavior Checklist and review examples of its utility for studying excellence in teaching across cultures and contexts.

We compared twenty-six TBC-based studies across different countries to investigate whether there might exist universal principles of excellent teaching. We found several qualities that both faculty and students in these studies endorsed as universal or near-universal principles. Our findings provide a compelling starting point for teachers seeking to enhance their teaching and for researchers wishing to investigate practices for improving teaching.

Across three phases, we investigated college students' perceptions of poor college teaching to develop a typology of poor teaching behaviors. In Phase 1, students generated a list of qualities representative of poor teaching. In Phase 2, another group of students assigned behavioral correspondents to these qualities, resulting in a list of 15 poor teaching qualities and their attendant misbehaviors. Finally, in Phase 3, yet another group of students generated a "top 5" list of qualities and behaviors that their most ineffective teachers have exhibited. Across participants in Phase 3, the top 5 list included, in order, being disrespectful, offering unrepresentative and unfair student learning assessments, having unrealistic expectations for student learning, being less than knowledgeable on course content, and having poor communication skills. These findings provide practical guidance on which particular behaviors teachers should avoid adopting in their instructional repertoires.

Studies of master teaching have investigated a set of qualities that define excellent teaching. However, few studies have investigated master teachers' perspectives on excellent teaching and how it may differ from other faculty or students. The current study investigated award-winning teachers' (N = 50) ratings of the 28 qualities on the teacher behavior checklist. There was substantial overlap in the importance placed upon various teaching qualities among award-winning teachers and other faculty. However, excellent teachers placed more value upon being prepared and forming rapport with students. Full professors placed more importance on several teaching qualities than associate and assistant professors. Teaching training programs should include broad definitions of excellent teaching that incorporate components that some faculty may otherwise overlook.

Researchers have found that students from different academic disciplines tend to value different qualities in their teachers, and cultural differences play a role in which qualities students appreciate in their professors. The present/current study employed the Teacher Behavior Checklist as an operationalization of teaching qualities in a comparative investigation among psychology, chemical engineering, and education students in China. Chinese college students' perceptions of excellent teachers' qualities differed across the three disciplines. We offer some contextual and cultural explanations for the differences and conclude that student evaluations of instruction should always be interpreted within the context of the evaluation.

This chapter underscores the importance of conceptualizing student engagement as a responsibility shared by all members of the academy and describes how Groccia's multidimensional model can serve as blueprint for future thinking and research on student engagement.

We "employed the Teacher Behavior Checklist" (TBC) to investigate Chinese college students' perceptions of excellent teachers' qualities and then compared the results to those from previously collected data from American and Japanese students. Chinese students tended to favor additional structure both in the classroom and in teachers' roles than either Japanese or American students. Teachers wishing to use the TBC to improve teaching quality should carefully consider subtle cultural differences that influence students' perceptions of their teachers.

The movement to prepare graduate students to teach is relatively new in the history of the academy. During the past several decades, many graduate departments of psychology, like many academic departments, have gone from providing essentially no training to graduate students to teach to developing extensive training programs consisting of course work and supervision of teaching activities. Although as a whole, graduate programs in psychology have made substantial progress in preparing its students for careers in teaching, there remains much to be done in further enhancing graduate students' preparation for teaching. I discuss and provide recommendations for addressing several key issues that currently or in the future will impede the successful preparation of graduate students for teaching including the need for more research on preparatory practices, the need for more depth and consistency in these practices across graduate departments of psychology, the importance of maintaining the primary responsibility for preparing graduate students to teach within psychology departments, and the utility of having two or more faculty lead departmental preparatory teaching programs.

The perceived relation between assigned student grades and instructor evaluations of teaching has been the subject of much debate, though few laboratory studies have been conducted with adequate controls. Marsh and Roche suggested that experimental field studies may be a particularly promising avenue for further analyses of this relation. The authors report two multiple-session studies that used videotaped instruction and artificially set class quiz averages. The first study involved administering multiple-choice quizzes over the videotaped lecture; the second study utilized essay quizzes. The results suggest that grades affect evaluations only when using subjective testing methods. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 2 notes.)

The purpose of assembling this "New Directions in Teaching and Learning" volume was to introduce college and university teachers to a broad range of approaches that reflect evidence-based teaching (EBT). As each of the preceding chapters has shown, EBT not only can increase student learning across a variety of measures, it also can increase student engagement in, and enjoyment of, learning. Pedagogical practices that result in high levels of student learning and enjoyment of learning are hallmarks of excellent teaching. In addition, EBT formats, processes, and outcomes clearly align with Chickering and Gamson's (1987) seven principles for good educational practice. This chapter briefly summarizes what has been learned about evidence-based teaching in the preceding chapters and calls for renewed emphasis on preparing teachers to teach well and conduct empirical pedagogical research. (Contains 1 table.)

Educators believe that rather than being a mere possibility to improve as teachers, it is always "necessary" to improve. One way of improving teaching is to adopt teaching methods that are based on or supported by evidence of success in enhancing student learning. Most teachers base their instructional practices on tradition, the opinion of experienced practitioners, ideology, faddism, marketing, politics, or personal experience gained through trial and error. This article reviews the current status of university teaching and provides an overview for the need for evidence-based teaching. It describes problems with defining evidence as well as distinctions among systems of teaching and specific teaching actions. (Contains 1 table.)

Keeley, Smith, and Buskist (2006) investigated the psychometric properties of the Teacher Behavior Checklist (TBC), but did not provide evidence that the measure could differentiate among teachers. This study required students at 2 schools to rate their best professor, worst professor, and most recent professor on the TBC. We found highly similar results across these schools. Differences among teachers accounted for more variability in TBC ratings than other possible sources. TBC ratings evidenced significant differences across good versus bad teachers. (Contains 2 notes and 3 tables.)

