Ask-Dr-Kirk

Career Advice For Graduating Seniors: Invent Your Own Job

Thomas L. Friedman, in his article, “Need a Job? Invent It” emphasizes the need to be more creative in searching for a job. As he notes:

“...because knowledge is available on every Internet-connected device, what you know matters far less than what you can do with what you know. The capacity to innovate — the ability to solve problems creatively or bring new possibilities to life — and skills like critical thinking, communication and collaboration are far more important than academic knowledge."

Here's a list of ten jobs that didn't even exist ten years ago such as app designer and social media manager.

How Educators Use Twitter For Personal Development

For those of you who use Twitter (or would like to learn how), here's a definition of hashtags and a list of ones related to education that you might find useful.

Here's more on using Twitter.

Does This Sentence Need A Comma?

Student:  "I have trouble with punctuation. I just don't have any comma sense."

Me:  Here's an useful article on when to use a comma in a sentence.

How To Create A Good Habit

A couple month ago I read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. It's a fascinating study of how much habit plays a part in our daily lives and how we can change bad habits. He also discusses how organizations can break bad habits that their employees have that affect safety or productivity. It's one of the books I have on my syllabus for a MBA Leadership class I just started teaching.

Here's a flow chart by the author on how to create a good habit.

10 Ways Students Can Use Twitter For Paper Assignments

 One of the things I like most about Twitter is the ability to connect with others to share links and information. Leslie Anglesey (University of Southern California) shares her tips on how students can use Twitter for paper assignments such as reaching out to experts to ask questions and participating in discussions on paper topics.

Teaching Students To Be Creative In Their Problem Solving

Check out this approach to teaching problem solving and innovation used by Ellen Weber and Robyn McMaster.   

Free College Courses!

Check out all these free interactive college courses in math, physics, and computer science at Udacity. 

How To Make A Powerful Presentation

Here are some tips by Jordan Driediger (CEO, DM2 Studios) on how to make an interesting presentation that I'll be sharing with my undergraduate students.

Also, Professor Barbara Nixon (Georgia Southern University) shares her notes on making a great powerpoint presentation.

If you want to get your students away from using powerpoint, I would recommend Prezi as a great visual aid.

Getting The Most Out Of Twitter

I recently showed my MBA class how to use Twitter. On the whole, they were like many people who haven't experienced Twitter in that they were resistant and weren't really sure that it would be useful to them. However, they are now enjoying the platform and using it to communicate with each other on projects and also with the authors of their books. I think Twitter is a great way for students to connect with others and build their own personal learning network.

Here's an useful article to those new to Twitter:  25 Ways To Get the Most out of Twitter.

 

Speed Dating The First Day Of Class

Professor Cynde Gregory (Gwinnett Technical College) shares this icebreaker she uses to create a classroom culture of acceptance. I'm thinking I may use it in the next class on Managing Diversity that I teach.

More Icebreakers

Here's a great internet site of icebreakers that could be used that first day of class.  They are organized by size of class (small, medium, or large) and by category (active exercises, team building, or get-to-know-you exercises).

Activity For The First Day Of Class To Ensure Students Read The Syllabus

Professor Barbara Nixon (Southeastern University) shares this Syllabus Scavenger Hunt as an activity the first day of class. You could adjust it to fit what you want to emphasize on your own course syllabus:  Download Syllabus-scavenger-hunt1

Icebreakers For The First Day Of Class

Getting to know a little about your students the first day of class helps to make them feel more comfortable in the classroom with you and each other.  Doing an icebreaker is a good way to involve the class and show that you expect them to participate in class activities.  Some examples of icebreakers include:

Have students introduce themselves (you pick the categories such as name, major, home town, most unusual job held, favorite author, latest book read, thing they are most proud of, etc).

Put students in pairs and have them share info.  Each person then introduces their partner to the rest of the class.

Give students a stick-on badge and have them write several descriptive terms about themselves.  Then have the students find someone else in the room with similar descriptions and spend 2-3 minutes talking with that person.

Have each student introduce themselves by saying "I've done something no one in this class has done which is ..." If another student has done this, the student must find something else to share.

