I attended the pedagogical café on the subject of game-based learning. This is something I have had some experience with in the past. I have been somewhat peripherally involved with the SAP simulation games that HEC Montréal has produced, and have used some simulations in my courses, most specifically the "beer game" supply chain simulator. I have also done versions of the consulting game, and Starpower in other classes.
I am a firm believer in game-based learning, and actually come by it from long, long ago. My father used Starpower and Simsoc in his sociology classes when I was a child, and I participated in them-- and learned a great deal more than I realized at the time. I really wish I could justify making my IS classes play Starpower; perhaps it would be sufficient to introduce it to someone teaching an OB or CSR class...
My main issue is that very few are geared specifically for information systems... The person who presented at the café did note that while CESIM did not currently have an IS themed simulation, they were planning on having one. I wait with bated breath for it to become available... :-)
05 April 2018
Additional Pedagogy
To supplement the official curriculum, I will be participating in a learning experience from 16-18 April. We will be visiting Aarhus and (hopefully) Aalborg universities in Denmark, to get a better understanding of how they use problem-based learning. I will post here about my experiences with that when they are complete.
Communicating Effectively
Generally, I think my ability to communicate is fairly good. Much of this is simply the benefit of being somewhat older, and of truly being an expert in the practice area in which I teach.
That said, I do have challenges, just as everyone does.
The first challenge I have is that I can spend too much time giving the students information from my career. In small doses, this is valuable, and that is the case in most classes. However, the first class of the semester has stretched longer and longer as I gave more detail on my background. As a result of the pedagogical session, I realized that I was really giving far too much detail. I was quite pleased to be able to give a greatly stripped down version for feedback at the communication session, and think I was able to hit a nice balance between giving some weight to my expertise, while not overwhelming with detail. I hope to be corrected if my perception of that is incorrect. :-)
My second challenge is classroom behavior. I tend to have an American sense for what is appropriate in the classroom, and for what responsibility the student has to create that environment. Specifically, the level of chatter that goes on in class would be completely unacceptable in the US, and that level would be enforced by the other students when chatter got to be too loud. I am still struggling with this, but I think I will do a combination of two things next semester to try to address this.
First, I will take some time during the first class session to have the class themselves come up with in-class behavior rules and consequences for failing to follow the rules. This has been recommended by many pedagogical experts. Many with whom I have talked comment that the consequences suggested by the students are usually more severe than those that the professor would have suggested. Also, since the students themselves choose these rules, they own them much better. And, finally, the professors find that the rules that the students settle on usually reflect those that the professor themselves would have chosen. :-) I will modify this *slightly* by myself suggesting three norms as dictated by either the school (1 and 2), or by my culture (3) that should be included: no use of cell phones, no use of computers, no conversations in class except *with* the class.
My final challenge is with student engagement and preparation. But that will come in the pedagogical session next week.
I have not found a TED talk, etc. for this; however, I did include information I have gotten from previous pedagogical experts about classroom norm setting. And I did find the idea that the students generally are more severe than the professor rather surprising. Nonetheless, I will find some further information to extend this, and reflect on it in my next entry.
That said, I do have challenges, just as everyone does.
The first challenge I have is that I can spend too much time giving the students information from my career. In small doses, this is valuable, and that is the case in most classes. However, the first class of the semester has stretched longer and longer as I gave more detail on my background. As a result of the pedagogical session, I realized that I was really giving far too much detail. I was quite pleased to be able to give a greatly stripped down version for feedback at the communication session, and think I was able to hit a nice balance between giving some weight to my expertise, while not overwhelming with detail. I hope to be corrected if my perception of that is incorrect. :-)
My second challenge is classroom behavior. I tend to have an American sense for what is appropriate in the classroom, and for what responsibility the student has to create that environment. Specifically, the level of chatter that goes on in class would be completely unacceptable in the US, and that level would be enforced by the other students when chatter got to be too loud. I am still struggling with this, but I think I will do a combination of two things next semester to try to address this.
