Why Highly Effective Instructors Matter
Learning is one of the most important things we do. And no matter what the setting – from elementary school to college to technical or skills training – the quality of the instructor determines how well, and how effectively, we learn. Learner achievement is enormously affected by the instructional skills of the educator. Research has repeatedly reaffirmed that effective teachers consistently demonstrate key observable behaviors that the Institute for Effective Instruction (IEI) has categorized into four areas:
- Student Engagement Skills
Engaging students in the lesson using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic stimuli and assessing their progress to determine if learning has taken place, then using the assessment to enhance further growth and development. - Instructional Delivery Skills
Communicating clearly, relating new learning to past learning, teaching to the objective, providing appropriate feedback and adjusting the lesson to the progress of the learner. - Management Skills
Managing student behavior to keep students on task and handle distractions and disruptions efficiently. - Lesson Design Skills
Developing a lesson plan that is logical in sequence, engages students, and manages time and resources effectively. Also, establishing objectives that are measurable in terms of acquiring knowledge, developing skills, changing behavior, and/or applying knowledge and skills to current and anticipated situations.
Unbiased instructor evaluations using these key behaviors benefit any learning environment and are designed to:
- Increase student confidence in the instructor
Students know before they enter the classroom that the instructor will provide quality instruction. As a result, they are more willing to sign-up for classes, more likely to pay attention, and more likely to return. - Improve instructor performance
In the process of being evaluated and obtaining certification, instructors become aware of areas where they can improve. Motivated instructors use this knowledge to improve the quality of their instruction. - Recognize educators for their skills
Many talented instructors have never had the time or resources to go through a lengthy state-sponsored education program which may have little relevance to their abilities. The program recognizes instructors for the skills they possess, not their time in the classroom. - Provide a standardized, objective evaluation
Experienced certified evaluators use best practices and objective standards in their evaluation process. This eliminates guesswork, the difficulty of identifying issues and bias in the process. The result: consistent standards.