MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY (AFTER 50 YEARS ON THE JOB)

This is the 300^th essay on teaching that I have written for this blog.   Thanks so much to everyone who has consistently read my thoughts over the years and passed them along to others.  I hope they have helped you become a better teacher.  At present, the blog has had 567,500 pageviews.  That is, at the very least, half a million more readers than I would have expected when I first began posting.

On Monday, April 26, at the end of my third class of the day, I will complete my 50^th year as a college teacher.  300^th teaching essay.  50^th year as a college teacher.  Good time to take stock. 

I tell people that developing into an outstanding teacher is like learning to be a chess master.  The subject is so deep and complicated that a dedicated person can study forever and never do more than scratch the surface.  That is one reason I enjoy teaching so intensely.  The complexity is mind-boggling.  Any teacher who does not embrace that complexity is destined for a frustrating career.  The number of possible permutations to consider moment by moment during any one class period is endless.  Student personalities vary from person to person day to day.  They walk in the classroom (either virtual or live) happy or sad, prepared or lost, interested or distracted.  Their needs and moods change constantly.  The subject matter never stops evolving.  Teaching, as the saying goes, takes “A minute to learn and a lifetime to master.”  That is the reason I have avoided retirement.  There is always more to learn.

In my previous blog entry, I included the teaching philosophy of Dr. Aswath Damodaran of NYU.  At that time, I promised I would outline my own teaching philosophy in my next posting.  After all these years, I wanted to put my personal teaching philosophy into words.

Consequently, I have been thinking about my teaching rather diligently for the past few weeks.  I started with a question that has long puzzled me.  I have known scores, if not hundreds, of outstanding teachers.  I have listened to them and learned from them.  One characteristic of all those teachers has struck me over the years:  They each seem excellent in their own unique style.  Some lectured in large classes.  Some held seminars with only a handful of students.  Some were gruff and demanding.  Some were kind and comforting.  Some were funny and engaging whereas others were not.  Some gave lots of high grades.  Some gave virtually no high grades.  Some taught grad students.  Some worked only with first-year students.  Some taught with words and thoughts.  Some taught with numbers and logic.  Some motivated with carrots.  Others motivated with sticks. 

Nevertheless, somehow, they were all outstanding teachers.

With my fascination for teaching, I have long looked for a common thread running between all the excellent teachers I have known.  Surely, some identifiable aspect of teaching cuts across all styles and is present in each of these outstanding individuals.  What do they all have in common?

After decades of observation, I have arrived at the conclusion that at least one characteristic can be found in all great teachers.  It forms the basis for my teaching philosophy.

     Outstanding teachers manage to convince their students to believe in them. 

Those eleven words seem so simple but I cannot think of a single excellent teacher who did not have this aptitude.  Like soldiers being urged into a fierce battle by a great general, the students of these teachers seem willing to do whatever is asked of them and do it with an impressive degree of enthusiasm and tenacity.  They work hard and love it.  Those students study late into the night.  They complete assignments on weekends.  They do not look for short cuts.  They do the work the right way.  They willingly make sacrifices because they believe in their teacher with a faith that is unshakeable. 

--If the teacher asks students to read a chapter in a textbook, they do it without question because they are convinced that the teacher would not make the request if it was not reasonable and important. 

--If the teacher asks them to solve a complex problem, they put in their best effort because they trust that the benefit will outweigh the cost. 

--If the teacher asks them to write out an explanation for a theoretical concept, they complete the assignment well and without question.

To be a great teacher, I must convince 100 percent of my students that what I am going to help them become is worth the effort that I will demand of them.  And, if they do what I suggest, they will succeed.  Those two sentences form the foundation of my teaching.  Maybe most challenging, I have to earn this faith anew each semester.  Student trust last fall has nothing to do with student trust this spring.  Every new student walks into class as a skeptic. 

If your students come to have this type of belief in you as a teacher, you will be amazed by the wondrous things they can accomplish.  You can help them learn to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  There will be no limit to what your students can accomplish if they believe in you. 

That leads to the obvious question:  What are the keys necessary to generate this degree of faith?  I suspect all great teachers create their own unique paths to this goal, but I will list a few attributes that I believe are essential. 

(1) – Clear and honest communication is absolutely imperative.  This will always be number one on my teaching list.  Communications can be used by the teacher to encourage and guide, to explain and intrigue.  Or, to put this in the reverse position, a failure to communicate well is a deadly problem.  Students cannot read your mind.  Teacher must be transparent as to what they are doing and why.  “Trust me, I know what I am doing” is never a winning teaching mantra. 

The method you use to communicate with students is up to you.  I rely on email.  I begin emailing my students two months before the semester starts and about 7-10 times per week once classes commence.  Keep the communications short and to the point.  You are trying to be helpful and not a burden.