First, I will take some time during the first class session to have the class themselves come up with in-class behavior rules and consequences for failing to follow the rules. This has been recommended by many pedagogical experts. Many with whom I have talked comment that the consequences suggested by the students are usually more severe than those that the professor would have suggested. Also, since the students themselves choose these rules, they own them much better. And, finally, the professors find that the rules that the students settle on usually reflect those that the professor themselves would have chosen. :-) I will modify this *slightly* by myself suggesting three norms as dictated by either the school (1 and 2), or by my culture (3) that should be included: no use of cell phones, no use of computers, no conversations in class except *with* the class.
My final challenge is with student engagement and preparation. But that will come in the pedagogical session next week.
I have not found a TED talk, etc. for this; however, I did include information I have gotten from previous pedagogical experts about classroom norm setting. And I did find the idea that the students generally are more severe than the professor rather surprising. Nonetheless, I will find some further information to extend this, and reflect on it in my next entry.
Class Observation
Jérémie Lefebvre kindly came to one of my Introduction to Information Systems classes to observe my teaching. We had a good discussion afterward. The main things that he noted were:
Please let me know if I have forgotten anything, Jérémie! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!
- Greeted students as they came in
- This is something I have learned from the French, with which I agree. It's not nearly as common in the US, but it does make for a more pleasant setting, so I have tried to match the courtesy.
- Abrupt start of the class, with little time for students to settle
- This is true. This is mostly a cultural difference between myself and the French. As an American, I feel that the designated starting time for the class is absolute; at the moment that the clock ticks to that time, students should be at their desk, ready to begin class. The period between classes is when they should complete any socializing that they feel is necessary. That said, I will try to be a little more tolerant. :-)
- Did not introduce Jérémie at the start of class
- This is correct, I managed to forgot (which, in a way, is a good thing; it means I was able to forget that I was being observed, and behave naturally.) However, I did finally remember about halfway through to introduce him. (Sorry about that!)
- Students were using cellphones and computers in class to look at facebook, etc.
- This is something I have been trying more to enforce. In the past, I allowed students to do whatever they wanted with computers or phones. This year I have generally been asking them to put them away during class. I neglected to in this class. I am being more resolute about that in the future.
- A rather long video for the case
- This is true. I selected a rather long video since I was assuming that the students would not be prepared for class, and would need an introduction to the topic. Jérémie suggested that I provide the video before the class; however, I feel that this would suffer the same problem as the reading-- the students would not do it. I have tried to remedy this somewhat by finding shorter videos that still cover the basics of the topic, which seems to be working.
- Circulated listening and commented as students deliberated the case
- I don't always succeed at this; it is one area where my introversion really hurts. I find it hard to put myself out front that way, preferring to respond when asked. However, I know this is a better way to do it. I need to find a way to manage it more regularly that still allows me to conserve my energy.
- A rather long lecture section toward the end
- Again, this is true; it was about 20 minutes long. This was the section were I gave the students more information that they weren't going to get from the text, and some observations from my personal experience in the topic. Jérémie did comment that although this would generally be considered to be too long, he felt that it was nonetheless interesting and engaging; and that the students also seemed to be getting more interested as it went on. As such, it probably doesn't need much addressing, although I do try to generally keep this section somewhat shorter. The topic was a bit too complex to do that with in this case. :-)
- Rather remarkable management of time, with no visible method of timekeeping
- I wish I could take credit for this, but I think it is more that my checking of time was subtle enough to escape Jérémie's notice. I do try to keep my clock-watching non-obvious. :-) That said, I do have a good idea of how long each part of the class should take, and can generally keep it on track. Usually my classes are finished sometime between 5 minutes before to 2 minutes after scheduled time. It also helps that my sense of time duration seems to be pretty good. :-)
- A lack of a summary at the end
- This was an excellent point, and one I immediately addressed (I had three more class sessions after the one Jérémie saw). For the last 2-3 minutes, I have the students volunteer what they have learned, and have only a couple of times needed to note a point or two they missed. This was an excellent suggestion!
Please let me know if I have forgotten anything, Jérémie! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!
