| Peer-Reviewed

Students’ Perceptions on the Quality of Teaching by Faculty at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya

Received: 8 August 2018     Accepted: 21 February 2019     Published: 18 April 2019
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

This study investigated students’ perceptions on the quality of teaching between part-time and full-time faculty in Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in 2015. The study examined students’ understanding on quality teaching, faculty tenure statuses, and relationship between faculty tenure status and ability delivery quality teaching. These variables were measured using faculty’s ability to delivery subject content, their accessibility, mentorship and extra-class communication to students. The typology of the research design was mixed-methods descriptive research design that allowed for collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. Findings from this study showed that a high number of students (64.5%, n=178) were able to differentiate between poor and good quality teaching, and an equally high number (64.8%, n = 178) makes an effort to attend classes that they deem lecturers to offer high quality teaching. Majority of the students (74%, n = 180) were able to distinguish between full-time faculty from part-time faculty. Students indicated that about 50% of the part-timers were either tutorial fellows or graduate assistants and they experienced a difference in performance between full-time and part-time faculty. 57.14% of the surveyed students indicated that full time lecturers cover syllabus and are better in content delivery compared to part time lecturers, however, 30.95% of the students indicated that they did not find any difference. While 61.90% of students indicated that full-time faculty are available for student’s mentorship, only 7.14% of students indicated that part time lecturers participate in student mentorship. Only 2.38% of the students indicated that part-time faculty are available for extra class communication. In conclusion, majority of the students in JKUAT in main campus 2015 understood quality teaching. They were also able to differentiate between part-time staff and full-time staff. Students found teaching by part-time staff to be of low quality. Part time staff were poor in mentorship and not accessible to offer student after class communication. Thus, the presence of inexperienced and freshly graduated part-time faculty is a matter to worry about in relationship with quality teaching. This study recommends that Universities must find ways to improve the low quality teaching offered by part-time faculty. The study should also be extended to other Universities perhaps using explanatory research designs to improve its ability to discriminate the null hypothesis.

Published in Higher Education Research (Volume 4, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.her.20190401.11
Page(s) 1-15
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Student Perception, Education Quality, Part-Time Faculty, Full-Time Faculty

References
[1] G. Gibb, Dimensions of quality, Higher Education Academy, 2010.
[2] L. Harvey, A. Burrows and D. Green, "Criteria of quality in Higher Education of the QHE Project," 1992.
[3] D. Chalmers, A review of Australian and international quality systems and indicators of learning and teaching, Australia: Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 2007.
[4] R. G. Baldwin and J. L. Chronister, Teaching without tenure: policies and practices for a new era, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins, 2001.
[5] C. Leatherman, "Part-timers continue to replacefull-timers on college faculties," The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. 18, 2001.
[6] K. S. Mangan, "Many colleges fill vacancies with part-time professors, citing economy and uncertainty about enrollments. Chronicle of Higher Education," Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. 9-11, 1991.
[7] M. Kilungu, "Personal characteristics and organizational commitment of part-time academic staff in institutions of higher education in Nairobi and Mombasa Cities in Kenya," International Journal of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurship, vol. 1, no. 12, p. 66, 2014.
[8] C. Bryson, "What about the workers? The expansion of Higher Education and the Transformation of Academic work," Industrial Relations Journal, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 38 - 57, 2004.
[9] J. Gappa, A. Austin and A. and Trice, "Rethinking Academic Work and Workplaces," Change Management Journal, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 32 - 39, 2005.
[10] J. Allen - Collinson and J. Hockey, "Capturing Contracts: Informal activity among contract researchers," British Journal of Sociology of Education, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 497 - 515, 1998.
[11] C. Bryson, "More is less: Contract Research in UK higher education institutions," in EASST Conference, Lisbon, 1998.
[12] R. Wilson, L. Wood and J. Gaff, "Social-psychological accessibility and faculty student interaction beyond the classroom," Sociology of Education, vol. 47, pp. 74-92, 1974.
