Comparison between the senior and junior academics' perceptions on criteria in measuring teaching effectiveness

Abstract

Teaching in Malaysian universities has undergone a few transformations. In the effort of fully embracing outcome-based education, other initiatives had also been injected to further enhance teaching and learning. Hence planning teaching has become more complex and may be more challenging to both junior and senior academics. The focus of the study was to compare senior and junior academics’ perceptions on what they viewed as important criteria in measuring teaching effectiveness. The instrument used in the survey was developed based on the individual standards under each of the seven criteria of the Australian University Teaching Criteria and Standards (AUTSAC) Framework. Sixty-eight standards were identified as relevant to the Malaysian context. Multi-stage sampling procedure was utilized to identify samples among the lecturers of the Malaysian public universities. In general, the younger academics considered five of the seven criteria as important in the measurement of teaching effectiveness, whereas the senior academics only considered four as important. The findings were not surprising as the junior academics were in the early stages of their career and were more focused on developing their expertise. It is hoped that universities will recognize these criteria and standards and include them in their assessment for teaching effectiveness for yearly appraisal as well as promotion and teaching awards.