Put together a bingo card with various descriptors such as "has more than one major," "is from Chicago," "has a twin," etc.  Have the students mingle to find others to sign their card in the appropriate boxes if they fit the descriptor.

Have students introduce themselves and tell how they got their name (could be nickname).

Put students in small teams of 4-5 people and have them develop a list of things they have in common.  Have them share the most interesting things with the class.

Have a  bag of trinkets including things like a pencil, spoon, gum, whiteout, string, lots of McDonald's kids toys, etc.  Have each student pick something from the bag that represents their personality and share why as they introduce themselves.

Icebreakers can even be used in large classes.  Charlotte D. Sutton (Auburn University) teaches Management classes with 400 students.  She has them break into groups of 4-5 and introduce themselves and share phone numbers so that everyone knows others in the class.  Then they have to identify the five most important things that a manager does.  After they have done that, she goes through the class with a wireless microphone and get a representative of most of the teams to share what they thought.  Another student writes all of this on the board.  She says that when done, she basically has an outline of the class and is able to say, "Good, these are the things we are going to talk about during the course this semester." 

Obviously icebreakers take time that first day of class but they are worth it in terms of establishing the classroom culture you want. 

How To Keep That New Year's Eve Resolution!

 

Just read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. It's a fascinating study of how much habit plays a part in our daily lives and how we can change bad habits. He also discusses how organizations can break bad habits that their employees have that affect safety or productivity. I’m going to have my students in a Leadership class read this.

Here's a short video by the author on how he broke his chocolate chip cookie habit and lost weight! 

 

Allowing Students To Set Classroom Conduct Policies

Some faculty are allowing their students to set the ground rules for conduct in the classroom as well as the consequences for breaking these rules.  The thought behind this approach is that the students are more likely to engage in behaviors that they themselves have established as important in the classroom setting.

Dr. Lisa Rodriguez notes that the faculty member can also insert his/her own additional rules after getting the students' input.  Here is her list of typical ground rules that students might agree upon:

• Start and end class on time
• One speaker at a time
• Everyone participates
• Keep an open mind
• No "zingers" or put downs
• No one dominates discussions/Share "air time"
• Be an active listener
• Stay on track/topic

Dr. Rodriguez goes on to say that, "For those instructors who might feel anxious about this process living up to the tried (but sometimes not true) statement of conduct dictated by the instructor in the syllabus, we suggest having all students verbally agree upon and/or sign a final list that is duplicated and distributed for future reference...Also, let students know that you are ultimately responsible for maintaining a fair learning environment."

Improving Public Speaking Skills

One of the skills I try to help my students with is the ability to make an effective presentation with good eye contact and without reading from their notes. Dr. Miren Ivankovic (Anderson University) uses public speaking opportunities as a way for his students to earn bonus points. As he notes:

To earn the points, the student is required to come in front of the class and tell a story. Usually, the first time we do it, students can choose their own topic and later in a semester I either announce a topic prior to class, or, to make it really demanding, announce a topic once the student is in front of a class. Grading varies from only me deciding on a bonus from 0% to 3% points, to the whole class submitting a grade like a ballot vote and then I average all the numbers. The grade is based on the following points: the quality of vocal presentation, eye contact, body language, the topic discussed and the level of confidence the student has while telling the story.

While I'm usually not a fan of bonus points, I think this is a win-win assignment!

Video: School Kills Creativity

One of the topics I include in a MBA course I teach on Leadership is creativity. The students tend to resist although they do a great job once given permission to be creative. Thus, I found this video by Sir Ken Robinson interesting. He contends that school kills creativity, that we "educate students out of their creativity."

 

Tools For Managing Your Time More Effectively

Abhijeet Mukherjee shares 15 time management tools and apps. I'm curious about RescueTime, an app that you download to keep track on how you spend your time on your computer.

Free Rubrics For Teachers

One thing I've learned after 32 years of teaching is that using rubrics for exams, papers, and student presentations means less time grading and more specific feedback for the students.  Check out this website for thousands of free rubrics as well as templates for putting togther your own. 

How To Retrieve What You've Read

Have you ever read a book and then months later can’t recall anything about the book? Or perhaps you pick up a book and start reading and realize after a few chapters that you’ve read it before? I know I have and thus I found this post by Dwayne Morris interesting: How to retrieve what you’ve read-almost instantly.

