Ask-Dr-Kirk

Free Online Language Classes

Check out these free online classes to learn a new language (Spanish, Chinese, Italian, French...and more)

 

Tips For Students On Using Google Search More Effectively

According to a recent study on student research skills, 75 percent of students do not know how to do a well-defined online search of a given research topic. You might want to share this site with lots of tips on using Google search more effectively. 

25 Tips For Students On How To Study For Finals

Professor Barbara Nixon (Southeastern University) shares great tips for students on how to study for final exams.

 

Related posts:

Tips for preventing cheating on exams

My solution to problem of students leaving room during exam

How To Make Writing Letters Of Recommendation Easier And More Efficient

Writing a letter of recommendation for a student is time consuming even though you want to help the student get a job or into grad school.  Professor Barbara Nixon (Southeastern University) shares this form that she has her students fill out to help her streamline the process.

 

Related posts:

Writing a letter of recommendation for grad school

How to get a great letter of recommendation from your teacher

More tips on asking for a great letter of recommendation

 

Students: What You Can Expect From Your Professors

In my last post, I shared the student conduct guidelines that the faculty in the College of Business at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee developed and that are now posted on our website. The faculty thought we should also be held to a professional code of conduct and thus developed the following list:

 

What you can expect from your College of Business professors:

We will be civil, professional, and ethical in our interactions with you and treat you with respect and dignity.

We will be on time to class and fully prepared to teach using relevant and up-to-date pedagogy.

We will turn off our cell phones before class and refrain from checking messages, thus giving you our undivided attention.

We will follow the grading scale, course policies, exam dates, etc. listed in the syllabus and will not change these policies or dates during the semester without adequate communication.

We will respond to your email questions and grade assignments, quizzes, papers, and exams in a timely manner.

We will be available (and happy to) meet with you to discuss classes, assignments, career choices, etc., as needed.

Our goal is to help you learn what it takes to be successful in the business world. Let’s work together to make you as prepared as possible for your future careers.

 

Teaching Carnival 5.3

Check out all the great info on teaching, advice for students, tips on using technology, and suggestions for professional development at the Teaching Carnival 5.3 in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

 

How To Boost Your Energy!

It's that time of the semester...when grading, committee meetings, research projects, and all the other things we commit to each semester seem overwhelming. Here's a list of 50 natural ways to boost your energy. Some of these are obvious such as get enough sleep and drink more water but ones I found interesting (and that seem to work!) are:

• Turn on all the lights. – Darkness promotes fatigue and laziness.  Turn on every light in the room.
• Pull down on your earlobes. – This may sound strange, but pulling down on your earlobes can help you stay awake and alert when you’re feeling drowsy.
• Roll up and down on your toes. – This stimulates your circulatory system, which will deliver much-needed oxygen and fuel (glucose) throughout your body.
• Have a good laugh. – Watch a funny video clip or read your favorite comic strip.  A good chuckle will stimulate your mind, giving you a renewed level on energy.
• Tap the top of your head. – Lightly tap the top of your head with your fingertips.  Do this continuously for a few minutes.
• Chew sugar-free peppermint gum. – It won’t rot your teeth and that minty taste will make you feel fresh.  
• Dress up. – Feeling better about yourself has a magical way of giving you more energy.  Put just a tad more effort into looking your best for work, and you’ll get compliments from coworkers that will make you feel better — and make you a perkier and more energetic.

You can access all 50 tips here.

Free Textbooks For Students

Here's a list of 150 free textbooks (with links to these) covering a variety of topics including Art History, Biology, Business, Science, Education, Math, and Engineering.

Tips For Putting Together Your Elevator Speech

I have talked before about helping your students put together an elevator speech. Here's a great video on how to do this. 

 

Teaching Students To Do An Elevator Speech

In a class I recently taught, we discussed how to do an elevator speech. Essentially it's a short (30 seconds to 3 minutes) introduction of yourself to a potential employer or client that's aimed at presenting a professional first impression. Content might include:

    What makes you unique? 

    What problems can you solve?

    What example can you give that illustrates a successful outcome to a problem?

   

You can access more info here.

Here's an example from business students at the University of South Florida.

 

Research Shows Missing Class Leads To Poorer Performance

Many of us put attendance as a class requirement for our students. Here’s a research study by Professors Wiji Arulampalam, Robin A. Naylor, and Jeremy Smith (University of Warwick) that found that “there is a causal effect of absence on performance for students: missing class leads to poorer performance.”