I want my students to know what I want from them each day and why.  I want them to know what I believe and why I find the material interesting and useful.  I want them to know why I do what I do.  I want them to know that I have faith in them.  That level of understanding can only be achieved through a successful communications strategy.  By the time each semester is completed, I actually do want my students to be able to read my mind. 

No student is going to believe in you unless you take the time to talk with them either orally or in writing.  So much of the remainder of my thoughts tie back to the ability to communicate your reasons and intentions.

(2) – Teachers need to have a clear understanding of how they want their students to be changed by the last day of the class.  If there is no intended growth, there is no reason for the course.  It is all a waste of time.  No one achieves greatness without clearly delineated goals.  Never fall back on vague platitudes such as “I want smarter students” or “I want my students to be well educated.”  Those sound fine, but they are not helpful in any practical sense.  Focus on your vision of the last day of class.  You are going to work with these students for an entire semester.  At the end, how do you want them to be better?  Until you can define that goal in specific terms, the students will sense that your aspirations for them are mediocre or, worse, nonexistent.

(3) – Focus on puzzles and questions more than the conveyance of content.  I have long asserted that too many college classes have a 1950s feel where the communication of content was both the teaching method and the goal.  Stenography and memorization were valued skills in those “good old days.”  We live in different times.  Pose everything to the students in terms of puzzles or questions so that you and the students can work out the answers together.  Whether you create an entire class session around a single question or use a string of puzzles to guide students through a complex array of information, try to avoid telling your students the answers.  As the saying goes, “The journey is everything.”  In class, the journey to the answer should be more important than the answer. 

(4) – Never, never, never waste the students’ time because they will resent that.  They lead busy lives.  Students are willing to share their time but only when they believe that the work has a worthy consequence.  Over the many years of their schooling, they have suffered through a multitude of assignments that had no legitimate purpose.  Teachers need to think about each reading and each problem and determine how they tie into the course goals.  Sadly, assignments can become a rote part of a course long after they have become ineffective.  It is never a bad idea to ask yourself, “How does what I am getting ready to ask my students to do today get us closer to my goals?”

(5) – Students want you to know them as individuals and not just as members of the hive.  It is difficult to believe in a teacher who does not even know your name.  I am lucky in that my class sizes are usually between 20 and 25.  I try to call on each of my students at least twice each day just so they can hear me say their name and look directly at them.  I want Mr. A or Ms. B to understand that I do know them as individuals.  This can be one of the most difficult part of being a teacher over a long period of time.  After a few years, hundreds of students become thousands of students and the current group starts to meld into the generic “spring class of 2021.” 

It was said that when a person talked with Mother Teresa, she treated them like they were the only person in the world.  She is not a bad role model.  Ask your students to tell you a little about themselves so they stay real to you.  Frequently, before class, I quietly read aloud the names of my students so I have a moment where I think about each of them as a single, identifiable human being.  I find that helps me stay connected to them as individuals rather than merely thinking of them as indistinguishable components of a larger group. 

(6) – Never underestimate the importance of good testing.  Students are raised to believe in the absolute significance of testing and grades.  That is not going to change suddenly when they enter your class.  They are never more interested in you and your course than when it comes to taking a test.  Spend time (a lot of time) writing test questions that are (a) fair, (b) challenging, and (c) interesting.  Each question must be carefully crafted so that the students can demonstrate what they have learned and what they can accomplish with that knowledge.  If the questions are too easy, students will assume that serious work is not necessary for the course and they will oblige you by not giving you any serious work.  If the questions are too hard, students will question the reason for the disconnect.  Were they taught poorly or was the question simply unfair?  I have long believed that the more time and thought you spend learning to write great questions, the quicker you will become an outstanding teacher. 

(7) – Nothing succeeds like success.  I listened recently to Sal Khan (who I believe is one of the most influential people of our time) in a podcast and he stated that giving a student a learning boost provides confidence and that confidence then drives them toward success.  I could not agree more.  Students live up or down to their self-image so you want to push that self-image forward.  “I know you.  You can do this” will go a long way to improve one student’s learning. 

In school and most of life, success comes from believing in yourself.  There are many ways a teacher can help instill confidence but I think getting the student to prepare appropriately before class has to be one of the most important.  If the student prepares prior to entering class and then does well, the chance of ongoing success immediately increases.  A teacher can influence class preparation by telling students exactly what to do prior to class and then making sure that this preparation proves beneficial in class.  Create success during the one class and the student will be ready to do even more and better work for the next class. 

I give students a list of questions in advance of every class.  They run the gamut from easy to complex, from verbal to quantitative, from easy puzzles to hard ones.  Then, in class, I ask students to address each question.  At times, it might seem like I cross-examine them but I want my students to succeed and I am trying to get them there.  I am giving them the opportunity to show me that they did the work.