Nature vs. Nurture: Both Impact A Person's Self-Control

You've probably heard of the marshmallow study on delayed gratification that was done back in the 1960s. The research done at Stanford University found that children that were able to delay eating the marshmallows were more likely to be successful later in life.

Researchers at University of Rochester revisited this study by adding the element of uncertainty and were able to demonstrate that delay gratification is influenced by environment as well as by innate self-control. "Children who experienced reliable interactions immediately before the marshmallow task waited on average four times longer - 12 versus three minutes - than youngsters in similar but unreliable situations." Thus, being able to trust that the reward will, in fact, be given affects the children's motivation to wait. 

 

 

 

How To Craft An Engaging Lecture

Although there's been a lot of press lately on flipping your classroom, it's still necessary for many of us to put together a lecture when teaching our subject matter. Ashley Wiersma shares her tips on how to craft an engaging lecture that will transform the classroom environment from being passive to an active learning experience.

Good Advice On Coping With Rude People

Celestine Chua shares more in-depth suggestions on dealing with rude people here.

Ever Wondered How You Could Use Facebook In The Classroom?

Although I actively use social media to interact with the public, I've been reluctant to open up my Facebook page to my students. Instead I use Facebook to keep in contact with family and very close friends. However, I found this list by Jeff Dunn interesting: 100 Ways to Use Facebook in Your Classroom.

Thanks to Janet Symmons for sharing this on Twitter.

 

Feeling Overwhelmed By Work? Tips To Help

Dr. Susan R. Johnson (University of Iowa), discusses ways to deal with the stress of being overwhelmed with the work load you have.

• Slow down...block out everything and focus entirely on what you are doing in this moment.
• Complete a task. Randomly choose a task from your immediate environment and do it. Your priorities are not important in this step – in fact, an obsession with trying to find the very highest priority task to do may have precipitated the overwhelming episode in the first place!
• Make a list of everything you have to do. The subtext here is that stress is increased the more you try to keep things in your head.
• Clear your workspace. The goal at this stage is not organization, but focus. Thus, it is OK for the short run if you simply put everything from your desk on the floor. This gives you a clear space in which to do each task, without your eye (and mind) being drawn off-task by seeing the other work you need to do.
• Find a 10% solution...it is better to make small adjustments so that you can get back in control. To apply this method, think of activities in your daily life that seem to take too much time, or that specifically add to your sense of overwhelm. Select one, and break it down into steps. Look at each step separately, and see if there is a way it can be done more quickly or efficiently, delegated to someone else, or eliminated altogether.

Dr. Johnson has some great suggestions.  I sometimes ask my students if they use a "to do list" of some sort?  Usually it's about half the class and usually it's my better students.

A Simple Way To Influence Your Classroom Culture

Kevin Eikenberry posts on Seven Simple Ways to Subtly Influence Others in the business world.  As I read down the list, it occurs to me that these are all great tips that we could use in our classrooms to create a good learning environment. I especially agree with the first one: Use a person’s name. After all, we require our students to learn theories, concepts, terms, formulas, dates, etc.  We should at least do them the courtesy of learning their names. The students will be surprised and pleased you did and less likely to be disruptive. And while many of us believe that we are not good at remembering names, there are some tips on learning names if we just make the effort.

The Positive Power Of Being Strange

In order to embrace diversity, inspire creativity, and work effectively in teams, we have to accept and even encourage what we find as strange in others. Mike Wagner does a great job pushing The Positive Power of Being Strange.

Want Your Students To Pay Attention In Class? Try These Three Tips

We’ve probably all noticed that students sit up and pay more attention when we tell a personal story or use humor during our lectures. A new study by Dr. David Rosengrant (Kennesaw State University) addresses the issue of student attention in the classroom. Essentially he finds that students pay greater attention when:

• The professor verbally presents information that is not on the powerpoint slides.
  
• The professor uses humor.
  
• The professor moves closer to the students in the classroom.