Download Am I Missing Something.pdf

 

Tips For Students: Establishing Your Personal Brand Online

I talk a lot to my students about determining your personal brand and the various components such as professionalism, emotional intelligence, integrity, etc that go into your brand. Angelita Williams shares five easy steps for students to use social networking sites to establish their personal brand.

 

Best Advice For Job Seekers

Last week I attended the Commencement Ceremony for graduates of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee and talked with several of the students who are in the job market. Today I came across this list of useful tips for job seekers that I will be sharing with them.

Students: Tips To Getting What You Want From Your Professors

Professor Ellen Bremen (Highline Community College) offers advice to students in how to communicate with your professors. She states that using "you" language rather than "I" sets professors up to be defensive and less likely to help. For example, many times students will start an email or in-person conversation with the following "you's," thus indicating an external locus of control.

"You gave me a bad grade."

“You didn’t tell me I was missing an assignment.”

“Your lecture wasn’t very clear.” 

 

Professor Brennan advocates changing these statements to using "I" to illustrate taking responsibility for your own learning. Thus, instead of:

 “Your lecture wasn’t very clear.”

 Try: “I’m having trouble following the material. I’m scared that I’m falling behind and I don’t want that to happen. Is it all right if we take more time to ask questions either during your lecture or at the end of class?"

As she notes: "The good news is that your use of "I" will better equip your profs to identify your problem and help you out. Even better news is that your professors will likely have tremendous respect for you taking responsibility for your actions and owning your thoughts."

You can read her entire post here.

 

The Real World Won't Care About Your GPA

It’s the end of the semester and you know what that means…lots of emails from students wanting to know how they can get extra points to improve their grades. Thus, I read this article by Becky Johns titled “Your GPA Doesn’t (Really) Matter” with great interest. As she notes:

While many college students stress over grades, those of us beyond academia and into our professional careers have seen how little it matters in comparison to experience, networking skills and the desire to grow.

Children go through school being taught that a grade is the determining factor in performance. But in the professional world, that’s not how it works. Your bosses won’t tell you which questions will be on the test. You don’t study information to be tested on it once in your job. Your college GPA is a combination of several factors but isn’t really the best indicator of how you’ll perform in the working world. We all know that person with perfect grades who struggles socially or that person who couldn’t care less about school but seems to have no trouble making great things happen in their life. Book smarts and street smarts are very different things.

Take your classes seriously. Do the work. Show up and learn something. Meet your professors. But I’m here to tell you, the GPA you leave college with doesn’t matter.

Becky goes on to say that what will matter is learning how to learn; learning how to take theory and concepts and apply them to real-life situations; developing good time management, presentation, writing, and networking skills; and learning how to both accept and give constructive feedback.

I remember stressing myself out to get a 4.0 in my Ph.D. program and absolutely no one has ever asked me what my GPA was. You can read the entire article here. I'm thinking this might be appropriate to put in my syllabus!

 

Mike Wagner Talks On Personal Branding

Mike Wagner, President of White Rabbit Group, recently skyped into my MBA class on Leadership to answer questions on personal branding. The following are some of the questions from the students and the answers given by Mike in this very informative session.

 

Question: Where do I start? How do I get going on defining my brand?

Mike: Look at your personal brand from both a public and private aspect.

The public brand consists of difference (what distinguishes you from others/what gets people’s attention), relevance (applies to your career and marketplace), and intentional invitation (the promise, what you get when you hire me).

The private aspect is truthfulness (don’t promise what you can’t deliver) and ownership (discipline).

Many of us are in the mediocre middle. By moving out of the predictable category, you break expectations. Understand the need of the moment but solve the problem in an unique way. Think “relevant surprise.”

Question: How do you have a personal brand without being perceived as a joke?

Mike: Career branding is an art. It’s not about me or self promotion. It's about your performance, not the image. You behave your way to a great brand.

Mike continued by drawing three circles. The largest circle is, “What do you do?” As he notes, 100 percent of us can usually answer this question with our job title. I’m an accountant. I’m a teacher. I’m a lawyer.

Within that circle is a smaller circle: “Tell me how you do it. Mike says fewer of us can articulate this. This doesn’t mean we’re not good at what we do, but that we are unconsciously competent at doing it.

