Ask-Dr-Kirk

Job Opportunity?

As many of you know, I've been teaching at the college level since 1982 and love what I do. However, this job might entice me to leave teaching!

Lunch And Learn About "Social Media As A Business Tool"

I'm talking on "Using Social Media as a Business Tool for Recruiting, Marketing, and Customer Service" with the Venice Area Young Professionals in Venice, Florida, today. I'm looking forward to it and hope to learn from them too!

21 Tips For New Managers

As an in-class assignment the last day of the semester before finals, I asked each student to write down five tips they would give new managers after taking my class on business management. I found it a good way to wrap up the course. As you can see below, they had great advice.

• Keep up with the latest laws and regulations on employment.

•  Be consistent in how you deal with employees.

•  Don’t discriminate when hiring and promoting.

•  Document! Keep a paper trail of anything that could be a problem later.

•  Be open to change and help your employees be open also.

•  Approach conflict between employees with an unbiased mind, assessing the facts before deciding what to do.

•  Make sure your interviews and pre-employment tests are job-related.

•  Network as much as possible.

•  When hiring, make sure there is a good employee/job fit and employee/organizational fit.

•  Train and evaluate your employees to make sure they understand their tasks and responsibilities.

•  Be professional. Remember impression management. 

•  Get to know your employees but don’t give personal advice.

•  Pay your taxes.

•  Honesty really is the best policy.

•  Assume your employees are Theory Y employees (they want to work and are motivated by challenge, responsibility, etc.) unless they prove themselves otherwise.

•  Conduct a thorough background check in the pre-employment process to prevent negligent hiring.

•  Be internet-savvy.

•  Show employees that you appreciate their hard work.

•  Be on time, be professional, and don’t be in a hurry to leave exactly at quitting time.

•  Dress every day for the next position you’re seeking.

•  Have fun! Work hard and play hard.

I've posted this list on their class weblog so that they can print it for use after they graduate. Any suggestions of other classes that could use this technique to summarize what students have learned?

 

 

 

Research Shows That Chewing Gum Improves Academic Performance

"Chewing sugarless gum during class and while doing homework may improve academic performance of adolescents," according to this new study.

Remember when kids were told to spit out their gum at school?

Happy 3rd Anniversary To "Ask-Dr-Kirk"

Hard to believe that I have been blogging here for three years now.  I want to thank all of you who read the blog and especially want to thank those who have shared your own tips, links, and stories on teaching. I have learned a lot from you!

I would love to hear from those who read this blog regularly but don't usually comment. Feel free to leave me a message or any question you might have.

And pass the cake and ice cream!

Knowledge vs. Wisdom

Just saw this on Twitter: 

Knowledge is knowing the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in your fruit salad.

Professor Gives His Own "Last Lecture" At The University Of Richmond

Professor Joe Hoyle recently gave a "last lecture" at the University of Richmond to over 500 attendees as part of their new speaker series based on the book “The Last Lecture,” written by Randy Pausch. He was chosen for this honor by majority vote from the students.

In an email I received from Joe, he states that,  "As much as I possibly could, I tried to make it a celebration of my former students but maybe more importantly a celebration of the glories and wonders of being a teacher.  I have always thought it was the most wonderful profession in the world and I really wanted to convey that message."

In his lecture, Joe used a quote by William Faulkner as his inspiration to being a better teacher:

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

Watch the video of Professor Hoyle's speech here: 

Congratulations, Joe. You're an inspiration to us all! Let me know the next time you're in Tampa and I'll buy you a drink to celebrate.

      

Should Professors Tell Students That They Will Be Checking To See If Papers Are Plagiarized?

The following question was posed to Randy Cohen who does the column, The Ethicist, for the New York Times Magazine. 

When my daughter and her fellow college students handed in term papers, their professor had them submit their work to Turnitin.com, a Web site that detects plagiarism, something he had never done before. This has a whiff of entrapment. Shouldn’t the prof have announced in advance that this would be required, giving the class a chance to clean up its work?