I would agree with all three. Students see no need to pay close attention if all is on the powerpoint, enjoy hearing stories and humor, and get a little nervous (and more attentive!) when we move closer to them. All good tips for teaching.

First Day of Class: Setting Ground Rules For Classroom Conduct

Some faculty are allowing their students to set the ground rules for conduct in the classroom as well as the consequences for breaking these rules.  The thought behind this approach is that the students are more likely to engage in behaviors that they themselves have established as important in the classroom setting.

Dr. Lisa Rodriguez notes that the faculty member can also insert his/her own additional rules after getting the students' input.  Here is her list of typical ground rules that students might agree upon:

• Start and end class on time
• One speaker at a time
• Everyone participates
• Keep an open mind
• No "zingers" or put downs
• No one dominates discussions/Share "air time"
• Be an active listener
• Stay on track/topic

Dr. Rodriguez goes on to say that, "For those instructors who might feel anxious about this process living up to the tried (but sometimes not true) statement of conduct dictated by the instructor in the syllabus, we suggest having all students verbally agree upon and/or sign a final list that is duplicated and distributed for future reference...Also, let students know that you are ultimately responsible for maintaining a fair learning environment."

I'm curious if others have tried this...

First Day Of Class: First Impressions

I completely agree with Professor Robert Talbert (Franklin College) about the importance of the first day of class:

"Students form their conceptions of the class — and keep that conception through the whole semester — in these first few moments of the course. I want to give students the impression that the class is something they need to take seriously, and there’s a workload that has to be managed carefully..."

You can read more of Dr. Talbert's suggestions for creating a good first impression in the classroom.

Here are my ten tips for the first day of class.

 

Syllabi: Using Discussion Questions To Teach Learning Outcomes

I'm going to try this idea from Dr. Barbi Honeycutt this fall. She suggests developing a discussion question for each of the learning outcomes that you put on your syllabus.

 

Syllabi: Policies For Makeup Exams

As I’ll be putting together syllabi in the next couple weeks, I recently read this interesting article by Dr. Maryellen Weimer on the issue of makeup exam policies.  

Here are the policies I've used in recent years for exams and quizzes.

Exams: There will be three (3) examinations, including a comprehensive final, and all exams will cover the text chapters, assigned readings, lecture notes and class discussion.  It is important that you take the exams at the assigned time.  If you have to miss an exam, you must contact your professor prior to that class period (either by phone or email).  Make-up exams must be completed within one week at the professor’s convenience.

Deadlines for Papers & Projects: Completing projects and assignments on time is an expectation for professionals in the business world. Assignments will be due at the beginning of class. Quizzes and application papers will not be accepted late (Please don’t even ask).  Major assignments will be penalized by one letter grade per day that it is late. 

 

I'm wondering how others are handling these issues?

 

First Day Of Class: Using A Contract To Establish Expectations

Dr. Nate Kreuter (Western Carolina University) uses a student/instructor contract as a way of helping students understand both his expectations of them and what they can expect from him.

As you can see, he uses humor but still makes it clear that he (1) expects the students to do the work, (2) gives them the choice to drop so that others can take the course if they are unable/unwilling to take the course seriously, (3) knows this is a great course (self-fulfilling prophecy here), and (4) realizes that while this may not be a legal document, he expects the students to illustrate their commitment to the course by signing it.

Here's his intro:

 

Welcome to the class. You’re probably wondering what this class contract is about, so I’ll go ahead and explain. I want to make sure that everyone in this class realizes from the beginning what we will be doing and what my expectations are for each and every student. This document is not intended to discourage you generally or to encourage you to drop the class. Just the opposite. I honestly think this will be the best section of Composition 101 offered in the Department of English this year. But I know for a fact that it will be one of the most demanding. The risks and rewards are great. If you put in the work, this will be a wonderful class. If you don’t, you and I will both be miserable. So, I’ve listed some of my expectations below. Look over them. Carefully. The reading and writing demands of this class are high. But the readings are also unusually enjoyable and the assignments will be, I hope, also enjoyable and enriching. If you can commit to doing this work, go ahead and sign the contract. If you can’t, consider giving up your seat to someone who can. This contract is not all-inclusive but should give you a pretty good idea of my expectations for the semester.