Within that circle is the smallest circle of the three which asks, "Why do you do it?" Mike continued by saying that building your personal brand is all about discovering the why. Think about your purpose, what is motivating you to action.

You make your brand different and relevant based on your why. Mike recommends reading Simon Sinek’s book, Start With Why, to help with figuring out your why.   

Question: You’ve shared that you have had a number of careers (minister, Saturn executive, IT strategist, and now consultant and speaker). Has your brand been consistent or have you had to rebrand yourself for the different careers?

Mike: Good question. Personal branding is something you discover over time-a series of increasingly relevant skills that demonstrate you can deliver value. I think of it as intentional purposing. Part of it is realizing that relevance as part of your brand is a moving target. What I knew and did in 1999 in the tech field is not relevant today.

Question: How do you stay current?

Mike: I consider myself to be a constant learner. Every three months I challenge myself to learn something new that I can apply to my business. Right now I’m all about visual learning. I read a lot on the internet, follow several bloggers. Keeping current and learning new things is part of being relevant and different.

I believe that creativity is going to become a leadership competence because of today’s dynamic environment. An area I am very interested in is design thinking – a methodology being used for creative and practical resolution of problems or issues.

Question: How do you know if your perception of your personal brand is the same as the perceptions of others?

Mike: Ask them three questions: What do I do that you think I should stop doing? What do I do that you think I should do more of? What am I doing just right?

 

Mike Wagner, President of White Rabbit Group, is a skilled communicator, facilitator, and business coach. The White Rabbit Group is a performance branding consultancy which helps organizations strengthen their unique brand, engage their employees, and grow their bottom line. Mike focuses on the topics of leadership, personal development, creativity and organizational branding. He has worked with clients ranging from small and medium size businesses to Fortune 500 companies. He blogs here.

 

Kevin Eikenberry Talks On Intentional Learning, Leadership Strategies, And How To Be Successful.

Last Saturday, Kevin Eikenberry very generously gave an hour of his time to answer questions from my students in a course on Leadership. Kevin is the author of a number of best selling books including Remarkable Leadership (2007), Vantagepoints on Life and Learning (2005), and From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership (just released in February 2011).

Q: You talk about the importance of continuous learning in your book, Remarkable Leadership.  What does continuous learning mean for you? How do you keep current?

Kevin: I read blogs, books, and attend 3-5 professional workshops or conferences a year. I also learn from the writing I do. I find writing and reflecting clarifies my thinking. An excellent way to learn is to teach others/share your knowledge and information with others. It’s about intentional learning-you have to take ownership of your own learning process.

Q: Can you give us advice on how one finds their niche?

Kevin: Do work that is interesting to you. Find your passion. You have to be happy with the work you are doing. Create an area or business that serves you and is not just a job. Figure out how to market yourself. One of the things I have learned throughout my career is that I’m not just a salesperson or a consultant. I’m in the marketing business.

Q: What do you suggest I do if working with others on a team and one team member is not fully committed?

Kevin: Ask yourself if there really is a performance gap. Sometimes it is simply a matter of perception. Don’t start from a place of judgment but instead ask questions. What does this person value? What is holding them back from being committed?

Q: What are your strategies for leading in today’s economy?

Kevin: Enthusiasm is contagious. Be a positive influence. Choose your attitude. If there are challenges, talk about them with your team. Think about what’s within your control and within your influence. Now is the time to offer training to your employees and to keep them engaged. That way, when the economy changes, you can keep them. Build your employees.

Q: I see a real technology gap between generations. Can you address this issue and what to do about it?

Kevin: Ask yourself, what’s the real problem? Is it a performance discrepancy or a difference in preferences? There have always been generation gaps. You see the world differently at 20 than you do at 50. Read the research on the different generations and then forget most of what you read because it leads to stereotyping. Focus on what you need in the workplace.

Young employees prefer text messaging to phone calls. I understand this. My son at college prefers texting. I can leave him a phone message but he’s much more likely to respond to a text message. It works for him.

You as a manager need to explain to your employees your business need. It’s about the other person, in this case the customers or clients. Talk about issues of technology as a group. How to get past perceptions? However, be careful not to stereotype. I know older people who are very tech savvy and younger ones who are limited to just what they prefer. It’s not just age-related.

Q: Can you give us advice on how to be successful?