There is a wonderful feeling when you pose a complicated question to a student and, because they are well prepared, they provide the class with an outstanding answer.  Teaching never gets better than that.  Even if that student has previously thought of themselves as a dummy, you might well start to see a better self-image blossom forth.  Once that happens, there is no limit to what a student can accomplish.

**

None of this is easy.  That is why teaching is so challenging.  Over the years, in this blog, I have often quoted the words from the movie A League of Their Own.  “It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”  I cannot think of a better description of the wonders of being a teacher.  After 50 years, that is my philosophy.

DO YOU HAVE A TEACHING PHILOSOPHY? PART ONE

My students (I hope) realize that I take teaching very seriously.  As a result, they often talk with me about teaching or share some of their ideas on the subject.  A couple of weeks ago, a student who had been in my class here at the University of Richmond a few years ago sent me an email.  He said that one of his current teachers had shared a website with the class created by one of her teachers. My former student simply said that he thought I would find the website interesting. 

I was intrigued and followed up.  What I found was fascinating.  I am so glad that I was led to this site.  It is inspirational.  I wish I were as creative and organized in my work.  The website is the creation of Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University.  Here is the URL.  I hope you will click on the link and enjoy.  This site is clearly the work of a dedicated and thoughtful college professor. 

 http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/

One of the first things that caught my attention was Dr. Damodaran’s teaching philosophy.  I have always been hesitant about putting out a teaching philosophy for public consumption because my philosophy seems to change a lot over time and even seems to change according to the individual student.  On this blog, I have written approximately 300 essays on teaching, yet I have rarely talked at all about a personal teaching philosophy. 

Nevertheless, as I read Dr. Damodaran’s words, I was struck by how much I agreed with his thoughts.  Time after time, I found myself mumbling agreement, “Yeah, that is exactly what I believe as well.”  I found his words comforting and supportive – he verbalized what (for the most part) is in my mind about teaching.  I especially liked the sentence, “There is nothing else I would rather do than be in front of a classroom, teaching a topic that I enjoy, trying to alter the way people think and act.”

 “Trying to alter the way people think and act.”  Good stuff. 

Because I appreciated his thoughts so much, I asked him if he would mind my sharing them on this blog and he graciously agreed. 

Below is the teaching philosophy of Aswath Damodaran.  If you are looking for a teacher as a role model, his words certainly seem to provide excellent guidance for all of us. 

I was so inspired that, in my next blog posting, I am going to, once and for all, write out my own teaching philosophy.  After 300 essays on teaching, it is time to be brave and develop my own teaching philosophy.  I am not sure what I will choose to say (I might simply copy the words of Dr. Damodaran) but I am challenging myself to make a decision.  You might make the same promise to yourself.  What is your teaching philosophy?

Now, from Dr. Aswath Damodaran:

This may sound like a cliché, but I love teaching. There is nothing else I would rather do than be in front of a classroom, teaching a topic that I enjoy, trying to alter the way people think and act. Here are some of the core beliefs that I try to stay true to (but sometimes fail to):

1.    Preparation is key: Paraphrasing Edison, teaching is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. If you are prepared for your class, you are well on your way to being a good teacher.

2.    Respect your students: I did not care for those teachers that I had, when I was a student, that looked down on their students, either as being less learned than they were or less motivated. I believe that anyone who sits on my classroom is as capable as I am, though perhaps not as experienced, and is passionate about learning.

3.    Be fair: I don't believe that students dislike or punish tough teachers, but I do believe that they dislike and punish teachers who are unfair, either in the way they test students or in the way they grade them. I know that I will make mistakes, but as long as I keep an open door and correct my mistakes, I think that students will cut me some slack.

4.    Have empathy: It has been a long time since I was a student in a classroom, but I try to keep my memory fresh by remembering the things I liked and disliked in my classes and trying not to repeat them.

5.    Teaching is not just in the classroom: Your impact on students does not come just from what you do in the classroom. It is affected just as much but what you do outside the classroom, in your office hours and in your interactions (online and in person) with your students.

6.    Have fun: If you look at the joy that young children show when they learn something new, it is obvious that human beings enjoy learning (though our education systems are often designed to stamp out that joy). I want my classes to be meaningful, impactful and profound, but I also want them to be fun. For that to happen, I have to have fun teaching and I will!

***

I could not have said it better myself.

STOPPING TO THINK

 

I was interviewing one of our students yesterday (on Zoom, of course) for an outstanding student award that is given each year at our graduation.  This particular student is one I know quite well.  I have respect for her opinions.  So, I asked her a question that I have been thinking a lot about recently, “What is the very best thing about being a college student during a pandemic?”  For a very slight moment, she looked at me like I had lost my mind because it was not a question she had heard before or even considered.  We all seem fixated on the bad parts of the past year.

As I expected, this student recovered immediately and gave a fabulous answer, “I have learned to do so many things that I never thought I could do.  I have become comfortable with all kinds of technology that I did not even know existed.  In many ways, I was in a rut and the pandemic has yanked me out of that rut and pushed me to become a better student.” 

