"I know it when i see it": Assessing good teaching

Research Strategies

Volumn 16, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 1-28

  Arnold, Judith M ^a  

^a WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 11544346126     PISSN: 07343310     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0734-3310(98)90003-9     Document Type: Article

References (56)

1. Carole A. Larson and Laura K. Dickson, "Developing Behavioral Reference Desk Performance Standards," RQ 33 (Spring 1994): 349-57.
2. Many fine reviews of the education literature on effective teaching exist for this purpose. One example is Effective Teaching: Current Research, edited by Hersholt C. Waxtnan and Herbert J. Walberg (Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing, 1991).
3. The terms, traits, characteristics, competencies, proficiencies, and behaviors, are used in many articles cited throughout this study and, in order to avoid confusion, for the purposes of this study, they are defined as follows: • Traits or characteristics are used synonymously and defined as terms, usually a single word, that describe qualities or attributes of an individual, such as "knowledgeable" or "creative," some of which may be tied to personality, such as "enthusiastic." • Competencies or proficiencies are used synonymously and are statements of skills or abilities, usually described in a sentence or phrase, that are considered required or necessary for successful or effective professional service. Competencies, such as the "ability to construct a lesson plan," may be, but not necessarily, expressed as behaviors. • Behaviors are statements that express desired actions in observable terms. Performance-based standards, such as "Faces the patron when speaking and listening," as listed in the RUSA Guidelines, are examples of behaviors.
4. Maryellen Weimer, Improving Your Classroom Teaching (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993), 6-7.
5. Kenneth A. Feldman, "The Perceived Instructional Effectiveness of College Teachers as Related to their Personality and Attitudinal Characteristics: A Review and Synthesis," Research in Higher Education 24 (1986): 139-213.
6. Harry G. Murray, J. Philippe Rushton and Sampo V. Paunonen, "Teacher Personality Traits and Student Instructional Ratings in Six Types of University Courses," Journal of Educational Psychology 82 (June 1990): 259.
7. Jean L. Easterly, Perceptions of Outstanding Elementary Teachers about Themselves and Their Profession (Arlington, VA: ERIC Document Reproduction Service, ED 238 854, 1983), 99.
8. Danuta A. Nitecki, "Competencies Required of Public Services Librarians to Use New Technologies," in Professional Competencies - Technology and the Librarian, ed. Linda C. Smith (Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 1983), 43-57.
9. Johannah Sherrer, "Thriving in Changing Times: Competencies for Today's Reference Librarians," The Reference Librarian 54 (1996): 11-20.
10. Diana Shonrock and Craig Mulder, "Instruction Librarians: Acquiring the Proficiencies Critical to their Work," College & Research Libraries 54 (March 1993): 137-49.
11. Ibid., 142-43.
12. Barbara Wittkopf, "Proficiencies for BI Librarians: Who Defines Them?" Research Strategies 8 (Summer 1990): 102-103.
13. Shonrock and Mulder, "Instruction Librarians," 138-39.
14. The list, not comprehensive, comes from the Dialogue and Debate column in two separate issues of Research Strategies: Volume 5 (Winter 1987): 39-41 and Volume 5 (Spring 1987): 98-99.
15. The list, not comprehensive, comes from the Dialogue and Debate column in two separate issues of Research Strategies: Volume 5 (Winter 1987): 39-41 and Volume 5 (Spring 1987): 98-99.
16. Marilyn Lutzker, "A Good Teacher: What to Look for, How to Find it," in Teaching Librarians to Teach: On-the-Job Training for Bibliographic Instruction Librarians, ed. Alice S. Clark and Kay F. Jones (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1986), 14.
