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Principles for Effective Teaching

Effective teaching in developmental education is one of the most challenging jobs in the college teaching profession. The search for teaching excellence in this field extends beyond basic cognitive issues to address noncognitive needs of underprepared students also. The six principles for effective developmental education teaching are the product of integrating research findings from successful developmental education programs and general principles for effective teaching in undergraduate education. The principles focus on key elements that teachers may use to support effective teaching. Patricia Smittle.

Many teaching professionals spend their entire careers in search of teaching excellence. This search may be even more important when students are underprepared adults. These students lack the foundation and skills required for rigorous college curriculum and many of them have adult responsibilities that place excessive demands on their time and other resources. These students present challenges to developmental educators that often far exceed those presented by traditional college students. This challenge extends throughout all levels of postsecondary education with developmental education serving as a gateway to postsecondary education for many students in this country.

Research findings of successful developmental education programs and general principles of effective practice in teaching offer a strong foundation in the search for teaching excellence in developmental education. Boylan and Bonham (1998) provide a comprehensive analysis of developmental education programs in “Improving Developmental Education. They identify 20 characteristics of successful programs. Eight of those characteristics relate directly to teaching: variety of teaching methods, sound cognitive theory-based courses, computer-based instruction to supplement regular classroom activities, classroom/laboratory integration, developmental course exit standards that are consistent with entry standards for subsequent courses, strategic learning that teaches students how to monitor their comprehension and think strategically about learning, professional training for faculty and staff who work with developmental students, and critical thinking that focuses on the types of thinking required in college-level courses.
Roueche and Roueche (1999) identify characteristics of successful developmental education programs similar to those of Boylan and Bonham (1998), with the addition of one very significant factor: recruiting, developing, and hiring the best faculty. This characteristic may actually be the single most important factor in successful programs.

All of the elements required for effective college teaching apply to effective developmental education teaching as well. However, it may be even more imperative to apply them in work with developmental students and for developmental teachers to be more precise and in-depth. The teacher of traditional college students can simply encourage active learning and usually achieve the desired student outcome. Encouragement is not enough for most developmental students. Education teacher must structure and lead the activities for developmental students while teaching them to become independent learners. The issue of frequent feedback is more demanding with developmental students since they usually lack the ability to judge their own progress.

Volkwein and Cabrera suggest that the single most important factor in affecting multiple aspects of student growth and satisfaction is the classroom experience. The key to teaching students successfully is to assure that teaching practices are consistent with the characteristics of successful programs and the principles of effective teaching. The six principles for effective teaching and their subsequent explanations are offered as a tool to help developmental educators in their search for teaching excellence.

Principle 1: Commit to Teaching Underprepared Students.
Unfortunately, some teachers teach students for reasons that are not in the best interest of students. Teachers must have visions for those students, know they can make a difference, and be willing to work hard to help students succeed.
Selection of teachers to work with this special population is an important issue that should not be taken lightly.

Principle 2: Demonstrate Good Command of the Subject Matter and the Ability to Teach a Diverse Student Population. Proficiency in subject matter is critical for developmental education teachers.

First, when working with at-risk students, teaching and learning activities must be highly structured, with all requirements and standards clearly stated Students need to know exactly what is expected of them and when it is due. Teaching students how to pace their work is one of the most important things a teacher can do. Students often underestimate the amount of work required and the time required to complete it, so teachers need to help students develop specific plans. A helpful strategy is to require students to turn in drafts or small segments of their work as they proceed toward the final product. Second, many students require a lot of time-on-task. Third, students perform better when the curriculum they are studying relates to the real world and their specific interests (Cross, 2000). Fourth, information should be presented in small chunks that allow students to link new material to something they already know. Fifth, since education is providing the foundation for more advanced learning, mastery of the content is important. If students fail to master one set of skills, concepts, or knowledge before they move on to the next level, gaps similar to the problems the students are already experiencing are created. Finally, frequent testing and immediate feedback are critical sometimes. Wambach, Brothen, and Dikel (2000) report that many developmental students lack the ability to provide their own feedback. Early, frequent, meaningful, and clear feedback is a major factor in helping students hone their metacognitive skills.
Effective teachers use knowledge of their students' varied learning styles as they plan their instruction.

