HELPING STUDENTS AVOID CONFUSION ABOUT YOUR CLASS

I have taught now for more than five decades.  I know how I want my class to operate.  In contrast, the students are brand new to my class, and what seems crystal clear to me is often terribly confusing to them.  I don’t like confusion.  It rarely helps education.

If you have read this blog for long, you know how much I stress communications with my students.  My motto, “Just because it is clear to me doesn’t mean it is clear to you,” never leaves my mind. 

Two weeks ago, I sent out the course outline to my students to give them a chance in advance to see how the coming class will be structured.  My bet is that 10 percent of the students will look at it rather seriously and the others will adopt a “need to know” approach. 

That is a recipe for confusion.  Should I just accept this or can I help them clear up some of that confusion?

On our first-class day (next Monday), I want to use as little time as possible to introduce the course while also making sure that the structure is clear to 100 percent of the students.  So, today, with six days until our first class, I sent them a “scavenger hunt” – 31 questions about the structure of the class based on the course outline and other material that I had sent to them.

Who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt?  Heck, it is fun.

I wanted to create some curiosity, but most of all, I wanted them to start thinking about how a “Joe Hoyle” course operates.  To them, education seems somewhat random.  From my perspective, it seems very specific.

I don’t expect them to know the answers to any of these questions.  That is not my point.  I just want them to think about the questions and why those questions might be important.  Then, on Monday, I will go through the 31 questions with them and, hopefully, after 15-20 minutes, they will have a pretty good understanding of how a “Joe Hoyle” course operates. 

I am 74 years old and I have never tried this before.  I might never try it again.  However, at least once, I want to see if this will reduce the amount of confusion that students can have about a college-level class.

Here is what I sent my students this morning.

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ACCOUNTING 302 – FALL SEMESTER 2022       I think it is very important for each student to understand the essential parts of the Course Outline (and some of the information that I have distributed to you in other forms).   In the first 15-20 minutes of our first class on Monday, we will go through the course outline.  Here are a whole bunch of questions that I want you to be able to answer after we have finished.  You can get many of these simply by a close reading of the course outline.  No matter how you get them, 15-20 minutes into our first class, I want YOU to be able to answer each of these questions.  I think that is a reasonable goal.

  1.  I will pass around a seating chart at the beginning of the first class.  Wherever you sit on that first day is where you will sit (at least for a while).  How long should you anticipate having that seat in my class?

  2.  By what name do I prefer to be called?

  3.  How will you know if you are late for class?

  4.  How many times can you be late for class before you need to explain to me why you seem to have trouble arriving on time?

  5.  Where is my office?

  6.  How do I describe my office?

  7.  Our class is scheduled on MWF from 1:30 – 2:20.  How long will our class sessions actually be?  How do I make up for that?

  8.  What are my office hours?   Do you need an appointment to see me during my office hours?  When should you first come to my office?  In my classes, there are two traditional times for students to come to my office – what are they?

  9.  How often should you check your email for messages from me?

  10.  How many hourly tests will be given this semester?  

  11.  When are those hourly tests? 

  12.  What should you do if you are entitled to extra time on an examination? 

  13.  How much time will you be given on each of the three “hourly” exams?  On the final exam?

  14.  What is the class grading scale?  Typically, how many students make an A or a B in this class?

  15.  Do I curve our tests?

  16.  Your final grade is determined based on a weighted system.  How many points is each of the hourly tests worth?  How many points is the final exam worth?  How many points are the three writing assignments worth?

  17.  When is the first writing assignment due?   What is the key to the writing assignment?

  18.  On the Internet and lots of other places, you can probably find/buy copies of my old exams.  Are you allowed to do that?  If you break that rule, what happens?

  19.  What is my rule about phones in class?

  20.  What is my rule about computers in class?

  21.  What is my rule about talking in class?

  22.  What is my rule about getting up and walking out of class during class? 

  23.  There are two ways to get extra credit in this class.  What are they?

  24.  I try to post everything we do on Blackboard (our learning management system).  Can you find this course on Blackboard?

  25.   We will start the semester with Chapter 13 and spend about 3 weeks on it.  How is our coverage of Chapter 13 different from all the rest of the semester?

  26.  We will eventually use a lot of “practice problems.”  What are they and how do they work?

  27.  I sent you a document with quotes from past students about How to Make an A in my class.  What did you learn from that document?  What do I expect you to do with that document?

  28.  What is my number one piece of advice about how to do well in this class? 

  29.  What is my number two piece of advice about how to do well in this class?

  30.  What is my number three piece of advice about how to do well in this class? 

  31.  What is the overall goal of this class? 

BE INNOVATIVE IN FIVE EASY STEPS

My first class of the fall semester starts in 14 days.  It will be my 52^nd year as a college teacher.  I have been pondering how to get emotionally ready for the new batch of students.  How can I keep my teaching an exciting activity for me?  If I am not excited, why should the students be?

About two weeks ago, I flew to San Diego for a conference.  In the local Richmond airport, someone left behind a publication from the Harvard Business Review.  It was some type of “Best of” series that was probably available in one of the airport book shops.  I picked it up and read exactly one article in the few minutes that I had before boarding the plane.  That article was, “How Coca-Cola, Netflix, and Amazon Learn from Failure,” by Bill Taylor (originally published November 10, 2017). 

