Presenter: Chloe Macdonald, College of Earth Science, Geography
Authors: Justin White, Darby Ableman, Chloe Macdonald, Todd Bendall
Faculty Advisor: Justin White, College of Earth Science, Geography
Institution: Utah Valley University
As higher education Geography programs assess teaching strategies for the youngest generations, questions arise about which pedagogical methods and which instructor characteristics best help students learn. These facets of teaching are interwoven and imperative for the successful delivery of information. We aimed to identify which traits and methods are most valuable to the students. From 2015–2020, we deployed a questionnaire to 1,335 GenEd geography students at six different colleges and universities. In this study, we asked students to rank their top six out of twenty traits and methods. Students ranked instructor traits significantly higher than pedagogical methods. Among those top traits, knowledge, clear delivery of information, and clarity of instruction were considered most valuable. The least popular pedagogical methods were digital forums, field notebooks, and student presentations. We also asked students their perspectives on the impact of an instructor’s ability to influence their accountability, work ethic, and participation. 82% of students stated that the instructor influenced their level of accountability, 80% their work ethic, and 89.7% their desire to participate in class. We related our questionnaire responses to the independent variables of university sampled, student age, number of semesters completed, major, and university’s incoming GPA. Among our measured demographics, the difference in preferences between age groups (irrespective of number of semesters taken) was most significant. Student perspectives on traits and methods also differed depending on the GPA of the students. Our findings can be useful when constructing a classroom leadership and culture approach.