Kevin: Get a mentor. Mentorship is a critical part to learning anything especially leadership. Choose good role models. Also, help mentor others as you learn from mentoring. Keep in mind that leadership is not a role or position but an action.

If you think you are leading but no one is following you, you are only taking a walk.

It’s about the actions you take. Be remarkable-someone worth remarking or talking about.

Focus on your strengths but also remember that your strengths can be your biggest weaknesses. For example, your strength may be that you are decisive. However, the weakness of that might be that you don’t ask for input from your employees. I had a friend who was upset because someone accused him of being stubborn. He asked me if I agreed. I hesitated and then asked him if he thought he was persistent. It’s the same behavior with a difference in degree. Strengths are always valuable but not always appropriate.

A: Any final words of advice for being successful?

Kevin: It's about finding your passion. Taking advantage of defining moments. Transforming yourself. 

At this point, Kevin gave the students a simple, yet effective exercise to do to show them how to take their dreams of success and make these a reality.

Write down the word "Transformation" in the center of a piece of paper.

Then go back up and write "Information" (these are the books, classes, degree, valuable input to help you learn).

Next, write "Inspiration" (get inspired-do stuff that engages you).

Then write "Application" (apply what you know and learned to what you love to do).

Once you reach Application, you need to take action to reach Transformation. It's up to you.

His final words?  Believe in yourself. “You’re qualified if you decide you are.”

Kevin Eikenberry is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that provides a wide range of services, including training delivery and design, facilitation, performance coaching, organizational consulting, and speaking services. They have worked with Fortune 500 companies, smaller firms, universities, government agencies and more. His specialties include: teams and teamwork, creativity, developing organizational and individual potential, facilitation, training trainers, presentation skills, consulting and the consulting process.

Kevin blogs on leadership here:  http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/

Kevin shares free resources for reaching professional and personal goals here: http://www.kevineikenberry.com/resources/index.asp

 

Tips For Students On Studying For Finals

Professor Barbara Nixon shares the tips she gives her students for studying for final exams.

 

Teaching Students To Pilot Their Own Helicopters

Have you experienced the helicopter parent yet? 

President Marvin Krislov of Oberlin College gives advice on how to encourage college students to 'pilot their own helicopters', in other words to take responsibility for their own success or failure.

As he notes:

Balance is the key. Parents should support their child, but not serve as their gofer or administrative assistant. They can do this by urging their son or daughter to learn how to navigate the college bureaucracy and campus life on their own. This is a vital part of the educational process. It includes allowing the student to handle issues relating to classes, housing, dining, roommates, and extracurricular activities such as athletics, clubs, and student organizations.

A good body of research indicates that college students have a better chance of succeeding academically and socially when they themselves discover and initiate contact with the campus offices and departments that offer services and resources for students.

We also know that the problem-solving skills students develop during the formative years at college are an important part of their education. Parents should encourage students to take responsibility for their own financial planning, for managing their time, and for setting limits on their personal behavior.

Good advice for parents sending their child off to college. You can read the entire article here.

Have You Tried Glogging Yet?

 

I'm looking at this site where educators or students can build their own GLOGS defined as "the creative expression of knowledge and skills in the classroom and beyond...GLOGS (are) online multimedia posters - with text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds, drawings, data attachments and more."

Can't wait to try it...

 

 

 

Why Learn When You Can Just Look It Up Online?

I get this question sometimes from my business students. For example, they don't understand why they need to learn the various laws pertaining to management when they can just look these up when needed.

I tell them yes, you can do that. Let's say you graduate and get that first job in management. Let's think about how that might go...

 

Employee: Can I take leave under FMLA to take care of my sick sister-in-law?

You as the new Manager: Let me look that up.

Employee: There is a holiday this week but I still worked 40 hours. Do I get overtime pay?

 You as the new Manager: Let me look that up.

 

How long before the new manager has absolutely no credibility with his or her employees?

When I explain this to the students, they are more willing to learn the knowledge, skills, and theories they will need to be successful.

Sidneyeve Matrix continues the discussion on “Why memorize when you can Googleize” here. 

 

Dr. KirkCat Demonstrates Answer To "Why Do I Need To Learn This?"

Do Your Students Know Their Preferred Learning Style?

 

One of my goals for my students is to get them to take more responsibility for their learning. I find the following a great homework assignment to give the first day of class.

