Effective College Teaching

William Buskist (Ph.D. Brigham Young University) is the Distinguished Professor in the Teaching of Psychology at Auburn University and a Faculty Fellow at Auburn's Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. In his 25 years at Auburn, he has taught over 32,000 undergraduates, mostly in large sections of introductory psychology. He also regularly teaches a course in Teaching at Auburn. For the past decade, Bill's primary research interests have centered on the habits and practices of so-called master teachers at the college and university level. His graduate teaching interests focus on the training of graduate student teachers and preparing them for careers in the professoriate. Bill is a frequent contributor to the journal, Teaching of Psychology and he is often asked to speak about his work on master teachers at regional and national teaching conferences. Bill was the winner of the 2000 Robert S. Daniel Award, an award given annually to one 4-year college/university professor by APA's Division 2 on the Teaching of Psychology. He serves as the Section Editor for The Generalist's Corner section of Teaching of Psychology and as a member of the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (NITOP) planning committee. Together with Steve Davis, he has edited two volumes on the teaching of psychology: The Teaching of Psychology: Essays in Honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer (Erlbaum, 2003) and The Handbook of the Teaching of Psychology (Blackwell, 2005), and together with Barry Perlman and Lee McCann, he edited Voices of Experience: Memorable Talks from the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (American Psychological Society, 2005). He has also co-edited several electronic books for the Society of the Teaching of Psychology (http://teachpsych.org/resources/e-books/e-books.php). In addition, along with Doug Bernstein, he is the co-editor for Blackwell's Teaching Psychology Science series, which focuses on providing advice and tips for teaching specific courses in psychology (e.g., introductory psychology, developmental psychology, research methods, statistics, etc.). He has published over 30 books and articles on the teaching of psychology. In 2005, he was a co-recipient (with Leanne Lamke) of Auburn University's highest teaching honor, The Gerald and Emily Leischuck Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching. In addition, he was the American Psychological Association's (APA) 2005 Harry Kirke Wolfe lecturer. He is a Fellow of APA Divisions 1 (General Psychology) and 2 (Society for the Teaching of Psychology). He is currently serving as Past-President of the Society. Five of his graduate students have been honored with national teaching awards. Connie Buskist is an Assistant Professor of Reading Education at Auburn University Montgomery where she teaches graduate courses for inservice and preservice teachers. She works closely with reading specialist candidates in preparing them for both teaching reading skills to children and also for coaching classroom teachers in the area of reading instruction. Her areas of research include effective reading teacher education and the use of instructional conversations in reading comprehension instruction. Before moving to the university setting, she was an elementary school teacher for 14 years during which time she certified as a Middle School Generalist by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.