I image that, at some point in the future, we will look back on this weird time and there will be a few things we are grateful for.  Of course, COVID is horrible and the number of deaths and serious illness around the world is a terrible tragedy.  Nevertheless, many of us (and I certainly include myself at the head of this list) have been yanked out of our daily ruts and forced to adapt and evolve.  “Adapt” and “evolve” --- two of my favorite words. 

As is so often the case, our attitudes influence how we judge the life that goes on around us.  One of the things I hope to do soon is evaluate my life over the past year and consider in what ways the pandemic has been helpful to me.  How have I adapted?  How well have I evolved?  Is it all horrible or can I find positive changes that have made me a better person and a better teacher?

A friend of mine, Dick Minot, Clinical Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University, recently sent me his thoughts on remote teaching during the past year.  His words have pushed me to consider evaluating the changes I have faced and my reactions to them.  This is not a bad exercise for any of us.  You might be surprised, if you think carefully, at how many positive effects have resulted.  They certainly do not outweigh the sickness and suffering but, I think, it helps our mental health to realize that it has not been all bad news.

REMOTE Teaching: One Professor’s Reflections by Dick Minot

As I am writing this, it is just before we dismiss for Spring Break 2021.  I am in the midst of my second full semester of REMOTE teaching/learning. This Spring Break will be like no other and most certainly unlike the 2020 Spring Break where the “new normal” was just beginning to show itself. In fact, in my case, I was preparing to head to New Zealand to see friends at the end of their summer for a few days. I was cognizant, at least somewhat so, of the buzzing that surrounded this “COVID 19 thing.” Well, Spring Break for me lasted about 3 days as I soon found myself in almost daily Zoom meetings with my school and department. In what turned out to be a period of 14 days, we had to prepare for this REMOTE teaching/learning that was about to become our new way of life.

Panic. Frustration. Helplessness. Angst. Inadequacy. You name it and the emotion was there. REMOTE teaching/learning was here. No one had much time to think about it. It was just:  “Do It.” And, by the way, don’t lose anything in the transition from the classroom to REMOTE.

In my case, I completed the Spring 2020 semester without too many issues. I then went on to teach a summer session in REMOTE format and that went pretty well. That was followed by the Fall 2020 semester that again went pretty well. I was gaining my stride and confidence in this REMOTE teaching/learning mode. Now here I sit with half of the Spring 2021 semester REMOTE teaching/learning behind me. And I have decided to take stock of where I am in all of this.

You may notice that I refer to the new norm as REMOTE teaching/learning. I do this as this is truly a team effort between “instructor - teaching” and “student - learning”.  We can say that this connection has always been the case but let’s try to agree that we took this connection for granted in the past as we were able to be in the classroom with the students each week. As a teacher I know once said, learning is like a dance. In order for it to work I can lead but the students need to follow. In pre-COVID days, the connection was more obvious.  We could look into their faces and see their eyes change as we made a good point or a bad point. We have lost this connection to a certain degree. If we are doing REMOTE teaching/learning in an asynchronous fashion we may never see the faces of the students or hear their voices. If we are doing this synchronously then we can maintain some of that feeling so long as the students maintain video contact with us.

After a lot of contemplation, I have come to the conclusion that REMOTE for me has taken on the following meaning:

Responsible

Engagement

Mentoring

Opportunity

Teaching

Encouraging

 

Responsible

We are Responsible for the teaching/learning that we are performing. This is no different than when we are in the front of the classroom. It is very easy, actually too easy, to make excuses for how hard this is for us to do and do well. In fact, it is hard for the students also. When the students used to see us, we were clearly in charge of the classroom. When the students see us now, when they actually see us via Zoom or whatever technical system is being used, we ARE still in charge. WE have not abdicated that responsibility simply because we are in front of the camera. Many of us are not in the world of those “online universities” that we always assumed did not offer the kind of education that we did. BUT now we find ourselves not only in that online position, but also defending what we do as rigorous and just as good as we did it before this pandemic started. We are Responsible to maintain that quality and we can do it.

Engagement

Engagement is a two-way street in this new normal teaching/learning environment. We recognize that we have a harder time engaging with the students but in order for effective learning to take part, the active Engagement of the students may be more important now than ever. They need to know that the learning is still taking place as the learning process is still alive and well. We are now truly in an era where we are leading students to the water and we need them to drink it now more than ever before. It is too easy for them to just “checkout” and simply “be present”. The teaching may be going on but the learning has decreased. We need to be more diligent in the sessions to ascertain who is Engaged and how we can Engage every student.

