I recently set out to make introductory managerial accounting a more effective learning experience for students. The course is typically taken in a student’s first or second year. The range of experiences students bring to the course can be quite diverse. Some may have never been employed, still live at home, and have parents who work in white-collar jobs. Others may have worked and lived on their own, and have family who may own or run a store or work in factories. This diversity means that some students have no mental picture of how goods are manufactured, while others understand the process required to get a product to the customer.

Most universities press their faculty to add technology to their classroom by adopting the Learning Management System—Blackboard, Moodle, etc. This is a mistake. Faculty often end up spending hours learning the system and loading the same content that they use in the classroom, and finish wondering if the benefit was worth the effort.

Most academics consider Wikipedia the enemy and so forbid their students from using Wikipedia for research. But here’s a secret that they don’t want you to know—we all use Wikipedia, including those academics.

Robert Badger, a professor of geology, describes the lab reports he wrote as a student in an introductory geology class. “I wrote tired, uninspired drivel, merely recounting a vague version of what the professor or teaching assistant had recited, without trying to analyze for myself what it was I had actually observed.” (p. 58) He promised himself that if he ever became a teacher he would not subject his students to “such tedious and pointless exercises.” (p. 58)

So, this is a bit embarrassing. In the previous blog I noted that faculty endorsement of group work was tentative. It may be, but I’ve also been assuming that as a consequence, use of it in college courses is not as widespread as it might need to be. Well, shortly (as in a couple of hours) after posting that entry I ran across the some evidence that challenges my assumption.

For most teachers, a room full of bright students is the stuff dreams are made of. Unless, of course, you’re teaching a course that’s outside of your area of expertise – then it can be a nightmare. You feel like an imposter, and worry that your students will call you out. You cram for each class like you’re back in school.

We’ve all seen those survey results where employers and recruiters list the skills and characteristics they are most looking for in college graduates. And I expect you know that teamwork, the ability to work in groups with others, is always high on the list (second only to communication skills in a Wall Street Journal survey of recruiters). Despite that, widespread faculty endorsement of group work is still largely tentative. Even faculty who use group work have concerns about the caliber of the exchanges, whether there’s appropriate leadership, and who’s doing the work.