Effective 21^st Century Teachers: An Analysis of Students’ Perspectives

This study looked into the characteristics of effective teachers of today as perceived by the 121 Engineering, Business, and IT students at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Al Musannah (UTAS-A), Oman. The results showed that students put more emphasis on the personal and interpersonal attributes of the teachers over their pedagogical skills, where 67.26% of the total responses account for the former while 32.74% comprise the latter. Further, findings revealed that teachers who are helpful and supportive, smile a lot/friendly, respectful of their students, and kind/magnanimous are effective according to students. In terms of pedagogical skills, the respondents believe that effective teachers are the ones who can teach well and explain clearly, make learning fun and creative, and give more class activities or practice.