[13] W. Hussar and T. Bailey, "Projections of Education Statistics to 2013," U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C, 2013.
[14] Economist, 2005. [Online]. Available: www.economist.com. [Accessed 8th October 2014].
[15] E. Sall, "Alternative Models to Traditional Higher Education: Market Demand, Networks, and Private Sector Challenges," Journal of Higher Education in Africa, vol. 2, no. 1, p. 177 – 212., 2004.
[16] W. G. Tierney, "Forms of privatisation: Globalisation and the changing nature of tertiary education.," in Globalisation and the tertiary education in the Asia-Pacific: The changing nature of a dynamic market , Toh Tuck Link, Singapore, World Scientific, 2010, pp. 163-200.
[17] J. Z. Nyangau, "Higher Education as an Instrument of Economic Growth in Kenya," FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education, vol. 1, no. 1, p. Article 3, 2014.
[18] N. A. Owuor, "Higher education in Kenya: The rising tension between quantity and quality in the post-massification period," Higher Education Studies, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 126-136, 2012.
[19] J. G. Cross and E. N. Goldenberg, Off-track profs: Non-tenured teachers in higher education, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009.
[20] P. D. Umbach, "How effective are they? Exploring the impact of contingent faculty on undergraduate education," Review of Higher Education, vol. 30, no. 2, 2007.
[21] S. Zhang and N. An, "Analysis on the Concepts and Theories of the Quality of Graduate Education.," Asian Social Science, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 1-4, 2010.
[22] J. Schuster and M. Finkelstein, Schuster, J. H. & Finkelstein, M. J. (2006). The American faculty: The restructuring of academic work and careers., Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 2006.
[23] A. Lindsay, "Concepts of quality in higher education," Journal of Tertiary Education Administration, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 153-163, 1992.
[24] M. Trow, "From Mass Higher Education to Universal Access: The American Advantage," Research and Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.1.00 , Spring 2000.
[25] J. Delaney, A. Johnson, T. Johnson and D. Treslan, "Students’ Perceptions of Effective Teaching in Higher Education, Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland, USA," 2010. [Online]. [Accessed 1st November 2014].
[26] R. F. Ferguson, "Student Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness," Harvard University, 2010. [Online]. Available: www.harvard.edu. [Accessed 1 Nov 2014].
[27] C. McNaught, D. Leung and D. Kember, "Report on the Student Engagement Project.," Hong Kong, 2006.
[28] K. J. Rowe, "The importance of teacher quality as a key determinant of students "experiences and outcomes of schooling"," in Conference Proceedings 2003, Melbourne, Australia, 2003.
[29] E. Ralph, Effective college teaching: Fresh insights and exemplary practices, New York: Nova Science, 2003.
[30] I. M. 2. Shamos, Handbook of Faculty Titles, Pittsburgh, PA 15213: Carnegie Mellon University, 2002.
[31] J. Kertzer, Poetic Justice and Legal Fictions, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
[32] G. Webb, Making the most of appraisal: career and professional development planning for lecturers, Routledge, 1994, p. 30.
[33] ASPC Procedures, "Promotion of Chairs and Readerships in the Open University, ASPC Procedures 2010 Promotion of Chairs and Readerships in the Open University," 2010. [Online]. Available: www.open.ac.uk/foi/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.foi.main/files/pics/d120257.pdf.. [Accessed 3rd March 2015].
[34] HUPP, "Handbook of University Policies and Procedures at The University of Queensland," 2015. [Online]. Available: http://ppl.app.uq.edu.au/. [Accessed 3rd March 2015].
[35] Academic Staff Agreement, "Schedule A: Salaries and Casual Rates," 2014. [Online]. Available: http://www.hr.uwa.edu.au/policies/eb/collective-agreements. [Accessed 3rd March 2015].
