I am revising my brief comments, initially posted on the date cited, about the Lilly South (Feb 2008) Conference, held in Greensboro NC. The website for the Lilly South conference is provided here.
I attended the entire conference, and attended a number of sessions, including the plenary sessions. I also presented a paper on Situational Leadership along with my coauthor, Michael Dutch of Greensboro College.
About my paper
The paper, entitled “Applying situational leadership in the classroom: Guiding the student to self-leadership," has since been revised and submitted to the Journal of Management Education. The paper (this latest version) is available from the following source.
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A summary of the paper follows:
Situational leadership theory (SLT) is an appealing concept. While its application in industry presents challenges, the nature of the educational classroom further complicates its use. As currently developed applying SLT methods in the classroom could create issues with perceptions of fairness. Additionally, instructors may not have the means to appropriately determine each of their students’ ability and willingness for each learning event.
To counter these problems we suggest that the responsibility for the level of structure be given to the student. In this role instructors facilitate the learning while students have the ability to control the level of direction they receive. In doing so, we provide further definition to the concept of self-leadership and provide suggestions for its application in the classroom. Applications of SLT in a team setting are also discussed.
About selected presentations
There were many excellent sessions at the conference, including a number of plenary sessions. Currently, the program is still available on the web (click here). I will provide brief highlights of a few of the sessions which I found most helpful. I have handouts and notes from most of them, and would be happy to share and/or discuss.
Session #1. (Plenary) How to wake up your students: Getting started in active learning, by Ed Neal.
Ed prefaced the session by stating research showing that only 11% of college students have good sleep habits, as well as the fact that there are physiological limits on attention spans. An 8-question test brought home the severe weaknesses of the traditional lecture method, as found in empirical studies. Therefore a number of ideas for structuring the class for active student involvement were provided. Three preconditions are:
1. Preparation. Change student expectations on the first day of class, and reinforce with out-of-class assignments that prepare students for active learning
2. Motivation. Create challenging exercises—easy work is boring. Tell students the purpose, and require them to specify what they have learned at the end of class.
3. Absence of fear. Develop effective facilitation skills; reward students for their contributions; reward risk-taking.
The remainder of the session was devoted to Questioning Strategies, In-Class Writing Exercises, Classroom Assessment Techniques, and mini-Cases.
Session #21. The Graphic Syllabus, Linda Nilson.
Premised on the idea that standard syllabi present the course in a linear fashion, and don’t get much reading by the students. She came up with the idea of a graphic syllabus when she decided to share “the picture in her head” of the course with her students. A graphic representation of some sort is much more meaningful to students, and provides needed structure for the brain. I drew a map of my Business Policy class and explained it to the other participants.
Session #85. Facilitating student transformation by understanding the human change process, by Dianne Garret.
The session had the most emotional impact upon me. It cannot easily be summarized. Reading the PowerPoint handout would not convey the energy and excitement that was conveyed by Dianne. Some of the themes discussed were Why most change initiatives fail, Emotional intelligence, The impact of human energy, Emotional flow during the term, creating classroom climate, and many others. Very powerful.
In conclusion, I would highly recommend this annual teaching conference to those who are seriously interested in improving their teaching, and the learning of their students.
Unfortunately, this material has sat in a folder ever since the conference. How do we as faculty keep from being overwhelmed by service expectations, committee meetings and work, e-mail, numerous administrative and clerical requirements, and other things that eat up our time day after day, month after month, year after year? That is another issue! However, it is one that I wish to delve into from a research standpoint. How can we as faculty improve our productivity? And not just in research and writing, but in all or our activities.
Bob Herring
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