Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/55878
gling in my course, I will offer to meet with them every Friday so they can verbally summarize the key takeaways from that week's classes. If they're willing to do the reflec- tive work, I'm willing to nudge them toward cementing the week's insights. This is one way I can act as supporter and cheerleader. Experimenter: There is always a bet- ter way to deliver a learning experi- ence. Great instructors are not afraid to experiment, even with what has worked well in the past. Colleagues at Darden have tried many fresh approaches to teach- ing business. For instance, during a required business ethics course, we once devoted every Friday's class to a case, not identified till the start of class, drawn from cases used in other courses that week. This approach required students to consider the embedded ethics issues as they pre- pared cases for their other courses. In another course, a professor has collaborated with the varsity rowing coach to deliver a session on high- performing teams. A colleague in the organizational behavior depart- ment has taught effective leadership by using a segment from the movie "Gettysburg." Professors teaching a module on leading change have asked students to mock up a BusinessWeek cover five years in the future high- lighting why a particular company has become the industry leader. All such endeavors started out as experi- ments, and many have morphed into regular parts of our repertoire. Empathizer: Instructors do not teach empty vessels. They teach people who have rich lives outside the class- room and histories that differ from their own. An empathetic professor will devote extra effort to determine why a student who is sincerely trying to learn might still be struggling. She might find that the student is losing sleep as he works at a part-time job or battles depression after a recent divorce. Such aspects of students' lives are often more important than the classroom subject matter. I believe professors should share bits of their own stories to signal their willingness to engage in topics outside the syllabus. Such openness provides students with connection points for shared interests and experi- ences, both hard and joyful. Professors need not be counsel- ors, but they should know when and where students can receive profes- sional counseling. Neither should professors be in situ parents, but they should be compassionate and available, welcoming students when- ever they're in the office. I have come to believe that the role of empathizer is critical; it is the gateway to broader, more meaning- ful relationships with students. After all, if we merely dispense business principles and stories, we forgo the chance to make a real impact on a young person's life. An EMCEE's Life It's certainly not easy to fill all these roles. My experience suggests that ignoring or performing badly in one of these five dimensions low- ers the contribution of the remain- ing elements. Thus, it's important for instructors to identify the areas where they lack and purposefully strive to improve. To actively hone their EMCEE capabilities, professors could team- teach with colleagues or ask col- leagues to observe and comment on their classes. They could sit in on other classrooms, at their own schools or at other universities. They also could look for opportunities that will excite and challenge them, such as teaching a course in a second area of interest, teaching a pedagogy class to doctoral students, or running a workshop for business managers. More reflectively, they can conscien- tiously analyze course evaluations, journal their thoughts about teach- ing, or blog about the five EMCEE elements and learn from posted responses. They also might regularly discuss the craft of teaching with col- leagues or organize a faculty forum on any one of the five roles. While it takes great effort to always try to improve as a classroom instruc- tor, I've never heard stellar senior col- leagues lament the fact that they chose to become teachers. On the contrary, I've heard them express gratitude for the opportunity to touch and influ- ence the lives of young adult learners. They realize that dedication to being an expert, a maestro, a cheerleader, an experimenter, and a student empa- thizer is to rise to the calling of a very noble profession. ■ z Mark E. Haskins is a professor of business administration at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business in Charlottesville, Virginia, and co-author of Teaching Management. BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2010 63