A COMPENDIUM OF SCALES for use in the SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

student/faculty rating with critical thinking as the seventh quality). In looking at student ratings
only, students from both institutions ranked all of the same qualities as being in their top 10.
The top 10 rated TBC qualities for students consisted of the same six as the combined
student/faculty ratings along with happy/positive/humorous, encouraging, flexible, and
understanding. This finding further supports the notion that students do indeed care
significantly about the student-teacher relationship.
In a more recent study, we compared these sets of faculty with national award-winning faculty
on the top 10 TBC qualities (Keeley, Ismail, & Buskist, in press). Interestingly, eight of the top
10 qualities selected by national award-winning faculty fell within the top 15 of both research
institution faculty and community college faculty. Those qualities were: enthusiastic about
teaching and topic, strives to be a better teacher, creative and interesting, knowledgeable
about subject matter, approachable/personable, effective communicator, respectful, and
encourages/cares for students. Notably, however, the two remaining qualities in the top 10 for
national-award winning faculty, preparedness and rapport, were ranked as being in the 20 th
position or worse for both research institution and community college faculty. This finding
suggests that excellent teachers (as operationalized by individuals who have won a national
teaching award) place more emphasis on being thoroughly prepared for class as well as making
an effort to create a caring and supportive classroom atmosphere for their students.
Thus far, our findings comparing data at different types of institutions provide evidence for the
generalizability of the TBC as a measure of teaching excellence. Several cross-cultural studies
extend the general nature of the TBC even further (e.g., Jõemaa, 2013; Keeley, Christopher, &
Buskist, 2012; Liu, Keeley, & Buskist, 2015; Vulcano, 2007). For example, Vulcano (2007)
surveyed two samples of Canadian undergraduates on their view of a “perfect instructor.”
Students identified as many descriptors as they wished, which Vulcano then categorized into 26
sets of qualities and behaviors. The top 10 categories were (a) knowledgeable; (b) interesting
and creative lectures; (c) approachable; (d) enthusiastic about teaching; (e) fair and realistic
expectations; (f) humorous; (g) effective communicator; (h) flexible and open-minded; (i)
encourages student participation; and (j) encourages and cares for students. Of the 26
categories devised, 24 of them were the same or similar to TBC items, which offers some in
international support for general categories of excellent teaching, at least in terms of North
America.
Keeley et al. (2012) recruited students at a small liberal arts school in Japan—Miyazaki
International College—and from a small liberal arts school in the U.S.—Albion College—and had
all participants complete the 28-item TBC by rating the extent to which a “master teacher”
displays each quality and its attendant behaviors. American and Japanese students agreed on 7
of the top 10 teacher qualities: knowledgeable, confident, approachable/personal, enthusiastic,
effective communicator, prepared, and good listener. The three discordant qualities for
American students were accessible, respectful, and intellectually stimulating. These qualities
were ranked 21 st , 20 th and 25 th , respectively, for the Japanese students. For the Japanese
students, the qualities of being creative and interesting, strives to be a better teacher, and
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