Ask-Dr-Kirk

Article Discusses Why And How To Teach Our Students To "Drop" What We Have Taught Them In Order To Make Good Decisions

Professor Karl E. Weick (University of Michigan) recently published an article in the Journal of Management Education that discusses how management professors should rethink how and what we teach.  However, his implications for teaching excellence applies to all of us who want our students to learn critical thinking.  We teach our students the tools, skills, concepts, and theories of our subject matter.  The trick, according to Dr. Weick, is to teach them when to "drop" what they have learned in order to adapt to changes in organizations, the environment, technology, or society. 

I plan to make the article required reading for my management students this fall.

You can access Dr. Weick's article here:  Download drop_your_tools.pdf   

Cute Video On What Happens When Multi-tasking Goes Bad

One of the comments I hear often is that students think they can search the web, text message their friends, and listen to a class lecture at the same time...and can't understand why we professors get upset by this behavior.  The Onion has a cute video on what happens when multi-tasking goes bad causing the entire internet to crash...

Professional Effectiveness Policy To Encourage Appropriate Student Behaviors

Phyllis K. Williams (Sinclair Community College) shared the following Professional Effectiveness policy at last week's Chautauqua workshop on Classroom Management in Seattle.  She says she actually borrowed it from her colleague, Cathy Huber, and then modified it for her own syllabus.  Professional Effectiveness is a stated outcome for her students and is demonstrated by:

• abiding by the Sinclair Honor Code

• As a member of the Sinclair College community of students, faculty, and staff, I will uphold the values of citizenship, social-responsibility, and personal accountability.  I will maintain the highest standards of professional and academic ethics.  I will uphold my personal integrity, dignity, and self-respect by being fair and honest at all times and by treating all individuals with respect.  By honoring these ideals, I will be building a better future for myself, my college, and my local, regional, and global communities.

• by planning and organizing tasks, 
• by logging in to the course at least every other day,
• by completing assignments on time,
• by being prepared to do well on the four quizzes,
• by managing time spent on this course effectively,
• by being responsive, polite, and considerate of other classmates via Course E-mail or Discussion forums, 
• by solving personal computer problems and maintaining access to the course website
• by contacting the Sinclair Help Desk for technical support.

Fifty points of the final grade are based on the student's commitment to learning and professional effectiveness, and are awarded at the beginning of the quarter.  Students keep the points or lose them for failing to exhibit professional behavior and for completing assignments or quizzes late. Early completion of assignments is encouraged.  Procrastination often results in problems at deadline time.  Students will lose five (5) Professional Effectiveness points for each Quiz or assignment in the Discussion Forum that is late.

Professor Williams teaches classes online but this policy could easily be adapted by others for use in the classroom.

Tell Your Students That Learning Is An Active Process

Northwest Missouri State University lists their core values on their website and include the following advice for their students: 

Learning is an active, not passive, process.  You can't sit around and expect professors to pour knowledge into you like water into an empty pitcher. To learn, you have to take an active part in learning by preparing for class actively, by working on assignments and projects, by questioning and responding in class, by synthesizing the materials from several classes. This means your professors are going to expect you to be active participants in your learning if you are going to be successful. The responsibility is largely on you!

Part of that responsibility means you must devote a serious amount of time to your studies. Most professors expect at least two hours of study time outside of class for every hour spent in class. So a full course load of 15 credits would require an additional 30 hours outside of class spent in studying. A full-time education is a full-time job! We realize many of you must work to pay for your educations, but we want you to keep your priority on your education.

Is It Delaney Or Professor Kirk?

Professor Amanda I. Seligman (University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee) wrote today in the Chronicle of Higher Education about her decision on using her formal title in the classroom.  As she noted, she started out telling the students to call her by her first name saying, "I wanted students to respect me for what I could teach them, not because I was in a formal position of authority or had more degrees than they had."

However, she noted that she currently finds that her students do not seem comfortable calling her by her first name and perfer "Professor" or "Doctor."

One decision we professors do have to make is how we will introduce ourselves to our students.  My opinion is that the students really want someone to be in charge, and using your title, even if it is Mr. or Mrs., gives you instant authority.  Many times professors err in wanting to be “liked” by their students and want their students to call them by their first names in order to establish a sense of informality in the classroom.  However, there appears to be enough informality in today's world and the students could benefit from our modeling more formal behaviors.