I'd be curious to hear what other teachers think. I am stunned that the parent is not upset that her daughter and other students might be cheating but instead believes the professor acted unethically by not telling them that he would be checking for plagiarism.

Ten Tips For Students In Making A Good Presentation

My students begin making their team presentations this week so I spent some time last week discussing tips to help them do well. I started out by asking them to raise their hands if they felt uncomfortable making a presentation. Just about everyone in class did. I then told them to look around and see that everyone get nervous during a presentation to a large group of people. I shared with them that I also hated to get up in front of the class when I was an undergraduate and that making a presentation is a skill that gets easier over time. I then gave them the following suggestions:

• Know your topic! The best thing you can do is to be completely prepared. Much of the fear is being afraid that you will make a mistake. Keep in mind that you know more about this topic than anyone else in class; after all, you’ve spent weeks researching it!
• Practice your part out loud as hearing yourself talk will make you feel more confident as well as help you see any problem areas you might have in explaining the material.
• Bring a water bottle with you to class to sip on before your presentation. This helps to lubricate your throat and thus helps your voice to project.
• Think about impression management. Dress professionally. Make sure your powerpoint slides are easy to read, don't contain too much material, and are free from typos.
• Focus on getting through the first five minutes. Most people get comfortable after a while so just concentrate on starting out well. Don’t look at it as a thirty-minute speech. Look at it as a five-minute speech that continues...Tell a story, show a relevant cartoon, ask us questions, etc., to ease into the presentation.
• Breathe! When people are afraid, they begin to breathe in short, fast breaths. Before you speak, or while you are being introduced, sit quietly and breathe slow, deep breaths.
• Pick a couple people in different parts of the room to talk to. This makes you feel you are really just talking one on one. Everyone is more comfortable talking to a friend or a clerk in a store but tend to get nervous when it's a large group. 
• Get enthusiastic. If you're not excited about the topic, no one else will be. Show that you are enthusiastic about your material and really want to share this with the audience.
• Use humor. Not everyone is good at telling jokes but everyone can tell an interesting story that happened to them or to a friend. Nothing breaks the ice quicker than humor. If you get them laughing early, you've got their attention. Pick something that is related to what you are presenting.
• Don’t lecture to us. A way to engage us is to show us how the topic will be useful to our lives or careers. Ask questions. Use examples. Have visual aids. Make us want to pay attention.

Does anyone else have suggestions for students on how to make a good presentation?

 

How To Handle Students Checking Phone Messages During Class?

Dr. Kirk,

My students think that I am just in another generation because I don't think they should be checking their cellphones during class. Do you have any advice on this matter?

Thank you.

Dear "Another Generation,"

I tell my students that I am teaching them how to be successful in the work world. Their boss is not going to allow them to check for personal phone messages during a business meeting with a client. Thus, I tell them I expect that they come to class on time, turn off their cellphones, etc.  Checking cellphones during class is rude and disrespectful to both me and their fellow classmates.  I put all this on my syllabus and discuss it and why the first day of class. I bring my cellphone to class the first few classes and make an issue of showing them that I turn off my own phone during class.  I also tell them that if they anticipate an emergency call, they should tell me ahead of time (just as they would tell their boss) and put on vibrate.

Here and here are some ways others have handled this issue.

Here's a funny Video on how professor handles cellphone ringing during class (I have to think it was staged but I’m sure it got the students’ attention!)

Just be sure to be consistent in how you handle any student that breaks your policy. I find using humor works for me:

        Student phone rings.

        Me: Stop lecture. Look at student. Say, "That better be for me!" Smile.

        Class: Laughs.  Student looks sheepish and turns off phone.

        And we then go right back to lecture or whatever doing in class.

If it's just a matter of them texting or checking messages, I'll go by the student's desk and quietly tell them to put the phone away during class. Or you might catch them after class and remind them what the policy is on the syllabus.

Anyone else out there have suggestions on cell phone usage in class?