Mentoring

Mentoring is probably the one thing that keeps many of us in the classroom. We have the chance to influence the future leaders. What greater thing can be offered to anyone? And it comes with the territory. When you hear a student say, “Hey professor, do you have a minute to chat about something?” what a rush that is.  It is not about a class problem but just a chance to see how you got to be where you are and what advice you might have to offer to them on their path. This is the most vulnerable you will be anywhere in teaching.  Today, we are still that Mentoring person even though we do not have a close physical presence in the classroom or our office. Take those chances to let the student know about you. You will still be richly rewarded for that act and remembered by the students for being open and caring.

For example, what a great chance we now have to drive home the issue of ethics in action. We are faced with the realization that students may cheat. News Flash! Students have always had the opportunity to cheat. We simply assumed that because we are in the front of the class it cannot happen. We now have the chance to Mentor these students on what ethics look like. We can teach them and we can place our trust in them to deliver. If we do this, we know that it is harder for them to disappoint when they are trusted to do the right thing.

Mentoring is not solely directed at the students. We have the ability and responsibility to Mentor our peers who may be having difficulties in their lives and careers during the horrors of this pandemic. Take a minute to just stop and ask your colleagues how they are doing. You might be surprised by the response.

Opportunity

This REMOTE teaching/learning environment is an opportunity for many of us to reflect on a career of traditional teaching and to reengage in learning ourselves. When is the last time that you really put yourself in a situation that you did not feel comfortable? This is an Opportunity for us to truly show what we can do. The students need to know that their part in all of this is an Opportunity for them to show what they can do. This is a great learning exercise of what the business environment will be for many of them. It is not a burden. It is an opening. A true Opportunity for both the professor and the student to show each other what they can do.

Teaching

Finally, Teaching appears on my list! We are still Teaching. The medium has changed but the task has not. Why are we, some of us, now concerned with quantity rather than quality of the content? When we are in the classroom the quality of the content drives the Engagement. But, now that we do not “see” the students it seems like the quantity of content being covered may be a replacement for quality. Busy work may occupy the students time but it does not push them to learn. It is the active part of learning to analyze a situation, to work in groups that Teaching is all about.

Encouraging

Encouraging. I decided to look up the definition and found the following: adjective, giving someone support or confidence; supportive and positive and giving hope for future success; promising. What a time to be Encouraging to both the students and our peers. This REMOTE teaching/learning situation will not last forever BUT the teaching/learning will last forever. What will we learn from this that we will take into our future classrooms when this current REMOTE teaching/learning is just a memory? As one learned professional once said, “If you are doing the same thing in your classroom today that you did five years ago you should get out”.

We are both the teacher and the learner. What will we have learned from our adventure in this REMOTE teaching/learning exercise that we have had presented to us.

GUIDING OUR STUDENTS IN THE TIME OF COVID

As I write this, it is Saturday.  Monday is a holiday.  We have had two weeks of college with a lot of restrictions and the students are getting restless.  Are my students being safe this weekend?  Are they taking care to avoid engaging in unnecessary risks?

As anyone who has ever lived in a dormitory knows, bad influences are constantly present.  There is always someone on a college campus who has a bright idea that probably is not a smart idea.

What is our role as teachers?  Should student guidance be left solely to college administrators?  Have we abdicated our responsibilities to be positive influences for our students? 

This morning, I wrote the email below to the faculty at my school.  Will they take me up on my suggestion?  Yes, I think some will although I am not sure how many.  Will those messages influence our students to be careful?  I certainly hope so.  College students are young adults and they are always looking for guidance.  If they don’t get it from you, they will find it somewhere else.  We need to tell our students what we believe they should be doing.  We need to encourage them to be safe and stay well.  We don't need to hold their hands but we do need to tell them what we believe is the truth.

An email takes about 90 seconds to send to your students.  The cost approximates zero but the benefits can be huge. 

You can let someone else do it or you can do it.  I want my students to know what I think.  I believe in transparency and I believe students and the faculty both have a lot of responsibility for the well being of the university.

**

To the faculty at my school:

Our students have been here a couple of weeks.  It is a weekend.  It is a holiday.  I suspect they are all ready to break loose.  And, we know what happens next.  Just ask some of the schools like UNC and JMU that have had to send their students home.

The students are probably getting a lot of bad advice within the dorms.  They need as much positive support as they can get.  We are their teachers.  We are their guides.  

A few people know that I send my students a lot of emails.  It is just my operating style.  I sent them a special one this morning.   You might consider doing something similar.  The wording can be short and sweet, but they need to hear this message from their teachers not just from the administration.

Here's the email I sent to my students (after I had told them about how wonderful learning accounting really is):

 

"And, finally, stay safe over the weekend.  We are all depending on YOU to keep us old folks healthy.  I absolutely and positively understand how difficult it is not to run wild.  Despite being elderly, I well remember my four years living in a college dorm with 99 other students.  As I remember, none of us were saints.   Nevertheless, these are critical times, and we are very much dependent on each other to make this learning experience (and the ability to stay alive and well) work.  It kind of breaks my heart to say this but:  Please, follow the rules.  The university is counting on you."  