Principle 3: Address Noncognitive Issues that Affect Learning
Adults in developmental education programs often carry many nonacademic problems with them when they enroll in college. Therefore, the successful developmental education teacher must develop the whole student deal with cognitive skill deficits. According to Astin, successful education programs for students must deal with affective as well as cognitive needs.
Some teachers declare that it is not their responsibility to motivate students. These teachers need to engage in professional development quickly. It is, indeed, the responsibility of developmental education and all education to help students sustain the motivation that led them to enroll in courses at the beginning of the semester and strengthen that motivation as the term progresses.

McCombs and the Stanford University Newsletter on Teaching recommend these strategies for motivating students: define course goals and help students think about personal learning goals, make use of students’ interests and background knowledge, show the relevance of material, teach students skills for independent learning, and give helpful and frequent feedback.
Unfortunately, many teachers assume that adults in college have well-defined goals for their lives and they should recognize that the developmental courses are the first step toward achieving those goals. It is the responsibility of the teacher to help students set both short- and long-term goals. At this point professional teamwork is vital, and the teacher may need to call on the advisors to help.
Developing and maintaining positive self-esteem is important for students.

Principle 4: Provide Open and Responsive Learning Environments. Students need to know that teachers recognize them as individuals. Goodman has found that simply calling students’ names aloud when checking attendance has a positive effect on attendance. He has concluded that teachers could enhance retention and attendance by orally calling the class roll and making individual comments when returning papers to students.
Another strategy to promote feelings of belonging is for the teacher to arrange to meet with individual students during office hours. Although office hours are posted and announced, many students will not take the initiative to go to the teacher’s office without a personal invitation or appointment. Pascarella and Terenzini report, “The educational impact of a college’s faculty is enhanced when their contacts with students extend beyond the formal classroom to informal non-classroom settings”.

Principle 5: Communicate High Standards. It is important that academic standards be established in cooperation with the college-level curriculum to which students will advance (Boylan & Bonham, 1998). Teachers must have clear understandings of the subsequent curriculum and how it relates to the developmental education curriculum.

Maintaining high performance standards may have other benefits. Wambach et al. discuss the importance of students learning self-regulatory behaviors that help them take responsibility for their own actions and learning. They suggest that self-regulation is developed through demanding situations. Therefore, it seems important for developmental educators to hold students to high standards of excellence and expectations.
Some students, especially those who recently graduated from high school, may engage in behaviors that are disrespectful to teachers and other students. A major responsibilitiy of classroom teachers is to maintain a good learning environment for the entire class; they should not allow disrespectful behavior to disrupt this environment.

Principle 6: Engage in Ongoing Evaluation and Professional Development Boylan and Bonham and Roueche and Roueche both examined successful developmental programs and identified program evaluation as a key element. However, program evaluation does not always include faculty evaluation and subsequent improvement in faculty performance. Faculty improvement is usually achieved through professional development activities that include reading professional journals, writing professional articles, taking courses, and attending professional workshops and conferences. These activities are time-consuming, but effective developmental educators make this a part of their continuing education.
Baiocco and DeWaters contend that professional development is the key to helping effective teachers manage change that is inherent in the 21^st century.

Maxwell stressed that there are only four graduate training programs for training professionals. She suggested developing a certification system, such as the one offered by the Kellogg Institute, to expand certification of individuals and prepare master teachers who can mentor their fellow professionals in given programs.

In order for higher education to serve the needs of our general populace, quality teaching in higher education is imperative. Faculty at postsecondary institutions must recognize and embrace the importance of developing teaching skills that enhance learning for all types of students in tandem with continuing development of their content-area knowledge.

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