Sharing Best Practices: Teaching Smarter, Not Harder Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 SHARING BEST PRACTICES: TEACHING SMARTER, NOT HARDER Sandra Morgan, University of Hartford ABSTRACT In this session, ABSEL members will share their best practices in teaching. We all have implicit knowledge about techniques that reduce time for teaching activities while maintaining or improving quality but we often forget to share this knowledge. The session design allows for sharing and building on each others’ knowledge. INTRODUCTION In today's highly competitive academic environment, faculty members are being asked, as are business people, to "do more with less." How do we do this? Of course, there's the promise that technology will ease our burdens yet, while most of us feel that the new technology options are valuable teaching tools, they don't reduce the time spent preparing or teaching. In fact, if interactive technology is used well, the professor becomes a guide or coach rather than the "expert" lecturer. New skills are often required for effective classroom and distance use of technology. Faculty are increasingly being called on to make phone calls, write letters, attend college fairs, speak at open houses and perform other recruiting activities in addition to traditional retention activities like advising students. Outcomes assessment efforts claim our time as does accreditation or reaccreditation work. On top of these demands, faculty are expected to reach out to business and build partnerships, a time- consuming activity. We are committed to student internships and service learning/fieldwork projects which eat up a lot of time (well worth it, of course). And, not to forget, of course we have to do research and publish. We also want to see our families and have time for exercise and balance in life. So where is the time left to redesign courses, prepare for classroom activity, grade assignments and exams, and actually teach? Now that you are totally overwhelmed by the enormity of the job's time demands, let me propose some help. Why can't we "work smarter, not harder" and become parts of a learning organization (concepts we teach, but rarely have time to practice!)? At ABSEL, a collection of excellent, caring teachers comes together, bringing multiple skills and years of experience. Let's learn from each other's successes. By sharing our own best practices in a workshop format (as opposed to written communication), we can query each other for details, build on ideas, gain energy from the generation and sharing of teaching tips, and leave with a solid collection of take-aways we can use immediately back home. WORKSHOP OVERVIEW After a brief introduction by the facilitator, participants will do a needs assessment – i.e., they will identify the set of job tasks that contribute to good teaching. This list may include text/ readings/media selection/finding resources, class preparation, in-class activity, assignments, grading, evaluation/feedback, advising, and organizing one's office. Then the group will share their own best practices by responding to the different areas of need. This is done via easel sheets posted on the walls. The group then views the “gallery of best practices,” clarifies, and builds on ideas through discussion. Ideally, each participant will leave with several ideas for “teaching smarter, not harder,” with validation of her own teaching knowledge, and with inspiration and energy to implement something new back home. 220 Table of Contents Volume 26, 1999 ABSEL's Historical Research Interests Back From the Future: An ABSEL Merlin Exercise for the Year 2005 The Contributions of ABSEL During the 1980's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential Exercises in the 90's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential learning/Experiential Exercises: The Decade of the 1970's Business Simulations - Algorithms and Model Enhancements: A 25 year Review A Study of the ETS General Field Test as an AACSB Assessment Tool and the Impact of Experiential Exercises and Simulation on Learning A Framework for Assessing the Competencies Reflected in Simulation Performance Developing A Learning Culture: Assessing Changes in Student Performance and Perception Financial Simulation Using Distributed Computing Technology Analyzing Managers' Judgements and Decisions with an Educational Business Simulation Understanding Your Business through Home-Made Simulator Development An Examination of a Reanalysis of the Impact of a Market Leader on Simulation Competitors' Strategies Applying Shocks to TE Simulations: A Demonstration Increasing Efficiency of Management Skill Assessment A Testbank for Measuring Total Enterprise Simulation Learning Developing Leadership Skills - Video Live! LEADSIMM: Collaborative Leadership Development for the Knowledge Society A Team Approach to Producing Multi-Media Laptop