{"id":330,"date":"2012-08-04T19:31:43","date_gmt":"2012-08-05T00:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/?page_id=330"},"modified":"2018-09-20T13:30:20","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T18:30:20","slug":"teaching-assessment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/teaching-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching & Learning: Assessment, Reflection and Outcomes"},"content":{"rendered":"

“A young boy with dyslexia once told his teacher that he had a learning disability.\u00a0\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0wise teacher replied to the boy, \u2018Perhaps the teacher who said this to you has a teaching disability.\u2019 From that point, the teacher began to guide the child in the way of true learning.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Shared by Satinder K. Dhiman, Ed. D., Associate Dean, School of Business, Woodbury University, at the 2012 Academy of Management Conference<\/p>\n

My teaching evaluations reflect a variety of experience, and a lack of the same, for me as well as that of my students.\u00a0 Over the years, I have analyzed evaluation results and identified strengths and weaknesses in my teaching and in student learning.\u00a0 Using this information, I have focused on developing solutions to overcome areas of weakness and to take advantage of suggested areas of strength in the teacher-student relationship, which has provided an ongoing process of improvement in the teaching\/learning processes.<\/p>\n

I have categorized these areas and refer to them as the \u201cFive Ps of Teaching and Learning\u201d.\u00a0 I address each as they relate to me as a teacher and to my students as candidates for true learning.<\/p>\n

Professionalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

In teaching, professionalism has to do with how I manage the class and present myself before students.\u00a0 Professionalism involves the manner in which I interact with students, i.e., do I show them respect and demand the same from them in dealing with others in their learning community, do I command and manage the instruction environment, using time in a way that maximizes the learning opportunity for each student.\u00a0 Professionalism involves how I present course content to the class, both physically and, in the online environment, virtually as well.\u00a0 Upon receiving tenure, my ratings in this area averaged 4.4 with a high of\u00a05.0 and a low of 3.8.\u00a0 Ratings for IS courses averaged 4.54 vs. 4.11\u00a0for general management courses. Highest ratings were received in the categories of Interest Displayed in the Course, Class Preparation,\u00a0and in Christ-likeness.\u00a0 Lowest ratings were received in the categories of Feedback Provided to the class and in the Ability to Make Content Understood.\u00a0\u00a0Based on\u00a0these results, the following improvements were made:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0requested an evaluation of\u00a0my speech at the speech center at ACU to identify areas of concern and to\u00a0recommend changes that would help improve instruction.\u00a0 The center\u00a0did not\u00a0report any of the\u00a0expected issues of concern in the areas of volume, articulation,\u00a0perceived interest in instruction,\u00a0or regional diction.\u00a0 However, after discussing the evaluations with communication experts, the center determined that I could develop a stronger voice that would command the attention of the hearer.\u00a0 Suggestions made by the center (e.g., use of hand motions to emphasize points, added voice inflection, restate points and summarize) were executed in class and positive results were seen from the students.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, these changes were unintentionally carried over into my home and created problems in how I communicate with my family as a wife and mother.\u00a0 In retrospect, I experienced the same result as a manager and internal consultant\u00a0in industry.\u00a0 After seeing many failed marriages during that time, I purposely decided to develop a more gentle voice and softer relationship with my family.\u00a0 Although the change was well received at home, this demeanor does not translate well in the professional environment.\u00a0 In accordance with ACU assumptions that balance is understood as necessary in work, family and church environments, I continue to work to create a balance between both worlds as flexibility is a necessary component of communications and in teaching.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I sat in on the classes of more seasoned instructors.\u00a0 This helped to understand how to interact with students in a way that draws their attention and encourages respect.<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I had seasoned instructors sit in on my classes and make recommendations for improvement<\/a>.\u00a0 Two suggestions that were most helpful were to move through certain topics more quickly and to call upon students who did not volunteer responses in class.\u00a0 Both helped produce a more effective and engaging learning environment.<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I learned classroom management techniques to prevent common problems that would occur with contentious or unengaged students and with those with repeated learning difficulties. This has become an increasing challenge in recent years as the level of student stress continues to grow.<\/p>\n

5)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I developed a \u201cProfessional Excellence\u201d<\/a> assessment and used the same to evaluate student performance over the semester.\u00a0 The intent was to develop a level of respect, inclusivity, and professionalism in the classroom. The initial assessment covered the areas such as classroom etiquette, participation, preparedness, personal interaction, use of technology and communications.\u00a0 This evaluation became part of the grading criteria for students along with the traditional measures of academic performance through exams, daily work, and projects. An example of a recent Professionalism Assessment can be found here –\u00a0Professionalism Grading Rubric<\/a><\/p>\n

Purpose & Process<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through analyzing evaluation results and questioning students, I realized that most students did not understand how to evaluate job performance and saw the teacher evaluation as a time to find fault with the teacher and the university vs. recommend opportunities for course improvement. I therefore began conducting \u201cjob\u201d performance evaluations with my students.\u00a0 For this process, students received three face-to-face job performance reviews during the semester, where they were explained the purpose<\/em> of assessing job performance, i.e., to objectively evaluate and clearly\/positively communicate strengths and weaknesses to build a stronger (work) community, and taught a more appropriate business process<\/em> of evaluation.\u00a0 Students were allowed to practice the process through team peer evaluations<\/a> and were encouraged to follow a similar process when completing teacher evaluations.\u00a0 Students were especially supportive of the evaluation change when informed that such evaluations impact pay decisions in a real business environment (see modified Professional Performance Rubric with 8 qualities of exceptional people (employees)<\/a> added), and would likewise impact their final grade in our class.<\/p>\n