 

Go to this free website and complete the 44 item Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire. Print out your results. Follow the links to interpret these and to find successful learning strategies that match your preferred learning style.  Then write a 1-2 page (double spaced) summary of your results from the survey along with a list of things you plan to do in order to be more successful in this class. 

 

 

 

 

Should I Put MBA On My Business Cards?

Dear Dr. Kirk:

So what's the protocol with the initials? Do you put MBA after your name in your signature line?

Recent MBA graduate

---------------

Dear MBA grad:

Typically only Ph.D.s or M.D.s do this. Or someone might put an earned certification such as CPA or SPHR on their business card or signature line but putting MBA is considered inappropriate.

However, you can certainly mention your newly earned degree on your website or blog and on a cover letter in a job application. Here's an article that discusses this further.

Congratulations on your accomplishment!

Dr. Kirk

 

Advice For Students: Should You Call Your Professor By His/Her First Name?

Finally. A table to help your students understand whether or not to call you by your first name.

Source: www.phdcomics.com

The Importance Of Lifelong Learning

As we wind up this semester and start thinking about the next, I found this article interesting. It really does illustrate that our students need to develop their own brand, or as Mike Wagner, CEO of White Rabbit Group, said to me, "it's another reason why they MUST brand their careers."

Here's a quote from the article:

We've come to realize we don't really want most employees for the whole of their careers. We want their particular set of skills when we need them — but then things change so fast, we don't need that particular skill set any more."

This really illustrates the importance of teaching our students how to learn as well as what to learn.

They Always Tell You It's All About The Networking!

An assignment in my graduate class last fall has led to the right connections for a University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee MBA student who is graduating tomorrow.

I directed my students to use a mind map as a visual aid for their presentations on the first day of class. One of the students, Adam Roper, took the opportunity to discuss a product he was attempting to develop that would replace a CD player with a small device that would easily record a collection of CD's and play them back upon demand.  This device would store thousands of CDs in a space not much larger than the CD player it replaced. 

After class I mentioned Roper’s idea to my fiancé, Jim Maher, who is on the Board of Directors of Cary Audio Design. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Adam worked with the development team at Cary Audio Design,  a 21 year old manufacturer of high end audio equipment to develop a comprehensive "music server" that would store approximately 2800 CDs, and play them back with a musical quality far above what most people have ever heard in a home environment.  The "Music Server" is one of the new generation of  "green" components and designed to utilize a maximum of 21 watts of electricity.

 

The server will be available for sale on Monday, May 10...the day after graduation. You can read more about it here.

 

Can you hear how proud I am? Congratulations Adam!

Chewing Gum Reduces Anxiety, Increases Performance

Research shows chewing gum reduces anxiety and stress and increases performance. Perhaps we should give out gum to students before final exams? Or before we start grading those exams :)

 

 

 

Tell Your Students To Consider A Blog When Job Hunting

Sarah Needleman writes about how recent college grads can use a blog to attract employers in an article in the Wall Street Journal.  As she notes, corporate recruiters are surfing the internet to "unearth job candidates, expanding their talent pool and gaining insights they say they can't get from résumés and interviews."  Recruiters also check out candidates' blogs to determine their writing skills as well as additional information on education and experience that can't be determined from a one page resume.  In addition, putting on a blog that you are job hunting allows you to network with many more people than just telling your friends.  Many companies are now googling their job applicants and savvy students can use  the internet to "sell" themselves.

Quote Of The Day

 

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called 'truth.'   ...Dan Rather

How To Impress Your Boss (Or Professor)

Terry Starbucker wrote a great blogpost on 10 Surefire Ways To Impress Your Boss (and get what you want). As he notes:

Be on time. Nothing, I mean nothing, is more penalizing than being habitually late. There is a lot of truth to the saying “90% of success is showing up” – that is, provided it isn’t after the appointed hour.

Keep your promises, and over deliver too. This is like mom and apple pie, I know, but getting the boss to trust you explicitly is absolutely critical. You need to be counted on when the pressure is on.

Display common courtesy, especially by returning phone calls & E-mail. In this day and age, doing this consistently actually makes you stick out. Those Thank yous and I’m sorrys add up in the “who’s a better person for the promotion” derby.

Show quiet confidence, and take “can’t” out of your vocabulary. A little positivity goes a long way out there...

Use the language appropriately – both verbally and in your writing. Bad grammar and spelling is right up there with punctuality as promotion killers. Proof read your stuff – and use spellcheck. It all matters!

