University faculty members’ perceptions of their teaching efficacy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate faculty members’ perceptions of teaching efficacy and their relation to faculty members’ backgrounds. A questionnaire measuring six dimensions of teaching efficacy was distributed to faculty members at 17 universities in Taiwan, yielding 513 complete sets of responses. Faculty members felt efficacious, from the greatest to the least, in the following dimensions: course design, class management, interpersonal relation, learning assessment, technology usage, and instructional strategy. Faculty members of public universities show higher perceptions of their efficacy than do those of private universities. Faculty members in education report a higher level of efficacy than faculty members in other disciplines. Females score higher than males in class management and learning assessment. Faculty members with less than six years of teaching experience indicate lower perceptions of teaching efficacy in course design than other faculty members. Faculty members teaching courses completely matching their specialties feel more confident in their teaching than those teaching partially‐matched courses. However, there is no significant difference between faculty members with teaching training and those without training experience.

Keywords:

• university faculty members
• university teaching
• teaching efficacy

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the two IETI anonymous reviewers, who made helpful comments on the earlier draft of this article. This research was supported by research grant (NSC‐94‐2413‐H‐026‐004) from the National Science Council in Taiwan.