[36] K. .. P. Lundy and B. D. Warme, "Part-timefaculty: Student perceptions and experiences," TheCanadian Journal of Higher Education, vol. 19, pp. 73-85., 1989.
[37] A. Bippus, C. F. Brooks, T. Plax and P. Kearney, "Students' Perceptions of Part-time and Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty: Accessibility, Mentoring, and Extra-Class Communication," Joumal of the Association for Commununication Administration, vol. 30, pp. 13-23, 2001.
[38] C. Bryson, "Supporting sessional teaching staff in the UK – to what extent is there real progress?," Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, vol. 10, no. 3, 2013.
[39] R. May, "Casualisation here to stay? The modern university and its divided workforce," in Dialogue Down under, Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australian and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) Conference, 2-4 February, Aucklan, 2011.
[40] A. Percy and R. Beaumont, "The casualisation of teaching and the subject at risk," Studies in Continuing Education, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 145-157, 2008.
[41] D. Leslie, "Part-time, adjunct, and temporary faculty: The new majority?," in The Sloan Conference on Part-Time and Adjunct Faculty., 1998.
[42] R. G. Baldwin and M. R. Wawrzynski, "Contingent faculty as teachers: What we know; What we need to know," American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 55, no. 11, pp. 1485-1509, 2011.
[43] E. Bettinger and B. T. Long, "Does cheaper mean better? The impact of using adjunct instructors on student outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 92, no. 3, pp. 598-613, 2010.
[44] IRHEPC, " Independent Review of Higher Education Pay and Conditions," Stationery Office, Norwich, 2005.
[45] C. Husbands, "Assessing the use of part-time teachers in British Higher Education: Problems and issues in enumerating a flexible labour force," Higher Education Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 257-282, 1988.
[46] J. Enders, "Academic staff in Europe: changing employment and working conditions," in Academic work and life, Amsterdam, JAI, 2000.
[47] M. Kimber, "The tenured 'core' and the tenuous 'periphery': the casualisation of academic work in Australian universities," Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 41-50, 2003.
[48] CHE, "Handbook on Process for Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Kenya," CHE Publishing, Nairobi, 2008.
[49] Republic of Kenya, "Kenya Vision 2030," Government Printer., Nairobi, 2007.
[50] K. Mwiria and J. Currey, Public and private universities in Kenya, Nairobi: Oxford East African Educational Publishers, 2007.
[51] E. Vegas and J. De Laat, "Do differences in teacher contracts affect student performance? Evidence from Togo," World Bank, Washington DC, 2003.
[52] C. C. Barnabas, "The Evolution of Quality Assurance in Higher Education," Faculty Working Papers from the School of Education, 2007.
[53] C. H. Haskins, The Rise of Universities, Cornell University Press, 1957, p. 107.
[54] W. K. Selden, Accreditation: A struggle Over Standards in Higher Education., New York: Harper and Brothers, 1960, p. 130.
[55] R. Hofstadter, The Development of Academic Freedom in the United States, New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.
[56] T. A. Joiner and S. Bakalis, "The antecedents of organizational commitment: the case of Australian casual academics," International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 439 - 452, 2006.
[57] A. Borchers and J. Teahen, "Organizational commitment of part-time and distance faculty," in AMCIS 2001 Proceedings. Paper 41, 2001.
[58] S. Shaw and C. Ogilvie, "Making a virtue out of a necessity: Part time work as a site for undergraduate work-based learning," Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 34, no. (8/9), pp. 805-821, 2010.
[59] M. K. Eagan and A. J. Jaeger, "Closing the gate: Part-time faculty instruction in gatekeeper courses and first-year persistence," New Directions for Teaching and Learning, vol. 115, p. 39–54, 2008.
[60] P. D. Umbach, "The effects of part-time faculty appointments on instructional techniques and commitment to teaching," in 33rd Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Jacksonville, FL, 2008.
