Over the last couple of years since I have been pursuring my PhD in Communications, there have been many areas that I have been active in as a PhD Candidate. Working on research projects in various areas (crisis communications, social media, psychology, etc) have been very fabulous in my opinion – just great!
I have also found teaching very rewarding – both in the traditional sense(Tennessee) and online (IMC Program at WVU). I knew that I always wanted to be in the classroom – ever since the early days of seeing both Mom (Psychology) and Dad (Business & Marketing) teaching their courses, and soon Kristin will be teaching at West Point. I guess you can say that it runs in the family! 🙂
In various discussions with colleagues and seeing what others say are some of their own reflections and best practices when it comes to teaching, I would have to say that I have come up with a few of my own:
- Lead by example: If you want students to perform certain assignments and presentations or produce case studies, then you have to lead by example and show that every assignment you have for the class, you would do as well. I have done this in my PR Cases Class where I have shown students a case study I did and highlight the main points as well as explaining of the framing of the assignment.
- Be one with new trends and issues in field – always be a student of life: This also goes with implementing new technology – if you are known for being the person to go to social media for example – you have to lead by example and use it in the classroom as well. This can be done by implementing Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, or Tumblr into the classroom setting to bring out discussion points and conversations outside.Not only being aware of these trends is important, but being apply to strategically apply these and provide reasons for students to pay attention to these for both professional and personal reasons is also key.
- Articulate clearly expectations and reasons behind class structure: I have framed my classes for students by pointing out that they should treat this class like they would an internship or job. This means attending classes, being on time, producing professional documents and presentations, etc. I also state at the very beginning (and my syllabus) that if they wouldn’t do something on the job (ex. turn in late work, etc) then don’t do it in class. Setting the expectations early and being consistent with these throughout the semester is key.
- Give more information and resources than expected: College tuition is expensive, and students want to take courses that help them not only by expanding their knowledge about the field, but also where to go for further information and resources. This is what I have done in both of my classes this year – I try to provide students with white papers, list of resources for social media, and presentations that I think might be of interest to them. These materials are not covered on the exam or anything like that – but they have these in hand to review at their leisure. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from these additional resources from some of my students.
Overall, teaching is very rewarding – and these are just some of the best practices that I have come up with based on my experiences and talking with others in the profession. Setting strong expectations, creating a positive and professional learning environment, offering constructive criticisms and ways to improve assignments and writing, and leading by example by becoming a student for life is key to success in the classroom.
Hope you all are having a wonderful day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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