UWA SPOT/SET Project

108)          teacher has been responsive to student needs and interests.

Principles for good practice in teaching and learning that support responsiveness to student needs and interests are found in “Some Principles for Good Practice in Teaching and Learning” (Centre for Staff Development, 2002).

• Davis, Wood & Wilson (Davis, Wood, & Wilson, 1983) suggest that “A critical aspect of conducting a midsemester evaluation is to let students know that their comments have been thoughtfully considered. At the very next class meeting, thank the students for their comments and their suggestions and give a brief, non-defensive account of those suggestions you can use this term, those which must wait until the next time you teach the class and those which you either cannot or, for pedagogical reasons, will not change.”
• Challenging conceptions of teaching:Some prompts for good practice(Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, 1992) notes “Students learn most effectively … when they perceive that course content is related to their own interests and values and to their longer term goals.”
• The Teaching with Diversity Checklist (University of Western Australia, 1999) notes that “Teaching which disregards diversity places students at a disadvantage by reducing their capacity to learn” identifying advantages of an inclusive curriculum.

Centre for Staff Development. (2002). Some Principles for Good Practice in Teaching and Learning [World Wide Web]. Organisational and Staff Development Services, University of Western Australia. Retrieved 9 December, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://www.csd.uwa.edu.au/principles.html

Davis, B. G., Wood, L., & Wilson, R. C. (1983). A Berkeley compendium of suggestions for teaching with excellence [World Wide Web]. The University of California. Retrieved 20 October, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/suggestions/file109.html

Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia. (1992). Challenging conceptions of teaching:Some prompts for good practice [World Wide Web]. HERDSA. Retrieved 20 October, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://www.csd.uwa.edu.au/HERDSA/conceptions.html

University of Western Australia. (1999). TEACHING WITH DIVERSITY CHECKLIST [World Wide Web]. Retrieved 9 December, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://www.csd.uwa.edu.au/tl/99TDChecklist.htm