WE NEED ROLE MODELS

Many of us are having to navigate our teaching this fall into wild new lands.  Almost from the beginning of the pandemic, one of my concerns has been that most of us do not have experience with truly excellent quality distance /blended learning.  For that reason, everyone seems to be having to reinvent the wheel which is fine but not very cost and time effective. 

It would be excellent for someone to set up a website outlining the structure of various courses around the country that seemed to have worked well so we can all gain practical ideas.  I have heard plenty of theoretical ideas about teaching during a pandemic.  However, I want to hear from people in the trenches who have been in the battle and shown some level of success. 

 

Last week, I received an email from Dick Minot at Loyola Marymount.  He was kind enough to describe a class of his from over this summer that seemed to be quite successful.  He agreed to let me share this description just to provide you with some practical thoughts.  I do not mean that every teacher and every class should replicate his approach but there are many great ideas here that you might want to try for your own classes.

 

Thanks Dick!!!

 

**

This is Dick Minot. I am a clinical assistant professor at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles. I teach Advanced Accounting and Managerial Accounting.

 

Needless to say, the rapid transition to online/remote learning was a shock to the system for most of us. I had done some online teaching for the University of California at Irvine (UCI) sometime ago in summer sessions so the shock to me was not as great as it probably could have been. I volunteered to teach a summer session online in managerial Accounting as I was sure – sometimes I am a bit off – that we would be back in the class in the fall and I wanted the University to see that we could offer online classes as part of what we do for the students. Well here we are all online for the Fall semester.

 

My whole thrust in teaching online – and I did it for this summer session – was to treat the experience just as if we were still in the classroom. Sounds a bit crazy but if I was to be “down in the mouth” about online as an instructor so would the students. I believed and still do that the students will follow our lead and strive to be what we expect, for the most part, if we still challenge them. One of my recent summer online students offered this comment,

“I can easily speak for the rest of the class when I say that you really made this class worthwhile for us, and just as you say we would make your day, you would always make ours. …Again, I wouldn't have succeeded in this class without your motivation and help and I truly thank you for making me work hard and prepare for every class.”

 

While another student offered this comment,

 

“Just wanted to say thank you for calling on me a lot in class. It made me feel comfortable knowing that you cared about my learning.”

 

Sometime ago another professor and I were talking about what is most important to me as a professor and I said obviously getting the students to learn and understand the material but also to care about the students as people that will enter the accounting profession that I still participate in through my small accounting practice. I think that this is or can be pretty easy to do in person while face to face with the students but can be an issue when with long distance, remote/zoom classes. CAN BE! But it clearly does not have to be.

 

I have made it a part of my teaching to send numerous e mails to my students well before class actually starts. This allows me to introduce myself to the students well before the start date and I let them know what they might expect. Generally, for semester sessions I will send an e mail at 60 days, 45 days, 30 days, 15 days and then the day before class starts. Along the way in these messages I will let them know about assignments that I will want them to have done prior to the actual start of class so we can just move ahead. I have no way of knowing who actually reads the e mails way ahead but they certainly do just prior to the class start by the work that is turned in.

 

In keeping with my practice, I did the same with my Summer Session 2020 class in Managerial Accounting. I sent the class various messages at 45 days, 35 days, 30 days, 25 days, 20 days, 10 days and the day before class actually started. In doing this by the time class actually started they pretty much knew me and how I think about accounting, this class as well as life itself. Included in the 35-day message was the following assignment for them to do:

 

ASSIGNMENT: Please reflect on your last semester online classes and then do the following: · send me an e mail and list 3 (only 3 max) suggestions for the class considering the following issues:

 

o appearance for class - in bed; in pajamas etc.

o how should we relate to one another?

o should we all be muted when not speaking

o or left unmuted as we would be in class

o how and what you might expect from me as the leader of this class.

 

Thank you for your time in this matter and it will be helpful in making this class a great time for us all.

__

 

 

I remember you saying on one of your blog postings that “learning is like dancing and I can lead but if you do not follow neither of us will have any fun.”

 

I think more than ever this learning is very cooperative now between professor and students. We are all learning.

 

So, I am looking at a computer screen as my students “arrive” in class. The student that is always a couple of minutes late for class is still a couple of minutes late. So how does all of this work? It’s really pretty easy:

 

I greet students in person and I continued to do it with the online class. This may seem odd and I was asked by another professor how I handled the “noise” of everyone showing up 1-2 minutes before class with some of them being shy. And that is a great question as that is the reality of how they appear for class. I had students from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, Nepal, Indonesia, New Orleans and up and down California in this class and only a couple of the students knew each other. My greeting them by name in those first couple of minutes allows them to leave the “real” world behind and hopefully become part of the internet family of students in the class where they cannot “see” other but know that they are there. After a few classes, the students actually would greet each other especially if I brought up something from the last class. They actually did become a class and not just a group of faces on the computer screen.