Popularity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Popularity is an interesting outcome of the student-teacher relationship. Popularity results when students can see or identify themselves and their interests in the teacher.\u00a0 Unlike the uniquely aligned interests of customer and seller, the interests between teachers and students \u2013 like parents and their children – are often miles apart.<\/p>\n

I have often gained immediate popularity with students who \u201csee\u201d themselves and their interests in me, although they are often not based on anything I have done.\u00a0 This seems to occur when students see a \u201clikeness\u201d in outward appearance and\/or a real\/perceived commonality of interests. Over the years, I realize that I am almost always popular at first sight with African American students.\u00a0 However, with many of these students, I become less popular once they come to know me and realize that our interests do not always align.\u00a0 With other student populations, I am almost never popular at first sight with Anglo and Hispanic students; however, I become very popular with several students in these groups once they identify that we have common or shared interests.\u00a0 I seem to be immediately popular with foreign students, and this popularity seems to grow over time as we interact and work towards common goals.<\/p>\n

With these outcomes, I decided that popularity is a subjective measure that could not be impacted except through an intensive personal marketing effort.\u00a0 I am neither academically nor professionally qualified to practice marketing and therefore have decided at this point to accept the randomness of outcomes in popularity as observed.<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Preparation for teaching is important in any discipline.\u00a0 I have made a conscious effort to improve the skills needed to teach classes by attending annual training sessions in business process management and information systems and by participating in research symposia at top-tier conferences in management and information systems.\u00a0 Over the past five years, I have participated in the following sessions, most of which were offered free of tuition charge or through academic scholarships:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. TERP10 training and certification for the SAP Business Consultant (certification received May 2012, Level 2 Certification achieved in May 2017)<\/li>\n
  2. Applied for the Project Management Professional certification offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI).\u00a0 Application approved; exam pending.<\/li>\n
  3. Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing course<\/li>\n
  4. ERP Energy Management curriculum development<\/li>\n
  5. Enterprise Architecture curriculum development<\/li>\n
  6. ERPsim training (certification received 2010)<\/li>\n
  7. Business Process Management training<\/li>\n
  8. SAP Cloud based ERP training, SAP HANA Databases, S\/4 HANA Platform, ERP Simulations<\/li>\n
  9. SAP Netweaver development platform training<\/li>\n
  10. Acton Institute conference (2011, 2012)<\/li>\n
  11. Free Market Forum through Hillsdale College (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018)<\/li>\n
  12. Business Objects and Data Analysis training<\/li>\n
  13. ERP systems using SAP\u2019s Global Bike and Fitter Snacker clients<\/li>\n
  14. Academy of Management annual conferences (2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)<\/li>\n
  15. Association of Information Systems annual conferences (2007, 2009, 2010, 2018)<\/li>\n
  16. Christian Business Faculty Association (CBFA) conferences (2007, 2009, 2010)<\/li>\n
  17. Society for Case Study Research workshop (2011)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I have also participated in many training opportunities offered by the Adams center.\u00a0 Along with the weekly luncheon training sessions, I have attended the following:<\/p>\n

    1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Summer Writing Institutes<\/p>\n

    2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Curriculum Development workshop<\/p>\n

    3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Grant writing workshops<\/p>\n

    4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blogs, Canvas, mobile applications, and more<\/p>\n

    5)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Master Teacher Training<\/p>\n

    Through training, research and maintenance of professional IS\/IT skills, I remain prepared to teach a variety of classes in management, information systems, data management, analytics and economics.<\/p>\n

    I also stay current in the innovations that support energy data management by using my own personal funding to attend the following annual conferences:<\/p>\n

    Rice University High Performance Computing Conference – Houston TX (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017). For two of these years, I invited and funded students to attend along with me.<\/p>\n

    PNEC – Pennwell’s petroleum data integration, information and data management conference.\u00a0 (2018)<\/p>\n

    ASUG – Americas SAP Users Group regional meetings, Dallas TX (2010, 2015, 2017, 2018).<\/p>\n

    Personal Development<\/p>\n

    \u201cLeader, Teacher, Cultivator \u2013 people learn from those who are deeply involved in their own realization of what it means to become human.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

    Peter Senge, noted author and management consultant,<\/p>\n

    Academy of Management Conferences<\/p>\n

    Personal development presents the opportunity to move back into the academic environment as a student of learning.\u00a0 As listed under Preparation, I attend work sessions annually and have acquired many approaches that have become part of solutions incorporated to improve the teaching-learning process.\u00a0 The following serve as examples of outcomes realized:<\/p>\n

    1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Relevant study approaches vs. amount of study lead to different assessment outcomes.<\/p>\n

    2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Design of the spatial and temporal class environment creates significant differences in learning outcomes<\/p>\n

    3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pre-teaching in learning (e.g., communications, ethics, and assessment) make all the difference in a true learning environment<\/p>\n

    4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Teams teach better than individuals in all courses<\/p>\n

    5)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Emphasis on the learner is more effective and important than emphasis on what is taught<\/p>\n

    6)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone learns better when they are happy<\/p>\n

    7)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Students learn when they know the teacher cares<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Through these five areas, I have realized the blessing of being both teacher and student in the learning processes of life.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    “A young boy with dyslexia once told his teacher that he had a learning disability.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0wise teacher replied to the boy, \u2018Perhaps the teacher who said this to you has a teaching disability.\u2019 From that point, the teacher began to guide the child in the way of true learning.\u201d\u00a0 Shared by Satinder K. Dhiman, Ed. D., … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “Teaching & Learning: Assessment, Reflection and Outcomes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":782,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-330","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1357,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/330\/revisions\/1357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/oxb00a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}