Ask-Dr-Kirk

Thank You Note From An Ex-Student

Just got the following email from one of my students from last spring semester:

Dear Dr. Kirk:

I hope you are doing well.  I wanted to drop a quick line and say that I really did enjoy your class very much last semester.  I really learned a lot and unlike many classes where I learn a lot of information, I think I retained quite a bit instead of doing a brain dump at the end of the semester.

I am still on target to graduate next May with only 4 classes left so I may be looking into a career in Human Resources.  It just seems to be work I would enjoy, so who knows. The really nice thing is that due to your HR manager interview project I have a great contact in the department who is willing to help me out.

I hope you are well, and thank you again for everything!

<Student>

This letter made my day!!

Student "Unlocks" AT&T From iPhone

Check out this story about George Hotz, a 17-year-old who figured out a way to "unlock" AT&T away from the iPhone so that it can be used with another phone service.

You can click here to go to his weblog where he describes the process he used.  This morning he traded the iPhone to the founder of Certicell for a Nissan 350Z.

I talk about making the first day of class interesting.  I think this would be a great story to discuss in a variety of classes dealing with technology, ethics, legal issues, marketing, business implications, etc.  Anyone have other suggestions in how to use?

George starts college classes next week at Rochester Institute of Technology.  His professors are going to have fun...

Learning Students' Names Is The Best Way To Manage Your Classroom

One of the best ways to manage your classroom is to know your students' names.  Your students will be impressed that you made the effort and will be less likely to engage in disruptive behaviors.  Also, we expect our students to learn our subject matter so it's really not fair of us to say we can't learn their names.

Some tips to help you:

• Read over your class list several times before the first day so the names sound familiar to you.
• When a student asks a question, ask for his/her name before answering.  Use the name several times.
• Design a seating chart the second day of class (most students will have chosen where to sit by then).  Tell them you will be using the chart to help you learn names.  Refer to the chart when calling on someone.  Spend a couple minutes right before class looking at the students and chart to test yourself.
• More suggestions:  Phil Gerbyshak uses the acronym, READ so he can learn names.
• Use the Name Game as a collaborative learning exercise in class.  This not only helps you to learn names but also forces the students to learn each others' names.

Does Your Syllabus Give An Accurate Impression Of You And Your Course?

There's a great article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that examines the statement that your syllabi make about you as a professor.   According to Professor Monica D'Antonio (Temple University), looking at a professor's syllabus for a course allows a student "to get to know professors in the college without ever having to meet them or attend their classes...no need to do either to figure out what kind of a faculty member they were. Their syllabi said it all."

She goes on to say, "Students can deduce how a class is going to shape up simply from the elements of the syllabus itself...For example, if a professor's grading policy puts a heavy emphasis on class participation, group work, or written assignments, then that professor probably wants students to be creative, to engage in dialogue, and to interpret texts freely. If the grading system is simply an average of two or three test scores, with no emphasis on participation or interactivity, then one can assume that professor would almost rather the students not show up for class and get the notes from a friend."

One more point to consider when we write our syllabi:  it's important that we make sure to proofread and use spellcheck if we expect the same from our students.

As You Develop Your Courses For This Semester, Ask Yourself These Three Questions...

Dr. Leslie Madsen-Brooks commented on my recent blogpost on "How to develop a syllabus for a class you haven't taught before" with three comprehensive questions:

• How will my students be changed by this course?
• By what methods will I effect this change?
• How will I know this change has taken place?

Great questions to ask yourself as you prepare for the new semester.

Dear Dr. Kirk: I Can't Come To Class The First Day Because I'll Be On Vacation...

I will be teaching a graduate class on Leadership starting August 25 that meets once a week for just seven weeks.  One of the students just emailed me to tell me that <student> will be missing the first day of class because <student> will be out of town on vacation and thanking me for understanding.  On the plus side, <student> did indicate would be emailing me the assignment due the first day.

Since I don't get to take vacation the first day of class, let's just say I don't understand.  What is my first impression of this student?

Anyone have some good advice on how to respond?

Academic Humor: How To Write A Final Exam

Found this bit of academic humor in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's newsletter published by their Office of Graduate Studies:

An eccentric philosophy professor gave a one-question final exam after a semester dealing with a broad array of topics.  The class was already seated and ready to go when the professor picked up his chair, plopped it on his desk and wrote on the board: "Using everything we have learned this semester, prove that this chair does not exist."

Fingers flew, erasers erased, notebooks were filled in furious fashion.  Some students wrote over 30 pages in one hour attempting to refute the existence of the chair.  One member of the class, however, was up and finished in less than a minute.  Weeks later when the grades were posted, the student who finished in less than a minute got an A.  The rest of the group wondered how she could have gotten the best grade in the class when she apparently gave the exam such little effort.  This is what she wrote: "What chair?"

I'm looking forward to my trip to Lincoln next week where I'll be the keynote speaker on classroom management for their campus-wide Teaching Assistants' Workshop.

Developing A Syllabus For A Class You Haven't Taught Before

I'm putting together a class syllabus for a graduate course that I have not taught before.  I'm excited about the possibilities but also feeling a little overwhelmed at the same time.

Some of the questions I'm asking myself during this process include:

• What am I trying to do in this course?  What do I want the students to know or be able to do after taking this course?
• What kind of background do the students have in this subject?
• What topics am I going to cover?  How will I tie the various topics together?
• What teaching methods will I use?  What percent of lecture, discussion, experiential exercises, and cases do I want?  What application activities might be appropriate? 
• What can I do to encourage them to do the readings and participate in class?
• How will I know if the students are learning?  What evaluation tools will I use?
• How will I balance the amount of work I assign the students with my own work schedule so that I can give them prompt and useful feedback on assignments and papers?
• What can I do the first day of class to get the students excited about the course? 

Two more weeks before classes begin!  I'm curious how others approach putting together a syllabus for a new course...

Book Of The Month Club: University Teaching--A Reference Guide For Graduate Students And Faculty

I recently picked up the book, University Teaching: A Reference Guide For Graduate Students And Faculty (Syracuse University Press, 2005). I would definitely recommend the book to new teachers but also believe it has some good advice for those of us who have been teaching for a while.  The book contains 25 chapters authored by experienced faculty on topics such as lecturing, active learning, assessment of student work, and classroom discussion.  It also offers useful advice on working with students with disabilities, teaching nontraditional students, and balancing multiple responsibilities as a professor.  A chapter aimed at doctoral students discusses what to think about when choosing an institution so that you have a good job fit. 

Syracuse University does a great job of training their new teaching assistants and this book is a result.