 

Most of my classes start with a quiz. In the beginning of the course I would simply prepare a quiz in Word and I would share the screen with the class via zoom. They would then send me an e mail with the answers only. We actually did the quiz in class so they had the answers as soon as we were done. I understand that you do not want a bunch of e mails but the quizzes were not that involved so the answers were a computation or a sentence. And it allowed me to know who was there.

 

After a few classes I would actually send an e mail just before class with questions for the day and the quiz. By doing this I could use the breakout rooms for group quizzes that were more involved and I would receive only a few emails. Then I would have groups volunteer to answer the quiz questions. This got everyone involved and it was just like being face to face.

 

In going over the quiz I would be able to talk generally about the chapter material and relate how and what we were covering meant in their career major. They quickly realized that in going over the quiz arriving at an answer that they felt confident in was only part of the process. When they had answered the question the inevitable question from me was always there, WHY is that the case. My favorite line here is from the movie The Paper Chase when Professor Kingsfield explains the Socratic method of education to his class. That is me in person or online. Get them engaged. And they become a class.

 

We then do a series of problems that looks at the material in a variety of ways to analyze and review and then decide what is taking place and then the WHY again.

The students are expected to have read the chapter, review the power point slides and do a pre-class assignment that has a small overall point value but is important enough to garner their attention. This is no surprise; I refer you to my many messages that I have sent to them.

 

I always give a FINAL QUIZ to the class and ask them a few questions about the semester. This time I asked the students what advice they would give to the incoming students in the FALL 2020 class and one student offered the following:

 

“Every student entering managerial accounting should always

· Study for the materials before class to better understand and ask questions when doing class work and in class quizzes.

· Never procrastinate and leave the work for the last day.

· Mcgrawhillconnect.com gives great studying notes for the book, utilize everything you have.

· Never miss what the professor is saying, he usually gives hints to exam questions.

 

“What worked for this course was my participation. The first couple of classes I was not understanding what the content that was being discussed in the class, due to just reading through the chapters. I realized that I had to study it before class, then restudy it after the class to make sure I haven't missed anything. This is what I did for the remainder of the course. In doing this, I got more chances to answer questions in the class and not be put in the spot and end up saying ‘I don't know’ in the class, and actually have the information needed to put 1 and 2 together.

 

“What I'll take away from this course is

· To not procrastinate

· Always try to answers even if you're wrong

· Never stop asking questions even if it seems silly

· Always participate to break that barrier between you and the classmates/professor.”

__

 

This summer class turned out to be probably one of the best overall experiences in my teaching career. The students knew that this was going to be an online class so no issues about not knowing this. Attendance was virtually 100% for the term. And, that did amaze me. At about week 3, there was a situation in class and one of the students made a comment and I could see almost all of them laughing. They had become a class.

 

This class was run in a synchronous fashion throughout the course, unless I made a supplemental recording as needed.  The class was also set as a 3-hour session, just as it would have been in a face to face course, and the sessions flew by.

 

The students can do this! They will do pretty much what we expect of them.

 

GETTING MY STUDENTS READY FOR THE FALL – STEP THREE – HELPING THE AUDITORY LEARNERS

Over the past several weeks, I have posted blog entries to describe some of the material that I am producing this summer in preparation for the fall.  From what I can read, much of college education is becoming one huge Zoom session.  Zoom has its place and can be quite beneficial, but I believe we can do better than putting all our eggs in a Zoom basket.  To avoid that, though, we need to think deeply about the learning process.  We need to attack the educational challenges in a creative fashion.  All of the material I have discussed recently comes from ideas I have developed based on 49 years of teaching experience.  You can do that as well.  There is a lot more that we can do than just Zoom.  

That observation is especially true as we come to the reality that a considerable amount of our coverage is going to be distance learning for the foreseeable future.  Most of us have never experienced world-class distance learning which makes the fall especially daunting.  Ask yourself an essential question:  What would world class distance learning look like if that was your goal?  Once you can envision it, you can create it.

So far:

--On my July 22 blog posting, I wrote about suggesting the book Make It Stick to my fall students as an optional extra credit assignment to help them become better learners.  How can that not be a good idea?  I have had several students email me in thanks for the advice.

--On July 27, I described the “Guided Readings” I developed to help my students get more from their textbooks.  Why have them pay so much money if they are not able to learn (at least) the basic material in those chapters?  For students, reading the textbook needs to be more than a waste of time. 

--On August 3, I explained my use of “Retrieval Questions and Answers” to help students immediately follow up their textbook readings.  The students are given sequential questions (and their answers) to bring the important topics back up so they can make use of (and strengthen) their knowledge.

