The main purpose of this teaching portfolio is to accomplish the following goals:

To systematically analyze my classroom teaching of Mgmt 481, Business Policy and Strategy and the equivalent graduate course, MBA 660, Strategic Management

To identify strengths and weaknesses in my teaching.

To examine the methods and underlying assumptions of my teaching.

To use this portfolio as a basis for changing and developing my methods to become a better teacher.

To raise my teaching evaluations so that I score at least 4.5 on all items, except reasonableness of amount of work.

I am a professor in the Department of Management, College of Business at Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota. I am responsible for teaching a number of courses during the academic year including:

Mgmt 481 Business Policy and Strategy, an undergraduate capstone course.

MBA 660 Strategic Management, the graduate MBA capstone course.

MBA 602 Basic Business Functions (I team-teach with marketing and finance professors), a graduate MBA course.

I want to help students succeed in life. I think that we can all learn and have fun at the same time. I like to introduce elements of play to their work. This can help surmount the fact that learning is painful. I always want self-motivated students, but I am willing to push the less motivated. I like to use a variety of methods to help students improve their skills and work attitudes. I use cases, simulation, short lectures to highlight an important subject, exercises, role-playing. I have high expectations and give students work and workloads that extends their capabilities. I see my role as that of helper, coach, and facilitator, someone who helps students "get real" about their studies. I want to get more out of them than they want to give. I want students to tackle challenging problems and have them gain in self-esteem by accomplishing something difficult and valuable. Students need "to do" rather than "to read about". They need to practice skills rather than let them atrophy. I am a critical coach. I won't spoon-feed my students. I use photographs, name cards, and regular meetings with student teams to help identify and get to know my students.

I don't like formal barriers between us. I want to work with those who want to learn, and I don't have much time for the student who is interested in fooling themselves and me.

I like to have good informal relations with students. I like them to feel comfortable so we can improve the quality of our discussions, both in and out of class. I want them to see me as approachable and helpful.

I push my students. I want them to know more, to write better, to speak better, to practice their quantitative skills, to improve their computer skills, to perform better analyses, to think for themselves, to work better in teams, to practice their skills learned in other courses, to better integrate their knowledge and skills, to know more and deal more effectively with ethical problems, and, finally, to manage better. Management, my subject, is an interdisciplinary skill and we need to improve our skills every day for our careers, and, especially, for our lives. I won't let students make a superficial effort.

The way I teach is the result of 8 years of study and coursework at the University of Minnesota, 30+ years of teaching, influential mentors, talking with my colleagues, and my army training experience. Many "weasels" encountered in my life have also taught me some unforgettable lessons.

I had many excellent professors at the University of Minnesota as good role models and only suffered with a few poor ones. My teaching models include:

Bruce Erickson -- for his command of his subject (and practically everybody else's subjects). He taught a most challenging course and I learned more about ethics, political skills, government and business, economics, and philosophy than any other time in my life. He graded his papers more thoroughly than anybody I ever met. He had them back the next week with extensive comments, no matter what.

Richard Gaumnitz -- he taught me political skills and showed me how to get along with everyone. He taught me the case method and coached me regarding case teaching skills. His friendship boosted my self-confidence enormously. Gaumnitz was the first person to take my teaching work seriously. He had a no-nonsense expectation of his students and demanded professional quality work. He had enormous fun with his students.

Alan Solem -- for his introduction to me of the most powerful tools I ever learned regarding understanding human behavior in the workplace. The knowledge and skills he taught me have served me well in my teaching, with my profession, and in life.

Nicholas Glaskowsky -- for his use and demonstration of the case method, his role-playing, his drama, his analytical and math skills in carving up a problem. He had classes that were most memorable when he assumed all the different roles in a management problem or case. His class was a stage and he was a great performer.

Robert Fulton -- a sociology professor who taught social stratification for his humor and unbelievable command of his subject. Pushing us to the wall as far as understanding.

Lillian Werner -- taught retail marketing and worked in her field. She was the most prepared adjunct professor imaginable. She taught well and did what she taught.

C. Roland Christianson-from Harvard University --the master professor in my field who is the last word in teaching by the case method. Professor Christianson is The Master of the pedagogy; a master who took my work in simulation seriously.

Groucho Marx -- I wish I could be as funny as him.

Harry Lieberman--Brilliant, hard-working, supported a community.

Oney Poganski--No one could outwork her , be kind and considerate, and love me more.

Emily-- my work in progress. Nobody loves her more.

Lona Falenczykowski--She's the best negotiator I know. She taught me the female side to management. Nobody loves her more either.

Paul Schumann and Dave Hofmeister, my co-authors from MSU who have been fun to work with and very critical and supportive of my teaching.

Phil Anderson, from the University of St. Thomas -- my old office mate from the University of Minnesota, who introduced me to simulations and J-ness.

John Kaliski -- my business partner and colleague.  He taught me about technology and showed me how to be more efficient and effective by example.  John is one of the most talented people I ever met.