17. Sharon Mader, "Instruction Librarians: Leadership in the New Organization," RQ 36 (Winter 1996): 192-97.
18. D. Shelby Brightwell, Improving College Instruction: A Strategy for Assisting Professors (Arlington, VA: ERIC Document Reproduction Service, ED 368 310,1993).
19. Melanie F. Sikorski, Richard P. Niemiec, and Herbert J. Walberg, "Best Teaching Practices: A Checklist for Observations," NASSP Bulletin 78 (April 1994): 50-54.
20. Pete Potamianos and Lynn Crilly, "Grade 'A' Instructor: How Do You Know One When You See One?" NSPI Journal 19 (June 1980): 24-27.
21. Ibid., 24-25; Brightwell, 8.
22. Diane G. Schwartz and Dottie Eakin, "Reference Service Standards, Performance Criteria, and Evaluation," The Journal of Academic Librarianship 12 (March 1986): 4-8.
23. RASD Ad Hoc Committee on Behavioral Guidelines for Reference and Information Services, "Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Services Professionals," RQ 36 (Winter 1996): 200-203.
24. Patricia Dewdney and Catherine Sheldrick Ross, "Flying a Light Aircraft: Reference Service Evaluation from a User's Viewpoint," RQ 34 (Winter 1994): 217-30.
25. Larson and Dickson, "Developing Behavioral Reference Desk Performance Standards," 349.
26. Ibid., 356-57.
27. Ibid., 353.
28. Dennis Isbell and Lisa Kammerlocher, "A Formative, Collegial Approach to Evaluating Course-Integrated Instruction," Research Strategies 12 (1994): 24-32.
29. Ibid., 29.
30. Paul Burnam, "Fine-Tuning Classroom Technique: A Peer Coaching Experience," Research Strategies 11 (Winter 1993): 42-46.
31. Shonrock and Mulder, "Instruction Librarians," 137.
32. Larson and Dickson, "Developing Behavioral Reference Desk Performance Standards," 351-353.
33. Robert Rose, member of the committee who planned the program, graciously provided information about the audience, as represented by the evaluation forms, which indicated that the audience was largely academic instruction and reference librarians. Seventy-nine of eighty-four were university and college librarians; fifty-seven were reference or instruction librarians.
34. Weimer's five, as cited earlier in this study, were enthusiasm, preparation and organization, ability to stimulate student thought and interest, clarity, and knowledge and love of the content. Librarians identified enthusiastic, organized, motivational, and knowledgeable, which correspond to four of these traits.
35. Lutzker, "A Good Teacher: What to Look for, How to Find it," 13-19.
36. A study by Hong Xu, "The Impact of Automation on Job Requirements and Qualifications for Catalogers and Reference Librarians in Academic Libraries," Library Resources and Technical Services 40 (January 1996): 9-31, reports that the number of job ads for reference librarians that specify bibliographic instruction responsibilities has increased since 1978 and that in 1990 over half of the positions specified instruction duties.
37. Dewdney and Ross, "Flying a Light Aircraft," 224.
38. RASD Ad Hoc Committee, "Guidelines," 202.
39. Larson and Dickson, "Developing Performance Standards," 357.
40. Dewdney and Ross, "Flying a Light Aircraft," 224.
41. RASD Ad Hoc Committee, "Guidelines," 202.
42. Larson and Dickson, "Developing Performance Standards," 357.
43. James Rettig, "The Convergence of the Twain or Titanic Collision? BI and Reference in the 1990s' Sea of Change," RSR 23 (Spring 1995): 7-20.
44. Larson and Dickson, "Developing Performance Standards," 357.
45. RASD Ad Hoc Committee, "Guidelines," 202.
46. Rettig, "The Convergence of the Twain," 10.
47. Ibid., 11.
48. Larson and Dickson, 353; SchwartZ and Eakin, 7.
49. Schwartz and Eakin, 7.
50. Larson and Dickson, 353.
51. Schwartz and Eakin, 7; Larson and Dickson, 353.
52. Larson and Dickson, 353.
53. Larson and Dickson, 353; Schwartz and Eakin, 7.
54. Schwartz and Eakin, 7.
55. Larson and Dickson, 353.
56. Larson and Dickson, 252; Schwartz and Eakin, 5.