“Everybody was at his ease, and everybody felt that he,
young as he might be, was of some use in the little School world,
and had a work to do there.”
Nineteenth-century school masters may not have asked for their students' input on teaching, but Memorial University is anything but old school. That's why four education researchers are making it clear to students that their opinions count more than they think.
Drs. Jerome Delaney, Trudi Johnson and Dennis Treslan of the Faculty of Education, along with Albert Johnson of Distance Education and Learning Technologies (DELT), are working with a pedagogical model that allows students to set the standard when it comes to delivering input about teaching methods and evaluation. This past winter they conducted an online survey that avoided the typically prescriptive nature of questionnaires. Their belief is that if educators want to give students the best school days possible, then they need to ensure students feel that their input really is of use. The results of their study, Students' Perceptions of Effective Teaching in Higher Education, will be available in fall 2009.