Teaching in the Rough

1. Overall experience

I attended the “Teaching in the Rough” session. Overall, it was a positive experience. I had the opportunity to not only learn about a wide range of classroom exercises and activities, but also engage in dialogue and share best practices with other instructors attending the session.

2. Three things liked most

1) I enjoyed the roundtable format, and the opportunity to rotate from table to table. 2) I valued the wide range of exercises and activities shared during the session. 3) I appreciated the opportunity to leave the session with concrete teaching ideas that could be implemented into my classes.

3. Most valuable skill / advice / tip

I especially enjoyed learning about the Management Topic Expert Exercise, shared by Tyler Burch, Idaho State University. Through his exercise, he challenges students to take ownership for course topics in a new and interesting way. He also provided attendees with class examples, as well as a copy of his assignment evaluation. Very informative and helpful!

4. Suggestion for first-time participants

I encourage future participants to take full advantage of the opportunity to engage with instructors around the world, who employ a variety of interactive exercises and activities in the classroom. So many of us are eager to find new ways to engage and inspire our students, and this PDW provides you with a new set of tools for your teaching portfolio to do so.

1. Overall experience

I am a newish member to AoM and the conference in 2016 in Anaheim was only the second one I attended. I was very overwhelmed at the whole experience as colleagues from my school were busy meeting with co-authors and interviewing and I was on my own most of the time. The MOC session was one of the highlights of my AoM experience. The hosts were really well organized and very friendly. I felt right at home in this session. More than that, I felt like I had something to contribute and I learned some things as well. It was wonderful to spend time with like-minded professors with a variety of interests and backgrounds.

2. Three things liked most

The best part of this session was the variety of topics on offer and the second best part was that I could attend more than one topic. The round robin format allowed for multiple, short sessions where I could hear about a teaching technique, ask all my questions and move on to another one. It was brilliant! I’ve already mentioned how friendly the hosts were, but it worth mentioning again, it was a very collegial atmosphere!

3. Most valuable skill / advice / tip

I attended the Illinois School of Design in Chicago last summer to learn about design thinking and there was a session at MOC on design thinking where the facilitators created “short cuts” to get students practicing design thinking techniques in the classroom. In many cases, short classes do not allow for a full use of the design thinking tool. I loved the shortcut and especially the way I could control it so students are forced to think outside of their own demographic. I find that students think they are the ideal target market and want to skew marketing so it appeals to them. This exercise will challenge them and keep them on track when considering another target market.

4. Suggestion for first-time participants

My best suggestion for a newcomer to the MOC session at AoM is to come with an open mind and be ready to learn. It is amazing how flexible learning tools can be, and how you can adapt and utilize someone else’s case or instructional tool to fit your class, your timetable and your content.

1. Overall experience

I attended the Teaching in the Rough session most recently in Anaheim. The session was one of the most worthwhile I went to while at the conference in terms of the usefulness of the information discussed. It allowed me to connect with and learn from colleagues about specific teaching skills and ideas within management cognition as well as management topics in general. Participants and discussants included individuals from large, R1 research institutions to smaller private universities and everything in between. As I learned from the different discussants and listened to the participants, it was clear that an underlying value that everyone shared was the desire to help one another improve teaching. I walked away with multiple, actionable ideas on how to improve my own teaching as well as an expanded professional network of people that I can draw on going forward.

2. Three things liked most

First, I really appreciated the collegial atmosphere of the session. All discussants and organizers came across as extremely approachable and open to follow up outside of the session if participants so desired. Second, many of the activities used by the discussants were turn-key in nature. That is, in addition to a description of a teaching approach being provided, participants often walked away with a step-by-step guide on how execute a particular activity. Third, it was fun. Often participants were able to get involved while they learned by “trying out” the experiential activity.

3. Most valuable skill / advice / tip

I am currently teaching a leadership skill development class. As a part of this class, I have the students do role plays in leadership scenarios. This method of teaching was completely new to me at the time of the conference. In speaking with one of the discussants after his presentation, I found out about role-play related resources that I did not know existed prior that have been helpful in further developing my teaching approach.

4. Suggestion for first-time participants

I would suggest that new participants come to the session with an idea of what type of teaching topic they most want advice on. With that in mind, they need to make sure that they review the description of the activities that will be discussed ahead of time to ensure that they are able to attend those that will be of the most benefit (note that the format of the session does not allow sufficient time to attend each activity presented). However, even if a teaching activity does not fit one’s personal style of teaching or subject matter, I have found that there is always something to take away from the discussion that, with some adaptation, could be applied to my own teaching context.

1. Overall experience

It was a fruitful and worthwhile experience attending the ‘In the Rough’ session.

2. Three things liked most

Firstly, it provides an opportunity to know at first hand new innovations or exemplary teaching and learning practices adopted globally and in varying cultural contexts. Secondly, it allows to engage the facilitator who is leading this exemplary practice on his tacit experiences and learning lessons/takeaways. Thirdly, it provides a platform to reflect, exchange and challenge practices with like-minded individuals.

3. Most valuable skill / advice / tip

To empathize with learners from varying social, cultural and contextual situations.

4. Suggestion for first-time participants

To come with an open mind to unlearn and relearn.