I am fascinated (obsessed) by how people and organizations manage to grow over time to become better and better.  So, it was my type of article.  I was immediately captivated by the following three sentences because I think they are absolutely true.  People talk endlessly about “innovation and creativity” yet, it can be hard sometimes to spot any actual innovation and creativity.  Many people would rather talk about innovation than be innovative.

From the HBR:  “I can’t tell you how many business leaders I meet, how many organizations I visit, that espouse the virtues of innovation and creativity. Yet so many of these same leaders and organizations live in fear of mistakes, missteps, and disappointments — which is why they have so little innovation and creativity. If you’re not prepared to fail, you’re not prepared to learn.”

Now, change the words “business leaders” in that quote to “college professors” and change "organizations" to "universities."  Does that change much about the quote?  Of course not!!!  Every university and every professor that I speak with talk about educational innovation and creativity.  Considering that this is 2022 and not 1982, it can be troubling to search for the results of those educational innovations.  Oh, I certainly know that there is always creativity.  However, given the problems of our planet, I personally doubt that there is enough. 

Taylor talks about the fear of failure as stifling for innovation.  Does that apply to you and your teaching?  As you begin a new semester, that is not a bad question to consider.

I think a problem that college teachers face is that we often view innovation as something that must be a major change, something that takes a lot of time and effort.  Obviously, if we only equate innovation with significant undertakings, then the fear of failure is real.  Everyone is cautious about taking a considerable risk that might well end in defeat.  We are not like Indiana Jones.  Most of us are not big risk-takers.

Does innovation have to be a high-stakes gamble?  

As you prepare for the fall semester, I want you to think about innovation in a different way.  What are a few tiny changes you can make in your class that could bring about improvement?  Don’t try to fix the world all at once.  Don’t attempt a major renovation.  Think about your classes and consider how a few small changes might lead to better and deeper student learning.  Small innovations can lead to real improvement without leaving you open to the possibility of extreme failure.  If they work, that is great.  The success will provide you with a foundation for more changes.  If they don’t work, then don’t do them again.  Keep it simple.

Whenever I talk with professors about educational changes, they always seem puzzled about where to start.  They want to change.  They want to teach better.  That is genuine.  They want deeper understanding by their students.  Nevertheless, they are not sure how to get innovation started.

Here is my advice in five easy steps.  Thinking this way helps me.  Try it.  Maybe it will help you. 

1—Picture the end of the fall semester.  Don’t get in a hurry.  Take your time.  Think about your class on the last day.  As specifically as you can, identify the characteristics or actions that you want to see in your students during that final session.  Assume the semester has gone perfectly.  Assume it is the best class you have ever taught.  How will your students act or what will they be able to do on that last day?  One of my mottoes (for myself and for my students) is, “Picture perfection.”  I don’t think we do that enough as teachers.  What would you like for that last class to look like?

2—Make a list of the Top 5 or 10 things that you would observe in this final, perfect class.  How do students act?  What do the students do that you like so well?  How have they grown?  Make it specific.  Create a list of what you would see.  “Smarter, more thoughtful students” doesn’t tell you anything – what does that mean on the last day of your class?

3—Make two columns.  One is headed, “Things I’m doing to get my students to this outcome.”  The second is headed, “Things I’m not yet doing to get my students to this outcome.”  You want to determine what you are currently doing in your class to move the students toward your “Perfect Class Goal.”  Thinking like this helps.  You also want to consider what new actions might push the students to where you want them to be.  It is this last column that is most important.  Spend serious time thinking about what you might try during the fall that would guide the group toward your perfect picture.  Don’t get in a rush.  This is an important assignment.  If you don’t have 10-20 things on the “not tried yet” list, you are not being creative and innovative enough.  Another one of my mottoes:  “The more ideas you have, the more likely it that you will have a good idea.”  So, let your imagination run wild.

4—Look at this last list carefully.  Don’t attempt to do everything!!!  That’s a problem that often stops teachers from pushing forward.  Instead, pick 2-3 things from this list that (a) might be effective and (b) can be carried out reasonably well in this coming semester.  In other words, when it comes to innovation, Think tiny.  These 2-3 changes will be the focus for your teaching this coming semester.  Something new.  These initiatives might fail, but they might not.  They are worth the risk.

5—Document your list of 2-3 innovative things for the fall semester.  Give yourself a definite plan.  (a) What are you going to do new and different?  (b) When are you going to do it?  (c) How are you going to implement it (although that might be self-evident)?  (d) How are you going to judge the results you achieve?  Try to make an assessment each week of the progress.  

You CAN be a more creative and innovative teacher.  I don’t care who you are.  The world needs that.  Whether you are young or old, the world needs more innovative teachers.  It is time to get started.

You CAN eventually achieve your perfect class, but it might well take 52 years. 

You MUST understand what your primary goal is for your students and then find some workable strategies to guide your push toward that improvement.  Think tiny.

If those ideas work, do them again in the spring semester and build on them toward more success. 

If they fail, try to fix them and give them another shot or do something different in the spring semester.  My third motto for this essay:  Failure is only failure if you stop trying. 

 

Best of luck to all my readers for a fabulous fall semester!!!!