and Video Formatted Presentation Tinkertoys Revisited: Exploring Trust Based Relationships Overall Dominance in Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Success or Bankruptcy: The Relationship between Personal and Goal Orientation and Simulation Performance Assessing the Effects of Feedback: Muti-method and Muti-directions in Multi-pedagogical Courses The Missing Ingredients in Experiential Learning Purpose and Learning Benefits of Business Simulations: A Design and Development Perspective Building Capabilities for Change through Laboratory Simulations Modeling Innovation as a Process of Design in Educational Business Simulation The Need to Measurer variance in Experiential Learning and a New Statistic to do so Assessing Effectiveness of an Experiential Oriented Course Over Time Developing Participant Satisfaction Models of Experiential Exercises in Business Education Perceptions of Learning in TE Simulations Students' View on the Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Management Gaming's Lost Opportunity: Meditations about the Russian Experience and Prospects for the Future Unanticipated Enhancements in the Business Strategy and Policy Game when Running in Windows 95 Using a Business Game to Demonstrate Broad Business Concepts A New Model for Business Courses (Getting the Student Connected) Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Integrating Knowledge Using Large Scale Simulations in Capstone Business Strategy Classes Is It Here To Stay? A Roundtable Discussion of the Inter-Group Interaction Interactive Tools Used in Applying Financial Concepts Strengthening Essential Skills through a Finance Exercise: Calculation of Beta A Model of Currency Exchange Rates Understanding Currency Exchange Rates: A three-part Exercise Student Experiences in the World Intercollegiate Business Game Competition Student Experiences in the International-Collegiate Business Policy Game Competition Using Boards of Directors in Simulation Environments: Comments From Board Members Sharing Best Practices: Teaching Smarter, Not Harder Star Power: A Simulation for Understanding Power and Empowerment The Marketing Game: A Marketing Principles Simulation Alexander Islands: GSSM Tiny Business Simulator on the WWW Putting Strategy into Strategic Business Games Industry Analysis, Porter's Five Forces Model and Strategic Group Maps in the Business Strategy Game Simulation The Use of Concept Mapping to Improve Student Performance and Understanding of Strategic Management Concepts: A Comparison of Techniques Transformational thinking in the Organizational Behavior Course: The Use of Metaphor as an Assessment Tool Creation of a Virtual Learning Community for the Global Virtual Enterprise Project Inter Institutional use of Educational Resources: Joint Use of Management Simulation Games Business Insights: Theory and Practice with the Aid of a Business Simulation Progress: An Experiential Exercise in Development Marketing The ABC's of teaching the Theory of Constraints to Undergraduate Business Students Demonstrating Principles of Organizational Purchasing Behavior through an Experiential Exercise The Virtual Manager: A Different Simulation for Managing Complexity When the Rules are changing and Chaos Breeds Innovation: Recapturing the Value of Constructive Thinking and Play in Simulation Training The Pitfalls, and Potential, of Actual Events as Problem Drivers Using Business Games to teach Environmental Awareness and Green Management: The International Experience with the ENSIM Game A Review of my ABSEL-Related Work Simulation of Government: A Workshop Using GEO Creating Internet-Based Games Using Perl and JavaScript Who's on First? Exploring the Concepts of Problem-Based Learning, Experiential Learning, and Lifelong Learning Students Learn Customer Service and Selling while Conducting Research So You Want to Run an NFL Football Team–An Honors Interdisciplinary Project Supervised Internship: The Employer's Perspective Using Computer Assisted Simulation to Teach International Business Strategy: A Case of the Multinational Management Game (MMG) Multi-Cultural Experiential Learning: A Computer Simulation in China An Appreciative Stance on Diversity as We Move into the 21st Century: A Timeline Exercise to Identify Key Experiences in Good Work Relationships between Black and White Peers A Day in the Life of an Interactive, Real Time, and Internet Delivered Course: A Demonstration Comparing Internet Search Engines: An Experiential Learning Exercise Total Enterprise Simulations and the Internet: Assessing Student Perceptions and Preferences Teaching Accounting Information Systems in a Practicum Format Providing Experiential Learning in Accounting through a Field Study Payroll Project A Spreadsheet Based Business Simulation Game Computer-Behavioral Simulations Training for Project Managers Simulation Scenarios - Rationale and Illustration