Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was (1) to describe the types of teaching activities that were used by part-time faculty in programs designed for the adult learner and (2) to describe faculty and student perceptions of the effectiveness of the various teaching activities. Of particular interest was the amount of course time devoted to the lecture as compared to active-learning activities. Methodology. Descriptive research was employed. One hundred and thirty-one courses taught during the Winter 1995 term at the University of La Verne's School of Continuing Education were surveyed (131 part-time faculty and 1430 adult students). At the conclusion of the course, faculty and students indicated the percentage of course time that was allocated to eight different teaching activities (e.g., lecturing, class discussions, simulations). They also indicated the perceived effectiveness of each of these activities. The unit of analysis was the course--the instructor's response and the mean response of the enrolled students. Findings. (1) Lecturing occurred 46% of the time in undergraduate courses and 34% in graduate courses. Active learning occurred approximately 32% of course time for both levels. (2) Faculty and students had very similar perceptions about the course activities and their perceived effectiveness. (3) Different types of teaching activities were employed in courses from different academic levels and from different academic disciplines. (4) No difference was found in the teaching activities used by faculty categorized by type (Gappa and Leslie 1993) but there were differences in the perceived effectiveness of the activities. Conclusions. (1) The adult learning literature (andragogy) supports the use of active-learning activities as a way to value and utilize the rich experiences that adults bring to the classroom. A number of factors were suggested as reasons why the part-time faculty at this institution embrace active-learning activities. (2) The high agreement between faculty and students about the degree of use and the perceived effectiveness of the different teaching activities supports the validity and reliability of end-of-course student ratings of instruction. These results should be generalized cautiously because a single institution was utilized in this study.