A Guide to Better Teaching: Skills, Advice, and Evaluation for College and University Professors

A Guide to Better Teaching is a self-help book that provides anyone teaching a college course with a thorough understanding of what it takes to be an effective teacher. Derived from the authors' extensive research, several interactive assessment tools are included that measure levels of effectiveness according to learner preferences. Each chapter is filled with detailed explanations, relevant stories, and action-driven tables that help them in understanding and applying skills. This book aims to enhance teaching skills by offering critical perspectives, practical suggestions, and techniques for improvement. Whether a new teacher, an adjunct faculty, or a seasoned professor, this comprehensive information can be used to analyze effectiveness or the effectiveness of others. The suggestions and the assessment tools are applicable to the entire spectrum of organizational leaders and managers, in education, government or industry whose work requires giving presentations or communicating in a public forum. To access the free skills assessment tools, please click here.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Perspectives Chapter 1: From a Learner's Perspective The Effective Teacher Who Should Assess Learner Preferences Effective Teachers and the Learning Process Getting to Know You Chapter 2: The Science Behind the Scenes Preferences of Different Learners Categorizing Preferences A Self-Assessment Method Chapter 3: Personality Caring Empathy Happiness Energy Passion Motivation Expertise Inspiration Self-Confidence Approachable Personal Appearance Personality Summary and Strategy Chapter 4: Process Content Organization Content Development Content Design Additional Sense Stimulation Environment Process Summary and Strategy Chapter 5: Performance Body Language Style Speaking Style Technology Focus Interaction Performance Summary and Strategy Chapter 6: Skills Assessment Tools Applying Science in Design Forms of Measurement Assess Yourself Interactive Electronic Assessments Understanding the Electronic Analysis Understanding Learners Applying the Results Audience Evaluation Tools Toward Triangulation Track Your Progress Endnotes Index

About the Author :
Leila Jahangiri, a graduate of King's College, London, and Harvard University, is an active clinician, researcher, and teacher. Her scholarly focus and passion is for effective teaching and innovative curriculum development. For the past 10 years, as chair of a large department at New York University College of Dentistry, she has made significant strides to develop faculty in utilizing multiple strategies to optimize teaching. Always looking for novel opportunities, she met and began collaborating with Tom Mucciolo isa presentation skills consultant, leadership advisor, and president of MediaNet. Tom is the coauthor of five books, a sought-after keynote speaker, and a recognized industry expert regarding visual communications. Since 1985, high-profile communicators, including corporate leaders, politicians, media personalities, as well as those at any organizational level demand his coaching expertise. In 2005, Tom joined New York University as an adjunct faculty member. The authors' collaboration is a culmination of a vast research study. They share a common goal of finding ways to help teachers teach better, leaders lead better, and in the process, allow teachers to become leaders.

Review :
Closing the teaching, learning and knowledge gap is at the very essence of A Guide to Better Teaching: Skills, Advice, and Evaluation for College and University Professors. This well-written and researched book not only applies to academia, but to the business community. To survive and thrive in the era of change we need to train and develop our people. This book will become your most important guide to helping you influence workplace understanding and knowledge through better teaching. Bravo, Leila Jahangiri and Tom Mucciolo for this practical, insightful guide for teaching us—the 'teachers'—how to develop a learners’ perspective. Your book is helpful on many levels. Your years of research and the addition of easy-to-follow tools reinforce your premise that teaching, leadership, training and public speaking have many overlapping skills. By analyzing opportunities for improvement in the areas of perspective, skills and assessment, you have provided a personal and professional development bible for college and university professors at all levels. This seasoned professor will keep the book on top of my desk. Jahangiri and Mucciolo have written an accessible, comprehensive, and practical guide for anyone who teachers. Whether the reader is a new teacher or a seasoned professional, he or she will find valuable ideas for improving teaching practices and learning outcomes. A Guide to Better Teaching is not simply a one-time read to explore effective teaching, but serves as a career reference from which one can gain new insights time and time again. If you desire to become a better teacher or trainer, I highly recommend you add A Guide to Better Teaching to your professional toolkit. Leila Jahangiri and Tom Mucciolo have managed to synthesize multiple points of insight on effective teaching into a valuable and informative read. Their assessment methodology is particularly unique and can offer clear direction to those wishing to improve their overall presentation effectiveness. Jahangiri and Mucciolo base their suggestions and recommendation not only on their experience, but also on research, identifying the barriers to overcome in educational interactions, while providing the best and most enjoyable experience for both the teacher and learner. The style of writing and the use of vignettes make this book a very enjoyable read and extremely instructive. The value and benefits that can be gained by reading this book will not only help teachers at colleges and universities, but by all those who want to continually improve their skills at interacting with learners.