Disagree and challenge respectfully. You can disagree with the boss, or even say “no”. Just be prepared to back it up, with a statesman-like flair. But if the play is called and it goes against you, despite your feelings you need to move on, and execute. There’s no pouting in the conference room.

Focus on the task at hand like a laser beam. I know it’s really hard these days to put down the Blackberry or stay away from E-mail, Twitter or Facebook, especially on conference calls, but when the boss is talking, stay focused.

All these suggestions would work well for our students also. In fact, I may tweak Terry's list and put on a future syllabus! 

You can access the entire article here:

Dr. KirkCat Illustrates Professional Dress For Faculty

Illustration by Istra Fuhrmann, age 11.

 

I personally believe dressing professionally in class is important as I feel this shows respect for the students and also helps to role model for them how to be professional.

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education gives advice to faculty on how to dress for a job interview.  As noted in the article:

Remember, the objective isn't to draw attention to what you're wearing but rather to draw attention away from your appearance and toward the substance of your candidacy. You want to be dressed neatly and appropriately enough that committee members say to themselves, "OK, this person looks fine, now let's see what he or she has to say." What you don't want is for them to spend the entire hour staring at your unusual dress or your garish tie, wondering what the heck you were thinking.

I would say the same is true for what we wear to our classes...

Here's some more on the subject:

Chronicle of Higher Education's A call for professional attire

Should Universities have dress codes?

Tips For Students In Making A Good Impression On Professor

Professors Lynn Jacobs and Jeremy Hyman posted recently on “13 ways to make your professor love you.” I’m thinking this might be good to put in a syllabus for undergraduates.

Among their suggestions: Look interested during class; ask questions, especially those related to reading assignments; bring in relevant newspaper or internet articles; and thank your professor when he/she does you a favor.

Accent The Positive

Tom Vander Well writes on quality assurance and recently gave the following advice to call center employees:

If you're working the phones today, I'd encourage you to keep a note pad or sticky-note on your desk. Each time you have a pleasant, friendly customer - jot down a hash mark or write the customer's name on your sheet. When one of those negative customers comes along, look down at your sheet and refresh your memory of all the pleasant customers you've talked with.

Sometimes it takes a conscious effort to see the glass half full.

I'm thinking this is excellent advice for us as teachers also...

E-portfolios A Useful Tool For Both Students And Faculty

Found this interesting article on using e-portfolios, defined as digital collections of student work where students collect, select, and reflect on their work. There are lots of links included to universities who are currently using these as part of their curriculum.

E-portfolios would also be a useful way for faculty to put together their own research, publications, teaching philosophy, sample syllabi, etc., to use for annual review, tenure, and promotion.

Download E-portfolios

Share These Tips With Your Students: 77 Ways To Learn And Retain Information

Here are some really interesting tips to help your students learn better and retain information longer such as take a nap, go for a walk, listen to music...

Is Social Media A Fad?

I showed this short video on the growth of social media to my graduate students in Leadership Concepts on Saturday.

Some highlights:

• By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers…96% of them have joined a social network
• If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest
• Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé…In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen
• Wikipedia has over 13 million articles…some studies show it’s more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica…78% of these articles are non-English
• There are over 200,000,000 Blogs
• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations; Only 14% trust advertisements
• In the near future we will no longer search for  products and service. They will find us via social media

I'm teaching my students how to use social media as a tool in organizations...

The Value Of An MBA

Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal for our ex-students and friends who are considering going to graduate school in business.

Federal Court Ruling: Be Careful What You Post On The Internet

Many of us have started warning our students that they should be careful what they post on the internet. Here's the first court ruling addressing the use of a social network page (MySpace) in an adverse decision. The case dealt with the awarding of a degree in an university but could apply to employers and applicants also.

21 Tips For New Managers

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

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

•  Be consistent in how you deal with employees.

•  Don’t discriminate when hiring and promoting.

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

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

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

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

•  Network as much as possible.

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

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

•  Be professional. Remember impression management. 

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

•  Pay your taxes.

•  Honesty really is the best policy.

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

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

•  Be internet-savvy.

•  Show employees that you appreciate their hard work.

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

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

•  Have fun! Work hard and play hard.

