Teaching

How to apologize [as a professor]

By Bonni Stachowiak | March 31, 2015 | | X Facebook LinkedIn Email

I'm not having a very good semester at setting quiz dates in one of my classes.

Almost all my classes have the same hybrid structure: We meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. Students also have online assignments that are due anytime that week before the time our class normally would have met on that Friday. I encourage them to get stuff done by Wednesday night, but there are always some who wait until the last minute and find themselves scrambling.

In 11 years of teaching, it is the first time I've had a Tuesday night class (at least at the undergraduate level). I've been having their quizzes due before our class meets on Tuesdays, except on nights when we have exams. Since the way I have the quizzes set up, the deadline has to have passed for a given quiz, for them to go back in and see how they scored. To review the correct answers and assess why they may have gotten a question wrong, that deadline has to have passed.

So, I've been making the quizzes on those weeks due the Friday prior to the Tuesday night exam. Let's just say that today a student gently called it to my attention that, once again, I had set the quiz due date for a different date than the pattern we have been working off of all semester. I'm pretty sure this may be the third time this has happened, much to my dismay.

The whole experience got me thinking about apologies.

I'm a firm believer that when we mess up, we need to apologize. I've been taught that an apology typically has three components to it:

The actual words: “I apologize,” or “I'm sorry.”
The naming of what has occurred: “I didn't set the quiz date on the day we had agreed upon.” (A classic non-apology is a statement such as: “I'm sorry you feel that way.”)
A commitment to what will happen differently in the future to avoid a reoccurrence, or some statement about how you plan on rectifying the situation: “I have set this week's quiz back a week, because of the confusion, and emailed all the remaining quiz dates for the semester, so we can be sure we're on the same page.”

I followed the pattern stated above with my students regarding their quizzes and got a kind message back from one of my students that put it all into perspective for me. I get it “right” most of the time with them and strive for excellence in all aspects of my teaching (including the online assignments and communication piece). I've earned the right to make some mistakes along the way, without coming across as not respecting their investment in the course, or making them think that it is ok to not do what we say we're going to do.

I do think there are times when apologies aren't a good idea, however.

The most common situation that I can think of where apologies can be a distraction is when technology in the classroom isn't going as planned. In those times, I do everything I can to avoid saying anything to the students about what's going wrong. Is there a way I can proceed with class without the technology?

I try to always have backup plans for those times when the technology will inevitably fail. Apologizing to students just magnifies the problem and can sometimes give them the impression that they didn't get the value out of the class session that they were expecting.

[reminder]Do you find there are times when apologies should be avoided in your teaching? Is there anything else you would advise we do for those times when an apology is warranted?[/reminder]

Course evaluation reflections

By Bonni Stachowiak | March 3, 2015 | | X Facebook LinkedIn Email

I've been inspired by Doug McKee (past guest on the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast and co-host of the Teach Better podcast) on a number of occasions.

In this case, I've been inspired by his courage to share his course evals online and reflect on what worked, what didn't, and what changes he will make in each course he teaches.

His recent post describes how he extracts value from course evaluations. I will follow a similar process below.

Fall 2014 course evaluations

At our university, we don't typically get our course evaluations back until well into the next semester. I received mine on February 20, 2015, which is sooner than they've been in past years, but still not soon enough for me to have made any significant adjustments to this semester's courses.

Those of us with tenure only have half of our courses evaluated each semester, creating a bit of a gap in the feedback process. Still, there are lessons to be gleaned each time I review the evaluations.

Quantitative results

In both classes that were evaluated (Introduction to Business and Sales and Sales Management), the evaluations were rated higher than the national average. This feedback is typically not very valuable to me, since having my institution's data to compare myself to might be a better data set to use.

However, there are some detailed questions toward the end of the quantitative section that tend to help me put things in perspective. The items that typically help me remember who is was who was providing me feedback include:

What grade are you anticipating in the course?
How much effort did you put into the course?
The workload for this course was _____ (heavier, about the same, lighter than) other courses you took this semester.

