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Award-winning university teachers' concepts of teaching

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Abstract

Twelve recipients of awards for excellence in teaching at The University of Sydney provided interview responses to a series of questions designed to tap their conceptual repertoires regarding teaching effectiveness and the evaluation of teaching. Their responses were compared to those of two groups of novice university teachers from the same university. The award-winners were found to have more complex and flexible concepts of teaching effectiveness, to use a wider range of criteria in evaluating their teaching and to rely more on personal feelings, the evaluative judgements of others and longer term student learnings than the novices. They were also more inclined to adopt systematic, formal procedures for obtaining feedback and to use it in changing their teaching than the novices.

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Dunkin, M.J., Precians, R.P. Award-winning university teachers' concepts of teaching. High Educ 24, 483–502 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137244

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