[61] C. Bryson and R. Blackwell, "Managing temporary workers in higher education: Still at the margin?," Personnel Review, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 207-224, 2006.
[62] L. C. Chuan, "A critical review of commitment studies: a call for research in Sarawak school settings," Journal Penyelidikan, vol. 6, pp. 75-76, 2005.
[63] A. A. Chungtai and S. Zafar, "Antecedents and consequences of organizational commitment among Pakistani university teachers," International Journal of Manpower, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 184-194, 2006.
[64] M. Laka-Mathembula, "Modelling the relationship between organizational commitment, leadership style, human resource management practices and organizational trust," Unpublished PhD Thesis, Pretoria, RSA, 2004.
[65] E. Ura, "Advocating student evaluation of teachers in higher education in Nigeria: A pilot study," 2011, p. 55.
[66] M. Menya, "Quality Management of the Postgraduate Programs in the Faculty of Management Studies at Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) - A Case Study," in Challenges for faculty management at African higher education institutions, Osnabriick, 2011 Postfach 1940, 49009 Osnabriick, University of Applied Sciences Publishers, 2011, p. 33.
[67] K. Mburu, P. Gathia and J. Kwasira, "An insight into motivational strategies in enhancing academic staff job satisfaction in selected public Universities in Kenya (A survey of Nakuru County)," Int. J. Mgmt Res. & Bus. Strat, 2014.
[68] J. Obwogi, "Factors that Affect Quality of Teaching Staff in Universities in Kenya," Unpublished PhD Thesis, Juja, Kenya, 2011.
[69] D. J. Kipkebut, "Organizational commitment and Job satisfaction in higher educational institutions: the Kenyan case," Unpublished Ph D thesis, London, 2010.
[70] E. K. Kamaara, "Towards a Culture of Quality Management at SASS, Moi University: Changing lecturers' Attitudes to Student Assessment/QM," in Challenges for faculty management at African higher education institutions, Osnabriick, 2011 Postfach 1940, 49009 Osnabriick, University of Applied Sciences Publishers, 2011, p. 15.
[71] G. V. Glass and K. D. Hopkins, Statistical Methods in Education and Psychology, 2nd ed ed., Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1984.
[72] W. G. Cochran, Sampling techniques, 3rd ed., New York:: John Wiley & Sons, 1977.
[73] C. Kothari, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques, New Delhi: New Age International Publishers, 2009.
[74] R. V. Krejcie and D. W. Morgan, "Determining sample size for research activities," Educational and Psychological Measurement,, vol. 30, pp. 607-610., 1970.
[75] A. Bryman, "The debate about quantitative and qualitative research: a question of method or epistemology?," The British Journal of Sociology, vol. 35, pp. 75-92, 1984.
[76] J. Aronson, "A pragmatic view of thematic analysis," The Qualitative Report, vol. 2, pp. 1-3., 1994.
[77] K. M. Watty, "Quality in accounting education: what say the academics?," Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 120 - 131, 2005.
[78] C. Ball, "Fitness for purpose," in Essays in higher education, SRHE & NFER-Nelson, 1985.
[79] D. Woodhouse, "The quality of quality assurance agencies," Quality in Higher Education, vol. 2, no. 10, pp. 77 - 87, 2004.
[80] L. Vidovich, "That chameleon quality: the multiple and contradictory discourses of 'quality' policy in Australian higher education," Discourse, vol. 22, no. 2, 2001.
[81] D. N. Sifuna, "Some reflections on the expansion and quality of higher education in public universities in Kenya.," Research in Post-Compulsory Education, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 415 425, 2010.
[82] D. Bloom, "Globalization and Education: An Economic Perspective," in Globalization, Culture and Education in the New Millennium, Berkeley, California University Press, 2005, p. 56 – 77.
[83] P. Altbach, L. Reisberg and L. E. Rumbley, "Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution," UNESCO, Paris, 2009.
[84] C. Ngome, "Kenya," in African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2003, pp. 359-371.
