Association amongst factors thought to be important by instructors in dental education and perceived effectiveness of these instructors by students

Abstract

It is hypothesised that dental educators have perceptions of their roles as effective teachers. It is expected that subject matter expertise would be amongst the components of such personal philosophies of education, but it is unclear whether faculty member self-perceptions carry over into student ratings of instructors' effectiveness. A 20-item survey of 'Teaching Characteristics' was completed by 86% of full-time and 64% of the part-time faculty members at the University of the Pacific. Respondents distributed 100 points amongst the descriptions of what makes an effective instructor. The responses were factoranalysed, resulting in four general faculty 'types' that explained about 50% of the variance in ratings: expert, enthusiast, judicial and good soldier. Student ratings for the 2 years running up to the date of the survey administration were used to gauge student perceptions of instructor effectiveness. Faculty members who placed emphasis on expertise as key to being a good instructor received significantly lower ratings for teacher effectiveness from students than did other faculty members. Faculty members who conceived their roles as motivating students, explaining difficult concepts, displaying interest in the subject, showing compassion and caring, and being proactive tended to receive high ratings for teaching effectiveness from students.

Dental students' perceptions on the contribution and impact role of a clinical teacher

“…These treatments demand long clinical hours due to the complexity of the procedures involved unlike other restorative dental procedures. Chambers suggested that ideally students should enter dental clinic with acceptable skill levels. Clinical environment should provide good learning environment for both clinical procedures and performance settings .…”

Psychosocial student functioning in comprehensive dental clinic education: A qualitative study

“…A more recent study showed that clinical instructors have different ideas about what makes a good teacher than do students. Students found expertise not as important as enthusiasm and communications skills . Present study results concur with these findings and also indicated a need for development of teacher curriculum and supervisory practices that would include enhancement of mentoring skills.…”

Characteristics of effective clinical teachers identified by dental students: a qualitative study

“…Although there is a wealth of educational literature on effective classroom teaching, there appears to be far fewer studies that focus on clinical teaching effectiveness (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). Although there is a wealth of educational literature on effective classroom teaching, there appears to be far fewer studies that focus on clinical teaching effectiveness (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13).…”