Best Instructor Selection Process

A total of 136 instructors and co-instructors teaching at 112 universities in 43 countries whose students took part in the 2015-2 round of the X-Culture competition were considered for the Best Instructor Award.

A total of 124 variables were considered when selecting the 2015-2 Best Instructor Award recipients and each instructor was rated and ranked along each of the variables.

The most important factor was the class-average peer evaluations. Ultimately, it is all about student performance, and the students’ peers/team members are in the best position to judge student performance.

However, a number of additional factors were also considered:

Class-average student diligence as measured by students’ ability to meet deadlines and submit weekly progress reports were given a substantial weight.

Class-average report quality and plagiarism statistics were also taken into account, but weighted less because the quality of the team report and originality of the report (absence of plagiarism) was affected not only by the students of the instructor in question, but 5-7 students from other universities.

A number of indicators of the instructors’ personal performance were also considered and given a substantial weight: from the quality of preparation of the pre-project materials (e.g., student rosters, accuracy of the names and email addresses, etc.), to the quality of the report evaluations submitted by the instructors at the end of the project (reliability of the ratings, depth and quality of the feedback).

The class size and the level of study were also considered to acknowledge the fact that ensuring high level of performance in large undergraduate courses may be more challenging than in small graduate courses.

After all 136 were ranked on each of the 124 variables, it was impossible to select one best instructor. However, a small group emerged who ranked almost perfectly on the vast majority of the dimensions.

The list of 25 professors who ranked the highest overall are provided below in alphabetical order.

We deliberately do not rank them from 1 to 25 because, first, they all did an outstanding job as instructors and, second, such rankings could change substantially depending on which particular variables are given more weight.

It is important to note that there was no clear gap between the “best” and the “rest” groups. At least 50 other instructors receive excellent evaluations along all dimensions, including very positive student performance reviews and exceptional diligence and helpfulness throughout the semester. But the line had to be drawn somewhere and if we had to select a smaller group of instructors whose performance was even better than that of the rest, these 25 are our 2015-2 Best Instructor Award recipients.