The Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education

In 1987, educators Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson published a theory of good teaching practices based on seven defined principles. In 1991, Chickering and Gamson published a book, Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.  Incorporating the principles from their original article and book in your daily teaching will result in a high level of engagement and success with students in your classes.  

First Principle: Encourages Contact Between Students and Faculty 

There are many ways in which you can connect with your students, beginning with the first day of class.  Remember that as the instructor, you are on stage and your performance is being evaluated by all who make up your audience. Here are some helpful ways in which you can encourage contact with your students.  

• Learn your students’ names - supply tent cards and colorful markers to let students create their own name cards.   Call on students by name throughout class.  Not only do you learn your students’ names, but you also begin to build a relationship with them as well as create relationships within the class. 
• When delivering course content, involve the students by stopping frequently and asking them questions about what you have just taught.
• Don’t just stand at the front of the classroom as you instruct; walk around the classroom, make eye contact, ask questions, keep your students engaged. 

Second Principle: Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students 

There can be resistance in some cases when it comes to getting students to collaborate. This is when you as the instructor create groups of your students with fun in-class activities that will get them analyzing, critiquing and asking questions of the material that is being taught.  

For example: 

• Gamification (Jeopardy, Scrabble, Hang Man etc.) You create the games with curriculum content.
• Create cohorts or study groups or debate teams.
• Assign peer reviews.
• Play ice breakers. 
• Flip the classroom and have the students prepare a lesson to teach the class.

Third Principle: Encourages Active Learning 

When you create an active class session, students will be so engaged in learning, class might end, but your students still will be actively learning!   A classic example of an active class session is when one is teaching a clinical class which is already designed for learning activities. For example, Medical Terminology is a great class where you can be creative and make a game out of learning the terms with:  

 Gamification (e.g. Jeopardy) 

• Creative PowerPoints that are interactive
• Board games
• Group activities 
• Small one day projects (e.g., Poster board sessions)

If you only took the first three principles and applied them to your classroom teaching, those three alone would make a huge difference in class attendance, participation and overall student satisfaction.  

Fourth Principle: Gives Prompt Feedback 

We have all been students at one time or another and as students, getting feedback from our instructors was something that we all valued. Imagine that you are that student when giving feedback. If you can put yourself at the receiving end of feedback, how would you want that feedback to be presented? Simply stating “great job”, “well done”, or “nice work” is defeating the purpose of quality feedback. A statement such as “Wow Mary, I like how you defended the argument regarding Stem Cell research. This shows that you put a great deal of effort into your research project. I would like to know how you think that Stem Cell research will be received on Capitol Hill in the next Legislative session.”  As an instructor, you acknowledged Mary’s quality of work, you praised her for a job well done and you gave her a prompt for a response regarding the future of Stem Cell research. This practice should also be incorporated in the classroom. Be ready to give quality feedback when a student asks a question.  

Fifth Principle: Emphasizes Time on Task 

Instructors need to always emphasize time management. This is easily done by making sure that there is an agenda and objectives that are clearly defined at the beginning of each class. As an instructor, you make sure that each agenda item has a time limit.  While this time limit does not need to be displayed, as the instructor, you should be the one keeping your students on task.  Other methods for Emphasizing Time on Task includes making sure that exams and quizzes are reasonably timed. Introducing this into the classroom experience emphasizes to students that class time is valuable, thus they cannot just walk in when they want or leave when they want.  Giving a short, timed quiz at the beginning of the class will teach students that if they are late, it can adversely affect their overall grade and inhibit their learning.   

Items to emphasize: 

• Beginning of class quizzes and exams
• Timed quizzes and exams
• Timed agenda items each class period
• Realistic deadlines for work items

Sixth Principle: Communicates High Expectations 

As instructors, we must set the bar high. In doing this we also must set a high bar for ourselves. What we expect in our students we should exemplify ourselves. When an instructor expects more, the students will give more. Here are some areas in which we can set the bar high: 

• Dress and appearance
• Professionalism
• Having classwork ready (learning platform, handouts, lesson plans etc.)
• Being on time for class 
• Communicating effectively

 Seventh Principle: Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning 

Instructors can no longer be in front of the classroom only lecturing. There are so many different types of learners that we must be respectful that delivering instructional content in one format is not effectively delivering course content to every student. Here are different ways in which students learn: 

• Kinesthetic learners like to move about and learn best through active learning instruction.
• Auditory learners get instruction best by listening to material that is being taught.
• Visual learners can look at a manual or a PowerPoint and understand the content. 

Each type of learner looks to an instructor who can deliver instruction in the way they learn the best.  

So, there you have it. Incorporating Chickering and Gamson’s Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, will result in a high level of engagement and success with your students, making you a star instructor with a class full of star students!