Student Guide Corner

As I have mentioned on my last two postings, I will be part of a panel discussion on April 17, 2015, in Asheville, NC, at the Southeast Regional Meeting of the American Accounting Association.   I am thrilled to be joined by three great teachers:   Lynn Clements of Florida Southern, Eric Bostwick of the University of West Florida, and Scott Showalter of North Carolina State.   We are planning to have a simple conversation about some of the most basic issues in teaching.   I am very much interested in knowing how other teachers deal with the challenges that I seem to face every day in my classroom.   I have long believed that we need a more open exchange of ideas if college education is going to improve as it must. I am not sure what questions we will end up discussing in Asheville but here are ten that we are considering.   How would you answer each of these questions?   There are no right or wrong answers here but th...

How do we ever get better as college teachers?   Albert Einstein has been quoted as defining insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."   What can we do differently as teachers in order to improve our results?    How can a college teacher go from being average to being good and then move from good to absolutely great?    I think that is a legitimate goal for any professor.   From my own observations, not enough teachers make significant improvements over time.   Average teachers tend to stay average while good teachers tend to stay good.   I believe every teacher should push toward greatness.   I often tell my students that the secret to success is to experiment, evaluate, and evolve.   The same, I believe, is true of college professors.   Try something new and see how it works.   Experiment frequently.   You CAN get better in the classroo...