Sometimes, there will be one or two students who anticipate earning a D or an F in the course. In those instances, there are also anomalies on the quantitative results such as one person that marks that I didn't have a command of the English language, or that I treated people unfairly, based on their gender. I haven't ever been marked down for not speaking English well, or treating people unfairly, except in those cases where one or two students anticipate not earning a passing grade.

I realize it is correlation, not causation, that I'm describing here. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps in those cases, it has less to do with me needing to work on my ability to speak English and more to do with me needing to keep a pretty thick skin during the course evaluation process for those students with more of an external locus of control who aren't likely to pass the class.

Introduction to Business quantitative results

Sales and Sales Management quantitative results

Qualitative results

I find the qualitative data on course evaluations to be far more beneficial for me. I often wonder if a simple net promoter score might be able to take the place of all the other quantitative data.

Of course, I recognize that I don't have access to any institutional data. I just see my raw scores and the national mean. It seems like a whole lot of time and expense that goes into data that isn't very actionable in my case. However, perhaps it is more beneficial for my institution than I realize.

Our quantitative data essentially gets to the question of what worked and what didn't, though it isn't phrased in those exact works. Here are the results from my fall classes.

Introduction to Business (n=29)

What worked:

Pencasts (n=6)
Everything (n=5)
EdTech tools (n=4)
Interactive teaching style (n=4)
Business plan project (n=3)

I am not including those comments that only came up once or twice.

One of the most humorous comments to me was when one student said what helped her learn was “Dr. B's calmness.” Wow. That's not something I get every day. Enthusiasm? Yes. But, calmness? That's a first.

What didn't work:

Everything worked (n=9)
Case studies (n=4)

I am skipping the two other comments that only came up once, though if you're interested, one student didn't like that I had them use Zotero and another didn't like that I had reading assignments in the course. Can you imagine that? A professor who assigns reading?

What I think is interesting about the case studies is that there were a number of comments on those items about them not being graded. Therefore, the students indicated that they didn't take them as seriously and didn't learn as much from them. I feel a bit stuck in my thinking between Ken Bain's advice to have there be opportunities for feedback before any grade gets assigned to something… and the accountability that comes from a stricter grading process.

I do look over all the students' cases in the class and there are points associated with them. However, the vast majority of the time, the students walk out with the full points and they don't feel the pressure to perform well.

Sales and Sales Management (n=16)

What worked?

Role plays (n=3)
Real-world scenarios/experiences (n=9)
Sales challenge #3 (where they visit a company and do a final role play with a business professional they've never met) (n=7)
Increased confidence (n=3)
Relationship with the professor (n=3)

I skipped those comments that only came up once or twice.

What didn't work?

There weren't any items that came up more than once. However, I do plan on making changes as to the accountability on the blogging assignments when I teach this course in the future. I've started using a Google doc form to track submissions and my first trial run was a success.

Next steps

I've taught both of these courses many times (Intro to Business 30+ classes and Sales and Sales Management 10+ classes). I write new exams each semester, in an attempt to lower the opportunities to cheat. I also bring in fresh examples of what's happening in the business world each class session.

There are many affirmations in the assessments above that encourage me in my teaching. I commit to making the following changes next time I teach these courses:

Use a Google doc form to track blog submissions, as described above, and do not waiver in the slightest on the due dates/times.
Consider being more stringent in my grading of the cases and perhaps having the students be required to complete them as a group before they come to class on the day they are being discusses.
This one isn't related to the evaluations, but I also want to start showing students a TurnItIn.com originality report before they submit their first assignment. It can be just one more way I can minimize the potential for academic dishonesty.

[reminder]Have you received your course evaluations back from last semester yet? What changes are you implementing for the next time you teach those classes?[/reminder]

The struggle is real (group projects)

By Bonni Stachowiak | February 17, 2015 | | X Facebook LinkedIn Email

I've been thinking a lot about group projects.

