Outstanding Teachers and Learner-Centered Teaching Practices at a Private Liberal Arts Institution

Abstract

Using a combined quantitative, qualitative approach, this study explores the teaching practices of outstanding faculty at a private, liberal arts institutions by posing questions that revolve around learner-centered teaching practices, characteristics of outstanding teachers, effective teaching, and pressures on the professoriate related to the phenomena of academic capitalism. Outstanding professors from the College of Arts and Sciences, and Schools of Business, Education, and Nursing were invited to participate in this research. Weimer's (2002) five learner-centered changes to teaching practice framed this investigative study. This conceptual framework consists of altering the role of the teacher, balancing power in the classroom between teacher and students, changing the function of course content, instilling student responsibilities for learning, and using different processes and purposes for evaluation that serve to guide teacher and students interactions throughout the course.The findings of the study suggest that faculty from the School of Education agree with and implement all five of Weimer's (2002) learner-centered changes to teaching practice. However, there is incongruence between the learner-centered teaching beliefs and learner-centered teaching practices of outstanding teachers from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Schools of Business and Nursing. This study seems to indicate that several pressures on the professoriate including the phenomena associated with academic capitalism affect teaching practices in the classroom. Existing learner-centered practice models can be informed by the salient findings of this study.