Designing Instruction
I currently teach three courses: Introduction to Information Systems (BA2), Business Modeling (in the MBAC), and Business Analysis (Master's elective). The main issues that I have with course design are common to all three, so I will be revising them all; when needed to be specific, I will use the IIS course as my reference.
As I see it, I have two major concerns with my current course design. The first is lack of engagement by the students, resulting in too much simple lecture on my part. The second is in assessment. The latter will be addressed in future entries, so I will focus on the first.
In the past, I have attempted to use a "Socratic dialogue" type of approach to class. I would provide some information, and then ask questions of the students to try to push their understanding forward. However, the students were rarely prepared, and/or rarely willing to answer, so I more often then not ended up answering my own questions. Which provides little value for the students.
From the student evaluations, I find that while often the students find my lecturing interesting, they do feel that sometimes it veers off-topic, and that I may end up providing too much information of my past experience and too little of the current topic at hand.
As a result of the two problem-based learning seminars I have attended (last year and the one this year in the pedagogical certificate training), I decided to adopt that for all of my classes in the future. The plan is to introduce a small case by video, and then to have students discuss ways that the case can be understood, extended, or analyzed.
I started doing this early in the semester. The initial results were mixed. There were some good points, but often, again, the students were unwilling to speak up. I also got direct feedback from one student who felt that the videos were too long, and that he learned more from me talking than from the video or discussion afterwards. :-)
After talking with Jeannette Hommes, and as a result of the feedback from the student, I adopted two changes. First, I had the students work in small groups to address questions concerning the case; Jeannette suggested this could make them more likely to participate and share. Second, I opted to use shorter videos with more open-ended questions, to be followed (after the results from the student groups) by my own observations on the topic. Both of these tactics have been extremely successful. The small groups do, in fact, discuss the topic more; and my complaining student is very happy with the balance.
Following a suggestion by Jérémie after his observation of my class (discussed in the next entry), I also conclude the session by asking the students to provide a brief summary of what they have learned in the session. These results have been excellent, indicating that the previous changes have been effective.
My plan going forward will be to adapt this type of teaching to my business modeling / business analysis classes, and to better stabilize the cases used for the IIS class.
As I see it, I have two major concerns with my current course design. The first is lack of engagement by the students, resulting in too much simple lecture on my part. The second is in assessment. The latter will be addressed in future entries, so I will focus on the first.
In the past, I have attempted to use a "Socratic dialogue" type of approach to class. I would provide some information, and then ask questions of the students to try to push their understanding forward. However, the students were rarely prepared, and/or rarely willing to answer, so I more often then not ended up answering my own questions. Which provides little value for the students.
From the student evaluations, I find that while often the students find my lecturing interesting, they do feel that sometimes it veers off-topic, and that I may end up providing too much information of my past experience and too little of the current topic at hand.
As a result of the two problem-based learning seminars I have attended (last year and the one this year in the pedagogical certificate training), I decided to adopt that for all of my classes in the future. The plan is to introduce a small case by video, and then to have students discuss ways that the case can be understood, extended, or analyzed.
I started doing this early in the semester. The initial results were mixed. There were some good points, but often, again, the students were unwilling to speak up. I also got direct feedback from one student who felt that the videos were too long, and that he learned more from me talking than from the video or discussion afterwards. :-)
After talking with Jeannette Hommes, and as a result of the feedback from the student, I adopted two changes. First, I had the students work in small groups to address questions concerning the case; Jeannette suggested this could make them more likely to participate and share. Second, I opted to use shorter videos with more open-ended questions, to be followed (after the results from the student groups) by my own observations on the topic. Both of these tactics have been extremely successful. The small groups do, in fact, discuss the topic more; and my complaining student is very happy with the balance.
Following a suggestion by Jérémie after his observation of my class (discussed in the next entry), I also conclude the session by asking the students to provide a brief summary of what they have learned in the session. These results have been excellent, indicating that the previous changes have been effective.
My plan going forward will be to adapt this type of teaching to my business modeling / business analysis classes, and to better stabilize the cases used for the IIS class.
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