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and individual qualities in teaching and learning based on their unique ethnic
backgrounds, economic circumstances, personality types, and parenting styles
(Aaron & Levenberg, 2014). Hopkins et al. (2017) stated that generational “cohorts”
are shaped by events, media influences, political/cultural influences, and heroes.
These influences result in generational-specific traits, communication preferences,
and work styles, allowing educators to develop a learning culture that is appealing
and relevant to the generation of learners (Hopkins et al., 2017). Therefore, with
Dr. Phyllis J. Broughton is its unique characteristics, each generation may have its own expectations of its
retired Dean of Academic instructors.
and Student Affairs Many previous studies have looked exclusively at students’ expectations of their
from Martin Community
College, Williamston, instructors; little empirical study has compared what students and faculty across
North Carolina. Currently generations expect of instructors in both face-to-face and online learning formats.
Teaching Assistant This study explored students’ and faculty’s expectations of instructors’ behaviors in
Professor of Adult both settings to fill this gap. It also compared the expectations of instructors from
Education in the College these two groups.
of Education, East Carolina
University, Greenville,
North Carolina, she is Methods
a member and current Participants
chapter president (2020– A convenience sampling procedure was used to recruit participants. Students and
2022) of Beta Upsilon faculty members enrolled in a medical school at a United States research institution
Chapter of North Carolina were recruited. An invitation email with the link to the survey instrument was
State Organization. distributed and available for 2 weeks. A total of 114 participants took the survey,
broughtonp@ecu.edu;
pbrought123@gmail.com producing 76 usable responses (usable rate equaled 67%). Among the participants
who completed the survey, 31 (40.8%) were male, 42 (55.3%) were female, and 3
(3.9%) were other. Twenty-six (34.2%) identified themselves as students, and 50
(65.8%) were physician faculty. In terms of overall generations, 14 (18.4%) were
Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964), 22 (28.9%) were Generation X (born 1965–1980),
31 (40.8%) were Millennials (born 1981–1996), and 9 (11.8%) were Generation
Z (born 1997–2012). Specifically, most students were Millennials (61.5%) and
Generation Z (34.6%), while a majority of the faculty were Baby Boomers (28%),
Generation X (42%), and Millennials (30%).

Instruments
The instrument used in this study was adopted from Buskist et al.’s (2002)
Teacher Behaviors Checklist (TBC). This inventory consists of 28 items that define
personality qualities regarding instructors’ behaviors. The TBC was initially used
to ask participants to rate the top 10 qualities and behaviors from the 28 items.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of importance assigned to
instructors’ behaviors by participants and compare those from face-to-face and
online course settings. Therefore, a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not
at all important) to 5 (very important), with a midpoint of 3 (neutral), provided the
options in the survey. A higher score indicated that participants considered a specific
behavior as more critical. Some behaviors described in the original inventory were
revised by two professors with research expertise in online learning and experience
teaching online classes to fit the learning environments considered in this study.

Procedure
Participants clicked the survey link provided in the invitation email, read the
informed consent, and decided whether they were willing to participate in the study,

8 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators