Ask-Dr-Kirk

Ten Tips For New College Teachers On That Crucial First Day Of Class

Each new semester as I walk down the hallway to my classroom, I am a little nervous, even after 30 years of teaching experience…and I’m okay with this. I think when I get to the point where I don’t feel this anxiety, I won’t be as effective a teacher. After all, I will be walking into that classroom for the next four months and it’s important to make a good first impression. Below are 10 tips to help you get off to a great start.

1. Develop your own routine before going to class. Take a short brisk walk beforehand. Twirl your wrists to gently shake the stress out of your arms. Relax your shoulders; people tend to “hunch up” their shoulders when tense. Do some deep breathing.

2. Check out your classroom before the students get there. Walk around and get familiar with the room, podium, how the seats are arranged, etc. Make sure you know how to work any technology you’ll be using.

3. The first few minutes are crucial. Your students are curious about you and the course. Everything (how you dress, walk, present yourself) are clues as to your personality and credibility. Walk briskly and with purpose into the classroom.

4. Chat briefly with the students as they come into the room to make yourself (and the students) feel more comfortable.

5. Act confident and enthusiastic about what you will be doing that first day. Don’t say that you are nervous as this makes the students uncomfortable and you will lose credibility with them.

6. Also, it’s best not to tell your students that this is the first time (if it is) that you have taught this particular course. You should know more about the topic than they do so they’ll assume you’re an expert.

7. Use notecards or form to gather information about your students (name, email address, past class experience with the topic, work experience, etc). This takes the focus off you and onto the task which gives you time to get comfortable.

8. As you begin, make eye contact with two or three people in various parts of the room. Learn their names and use them several times. You are essentially beginning to build a relationship with your students.

9. Be enthusiastic about being in the classroom so that they will be also. Don’t just stand behind the podium but move around and move toward them. Look happy to be sharing your knowledge with them.

10. Start with something that is easy for you to talk about. Tell a story you’ve told often before, read something that is relevant to the class from the newspaper, share something from your days as a student or talk to them about why you went into teaching. Above all, picture yourself doing an excellent job. It’s going to be a great first day of class!

Source:  Kirk, Delaney J. (2009). 10 Tips for Dealing with Nervousness the First Day of Class. Faculty Focus, Magna Publications.

 

Should Teachers Use Humor In The Classroom?

I'm reading this post, Should Textbooks and Teachers Be Funnier? I would agree that humor is useful in the classroom as long as it is relevant to the topic being taught and the teacher is comfortable with using humor. Humor does seem to make the classroom environment more relaxed.

 

Related posts and articles:

Using Humor in the Classroom

Using Humor in The College Classroom to Enhance Teaching Effectiveness  in "Dread Courses"

Bringing Life to Online Instruction With Humor

How To Read A Student Evaluation Of Your Teaching

I'm reading this article by Professor David D. Perlmutter (University of Iowa) on How To Read A Student Evaluation. He has lots of useful advice on how to use the feedback you get.

 

Related posts:

Evaluating your teaching

Does moving to an online evaluation system affect your teaching evals?

And...Interpreting those teaching evaluations (A little humor to make reading these more fun...)

 

Using Social Media For Research

Dr. Kathy Black (University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee) shares the following resources on how social media is being used by researchers.

Social Media: A Guide for Researchers

List and Links to Social Media Sites 

Case Studies: How Faculty Use Social Media for Research

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.

 

Students: What Your Professors Expect From You

My colleagues and I at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee have been discussing the need for setting expectations in the classroom and I volunteered to put together some student conduct guidelines. After much editing, we've put together the following expectations that are now posted on our College of Business website.

 

Dear College of Business Student:

If we were to ask you why you decided to get a degree in business, you would probably answer that you wanted to get the best education and training possible in order to be successful in your future career. While that certainly means a working knowledge of finance, accounting, marketing, and management information, theories and tools, another equally important aspect to success is to learn and practice what it takes to be a professional. Thus, your professors will role model the business etiquette used in the workplace and will have high expectations that you too will practice these behaviors. We want you to be successful in your current role as student as well as in your business or service career.  As a result, future employers can count on our business graduates to possess the academic, time management, team member, and leadership skills they want in a new employee.

In order for your professor to do his or her job of helping you to learn through a variety of teaching methods as well as by bringing in real world applications to give substance to the theories being taught, the following will be expected from you, the student:

You will be in class, seated, and ready to participate at the beginning of the class period.  You will also stay in class until dismissed by the professor.

You will come to class prepared, having read the required materials or completed the assignments given. You are encouraged to bring up issues raised in the reading materials for clarification and elaboration in class.

You will take care of any needs for restroom breaks, coffee, returning phone calls, etc. before class begins so you can stay and pay attention for the entire class period.

You will turn off your cell phones before class and refrain from checking your messages during class (in case of an anticipated emergency situation, please inform your instructor before class and place the phone on vibrate)

You will be expected to do your own work for assignments, papers, tests, and projects and turn in your assignments in on time.

You will be expected to contribute your share of work to your team projects and to do your best to make the team experience a positive one for all members.

You will pay attention during class: no talking while classmates or the instructor is talking, no sleeping, no reading newspapers, no doing work for other classes. 

You will keep in mind that the course rules and policies, exam dates, and grading scale apply to all students equally, and will not ask for special treatment.

If you have to miss class, you will get the lecture notes from another student and will pick up any handouts you missed. 

You will keep an open mind and treat members of the class, guest speakers, and your professors with respect and dignity.  

 

Have we missed anything? I'm also curious whether other universities post student expectations on their websites.  

Article: How Shoe Designers Are Using Social Media

Thought I would share an article I wrote that was recently published in the Drake Management Review. It’s on how shoe designers use social media but the tips given here by both designers and bloggers could be applied to a variety of businesses. Enjoy!

 

Photo by James M. Maher, 2011.

Student Project In Social Media Class A Huge Success!

 

As you know, social media is a relatively new concept and a few universities are beginning to offer a course on this in their journalism, PR, or marketing programs. This semester I taught a course in Social Media Management and Strategy for the first time in the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee’s MBA program.  I had given a great deal of thought to what the final exam should be and was thinking I would give them a choice of scenarios and have them pick one and put together a social media plan.

In the meantime, I went out to dinner one night with some friends and heard a local musician, Jonathan Cortez, for the first time.  We were all impressed by the range of music he sang including jazz, blues, top tunes from the 1980’s and even opera. Afterwards, I tried googling him to find future gigs and was surprised to find very little information. The proverbial light bulb came on as I thought he would be a great project for the class. The students agreed and were excited about developing a social media strategy for him, including designing a blog, getting him on LinkedIn and Twitter, updating his Facebook and Youtube accounts, etc. Here’s an article from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that talks about their project.

Congrats to the MBA students in Cohort 8! I have to say this was one of the most interesting student projects I have been involved with in my 30 years of teaching!

Helping Students Improve Their Presentation Skills

I’ve invited Butch Phelps from our local Toastmasters to speak to my students tonight in class on how they can improve their presentation skills. They will be doing their team presentations in two weeks. I’m also thinking about this class activity shared by Dr. Lora Helvie-Mason (Southern University) on using peer feedback to help students improve their skills.

 

Call For Blogposts For Teaching Carnival 5.3

Do you have a recent blogpost related to teaching in higher education that you would like to share? Or have you recently read a useful post by another edublogger? Email me with the link to the post by October 30 to be considered for Teaching Carnival 5.3. And if you haven’t seen all the great information being shared at ProfHacker, check it out at Teaching Carnival 5.2 or go to the home page here.

 

Building A Personal Learning Network To Become A Better Educator

Sarah Fudin (University of Southern California) is today's guest blogger and she writes on developing your own personal learning network. I personally recommend Twitter as a great way to build your PLN and connect with educators from around the world.

As Sarah notes:

The Personal Learning Network (PLN) is not a new concept on college campuses. Professors who are interested in developing further as educators have long known the benefits of networking with colleagues and students in their academic community. With new modes of technology-enabled communication, that community has expanded to include college and university campuses around the world.

Building a PLN in the digital age requires the acquisition of new skills and some possible changes in attitude. Networking with educators who have a variety of backgrounds, standards and teaching philosophies requires an open mind. Whether you've been teaching for just a few years or for several decades, maintaining a desire to learn about different approaches to the educational process will help you stay active and engaged in your profession. Pedagogical strategies and teaching philosophies continually change, but your PLN can help you stay current.

Building an online PLN usually begins by discovering some educational blogs and websites that strike a chord. Look for web content that informs, instructs and inspires. Most blogs and websites that are updated on a regular basis will allow you to subscribe and have regular updates (or "feeds") sent to you in email. You can also use a tool like Google Reader to aggregate your subscription feeds in one convenient location.

A growing number of educators are discovering the networking power of Twitter. By participating in Twitter conversations and weekly chats related to education, thousands of educators have found ways to expand their PLN by connecting with peers and students from around the world. Here is a sampling of a few of the Twitter chats that higher education professionals may find useful:

• #CollegeBound is a weekly Twitter chat hosted by The CollegeBound Network and offers higher education administrators and teachers a unique chance to connect with potential and incoming college students.
• #lrnchat is a weekly Twitter chat that focuses on all aspects of learning – formal, informal, social and mobile. Professional development for educators and educational technology are frequent subjects of discussion.
• #higheredlive is a live weekly web show about the emerging role of social and digital media in higher education and student affairs.
• #PhDchat is a themed Twitter chat session that meets weekly to discuss issues related to postgraduate research. Discussion topics are suggested and voted on by participants.

The best learning networks depend on two-way communication. As you follow blogs, website discussions and Twitter chats, make an effort to add your voice to the conversation. Comment on blog posts or even start your own blog to share links and other resources. Alternatively, become a mentor by responding to questions in areas where you have expertise.

As you expand your PLN, don't forget that some of your most valuable connections may be closest to home. Students, teachers and administrators in your own academic community are important contacts who are likely to share your concerns. In addition to using technology to develop a global PLN, look for opportunities to connect with people in your local learning environment.

 

Sarah Fudin currently works in community relations for the University of Southern California's Master of Arts in Teaching program, which provides aspiring teachers the opportunity to earn a Masters in Teaching online and learn how to become a teacher.  Outside of work Sarah enjoys running, reading and Pinkberry frozen yogurt.

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. 

 

Chris Brogan Talks on Trust, Twitter, and Listening as the New Black

Chris Brogan very generously gave 45 minutes of his time last Saturday afternoon to skype into my class on Social Media Management & Strategy at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. Chris is the president of Human Business Works and the author of Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust  (with Julien Smith) and Social Media 101. His new book, Google + for Business, will be released in November of 2011. Below are some of the questions from the MBA students as well as Chris’s answers.

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

Q: Why did you decide to write books on social media?

Chris: Actually I’ve always wanted to write books but I had in mind to write fiction. My coauthor of Trust Agents, Julien Smith, and I both had an early interest in entrepreneurship and then in social media as a way to build relationships. We found it to be an interesting way to look at the world. I was amazed when Trust Agents made the New York Times Best Sellers list-it must have been a slow week for book sales. On the other hand, there’s no asterisk next to my book stating this. J

Q: What is your take on Google+?

Chris: I predict that Google + will blow Facebook away, not by sheer numbers but instead by the huge traffic potential of Google+. This is partly due to the fact that Google and YouTube are the 1^st and 2^nd most widely used search engines on the internet. Dell is one company that gets Google+. Michael Dell is very active there in engaging live with the community. Talk about a trust agent-there’s no filter, no public relations person, he’s just talking with people about technology in the future. It’s all about building rapport-corporation systems don’t typically do this.

Q: What does it mean to be a trust agent?

Chris: Trust agents use the computer to be human at a distance. When you get a chance to laugh with someone, you take the information they’re sharing in a different way. It’s about engagement, building relationships, making connections. We forget how to be human online if we didn’t grow up with computers. You can’t discount emotions on social media but keep in mind that it’s not all “soft.” There’s business in there. You are in marketing regardless of what your job title is. It’s about sales, customer relations.

Q: How do we know it’s really the CEO or the celebrity who’s tweeting with us on Twitter or interacting with us on Google+?

Chris: Good question. Many stars have their agencies do their talking for them on social media. Taylor Swift has a 3^rd party handling her fans on Google+. However, when CEOs or celebrities come off their perch, it matters-we sit up and take notice. Kanye West got tired of the media twisting his words so he got on Twitter to present his side of the story. You can still hate him but at least he’s making the effort to be transparent.

Q: If a company culture doesn’t have the openness that it should, should they even be online or have a blog?

Chris: Listening is the new black. Companies don’t have to tweet or post. They can just lurk to see what people are saying about their products or company. However, there can be a direct ROI to being more open and engaging. Tony Hsieh was able to sell Zappos for 1.9 billion, in part due to his open policy on Twitter to listen and connect with his customers.

Q: Will social media replace focus groups?

Chris: The question is, are focus groups really speaking for your customers? I had the CEO of General Motors say to me that focus groups and marketers were telling him one thing and reality told him another. The problem is that there is unstructured data on social media. It takes time to read through blogs and tweets to throw out a report of  “really important stuff that someone should read.” There are some listening tools out there but we haven’t figured out how to quantify all this yet.

Q: What do you see as potential legal consequences on using social media? For example, if the CEO of a company is blogging something that’s not quite correct.

Chris: Good question. I have that same issue-what if I tell a company to do something while I’m consulting for them and it turns out to be the wrong thing. Professionals and companies have errors and omissions insurance that cover them for this. It’s best for companies to work with their legal teams especially in certain fields such as finance and healthcare. First, have a conversation about why you’re engaging in social media. Google the U.S. Air Force’s social media policy-they’ve done an excellent job.

Q: My company recently had an issue where someone wrote vicious things about one of our board members on our company blog. What’s your advice on how to handle negative comments?

Chris: Negative feedback can be the best kind-if everyone says you’re awesome but sales are down…obviously there is an issue you’re not aware of. However, anywhere there’s a chance for commenting, there’s a chance for stupidity. You can edit out crude language in the comments. If the comment is slanderous, you can report it but be cautious about throwing the lawyer card-can make you look like a jerk. Sometimes you have to accept the criticism and leave it there…acknowledge it by saying, I’m sorry you feel this way. If you look back at comments that person has said on other sites, you’ll usually find they tend to be negative in all situations. Also, many times others on the site will speak up and defend you…Keep in mind that research shows that 70 percent of people believe that if all feedback on a website is positive, that something is wrong. Why aren’t there any negative reviews? A good way to manage negative comments is to move it offline. Say that you’re sorry they had this problem and ask for their phone number so you can call them and talk.

Q: I’m concerned about how much personal information there is about me online. How do I handle this?

Chris: You choose how much to share. Don’t use Foursquare if you don’t want people to know where you’re going. When I’m going to a coffee shop to relax, I don’t post this as I don’t want people to track me down. And that’s ok too. Be smart about it. Embracing transparency is good but there’s too much letting it all hang out. Posting keg photos might be amazing at the time but perhaps not a few years later when you’re starting your career.

Q: We’re investigating Twitter as a business and professional tool in this class. What advice can you give us?

Chris: It’s about them, not you. If you’re not sure who to follow, listen first and then talk to people whom you find interesting. Look at Twitter.com/search for possibilities. My dad loves to play poker. When I showed him that he could connect with professional poker players on Twitter, it made it interesting for him. We do want to know more about you than buttoned-up you. But don’t post your kid’s photo to represent you or those red-eyed party photos.

Q: Any final tips?

Chris: The principles you learn from the web also work outside of social media. It’s all about being authentic. Also, keep in mind that making your own game is the new way of doing business.

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Chris Brogan obviously practices what he preaches. He skyped in from what looked to be his basement and had to share airspace a couple times with his five year old. He was engaging and informative. As one of the students told me afterwards, he seemed like someone she would want to be friends with. She went on to say it was a good model for her in how to be both credible and approachable at the same time.

Chris blogs at www.chrisbrogan.com and tweets at www.twitter.com/chrisbrogan.

 

 

Road Trip To Omaha, Nebraska

Today I will be facilitating a faculty development workshop at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha. We will be discussing how to set class expectations on the first day of class, how to "sell your class to the students," and how to handle challenging students.

I'm looking forward to it.

 

Impression Management The First Day Of Class

Research shows that people make assumptions about our credibility, professionalism, and sincerity within a few seconds of meeting us for the first time.  The way we present ourselves--dress, body language, attitude, behavior—all impact on how others perceive us. 

This emphasis on first impressions translates to the classroom as well.  Dr. Frank Bernieri (Oregon State University) conducted an experiment where he discussed his syllabus the first day of class and then had the students filled out a teaching evaluation form.  At the end of the semester, they completed the same form.  He found the rating the students gave him at the end of the semester was essentially the same as that given the first day.  According to Bernieri, if your students think the class will be interesting and useful and that you are a credible professor on the first day, they will tend to think that throughout the semester.  In fact, Bernieri states that people will make excuses and manipulate the data in order to reinforce their first impressions.

Professor Nalini Ambady (Tufts University) concurs with Bernieri.  She conducted a study where she showed students a ten second video of professors they had never met.  Their ratings of the professors in the videos were the same as those given by students who had had the professors in class for several months.  In addition, the students’ first impression of whether the professor was an effective teacher predicted how well the students themselves performed on tests. 

Think impression management when preparing for that first day of class...

Faculty Can Be Digital Natives Or Immigrants Too.

One of the challenges we're finding in the classroom is the difference between digital natives and digital immigrants. This article by Marc Prensky discusses some of the issues. However, I find that age itself cannot be used as a determinant as to which students will be comfortable with technology and which ones are not.

Recently an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education discusses the fact that we are seeing the same issues with faculty. New Ph.D.s coming out of their programs have been exposed to educational technology as a tool in the classroom. However, faculty who have been teaching for many years may not have the expertise or desire to use wikis, blogs, Skype, etc. You can read the Chronicle article here.

 

Advice On How To Get An Adjunct Teaching Position

Dear Dr. Kirk:

I just came across your blog today and it seems like a great resource for professors. I am writing to see if you have any advice or tips for someone trying to get started as an adjunct professor. I have an MBA and work experience, but no formal teaching experience. I would love to hear any tips or thoughts you have to help me get started. 

Thanks! Would Be Teacher

Dear Would Be Teacher:

First of all, as I look over the resume you attached, I see you have an excellent educational background and very relevant work experience in your field. These are things that universities look for in hiring adjuncts. You might list speeches given and your experience training others on a cover letter when applying. 

The easiest way to break into teaching is to apply to a community college (it’s how I got started). However, with your background in finance, I think a 4 year college would also be interested in hiring you as an adjunct. 

Try contacting professors at universities you are interested in and volunteer to be a guest speaker in their classes. That way you get to make some contacts. When I was at Drake University, we hired several adjuncts this way. It gives the school a chance to see how you handle yourself in a classroom setting.

You might also look through college catalogs (or on websites) to see which classes they offer that you believe you are qualified to teach. Also, go to their bookstores and leaf through the required textbooks for those classes to get a sense of topics covered.  This might help you to know how to “sell” yourself.

Just FYI though-adjuncts do not get paid very much. However, it’s a good way to beef up your CV if you think you might want to eventually teach full-time.

Hope this helps. Let me know how it works out for you!

Teaching Students How To Think

I’m reading this article about Dr. George Plopper (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and his approach to teaching students how to think. I’m curious as I’m teaching a new course this fall on social media and am trying to decide how to structure the class. I'm sure the students will all have various levels of skills and experience with different social networking sites and I'm picturing the class as one in which each student uses his or her expertise to teach their classmates.

Thus, I'm interested in Dr. Plopper's approach:

After spending the first class of the semester outlining expectations, Plopper breaks the class into six groups of five students, and assigns a group of students the task of giving a presentation on the subject that is to be covered the next week. That is, they are required to teach the subject to their peers the first time they encounter it -- and they must determine what three learning outcomes they expect their fellow students to demonstrate.

Plopper points them to the relevant literature, including journals and a textbook, and the students must sort out what's important and what isn't -- and then grasp the details with enough clarity and complexity that they can convey them to the rest of the class. The final exam will include material that is relevant to the subjects they've covered, but will not be limited to what has been presented in class -- forcing students to read and think widely about the subject independently rather than turn up at class simply waiting to receive information.

Plopper also evaluates the students -- and they evaluate one another (which allows students to call out the slackers on group projects), according to a rubric he shares with them at the start of the semester, which is matched to the various facets of Bloom's Taxonomy. The approach forces Plopper and his students to think not just about the subject matter, but also about the process by which they have come to understand it, he said.

I'm curious whether others have tried this and whether the students see how much they are gaining (there is no better way to learn something than to teach it!) or if they feel they are doing the teacher's job.

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.

 

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.

 

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!

 

Article On Improving College Teaching

I blogged recently on getting to hear Dr. Derek Bok, former Harvard University president, talk about current issues in higher education. Here's an interesting article by Dr. Bok on improving college teaching.

 

What I Learned From Listening To Dr. Derek Bok Speak On Education

I recently had a chance to hear Dr. Derek Bok, former Harvard University president, speak on the issues facing higher education.

He notes that U.S. universities are highly admired and respected around the world. However, he states that this is due just as much to weaknesses in the educational systems in other countries as it is to higher education here. The U.S. will face much stiffer competition from these countries in the future.

Dr. Bok noted there are two major problems facing us as a nation in regards to higher education: The quantity of college graduates and the quality of education/learning that these graduates have.

The first refers to the number of students graduating from college today. Too few students actually finish their degree programs and the U.S. is beginning to lag behind other countries (8-10 countries have a higher percentage of their young people who successfully graduated from college). The problem is not with getting them to college (80% of high school students begin) but in the high drop-out rates. It used to be that the majority of students who went to college came in straight from high school and were from middle or upper-income families. Today, more and more  students are older students, of lower income brackets, from poor K-12 schools, and are first generation college students-meaning the first in their families to attend college. There is a need for more support services for these students in order for them to gain the resources, tutoring, financial support, and confidence they need to successfully complete their educational programs.

A second problem is the quality of education students are receiving. College graduates in the U.S. will be competing with graduates in other countries who will work for less. Thus, U.S. students will need to have a higher quality education to compete/they must know more.

How much students get out of college depends on how much they put into it. How do we affect this?

NOTE: Thirty-six percent of college students do not show a significant increase in their writing and critical skills when they graduate.

Why? Overall, they are studying less because there is so much competition for their attention (internet, Facebook, video games). Faculty are not aware of the extent of this competition and are teaching the same way that they were taught. Ph.D. programs train people to do research, not to teach. The emphasis is still on lecturing.

Faculty are also not demanding as much from their students. Part of this is due to the emphasis on getting good student evaluations. Professors want job security and could be fired, not tenured, or not promoted if these evals are bad. Universities are competing for students and budgets. The emphasis is on keeping the students happy, not on making sure they are learning.

Just as with any other social change, the only way professors will change the way they teach is when they realize the need to change.

Professors don’t do teaching the way they do research. With research, they identify a problem, gather data, test hypotheses, make conclusions, etc.

With teaching tend to use hunches, intuition, how did in the past or how saw others teach.

The way to get professors to change is NOT to tell them to change. The trick is to give them credible evidence that there is a need for change and then let them figure out how.

Teachers need to emphasize problem solving, collaborative work, and give frequent and timely feedback. Let the students know if making progress and how they can improve. Students tend to study to the exam so include critical thinking on exams.

By improving the quality of teaching, students will become more interested, be more willing to work harder and thus learn more. Lectures do not work to teach critical thinking, there is no deep learning with lecture just as you could not learn to drive a car or to play basketball by listening to lectures.

Dr. Bok ended up by saying, “A first-rate community college adds so much more value to society than just another medium ranked research school.” We need to rethink how we rank our schools and put emphasis back on teaching and away from publishing esoteric articles that no one reads.

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

 

Podcast On Using Twitter To Improve College Student Engagement

Professor Rey Junco (Lock Haven University) shares cutting-edge research as well as his personal experiences on how to engage your students by using Twitter. You can access his podcast here.

 

What Should We Be Teaching?

I’m reading a post by Joanne Yatvin on what we should be teaching in the classroom. As she notes:

 "From reflecting on my own education and questioning friends about theirs, I have confirmed what I had long suspected: we don’t use or even remember much of what was taught and tested in school. But we do hang on to those few things that pushed us toward our careers, hobbies, or habits in the first place. I turned out to be an English teacher and a writer who remembers many of the books, plays, and poems I read in school. Even now, I can quote a few Shakespearian soliloquies and recite the prelude to The Canterbury Tales—in Middle English!

But don’t ask me who the president of the United States was during the French and Indian War or even what that war was about. Don’t ask me to find the Congo on an unmarked map of Africa. Even the advanced math and biology I studied at college have faded from my memory completely.

To help you get a fuller picture of my concept of teaching excellence, here are some other teacher qualities I think are important.

A good teacher:

• Is aware, as far as possible, of each students’ academic strengths and weaknesses

• Plans lessons that cover the range of students’ instructional needs and connect to their interests

• Adjusts lessons while teaching in response to students’ questions and actions

• Demonstrates respect and trust for students that they, in turn, give back to her/him and their classmates

• Establishes a system of small group and independent learning that allows students to experience the roles of leader, follower, partner, and innovator

• Discusses behavior or work problems with the offenders privately, out of respect for their dignity.

• Makes an effort to include an encouraging comment or two when critiquing student work

• Begins each day with enthusiasm and optimism, putting aside past disappointments

 

You can read the entire article here.

 

 

Twitter As Part Of Your Personal Learning Network

Professor Skip Via (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) shares how he thinks Twitter can be an useful tool in higher education in this video.

 

How To Avoid These Teaching Mistakes

FacultyFocus has a free report you can download on Teaching Mistakes From the College Classroom. The following are some of the topics included: 

• When Expectations Collide
• Don’t Assume a Student’s Previous Knowledge
• What Works in One Culture May Not Work in Another

 

Website Generates Warning Signs

I found this site that allows you to generate and print your own warning signs. Now I'm trying to decide how I could use this in class. Any suggestions?

 

A Positive Attitude Affects Work Performance

Research by Professor Nancy Rothbard (Wharton) and Professor Steffanie Wilk (Ohio State) shows that, "the mood you bring with you to work has a stronger effect on work performance than mood changes caused by events in the workplace."  If you come to work in a good mood, "you are more likely to be productive, efficient and do better quality work." You can access more about their study here.

Being positive and enthusiastic in the classroom means your students are more likely to be excited about the class.  Even if you have had a bad day up until class time, being professional means not letting the students know this. You get to decide on your attitude each day when you walk into the classroom. 

 

Handling A Difficult Situation In Class

I’ve been teaching for 29 years now and have always enjoyed talking to colleagues about teaching. It's the reason why I started this blog about five years ago. It helps my reflective process to hear myself tell the story of something that happened and to get others’ opinions on what they would do in a similar situation.

One of my ways of “coping” with challenging incidents in the classroom is to say…well I could always get a publication out of this. 

The Journal of Management Education has recently published an article that discusses a difficult situation I had in a class on Managing Diversity. Here's the abstract for the article:

The assignment for the students was to write honestly about how they felt regarding specific current events dealing with diversity. However, what resulted was a kairos moment for the professor—an instance that called for her best response even when she did not know what that was—when a student crossed the line in terms of respectful communication. Our story picks up there and follows us through our own emotions and dialogues as we worked to make sense as to why the student responded as he did and how the emotionally charged issue could be turned into a teachable moment around language, boundaries, understanding, and acceptance.

The two things that I took from my experience and that I teach my students in approaching awkward diversity issues today are:

When you see differences, look for similarities. When you see sameness, look for differences. Thus, if the person you are talking to appears different from you (race, age, gender, social background, etc), look for things that you have in common. If the person seems the same (both of you are management majors), look for things that make each of you unique.

When topics get too emotional, look for theory to explain why this happens. As noted in the article, by stepping back to look at the theory behind what is happening, you can rationally defuse the situation.

I would like to thank my co-author, Dr. Rita Durant, for her wisdom and expertise in both addressing the situation in my class and in working with me to write up what happened in this article in order to help others cope with these moments.

The article is:  Kirk, D. J., & Durant, R. (December, 2010). Crossing the Line: Framing Appropriate Responses in the Diversity Classroom. Journal of Management Education, 34(6), 823-847. 

You can download the entire article here: Download Kirk & Durant Crossing the Line

 

What A Difference A Generation Makes

Marc Prensky coined the term, digital natives, in his article, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, first published in 2001. His follow-up piece, “Do They Really Think Differently?” goes on to discuss how our students are different from most of us who teach them. As he notes,

Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.

If we have any doubt that we've come a long way in less than a generation, check out this two minute clip from the Today Show in 1994 as Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel ask the question, "What is the Internet?"

 

 

Advice For New College Instructors

If you're new to teaching, Dr. Paul Hummel makes some insightful suggestions here.

 

Teaching is a performing art with content.

We can't ignore the content but at the same time we have to get the students' attention in order for them to learn.

 

Telling Your Students What You Expect From Them

Here's a great idea from Professor Barbara Nixon: Share your pet peeves with your students so hopefully they'll understand what not to do in class.

 

What Does It Mean To Be An Educated Person?

I'm reading this article by George C. Leef on "Becoming an Educated Person." As noted in the foreword by William J. Bennett,  

 "Education is not the same as training. Plato made the distinction between techne(skill) and episteme (knowledge). Becoming an educated person goes beyond the acquisition of a technical skill. It requires an understanding of one’s place in the world—cultural as well as natural—in pursuit of a productive and meaningful life. And it requires historical perspective so that one does not just live, as Edmund Burke said, like “the flies of a summer,” born one day and gone the next, but as part of that “social contract” that binds our generation to those who have come before and to those who are yet to be born."

I'm thinking about this as I put together my syllabi for the spring semester. I think there is a tendency in a business college to emphasize training rather than education, maybe because many of us as business faculty tend to be practical in our approach to teaching. I have been trying to tie in history, psychology, sociology, and economics in my lectures on management in the last few years but find the students struggle to see the connections.

You can access the article here:  Download Becoming an educated person

 

Handling Student Behavior Issues In The Classroom

Dr. Patrick J. King shares his powerpoint slide presentation on "Maladaptive Classroom Behaviors."

 

The More Evals, The Better?

I'm reading about Professor Robert Talbert's experience in giving four course evaluations during the semester. I've been giving midterm evals the last couple of years with positive results and am thinking about using his approach.

 

Hurtful Teaching Evals-How To Cope?

I had a friend call me a few weeks ago in tears. She had just gotten her teaching evaluations from spring semester and there were a number of nasty, hurtful comments made by the students. I did my best to reassure her that she is indeed a good teacher and has been for a number of years. I then went online to see if I could find any suggestions for her on dealing with negative, non-constructive evaluations.

 

I'm curious how others handle this hurt?  As for my friend, she found comfort in some of the comments and feedback on this Chronicle of Higher Education forum. 

 

Teaching Students How To Evaluate Your Teaching

I found this suggestion by Professor George Williams (University of South Carolina) on how to debrief a class before giving evaluations. As he notes:

 

I dedicate the entire final class period to a discussion about the course. We go through the syllabus, day by day, and they give me comments. I start them with readings and what we did in class, then move to supplementary media and activities, and then turn to assessments. I end with a discussion about classroom atmosphere, my pedagogical approach, and general comments about the course. Then I distribute the forms, and I ask them to summarize their thoughts in light of our conversation.

 

After an hour of discussion, during which I press them for details (e.g. why did you like that activity, in particular?), I get much more thorough, detailed, and reflective comments in the forms. I find this helpful for getting more thorough and thoughtful evaluations, and I also have all of their suggestions and ideas in hand early enough to implement them for the following semester.

 

Finding A Ted Talk For Your Classroom

Jeff Mummert has organized Ted Talks under various discipline categories to make it easier for teachers to find one on a specific topic. As there are 825+ of these, this shorter list is very useful.

Preventing Cheating

You've all probably heard about the recent cheating incident at the University of Central Florida. I can empathize with the pain experienced by Professor Richard Quinn as I too have had students cheat in the past.

Dr. Grace Ann Rosile (New Mexico State University) tells about her experience with having students cheat in the October 2007 issue of the Journal of Management Education.  She ended up flunking almost 25 percent of her class when they were caught cheating by having other students text message them the answers during the exam.  She tells a compelling story of how she felt and how she ended up making the experience a teaching moment. You can access her article here: Download Rosile

Here are some of my tips for being proactive and preventing cheating in the classroom.

 

Teaching Students How To Take Risks In The Classroom

I'm reading this article by Dr. E. Shelley Reid (George Mason University) on encouraging students to take more risks in the classroom. As Dr. Reid notes:

Many of my writing students are conservative learners: they worry about grades and want to “play it safe,” they don’t take time to imagine alternatives, or they have low skill or confidence levels that reduce their abilities to try new things.

Recently I took a pad of large sheets of white paper and a lot of colored markers to class and instructed my students to get into their teams and to draw a visual of how the various motivational theories we had been studying fit together. At first, they all said that they were not creative, that they couldn't draw but I told them that didn't matter. They were to come up with a way to visually illustrate the theories and then use their drawings to "teach" these to the rest of the class. After a lot of laughter, they came up with great models which they agreed helped in remembering the material we had been discussing.

I'm thinking about other classes where this might be a useful method. Any ideas?

Does Moving To An Online Evaluation Process Affect How Students Rate Their Professors?

Dear Dr. Kirk:

Our university is considering moving from in-class scantron evaluations to asking the students to complete teaching evaluations online.  The faculty are very upset by this move as they believe this change in process means fewer students will do the evals and this will result in lower overall ratings.  Can you give me any suggestions on this?

Dean at a University in the Midwest

Dear Dean of Midwest University:

Several years ago, Drake University also moved from in-class to online evaluations and the faculty had the same concerns as yours.  Several of my colleagues and I conducted a research study to see what impact the change in process made. The Journal of the Academy of Business Education recently published an article we wrote on our results titled, "Teaching Evaluations:  Does the Switch to an Online Process Make a Difference in how College Students Rate Their Professors?"

Some results of our study:

• Switching to an online process did result in a lower participation rate (we found this true at both Drake and other universities).
• When students were asked what incentives it would take to increase participation rates, they tended to say the same things as in previous research studies (extra credit, a drawing for a gift certificate, etc.).
• The process did not make a statistically significant difference in how students rated their professors; however, the online evaluation ratings did tend to be lower than the traditional evaluations overall.
• A major concern of the faculty was that students who were performing poorly in their classes would be more likely to take the time to do the online evaluation and to give their professors a bad evaluation rating.  This concern did not seem to be valid; In fact, students with higher grades in the class were more likely to take the time to go online and complete the evaluations than students with lower grades. 

One suggestion I would make for any university is to involve the faculty and students in any proposed changes of evaluation method.  The initial perception that scores will be negatively affected will engender ill feelings on the part of the faculty.  As teaching evaluations have an economic impact on promotion, tenure, and pay raises, schools going to an online process might want to treat the first semester online evaluations with caution and not necessarily compare these to previous scantron ratings.  In addition, students should be informed as to how evaluations are used and reassured that the process will be anonymous in order to raise participation rates.

You can access the entire article here:  Download Online teaching evals

 

Twitter Usage Increases Student Engagement AND Success In Classroom

 

Interesting video on Dr. Reynol Junco (Lock Haven University) and his research on how Twitter increases student engagement. In his study, he found that the group of students who used Twitter had a .5 point increase in overall GPA that semester over the control group that didn't. Wow.

 

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.

The Social Media Revolution

 

Just watched this updated Youtube video on the Social Media Revolution posted May 2010. It really does make you think about the perspectives our students come in with and what we should be teaching in our classes.

 

Feedback From A Former Student

One of the problems with having teaching evaluations at the end of a semester is that you really don't get to see if what you're doing in the classroom will have a long-term impact on the students. Sometimes though you get feedback that makes you feel that you have been able to add value to a student's career. The following is an unsolicited recommendation from a former student of mine at Drake University that he posted on LinkedIn. Wow. This has made my day! 

 

"During the Fall of 1999, Professor Delaney Kirk taught Human Resource Management (MGT 282) at Drake University, and I was very fortunate to be a student in her classroom, pursuing a Master of Public Administration. Without question, Professor Kirk was a masterful professor with incredible subject matter expertise in her area; I suppose we demand this expertise as students. There were several things that separated Professor Kirk from many of the professors, and made her stand out as one of the best professors I have had.

First, Professor Kirk was exceptionally enthusiastic. She truly believed that the information that she was teaching would make a difference in the lives and professions of her students, and ultimately in the world itself. I suppose all professors feel this way to a degree, but there is no question that Professor Kirk carried herself in such a manner.

Second, Professor Kirk was an outstanding time-manager. You would not want to walk in late to her classroom, or you would definitely miss something – and that something would probably be important. While she ALWAYS kept the class the entire three hour period, I don’t recall any of that time being wasted, but rather I really saw it as time invested. Professor Kirk was incredibly well-organized; her skills in this area should be modeled by others.

Lastly, Professor Kirk was very demanding of TEAMWORK in her class. The team requirements were challenging. It was not feasible to split up the topic area for each team member to research and provide feedback to others. In order to be successful in her team projects, the team would need to work together to achieve a quality product. I found that this team effort resulted in one of my more favorable learning experiences at Drake University.

I was thinking of Professor Kirk the other day when attending a seminar recently, where the topic of “being organized” was discussed. Professor Kirk was among the people who came to my mind at that time – so much in fact that I decided to find out if I could find her on Linkedin. I am glad to re-connect with such an outstanding professional."

 

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.