Stephen F. Davis is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Emporia State University. He served as the 2002-2003 Knapp Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences at the University of San Diego. Currently, he is Distinguished Guest Professor at Morningside College and Visiting Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Texas Wesleyan University. Since 1966, he has published more than 300 articles and 28 textbooks, and has presented more than 900 professional papers; the vast majority of these publications and presentations include student coauthors. He has served as president of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP; Division 2 of the American Psychological Association [APA]), Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Southwestern Psychological Association, and Psi Chi. In addition, he received the first Psi Chi Florence L. Denmark Faculty Advisor Award. He is a fellow of APA Divisions 1 (General), 2 (STP), 3 (Experimental), and 6 (Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology), and a recipient in 1988 of the American Psychological Foundation's (APF) Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award. William Buskist is Distinguished Professor in the Teaching of Psychology at Auburn University and a faculty fellow at Auburn's Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. From 2005 to 2007, he served as section editor for The Generalist's Corner section of "Teaching of Psychology". He is also a member of the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (NITOP) planning committee. Together with Steve Davis, he has edited 2 volumes on the teaching of psychology: "The Teaching of Psychology: Essays in Honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer" (Davis & Buskist, 2002) and Handbook of the Teaching of Psychology (Buskist & Davis, 2005); and together with Barry Perlman and Lee McCann, he has edited Voices of Experience: Memorable Talks From the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (Perlman, McCann, & Buskist, 2005). He has also coedited several electronic books for STP. He is a fellow of APA Divisions 1 (General Psychology) and 2 (STP) and served as president of STP in 2007.

We surveyed the editorial board of "Teaching of Psychology" regarding their perspectives on the distinction between the scholarships of teaching and pedagogy. Respondents provided wide-ranging and divergent answers to our queries, suggesting that scholarship, its attendant activities, and distinctions among related terms are complex issues in need of further clarification. We suggest that the distinction between the scholarships of teaching and pedagogy is unclear and unnecessary. (Contains 2 notes.)

This article provides ideas for engaging in the scholarship of teaching in psychology. Topics covered include contributing to the Society for the Teaching of Psychology's Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology and "Teaching of Psychology". Writing and editing books also constitute scholarly work. Finally, teaching with intentionality and accountability can be productive in leading to scholarship opportunities. By providing models and exemplars of scholarship in the teaching of psychology, we hope to encourage more teachers to engage in such activities. (Contains 3 notes.)

We examined job advertisements published in the September and October 2006 issues of the APA Monitor and APS Observer for courses that psychology departments requested successful applicants for assistant professor openings to teach. We found that 4 courses accounted for 45% of all courses so listed: research methods, introductory psychology, developmental psychology, and statistics. We suggest that graduate students seeking academic positions acquire experience teaching these classes, in addition to courses in their specialty area, during their teaching training. Such experience would seem likely to offer them a competitive edge in the academic job market. (Contains 1 table.)

We converted the Teacher Behaviors Checklist (TBC; Buskist, Sikorski, Buckley, & Saville, 2002) to an evaluative instrument to assess teaching by adding specific instructions and a Likert-type scale. Factor analysis of the modified TBC produced 2 subscales: caring and supportive and professional competency and communication skills. Further psychometric analysis suggested the instrument possessed excellent construct validity and reliability, underscoring its potential as a tool for assessing teaching. This instrument clearly identifies specific target teaching behaviors that instructors can alter to attempt to improve their teaching effectiveness.

The Society for the Teaching of Psychology formed a task force in 2000 on Uniting Scholarship and Teaching to develop suggestions for how the Society might facilitate Boyer's (1990) and Halpern et al.'s (1998) expanded views of traditional scholarship with respect to the teaching of psychology. This article represents a partial fulfillment of that charge. Specifically, we explore the scholarly dimensions of teaching, research, service, and administration and consider models for undertaking and documenting scholarship in each of these realms of academic life.

I surveyed Division Two's teaching award winners in the 2-year college and 4-year college and university categories to discover the qualities and attributes that make these individuals effective teachers. I found that (a) most awardees did not receive formal training in teaching; (b) many awardees believed that observations of others' effective teaching methods and feedback on their own teaching were key to their becoming effective teachers; (c) over the course of their careers, awardees generally have become more student oriented and less lecture oriented; (d) they viewed time constraints in their work as the chief obstacle limiting teaching effectiveness; and (e) relative to each other, they held different philosophies of teaching.

Presents an interview with Peter Harzem, the Hudson Professor of Psychology at Auburn University (Alabama). Addresses such issues as teaching students about behavior analysis, the differences between classical and operant conditioning, reinforcement and behaviorism, and how one can become a better teacher. (CMK)

Offers an example of determining what the experts of psychology deem as essential concepts in their subfield by investigating the current principles in operant conditioning through surveys of the board of editors of the "Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior." Recommends concepts that are appropriate for up-to-date coverage of operant conditioning. (CMK)

Presents the results of a survey to determine the prevalence and content of courses on teaching of psychology for graduate teaching assistants. Finds that 67 percent of psychology departments have a formal course on the teaching of psychology. (CMK)

Describes ten common technical mistakes most graduate teaching assistants make while teaching, such as projecting a weak presence, relying too heavily on their notes, posing vague questions, and not reinforcing student participation. Offers suggestions for correcting the mistakes. States that faculty might want to monitor their own teaching behaviors as well. (CMK)

Describes a course entitled "Preparing for Graduate Study in Psychology" that is a two-credit seminar developed to prepare undergraduate students for graduate study in psychology. Requires students to actually create application materials. Contends that the course provides students with a structured approach to learning about the graduate application process. (CMK)