[85] I. O. Oanda and J. Jowi, "University expansion and the challenges to social developments in Kenya: Dilemmas and pitfalls," Journal of Higher Education in Africa, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 49-71, 2012.
[86] G. Banachowski, "Perceptions of chief academic officers atcommunity colleges regarding employment and utilization of part-time faculty," Community College Review, p. 254, 2009.
[87] D. Jacoby, "Effects of part-time faculty employment on community college graduation rates," Journal of Higher Education, vol. 77, pp. 1081-1103, 2006.
[88] J. Eagan and A. J. Jaeger, "Unintended consequences: Examining the effect of part-time faculty members on associate's degree completion," Community College Review, vol. 36, p. 167, 2009.
[89] F. Marton, "What does it take to learn?," in How Students Learn, IRDPCE, Univ. of Lancaster, 1975.
[90] L. Harvey and D. Green, "Defining quality," Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, vol. 18, pp. 8-35, 1993.
[91] A. Stevenson, Oxford Dictionary of English, 3 ed., London: Oxford University Press, 2010.
[92] J. Biggs, "The reflective institution: assuring and enhancing the quality of Teaching and learning.," Journal of Higher Education, vol. 41, pp. 221-238, 2001.
[93] P. M. Shields and N. Rangarajan, A Playbook for Research Methods: Integrating Conceptual Frameworks and Project Management, Stillwater, OK, USA: New Forums Press, 2013.
[94] S. Lohr, Sampling: Design and Analysis, 2nd, Ed., New York: MPS ltd, A Macmillan Company., 2010.
[95] P. Schloss and M. Smith, Conducting Research, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
[96] R. Czaja, "Questionnaire Pretesting Comes of Age," Marketing Bulletin, vol. No. 9, no. Article 5, pp. 52-66, 1998.
[97] R. E. Boyatzis, Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development, London: Sage Publications, Inc., 1998.
[98] J. Fereday and E. Muir-Cochrane, "Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development," International Journal of Qualitative Methods, vol. 5, no. 80, 2008.
[99] M. B. Miles and A. M. Huberman, Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook, Thousand Oaks: Sage publications, Inc., 1994.
[100] N. Ritter, "Understanding a widely misunderstood statistic: Cronbach's alpha," in Southwestern Educational Research Association (SERA) Conference 2010, New Orleans, LA, 2010.
[101] D. George and P. Mallery, SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference. 11.0 update, 4th ed ed., Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2003.
[102] IBM Corp. Released, IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0 ed., Armonk, NY: IBM Corp, 2012.
[103] K. Illeris, The three dimensions of learning: Contemporary learning theory in the tension field between the cognitive, the emotional and the social, Leicester: NIACE, 2004.
