Assessing Effective Teaching of Psychology: A Meta-Analytic Integration of Learning Outcomes

Abstract

Teaching researchers can assess learning outcome effectiveness as a function of students' graded performance or changes in knowledge, skills and behaviors, or attitudes. We meta-analyzed 197 studies to determine the effectiveness of teaching activities in Teaching of Psychology (ToP) both overall and also as a function of type of learning outcome assessment. We found that, on average, studies evidenced a medium effect size across types of learning outcomes. Given the effectiveness of ToP teaching activities, researchers should address the (a) potential confounding role of teacher rapport, immediacy, and alliance in evaluating teaching effectiveness; (b) ethics of teaching activity development; and (c) appropriateness of using course grades to assess teaching activity effectiveness.