Effective Teaching: Perspectives and Insights from Division Two's 2- and 4-Year Awardees

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.