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

 

 

 

Research Shows That Chewing Gum Improves Academic Performance

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

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

Knowledge vs. Wisdom

Just saw this on Twitter: 

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

Ten Tips For Students In Making A Good Presentation

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

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

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

 

Free Video Lectures

Have you seen these free lectures on topics such as astronomy, biology, computer science, English, history, law, and psychology?

I'm thinking the one on "How do you find your passion and how do you pursue it?" by Randy Komisar or "Career Advice-Five Takeaways" by John Roos might be good to share with my students.

I'm also intrigued by Guy Kawasaki's lecture on "To get an MBA or not?"

 

 

Research Shows That Doodling Can Help You Remember

Researchers have found that doodling can help you remember information. How does this work?

 According to Professor Jackie Andrade (University of Plymouth), "If someone is doing a boring task, like listening to a dull telephone conversation, they may start to daydream... Daydreaming distracts them from the task, resulting in poorer performance. A simple task, like doodling, may be sufficient to stop daydreaming without affecting performance on the main task."

Why E-Mails Are So Easily Misunderstood

Here's an interesting article, “It's All About Me: Why E-Mails Are So Easily Misunderstood” that we should probably share with our students. According to researchers, there are three major problems with using email:

Email does not give us cues such as tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language.

The ability to instantly reply to email leads people to think and write quickly without thinking through what they're saying and how it might be perceived.

If you have not developed a personal rapport with the other person, communicating by email can create problems when you disagree or have conflict.

"According to one study, e-mail users have only a 50-50 chance of correctly interpreting the intended tone of an e-mail."  First impressions and stereotypes cause us to assign intent or assumptions that are not necessarily true.

How to avoid problems with email?  "Read it aloud in the opposite way you intend, whether serious or sarcastic.  If it makes sense either way, revise."   And if you are discussing sensitive issues or having a conflict with the other person, communicate in person or by phone.

Write Or Die

Got this from Daphne Gray-Grant at Publicationcoach.com   It's a website for writers that are having trouble concentrating on their work.  As someone who needs to revise and resubmit a journal article, I may have to try it!

As noted on Write or Die:

[This] is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.

The idea is to instill in the would-be writer with a fear of not writing. We do this by employing principles taught in Introduction to Psychology. Anyone remember Operant Conditioning and Negative Reinforcement?

Negative Reinforcement "strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior."

Consequences:
Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.

Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.

Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself. These consequences will persist until your preset conditions have been met (that is, your time is up or you've written your word count goal or both).

This is aimed at anyone who wants to get writing done. It requires only that you recognize your own tendency towards self-sabotage and be willing to do something about it.

Maybe our students would find this useful?

 

Free Site Creates Flashcards To Use As A Learning Tool

This looks like a great resource for our students. Cramberry is a free site that allows the user to create sets of flashcards to aid in studying. 

I just tested it by developing a set of cards that listed questions on EEO laws on the front and the answers on the back. I think my students will enjoy using this learning tool.

 

Former Student Gives Feedback On Importance of Professionalism In The Classroom And Beyond

I posted recently on the importance of professionalism and the fact that I am including professionalism as part of my grading criteria for my classes this spring semester.  I then received this letter from one of my former students at Drake University.      

Hi Dr Kirk,

I had you as a professor at Drake for management/business classes and SHRM.  I have really enjoyed reading Ask-Dr-Kirk for several reasons.  My first reason is that what you say in these blogs, you actually did in the classroom.  Secondly, as a professional, I still find bits of advice I can apply to my working life.  Thirdly, I am glad you stress the importance of business professionalism to your students, as I have seen many students evolve into peers who "just don't get it" in the professional world.

Thank you for stressing professionalism in the classroom and all of the other knowledge you taught me as well.  I know it has helped me not only get into and through graduate school, but also into the working world.  I know I use the skills you taught me (being on time is very important!) in my current position as an  Organizational Effectiveness Consultant.

Have a great day and Happy Holidays,

Holly Sedlacek
BA '05
 

I remember Holly as an excellent, hardworking student who was always on time to class and who was an active member in the Drake University SHRM Student Chapter. Obviously, these professional values and positive attitude have paid off for her. It was great hearing from Holly and her letter reinforces for me why I have continued to teach and mentor for the past 26+ years!

Quote For The Day

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."   Aristotle

This is why I insist that my students turn in papers that look professional-correct spelling, clean pages, stapled, not dog-eared at the corners, etc. This attention to detail will help them in their careers. Why not learn this habit now?