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!

Student Designed Instruction

I am going to do something this semester I have been wanting to try for years.  I am going to go out on a limb and walk into my HR class tomorrow with a syllabus that has the description and objectives and assigned text and that is it.  I have no agenda.  I have no lesson plan.  I have no exams scheduled.  Indeed, I have no planned assignments whatsoever for the class ready to go. I am going to leave it up to the students to tell me what they want to do to learn the course objectives!

I am a firm believer in everything that Daniel Pink said in his latest book Drive, that the best motivation is intrinsic.  So I am going to have the students spend the first week working with me on how they want me to teach the class.  I am going to have them decide what it will take to captivate their interest in the subject of HR.  If that means no attendance policy and they can convince me how that will lead to them learning the course objectives, so be it!  If they say no quizzes, so be it!  Of course, if they say no assignments whatsoever then that will be unacceptable, to say the least.  Indeed there has to be a way for them to demonstrate they learned HR because it is a vital management tool.

I intend to keep a journal this semester as to how the course progresses.  But I do believe the students when they say they want to learn the materials, based on my most recent approaches to getting students to evaluate my teaching.  They claim that the problem is that they do not like the way most of their classes are taught.  So now is the time for the students to put their money where their mouth is and prove that they are in college to learn dammit!

I am equally nervous and optimistic and will keep you posted.

Until then, continue to preach the gospel of culinary arts and sciences, my brothers and sisters!  I cannot wait to see you all in Charlotte at the FELC Summit!

Tis' the Season -- To Be Cheating

In my intro class I have a module on ethics.  Part of that module has to do with cheating customers and why that is bad for business and society.  I then share national statistics on student cheating.  The high percentage of students, including those who are honors students, that cheat on exams and projects is alarming.  My point is simple -- students cheat if give the chance for many reasons: hard to catch, no big deal if caught, no code of conduct, norm is to cheat, etc. 
So it is test time for most of us.  Here are a few videos on what students do to cheat in the hopes you might be the wiser and able to deter the cheaters.  The craziest part of some of these videos on cheating have a commercial for bona fide companies advertising their products.  Say, what?!

Reconfiguring a soft drink bottle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91lQK5SCzlQ&ob=av3e

Using a bandaid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2DNACy4_5I&feature=relmfu

Using a pencil eraser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyY-EqYW6Fs&feature=related

How to reconfigure a store bought pen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W9NA876fu8&feature=related

Teacher shares what he has learned from student cheating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2DNACy4_5I&feature=relmfu

Using a rubber band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGhOYbPgETQ

Low tech popular ways:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EExPFAFeTX4&feature=related

Using calculator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KodpkQWHTyY&feature=related

How Not to Handle Student Cell Phone Use in Class

Cell phone use by students is a problem.  I know there are those who have no policy on it or do not care about students using during class.  I am not one of them. 

So for today here is a video clip of how not to handle student cell phone laugh as well as provide a little chuckle for you as the semester/term winds down at the peek of teacher stress.  Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLjgDYyR0m4&feature=related

Shoulder to Shoulder, Eye to Eye

I am now wrapping up my first full semester teaching the restaurant management lab that runs from 8:30 to 2:20, five days a week.  I am blessed with a chef instructor and TA's to get the fine dining restaurant and Cafe up and running each day.  I have mainly been expediter at lunch in our fine dining restaurant as well as check in now and then during the morning to see that we are getting ready to open the doors to the public. 

I got off to a shaky start since it has been 20 years since I worked full time in the back-of-the house but once I got my legs under me I was able to run the position and teach at the same time.  I LOVE teaching the lab everyday because the application of what the student knows and has learned happens in real time.  I am in there shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye, with the kids as we call in the orders and sell them each day from 11:30 to 1:00 PM.  I really think they love working alongside the teacher, too.  It is beholden to me to keep  my cool no matter how crazy it gets with kids who have never cooked or served a day in their life as the customers come in the door expecting quality food and service.  It is the ultimate teaching challenge.

I will make a confession to you.  I was bored out of my mind with lecture classes so glad I took on the ultimate teaching challenge of running the restaurant lab with novice students.  I have done all the teaching and learning techniques out there in my lecture classes and they were awesome at the time but soon -- based on the kind of person I am -- became old.  But when it comes to the restaurant lab, EVERY DAY IS DIFFERENT AND SOME DAYS ARE HORRIBLE!  But so much learning is taking place on good days and bad to discuss as a teachable moment(s) while the lab is in full swing or at the end of the day when we do our debrief.  I look forward to implementing our revised teaching techniques and sharing them in the spring semester.

So those of you who are out there teaching similar classes you are so LUCKY!  I wish I had realized it sooner and taken on the ultimate challenge of teaching the restaurant labs.  Cannot wait so see what we continue to do make improvements and share with you in the future.  Oh and thanks to Colin Roche I will be using some of his ideas to use my newly acquired Flip digital recorder to film demonstrations students will need to watch before coming to lab so they have a clue about what we are talking about when giving instruction.