John Ernst, high school math teacher who had fun with us and worked us to death.

All of these people had fun with their work and helped me and many people in important ways.
 

I have used teaching evaluations for all courses that I have ever taught for 30 years. Students generally report the same things about me that I already know, and have worked on more (or less) all my life. I need to know student perceptions to help them and to chart their progress. I have always used the same standard teaching evaluation questionnaires used by my colleagues in the Management Department. I some day hope to get a 5.0 rating in all categories from a class.

By contract, I have a professional development plan on file with The Dean. I have never received a bad letter from former students and I have a nice bundle of good letters. regarding my teaching. I would like to receive more good letters before I retire. I am using e-mail extensively to establish a dialogue with my students. Many students give me frank feedback regarding my course and me.

I also give students a chance to give feedback on a piece of paper to open-ended questions I ask during the halfway point in the term. This helps me make mid-course improvements and corrections. I have a student collect the feedback and return it to me. These questions usually take the form of: "What can I do to help you succeed in the course? Any suggestions or criticisms? Anything that I can do to improve the course?" Students usually make many suggestions that are simple and straightforward and often easy for me to implement. Feedback is always helpful and necessary. Some things I choose not to change like my heavy workload and high expectations of the students. I try to maintain a personal dialogue with my students and with the student teams.

I also measure my teaching effectiveness by the products of my students. I collect all example drafts of my assignments, all cases, reports, journals, tests, video tapes of their final presentations and save them. I tell the students that our alumni, recruiters, accrediting examiners will view and evaluate their work. I like to make student work visible no matter what the risk. This ups the stakes and improves the experience in many important ways.

I exchange syllabi with my other policy professors at MSU and other schools.  I have a number of colleagues critique my syllabi and assignments. My syllabi are in print in my books for other professors to use or critique.

I try to incorporate 3 new cases into my policy class every term so that I find new material that interests me. Sometimes new editions or new books force me to learn more than 3 per quarter. Some new cases work well and others I never use again. I have been using new editions of the same text book for the past 8 years, but I introduce and use new cases as I proceed through the years.

I have invited anyone to my classes who wants to come, especially other faculty and employers.

I hear from my long-departed ex-students, now alumni, who tell me to continue doing the things that I am doing in class. My consulting clients want me to do the same sorts of things with their managers that I do with my students.

Papers and Presentations related to teaching

I am a resource regarding the use of management simulation games in the country. I have about 450 schools and 50 corporations that use or have used my simulation games for the past ten years. I engage in the academic discussions regarding how to use and further the pedagogy. I share everybody's contributions through my correspondence and discussions with many professors and professional trainers. I also work with the other major simulation contributors to in a professional group called ABSEL, Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning. ABSEL is concerned with teaching, simulation, experiential exercises, role playing, and pedagogy in general. I have presented and attended ABSEL conferences in 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, and 1996, and 1998. In 1994, I leaned about Ba-fa Ba-fa, a role-playing cross-cultural simulation that I could introduce to my students. My research and writing interests focus on use of simulation for teaching management and for teaching ethics.

Changing course content.

I am always on the lookout for new exercises, new cases, new ethical dilemmas, and the like. I discuss what I am doing in my classes with my colleagues, professors at other schools, business people, and my wife and daughter.

Instructional Improvement Efforts

I regularly attend and participate in MSU College of Business Teaching Enhancement programs since they began happening at MSU. I've missed only one or two. I've regularly attended and participated in ABSEL Conferences and workshops. I regularly present papers and demonstrate the use of simulation as a teaching pedagogy. I regularly discuss my course with my peers teaching the same course at MSU. New faculty bring new methods and ideas that have changed my teaching. John Kaliski and Paul Abraham have taught me astounding possibilities using the Internet and other computer systems available. Brenda Flannery has brought her new tricks, ideas, and enthusiasm to our Management Department. Teaching is like juggling 25 balls in the air and there's always room for improvement and new things. I regularly work with other faculty to help them improve their teaching, as a colleague or mentor.

Paul Schumann, Phil Anderson, John Kalinowski, and others regularly review my syllabi, my tests, my exercises, and my course content with me. Many professors and managers discuss my class content and exercises with me because my syllabi  are published in simulation books I have co-authored. I get a good deal of feedback this way and not everyone thinks I'm the smartest and best looking. This kind of discussion and challenge helps me better focus on what I'm doing in class and why.

I have tapes of myself teaching to determine how I look to the students, and I watch these tapes. I also tape students so they can see themselves as the camera sees them.. I keep copies of all my best student work that I can later review and use as a reference. Have my standards, assignments, and focus for the course changed? If things have changed, is this good or bad? A pile of well-done assignments and case reports serves as a useful standard for me regarding goodness.

I try to extend students' computer talents by giving them problems to which they can apply their knowledge, practice, and extend their skills.

And so on.