Please note that the course is designed to start very quickly, with a lot of work and reading due up front, and is designed so that the amount of work you have to do will gradually decline over the course of the semester. The hope is that you will have the bulk of the difficult work for this course completed by the time your other classes are becoming especially burdensome at the end of the semester.

The reality of this contract is that it is meaningless. If you sign it but fail to uphold your end of the bargain, I can’t do anything to you. I can’t have you expelled, or even lower your grade. However, I am absolutely certain that I will hold up my end of the bargain, and I hope you will too. Our word will be our bond. Welcome again to the class. Sign the contract, do the work, enjoy yourselves, make friends, and let’s never have to speak of contracts or similar unpleasantness from this day forward.

How Not To Be Creative

J. Eddie Smith, IV, writes about creativity in a recent blogpost and gives great advice on what NOT to do if you want to be a creative writer, company, or employee. You'll see a theme here in the following examples:

If you don’t want to be a creative writer, you should try your best to

• Write things that have already been written.
• Tell as many people as possible about what you’re writing before you’re done.

If you don’t want to be a creative product company, you should try your best to

• Make products that have already been made.
• Tell as many people as possible about what you’re making before you’re ready to ship it.

If you don’t want to be a better cubicle worker, you should try your best to

• Be like everyone else, meet your boss’s expectations, and always ask permission.
• Announce ideas as soon as they pop into your head.

Thus, if you want to be creative, do something different and don't tell anyone about it until you're done!

 

How To Be Perceived As An Excellent Teacher?

Ever wonder what affects students' perceptions of your teaching?  Dr. Arletta Bauman Knight states that there are three dimensions for establishing your credibility in the classroom: Competence, Trustworthiness, and Dynamism.

Competence is the perceived "expertness" of the speaker, i.e., their knowledge of the subject matter. Competence also involves teaching the course in a way that will truly be of value to the student.

Descriptive adjectives include: informed, experienced, skilled, qualified.

Trustworthiness refers to whether or not the teacher has the best interest of the student at heart. A teacher who is trustworthy is one who promotes positive teacher/student relationships. For example, students are made to feel welcome as participants in the class, the teacher sincerely cares about the welfare of the students, and the teacher is sensitive to gender and cultural issues in the classroom.

Descriptive adjectives include: safe, just, kind, friendly, honest

Dynamism focuses on the teacher's "passion" for teaching and his/her enthusiasm in the classroom. It also involves the presentation skills of the speaker. That is, a dynamic teacher is one who is more likely to be confident, articulate, and animated. He or she is one who "changes the pace" in a single class by using a variety of teaching strategies.

Descriptive adjectives include: emphatic, bold, active, energetic.

 

Free ebooks On Blogging

Interested in guest blogging or want to know how to get more traffic to your own blog? Ann Smarty shares this list of free ebooks on blogging that she states are well worth your time.

 

Great Commencement Speeches!

For the past few weeks, both high schools and universities have been hosting their graduation ceremonies (I went to two of these in May).  Unfortunately most of the speeches were essentially the same and not really that interesting. However, I found this link to five great commencement speeches to be very inspirational.

 

Learning From Student Evaluations

Interesting discussion of what we can learn from student evaluations by Professor Ryan Cordell (St. Norbert College). Check out the comments section too.

And just for fun: Here's a humorous look at how to interpret those student comments.

Books On College Teaching

Professor Sherman Dorn (University of South Florida, St Petersburg) shares his list of good books on college teaching, especially for those who are new to teaching. He also includes a link to Rebecca Onion's blog with recommendations she's gathered from her personal learning network on Twitter.

 

Higher Ed Blogs On Technology

Check out this list of the best blogs on technology in higher education.

Say This, Not That To Your Professor

Ellen Bremen has written the book we college professors wish every student would read. Say This, Not That to Your Professor addresses all those issues we gripe about in the hallway. Professor Bremen explains to students why they should proof their emails to their professors, why texting in class is disruptive, and why professors HATE the question, Are we doing anything important today? Even better, she shows students how to take ownership of their own education. The book is easy to read but has lots of practical information and sample conversations to help students learn what it means to be a professional.   I've suggested to our provost that we purchase a copy for every incoming first-year student!