Back in episode 25, Chrissy Spencer introduced us to the CATME team maker and other group project tools. I also recently became aware of Babson's group project survival guide, which offers students many tools to set a solid foundation for their work, not to mention resources for when they run into trouble.

While I've been thinking a lot about what to incorporate, my actions have been limited (read non-existent) in making any changes.

I keep succumbing to the faulty logic that if I introduce just the right set of tools to students, that they won't have as difficult of a time working on group projects. If I can tweak the processes I use just a bit more, I'll identify a magic combination of approaches that will make everything run smoothly.

I've been getting discouraged, thinking that I'm in my tenth year of teaching and when it comes to group projects, it might as well be my first.

Then I settle myself down a bit and revisit letters and emails from former students. A friend had once advised me to have a folder in my filing cabinet where I keep words of encouragement to serve as fuel for the days in teaching when I find I have little left to give.

When I look at those letters, they remind me that it is the very messiness that I attempt to remove from the process of group projects that enabled these individuals to learn the most.

The struggles students encounter that they so very much want me to save them from will have the most value if I don't step in. My desire to be helpful and supportive has the potential for blocking opportunities for deep learning to occur.

I keep wanting to make things seamless. When my mind realizes the impossibility of that, I lose all motivation to make the ongoing changes I've been considering.

Nevertheless, this semester I plan on using the CATME team charter, instead of the one I've been using. Also, after the students select their groups, there will be a place for teams to post agendas and minutes each week inside our LMS, using the CATME agenda and minutes template.

Then, I'll remain confident that it is going to get messy.

And messiness isn't always such a bad thing…

Let’s get moving

By Bonni Stachowiak | February 3, 2015 | | X Facebook LinkedIn Email

We had a little visitor come in to my night class this week.

I haven't seen students move that fast in the ten years I've been teaching.

Traditional gender roles were played out, perfectly, as the young women raced to the side of the room without a lizard, and the young men ran toward it with glee.

I'm proud to report that I just stood there, completely entertained.

Even though they are an engaged class, this incident brought about a whole new level of energy for the rest of the evening.

I particularly enjoyed how the presenters who went immediately after our lizard friend was evicted from the classroom, were able to incorporate the reptile into an example on Rawls' theory of justice.

There's just something that happens when we all get moving, students and faculty alike. To that end, here are some ideas for getting physical movement happening inside and outside the classroom:

Tape signs on the wall and have students give input via sticky notes

I've written previously about an exercise that uses sticky notes and gets students moving around the classroom.

There's also a PostIt Plus app that will allow you to capture the data, virtually, and then let you sort and move the individual sticky notes on your screen, as needed. As with any good app, there are plenty of sharing options made available.

Have students walk and talk

When I'm reviewing a concept that can sometimes be difficult for students to apply, I often have them take a walk around the building, while they talk to someone else in the class about the topic.

I make it clear that when they return from their walk, that I will be randomly calling on students, so that they feel a bit more pressure to stay on task during their walk.

I also always join with a group for the walk, or go with a student who doesn't have a partner. This always gives me one more opportunity for one-on-one interaction.

Use a FitBit

Fitness trackers are becoming all the rage these days. Those of us who use them know that they have the power to get us making all sorts of seemingly small changes that add up to signifiant change.

We take the stairs, park further away, and run around more with our kids.

The FitBit device tracks steps and flights of stairs. Dave and I both use one, though he likes the FitBit charge that goes on your wrist and I prefer the one you wear on the waist of your pants.

Consider a treadmill desk

When we finished off an extensive consulting project about a year ago, Dave and I decided to reward ourselves with a treadmill desk. He had wanted one for a while and I was ambivalent (but not opposed to spending the money, necessarily).

I didn't think I would use it that much, since I thought it would be too hard to maintain a train of thought.

It wound up being just the opposite experience. I find that I'm able to get into a flow and work longer and stay focused more than when I'm sitting at a desk.

We have a LifeSpan treadmill desk and both absolutely love it.

[reminder]What do you do to get your students (or yourself) moving?[/reminder]

Let's get moving