Learning by Experience

I am reminded tonight of the vast Jesuit network of schools as I completed JebNet faculty survey. What was most interesting to me was the subject of the survey—experiential learning. Specifically, the survey queried respondents on their use and understanding of experiential learning methods in their classes. This is a subject especially dear to me as I think learning activities that engage students in actually doing the target skills is not only Jesuit but most effective.

Fortunately, there are lots of opportunities here at Rockhurst in the Helzberg School for hands-on learning that isn’t simply listening to the instructor or doing exercises out of the textbook. First, I have a colleague this semester using creative simulation for the senior capstone. It is not a computer simulation, but an activity that stretches students to develop strategies, work in teams, and present interpretations.

In fact, in the School of Management some other courses typically use simulations that force students act the role of managers—in, for example, the Introduction to Business and Marketing Policy courses.

Students who take Personal Selling don’t spend all semester just talking about selling concepts, but are required to actually sell in a simulated role play. Usually, they must sell to faculty who play the buyer—a tough buyer at that. Such "labratory" activities allow for self reflection and self assessment.

Finally, several of our faculty make use of projects that require students to interact with real people. Importantly, many of these projects are leveraged to help not-for-profit and community concerns. Right now our Executive Fellows students are working with Operation Breakthrough, providing critical services in marketing, IT and other functions. Importantly, the University supports such efforts with our Center for Service Learning.

And these experiential activities are quire Jesuit and consistent with the notion of education of the whole person. That is, it is not only what you know but what you value (place importance on) and believe (how you relate to things) that makes learning whole . . . best done through experiential activity.

The New Year

While the new year started three weeks ago, today feels like the real start of the new year--the first day of classes. One of the reasons I enjoy working in the Helzberg School at Rockhurst is the diversity of programs and students we have. While today is officially the first day of class for our traditional undergraduate and MBA programs, we have other programs that have already begun. For instance, our Executive Fellows MBA students started back on January 4th and 5th and met again last Saturday. The Helzberg School also offers a DO-MBA (specialized program for studying doctors) -- they had classes on January 15 and again Tuesday of this week.

And most of our faculty teach in more than one program. Some of those instructors you have for an undergraduate class likely also teach in one of these graduate programs, giving them access to not only students with different experiences but to companies in this regional area. This diversity of experience is good for our students, but is just as good for our faculty. This semester I will teach a clas of mostly freshmen (and Intro to Business course) and a course of mostly graduating MBA students taking thier final class. I look forward to getting started for good -- today.

The Dish

The problem with management professors and any student of management is they are constantly intrigued by human interaction; more specifically, what gets people to take action and relegate their individual interests secondary to some bigger end. So, for instance, we never just enjoy a movie but look for examples of leadership or management. This past weekend I had the pleasure to see “The Dish,” a movie that somehow makes a story of very mundane part of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The story, briefly, shows a small group of men who operate the world’s largest satellite dish in a rural, Australian town. The plot is quite simple, covering the 3-4 days from launch of Apollo 11 to the moon landing on July 20, 1969. This small group of men are put in the “spotlight” because NASA will rely on them for television transmission of the men walking on the moon. For this event, NASA has sent the 3-man operation a NASA representative to work with them to make sure of coordination. The film’s director did a fabulous job of making this rather mundane plot a funny story, while still giving us insight into people through the characters.

The interesting part for me was the organization of the group, which was impacted by the addition of the person from NASA. This created conflict and in the case of one of the members an improper belief. He saw the NASA person usurping their authority and “taking over” their work. How the director of the Dish facility (played by Sam Neill) handled this conflict and intervened was quite exemplary.

Now I need to watch the movie several more times—that’s the problem.

A New Year

One of the great things about being a father (and teacher) is how much my children teach me. A couple of weeks ago my daughter told me she was putting together a reading list for 2008. She and some friends (who also are fiction writers) are challenging themselves to read 100 books--at least 75 of them literature and fiction.



I thought "Wow, what a neat idea!" I thought I would do a reading list as well and quickly realized a couple of things. First, making a list takes time -- I was up late until 2 a.m. the other night working on a list and got to about 18 books. It reminded me of my brother several years ago coming up with his top 300 movies, ranked in oder. I tried it and simply coming up with 300 movies was nearly impossible, let alone ranking them. Second, I realized 100 books is a book every 3-4 days -- impossible.



Oh, to be young and able to dream big things. Her list (at 94 books a few days ago) includes some of my favorites like Brave new World and Apollo 13. It also includes a lot of Shakespeare and literature that we often would not read on a whim. The beauty of this exercise is that she picks her own list based on interests and needs. I believe people know what they need to learn more than anyone else.



So I have decided to make my own list with--with my own rules. I have mostly non-fiction and am looking at 25 books. Some are books I would have read anyway (business books), but most are ones I would like to read but never have time to. Also, I am picking representative ones from all decades starting in the 1920s. I am still looking for one in the 1980s. I still have a few to add -- I will leave this open as new leads come available.

Time to get reading. My daughter told me this morning she has already started her first book, Ella Minnow Pea, -- promptly at midnight.