What the Best College Teachers Do

To Bain, education entails more than examining students at the conclusion of a course. While exams allow instructors and students to measure understanding, they often encourage strategic learning instead of deep learning. Bain’s subjects adjusted exams to reflect their instruction, “to help students learn nor just to rate and rank their efforts” (151). They facilitated learning development and took a learning-centered approach, in which they treated exams as data that tracks students’ growth—not a holistic review of students. Grading becomes communicative (sharing students’ progress) rather than punitive (deducting points for late work, etc.). The best teachers help students meet deadlines and goals within a course’s structure. They learn about their students to do so effectively: For example, some of Bain’s subjects gave pre-tests at the beginning of a course to calculate student interests, while others simply spoke with students before and after classes. They also collected anonymous feedback mid-course to determine necessary changes to their classes and teaching.

Effective teaching includes clarifying student evaluation, to allow students to critique their own learning mentally or in writing “so they can use the standards of the discipline or profession to recognize shortcomings and correct their reasoning as they go” (160). Students thus prepare for exams by focusing on understanding and reasoning skills rather than speculating exam questions. Exams are often comprehensive, allowing students to build and hone skills over the course of a class; these tests are “extensions of the kind of work that is already taking place in the course” (162). As for student ratings of teaching effectiveness, they often take a performance-based approach—asking questions about “whether and how often they [professors] conform to certain expected habits in the classroom,” like returning graded assignments in a timely fashion (163). However, these surveys center a teacher’s actions rather than student learning. Teachers must instead reflect on relevant questions like “Does the teaching help and encourage students to learn in ways that make a sustained, substantial and positive difference in the way they think, act, or feel—without doing them any harm” (164)?

Research shows students rate learning experiences differently based on various factors: “Deep learners said that they liked courses that pushed them to explore conceptual meanings and implications, whereas their classmates who were surface learners hated such experiences” (165). Bain does not believe these discrepancies render student ratings meaningless—rather, frustration shows educators that there is room for improvement. Institutions of higher education should assess teaching effectiveness from a “learning perspective” (167): Their faculty must treat portfolios as they would scholarly work by arguing their teaching efficacy with evidence, including student ratings, syllabi, and sample assignments. Bain believes colleges and universities should recruit evaluators well-versed in the best teaching philosophies and practices to assess these portfolios. Student ratings are important, but evaluators must approach them with caution because external factors influence students: For example, students who take a course out of interest are more likely to rate instruction highly than students who take a course solely to complete a degree requirement. These ratings should be considered alongside related material.