Go Ahead, Take a Risk in Your Teaching

As I indicated on last blog post, I was going to not start my HR class with a well defined syllabus beyond course description and course objectives.  I did indeed do just that in class on Monday and found myself with a very engaged group of 70 junior level students in our program.

I started class by saying that I am constantly being told by students that they are here at Purdue to learn.  The problem is that teachers get in the way of their learning.  I then shared with them the description and objectives we had to meet for the semester.  Then came their first assignment.  They were to complete the following sentence with sufficient detail, "The best class I ever took at Purdue was taught in the following manner:"  I told them they had 10 minutes and we would review what they wrote.  I then left the room putting the class in their hands.

When I returned to class I simply started to go from one student to the next to learn their concept of best practices in teaching.  The discussion was eye opening and the best part of all was that every last student was focused on the discussion!  There was not the usual deadpan look one gets from students on the first day that have learned that their teachers go blah, blah, blah through the syllabus.  This was not the case -- they were starting to design their class.

As I went from student to student we started to get a sense of those things that we will do and those things that we will not do to learn the course objectives.   They do not want exams.  Interestingly enough they want some sort of quiz at the end of the classes.  That was a complete surprise.  They told me it helps them stay focused.  There will be no textbook.  We will generate the content.  We will "go someplace to see HR in action."  We will do case studies.  We will look at current issues facing HR in Hospitality Industry.  They want guest speakers.  They also decided that there will be no need for an attendance policy because we will design a class that students want to go to.  Indeed the students put a lot on the table and we will finalize in the next two classes.  Oh by the way, unbeknownst to me a student had volunteered to become our scribe and handed me notes at the end of class!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The takeaway?  Take some risks in your teaching.  Get your students on board regardless of what you teach or where you teach it.  Build on the message from Daniel Pink's book Drive on the power of intrinsic motivation and apply it to your teaching.  Give your students ownership of their learning and get them to hold themselves accountable to their studies.  You have everything to gain so take a risk, so far I have learned the rewards are great!