Deconstructing the notion of a "good teacher". An analysis of the formal and non-formal characteristics of university teaching

Abstract

Background: Student appraisals of teaching quality in universities have mainly focused on more formal aspects of teaching, overlooking other personal factors. Objective: To identify and analyse the weight of each of the different factors that contribute to the notion of what good teaching represents for students. That is, to identify the equation that constitutes a "good instructor". Method: A crosscutting survey, based on the results of reviews and research by the author, leading to the identification of the different factors involved in student appraisals of university teaching. The sample was 885 students from the University of the Balearic Islands, obtained through multistage mixed sampling. Results: A solution of four factors. In order of explained variance, from highest to lowest, they are personal qualities, teaching competence, compliance and subject matter. From the regression analysis that was conducted, each of the four factors was found to have a statistically significant effect on appraisals of good teaching, with the first and second factors jointly accounting for 93% of all the model's explained variance. Conclusions: The big impact of characteristics unrelated to teaching in the resulting equation opens up debate on the relevance of an instructor's personal qualities, not only in contributing to student satisfaction but also in influencing the teaching and learning process.