Student Guide Corner

College education has numerous critics these days.     I believe the recent fascination with MOOCs comes � at least in part � from dissatisfaction with the perceived quality of the current educational experience.    We promise development of critical thinking skills in our students but often appear to deliver little more than well-rehearsed memorization.     The argument then follows that we don�t need small classes and individual attention simply to teach memorization.    Massive online courses can achieve that goal with much less cost. In my spare time, I often ponder how modern college education can become better.    For example, is the education that a college student gets today really superior in any way to the norm 40 years ago?    Cars get more miles per gallon of gas than they did back then.    Computers run thousands of times faster.    But, has college education gotten better during that same ...

I talk below about my first test of the current semester.   If you teach Financial Accounting and would like to see a copy of that test, drop me an email at Jhoyle@richmond.edu . *** I think the most important time during any semester is immediately after the first test. Until that time, the students have done what they thought you wanted them to do (or what they thought they could get away with). The first test gives them a chance to judge how well their class strategy has worked. If they need to make corrections in that strategy, this is the time to do it. You have their undivided attention, especially if they did not do as well as they would have liked.   They are young -- believe it or not, they usually appreciate some serious guidance. You need to understand that most students are very used to doing X amount of work and getting Y grade. Many are well satisfied with that approach and that result. Others are not satisfied but have no clue what adjustments they nee...

If you have read this blog for long, you must know that I put considerable stress on communicating with my students, often by email. I believe open and honest communication is a key for all successful relationships. These communications give you a chance to guide your students toward the outcomes that you want. They allow you to motivate the students, to keep pushing them forward (�I know this seems hard but you are smart enough to do these problems with a bit of work�). They provide a chance for positive feedback � �the class was especially good today� is never a bad acknowledgement � one that students often never hear. They enable you to correct actions that you don�t like (�not very many of you had worked problem 5 for today; I�ll expect a better effort at the next class�). Communications help the teacher to prepare the students for upcoming material � �we are really going to stress the computation of interest expense at our next class so make absolutely sure you�ve studied pages 45...

The following link will prove that if you scare enough students over enough years, you will wind up with your picture on the Internet: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-10/favorite-professors-richmonds-joe-hoyle ** I think one of the most detrimental myths of teaching is that a person has to be funny or easy or entertaining to be popular with students. I think this idea has ruined a lot of good teachers. I cannot even estimate how many teachers have told me over the past 42 years �if I try to hold the line and make the students work, they will dislike me and kill me on the student evaluations. Students only want teachers who make them laugh and give them A�s.� Students only want teachers who make them laugh and give them A�s. If that line is true, the future of education is truly bleak. Often, I believe that line is merely a scapegoat � not always, but often. What I think those folks are really saying is �whether it is true or not, the students believe that I am giving them ...

We completed our first week of school yesterday. I always believe that this is an important juncture. Is the class going to fall into a lethargic mediocrity or begin to take off? We only have about 14 weeks. If we are going to have something great, we need to start building on that almost immediately. If you begin to lose student enthusiasm, you may never get it back. So, this morning, I wrote my students a note to make sure they each understand what it takes to be good in my class. The goal is not to cram the night before the test. The goal is to understand the material today so that you can answer more questions tomorrow. I�m hoping they�ll buy into that as a goal worth taking seriously. Here�s the note that I wrote to my students in Intermediate Accounting II. �I thought we had an excellent first week. That�s what I want and that�s what I want every day and every week. Success is never earned by an occasional good day of work. I want you to be consistently excellent. �I have three p...

Have you ever been in a situation where you recognize the person you are talking with but just can't place how you know them? It happened to me recently, walking my dog at the park. I encountered someone but just couldn't place him. Fortunately, he recognized my memory failure and explained we were members of a town committee. Out of context, I didn't recognize him. Context is important. Not only in face to face encounters. It's also important when spell checking our written work. Google Docs offers a feature which relies on context; it's a feature which makes the use of Google Docs especially helpful for our students who struggle with spelling. They call it " Intelligent Spelling ," where spell checking looks at the words in context in the sentence and offers suggestions. Many people rely on the spell checker built into Microsoft Word, but it does not have contextual spell checking capabilities. Want to see this in action? Here's a video which demonst...

First:   this blog went over 59,000 page views a couple of days ago.   I am always amazed by the number of people who find this site.   My guess is that many of those readers discovered the site because someone else mentioned it to them.   As always -- thanks a million (and a half) to everyone for passing along the information to anyone who is interested in teaching and anyone who is interested in thinking about how to get better as a teacher. ** I have made the point previously that I believe a college education would be more valued (rather than being under a full scale attack as it currently is) if more faculty members worked as mentors for the students rather than just teachers.   Several of my blog entries this summer have talked about going beyond the conveyance of information to a relationship where you help the students grow as people (my story about best books and attending the opera, for example).   Consequently, here ...