Teachers’ Pedagogical Practices and Students’ Learning Experiences in an Ethiopian University Setting

Abstract

There is a growing interest among higher education (HE) researchers regarding the relevance of measuring quality via the lived experiences of teachers and students. However, relatively few studies have examined more broadly the pedagogical practices and student learning experiences in HE. In addition, there is a minimal study that compared students’ perceptions of learning behaviors with that of their teachers. The current study explores students’ and teachers’ perceptions about the existing pedagogical practices and learning experiences by analyzing each group’s responses and examining similarities and differences between their perspectives. For this, undergraduate students (n = 536) and teachers (n =89) at Jimma University, Ethiopia voluntarily participated in filling out two separate questionnaires. The findings show that university teaching and student learning in Ethiopia face considerable challenges that originated from different sources of influences, including input, process, and outcome dimensions. As the study participants reported, they faced high challenges in teaching and learning mainly due to the shortage of required inputs and processes. The role of pedagogical practices and learning experiences within universities' quality measurement and developing strategies to use such data for continuous quality improvement are discussed.