Today, I want to talk about auditory learners.  I have often thought that some of my students were held back from achieving their academic potential because they were auditory learners rather than visual learners.  Most learning experiences (books, written exercises, PowerPoint slides, and the like) focus on the information being seen.  In much of our teaching, knowledge enters through the eyes.  As the recent popularity in audiobooks seems to show, a considerable number of people absorb information by hearing.  Consequently, I think at least one learning product for each class should focus on auditory learning.  I want to have a supplement available that will be especially address the needs of those students. 

Plus, students love their phones and they love to multi-task.  In thinking about the fall, I wanted to include a learning exercise that took advantage of those personal preferences. 

Therefore, this semester, for every chapter, I am creating approximately 20 minutes of audio questions and answers.  I ask a question.  I pause for three seconds to give the students time to consider their response.  Then, I provide my answer.  I immediately move to what I view as the next logical question.  As I have said often, I like sequential learning.  For 20 minutes, it is just question-answer-question-answer, but it is all auditory learning.  Once again, as mentioned in my previous posting, I am obviously working on having students retrieve and use the information in many different ways.

I post the audio files on our learning management system (we use Blackboard).  The students can listen whenever they want to test their understanding.  Better still, they can download the app to their phones and listen while they do other things:  eat, exercise, take walks, and the like.  Every college student seems to struggle with time management.  Audio questions and answers can be an efficient use of free time – even listening for a few minutes as they walk to class helps them work on information retrieval. 

I needed to explain this to my students so, not surprisingly, I made a video.  I’ve become fond of the screen recording feature on PowerPoint for quick and simple messages to my students.  Below is the one that explains the audio questions and answers that will be available to them this fall. 

As always with these videos for my students, I have more than the goal of introducing them to a learning technique.  I am always trying to help the students become more confident and enthusiastic about the upcoming learning process.  These are scary times.  I cannot help them over every problem created by this pandemic, but I can help them have a wonderful learning experience.  I want to assure them that they will learn a lot in the fall and make a good grade.  There is a plethora of bad news in the world.  I think we as teachers should provide some encouraging news.

I don’t think I can send you the audio questions and answers but I will be glad to share the transcript if you drop me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.

Here is the video explanation that I sent to my students.  Notice, I did not worry too much about being technically perfect.  I just want to get the message out to them.  They are students.  They are not bothered by glitches. 

https://youtu.be/JzJpTrumpn4

GETTING MY STUDENTS READY FOR THE FALL – STEP TWO – RETRIEVAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

I wrote a blog posting last week about a short video that I had made to introduce my students to the first step in my fall classes – Guided Readings.  (By the way, these videos were made with the Screen Recording function in PowerPoint.  That is a simple way to make and distribute short videos to your students.)

The idea behind Guided Readings was that students needed assistance in learning the essentials from their textbook so I developed PowerPoint Flash Cards to help them make the most of their readings. 

But – now what?  Even an excellent reading of the textbook is not a complete education.

In the marvelous book, Make It Stick – The Science of Successful Learning, the authors (Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel) stress the importance of retrieval.  The second chapter is even titled, “To Learn, Retrieve.” 

They assert, “Repeated retrieval not only makes memories more durable but produces knowledge that can be retrieved more readily, in more varied settings, and applied to a wider variety of problems.”  Or, as I describe the process, “Bring new knowledge up and make use of it.  Bring it up again and use it creatively.  Bring it up as often as possible and in as many different ways as possible.”  That statement might describe my teaching better than anything else.

So, after Guided Readings, I immediately prescribe a sequenced series of questions designed to see how much of the material I can get the students to retrieve and use in some way.  I write approximately 14 to 20 questions that come directly from the material they have just read.  However, each question requires them to retrieve the new information and make use of it. 

The process is carefully scripted. 

--First, I include all of the retrieval questions for this section of the material. 

--Second, I then repeat those same questions but this time with the answers. 

I refer to this as a, “Wash, Rinse, Repeat” assignment.  I want the students to read the questions and see how many they can answer.  Then, they are directed to scroll down to the answers and immediately check their work.  They are told to note questions that they missed or where they had no answer.

I instruct them to go back to the top of the page and go through the questions again to see how many more they can answer this time.  Hopefully, if they do this entire loop two or three times, they will feel comfortable with all the answers.

--They first used the Guided Readings to pull out the essentials from the textbook. 

--They then use the Retrieval Questions and Answers to help organize, solidify, and expand their knowledge and understanding. 

I like to think that I am developing distance learning for my students using a structure that makes logical sense.

Last week on this blog, I offered to provide a chapter of Guided Readings and many people took me up on that offer. 

This week, if you would like to see an example of Retrieval Questions and Answers, drop me an email at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.  Always glad to share.

Here is the video that I used to explain my Retrieval Questions and Answers to my students.  It is less than 7 minutes.  I hope you will watch it.  

https://youtu.be/vyTOjn0zFVo