[104] A. B. Costello and J. W. Osborne, "Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis," Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 1-9, 2005.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Shadrack Muvui Muya. (2019). Students’ Perceptions on the Quality of Teaching by Faculty at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya. Higher Education Research, 4(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20190401.11

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Shadrack Muvui Muya. Students’ Perceptions on the Quality of Teaching by Faculty at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya. High. Educ. Res. 2019, 4(1), 1-15. doi: 10.11648/j.her.20190401.11

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Shadrack Muvui Muya. Students’ Perceptions on the Quality of Teaching by Faculty at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya. High Educ Res. 2019;4(1):1-15. doi: 10.11648/j.her.20190401.11

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.her.20190401.11,
      author = {Shadrack Muvui Muya},
      title = {Students’ Perceptions on the Quality of Teaching by Faculty at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya},
      journal = {Higher Education Research},
      volume = {4},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-15},
      doi = {10.11648/j.her.20190401.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20190401.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.her.20190401.11},
      abstract = {This study investigated students’ perceptions on the quality of teaching between part-time and full-time faculty in Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in 2015. The study examined students’ understanding on quality teaching, faculty tenure statuses, and relationship between faculty tenure status and ability delivery quality teaching. These variables were measured using faculty’s ability to delivery subject content, their accessibility, mentorship and extra-class communication to students. The typology of the research design was mixed-methods descriptive research design that allowed for collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. Findings from this study showed that a high number of students (64.5%, n=178) were able to differentiate between poor and good quality teaching, and an equally high number (64.8%, n = 178) makes an effort to attend classes that they deem lecturers to offer high quality teaching. Majority of the students (74%, n = 180) were able to distinguish between full-time faculty from part-time faculty.  Students indicated that about 50% of the part-timers were either tutorial fellows or graduate assistants and they experienced a difference in performance between full-time and part-time faculty. 57.14% of the surveyed students indicated that full time lecturers cover syllabus and are better in content delivery compared to part time lecturers, however, 30.95% of the students indicated that they did not find any difference. While 61.90% of students indicated that full-time faculty are available for student’s mentorship, only 7.14% of students indicated that part time lecturers participate in student mentorship. Only 2.38% of the students indicated that part-time faculty are available for extra class communication. In conclusion, majority of the students in JKUAT in main campus 2015 understood quality teaching. They were also able to differentiate between part-time staff and full-time staff. Students found teaching by part-time staff to be of low quality.  Part time staff were poor in mentorship and not accessible to offer student after class communication. Thus, the presence of inexperienced and freshly graduated part-time faculty is a matter to worry about in relationship with quality teaching. This study recommends that Universities must find ways to improve the low quality teaching offered by part-time faculty. The study should also be extended to other Universities perhaps using explanatory research designs to improve its ability to discriminate the null hypothesis.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Students’ Perceptions on the Quality of Teaching by Faculty at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya
    AU  - Shadrack Muvui Muya
    Y1  - 2019/04/18
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20190401.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.her.20190401.11
    T2  - Higher Education Research
    JF  - Higher Education Research
    JO  - Higher Education Research
    SP  - 1
    EP  - 15
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2578-935X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.her.20190401.11
    AB  - This study investigated students’ perceptions on the quality of teaching between part-time and full-time faculty in Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in 2015. The study examined students’ understanding on quality teaching, faculty tenure statuses, and relationship between faculty tenure status and ability delivery quality teaching. These variables were measured using faculty’s ability to delivery subject content, their accessibility, mentorship and extra-class communication to students. The typology of the research design was mixed-methods descriptive research design that allowed for collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. Findings from this study showed that a high number of students (64.5%, n=178) were able to differentiate between poor and good quality teaching, and an equally high number (64.8%, n = 178) makes an effort to attend classes that they deem lecturers to offer high quality teaching. Majority of the students (74%, n = 180) were able to distinguish between full-time faculty from part-time faculty.  Students indicated that about 50% of the part-timers were either tutorial fellows or graduate assistants and they experienced a difference in performance between full-time and part-time faculty. 57.14% of the surveyed students indicated that full time lecturers cover syllabus and are better in content delivery compared to part time lecturers, however, 30.95% of the students indicated that they did not find any difference. While 61.90% of students indicated that full-time faculty are available for student’s mentorship, only 7.14% of students indicated that part time lecturers participate in student mentorship. Only 2.38% of the students indicated that part-time faculty are available for extra class communication. In conclusion, majority of the students in JKUAT in main campus 2015 understood quality teaching. They were also able to differentiate between part-time staff and full-time staff. Students found teaching by part-time staff to be of low quality.  Part time staff were poor in mentorship and not accessible to offer student after class communication. Thus, the presence of inexperienced and freshly graduated part-time faculty is a matter to worry about in relationship with quality teaching. This study recommends that Universities must find ways to improve the low quality teaching offered by part-time faculty. The study should also be extended to other Universities perhaps using explanatory research designs to improve its ability to discriminate the null hypothesis.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Department of Zoology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya

  • Sections