 

Should We Give Our Students Study Guides?

Jonathan Malesic (Kings College) opens the discussion on whether teachers should provide study guides for exams and some ways in which these can be beneficial in getting the students to take ownership of their learning.

I typically don’t use study guides. However, when I do (for example, when I teach HR/Employment Law and there are lots and lots of laws and cases), I write the study guide in the form of questions rather than just giving them a list of topics. This seems to help them focus.

I'm curious what others are doing?

Teaching Carnival 5.09

Check out the Chronicle of Higher Education's roundup of recent best blog posts on teaching and educational technology!

A Student Perspective On Improving Group Projects

Kris Ranstrom is currently finishing up his MBA at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee and is the author of Protean Relay which is “a business blog for techies and a tech blog for business people.” Recently he wrote a post for teachers on how to make the team project a better learning experience. His suggestion? Require the students to prepare their own group expectations document. Read more about how to do this here.

Using Pinterest In Your Job Search

As students get ready to graduate and go on the job market, one of the challenges is how they can make themselves both different and relevant to that potential employer. Here's an article on Ways To Use Pinterest To Wow Your Dream Employer.

 

What If We Were Wrong About How To Teach?

I'm reading this thought-provoking article by Grant Wiggins who postulates that we should completely rethink how we teach knowledge. As he states:

The point of child-rearing, cooking, teaching, soccer, music, business, or architecture is not ‘knowledge’; rather, knowledge is the growing (and ever-changing) residue of the main activity of trying to perform well for real…(Thus) it would be very foolish to learn soccer (or child-rearing or music or how to cook) in lectures. This reverses cause and effect, and loses sight of purpose. Could it be the same for history, math, and science learning? Only blind habit keeps us from exploring this obvious logic. The point is to do new things with content, not simply know what others know – in any field.

As noted by Joe Bower recently on Twitter: The point of learning is not just to know things but to be a different person.

Here's a link to the entire article, Everything You Know About Curriculum May Be Wrong. Really.

Free Ebook On Using Technology To Improve Student Learning

Check out this free download from Faculty Focus:  Teaching with Technology: Tools and Strategies to Improve Student Learning. There are some great articles including: 

• Wikipedia in the Classroom: Tips for Effective Use
• Blogging to Improve Student Learning: Tips and Tools for Getting Started
• Prezi: A Better Way of Doing Presentations

 

A To Z List Of Educational Resources

Interested in using technology in your classroom? Check out this list of free internet educational resources! 

 

Advice For Graduates: What Three Things Do Interviewers Want To Know?

A couple weeks ago I facilitated a workshop for students on how to use social media in their job search. You can access some of the resources I used here.

Here's an article to share with your students that states that essentially interviewers want to know only three things:

Can you do the job? In other words, do you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for this position?

Will you love the job? Are you self-motivated? Will you be able to find meaning in what you will be doing?

Can we tolerate working with you? Will you be a good fit for our organization? Do you share our values and vision?

For more info, you can read the entire article, "Top Executive Recruiters Agree There Are Only Three True Job Interview Questions."

 

Tips For Teachers: How To Beat Fatigue

It’s midterm and I’m grading exams and projects as well as gearing up to start teaching a new MBA class this Saturday. I’m tired and I'm sure my students are too. I love it that Elena Aguilar shared her list of ways to re-energize yourself. Some of the ones I think I'll try are:

#3. Stop reading anything related to education for a week. Or cut down by 90 percent.

#7. Work in 45-minute time blocks. While the timer is on, don't divert attention for anything -- no checking email, clipping cuticles, or organizing bookshelves. Forty-five minutes of intense focus (set the timer) and then a 15-minute break. Take a walk during the break. Right now. Take a walk. I'm going to take my own advice. Now.

#8. Listen to music, really loud (can be combined with walking). And sing along. Janis Joplin just did wonders for my energy level.

#10. Pet a furry creature. There's science behind this: Petting an animal decreases blood pressure and increases endorphins.

#13. Take a walk with a friend who does not work in education and talk about trivial matters or reminisce about wild college days.

 

You can read all Twenty Teacher Tips For Beating Fatigue here.