Who is your best university teacher and why? characteristics of good university teachers under the view of teacher education students

Abstract

This text aims to analyze the perception of students from different teaching courses at a Federal University in Minas Gerais about the characteristics of good university teachers. It amplifies the analysis developed by a group of graduate students who collect data for a report written as final task of a graduate discipline. This previous report was introduced in a larger project whose objective was to study university pedagogy. Based on studies conducted by national and international researchers on university teachers´ education and practice, we analyzed the data collected by means of a questionnaire specifically designed to know who were considered the best professors, and why they were distinguished from others, according to the opinion of teaching students. The results of the research points out the importance of didactics, of good relationship with students, specific content knowledge, communication abilities and concern with students´ learning as the main important factors that distinguish the best teachers from others. Results also lead us to a number of questions, mainly related to the fact that those teachers are responsible for preparing other teachers.