Teaching and Learning News

Concepts, a newsletter launched on May 1 by the Beedie School of Business, shines a spotlight on noteworthy teachers and teaching activities within the Faculty. The first issue introduces the publication like this:

Teaching is a concept, a process and a goal. Our dedicated teachers and educators in the Beedie School of Business promote and encourage active learning. They bring new knowledge into the classroom, based on research and experience, which enriches students’ learning environment. Innovations in course design and delivery allow our teachers to support active and participatory learning at all levels. This newsletter highlights the accomplishments of our Faculty [and] promotes news, events and workshops to learn more about teaching and learning.

The newsletter was developed by Gloria Simpson, secretary to Beedie’s Tenure and Promotion Committee and to the Dean’s Office. It is produced in a PDF format and is distributed to business faculty members by email. The first issue includes a story on a prestigious teaching award received by Carolyn Egri, a professor of management and organization studies at Beedie; as well as a description of Designing SFU Mobile, a multi-disciplinary course that is being developed by Jan Kietzmann (assistant professor, Beedie), Ted Kirkpatrick (Applied Science), John Bowes (FCAT), and Rob Cameron (Applied Science) with the help of a $10,000 SFU Larger Teaching and Learning Development Grant.

Want to see more? Check out the full issue here.

Back in February, Shauna Jones, coordinator of the Beedie School of Business’s newly created Teaching and Learning Group, held a wine and cheese gathering for instructors. The 22 people who attended this inaugural meeting were asked to respond to a set of questions designed to elicit a group vision. Based on that input, the group developed the following vision and mission statement:

Vision: The international business education community will recognize the Beedie School of Business Teaching and Learning Group as a leader in engaged and experiential learning.

Mission: We are committed to the collective and individual development of scholarly teaching within the BSB. We engage faculty and students to foster effective outcome-oriented learning environments. We model and share successful scholarly best practices that encourage great students.

For now, the group is treating this text as a “draft” statement that will be modified on the basis of feedback from faculty members and students. The inaugural meeting also identified several themes of interest to instructors: “opportunities to learn with and from others, opportunities for teaching development, and opportunities to share with others.”

In response, two interactive sessions have been scheduled so far:

• Interactive polling, May 24, 2012, 2:30 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
• Language and writing, October 2, 2012, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.

Jones welcomes comments and suggestions on the draft statement and on the group’s direction and activities. She can be reached at shaunaj@sfu.ca. More information and a link to an online teaching survey for the Beedie academic community can also be found on the Beedie School of Business News blog.

Rick Iverson, a professor of human resource management at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly last Thursday.

Iverson joined SFU’s Faculty of Business Administration in 2001 from the University of Melbourne. He became a highly respected scholar, teacher, and colleague who will be remembered for his sensible advice and counsel, his brilliant Australian sense of humour, and an unmatched enthusiasm for his work.

Iverson produced a notable body of human resources research. He was also recognized as an exceptional teacher, receiving the Faculty of Business Administration’s TD Canada Trust Distinguished Teaching Award in 2004 and again in 2011, and the SFU Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2008.

Iverson is survived by his daughter and by his partner Shelly. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 12, at 10:30 a.m. at SFU Burnaby’s West Mall Complex, 3rd floor Atrium. Everyone is invited to this celebration of his life.

This is a condensed post. Read the full story on the Beedie School of Business News blog.

Two senior lecturers in SFU’s Department of Mathematics will deliver prize lectures at the summer meeting of the Canadian Mathematical Society in Regina, Saskatchewan, in June.

Veselin Jungic on blended learning

The first is Veselin Jungic, who will receive the society’s 2012 Excellence in Teaching Award for “sustained and distinguished contributions in mathematics teaching at the undergraduate level at a Canadian post-secondary education institution.”

Besides being deputy director of the Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences Centre (IRMACS), Jungic teaches a number of courses, including introductory calculus courses with more than 500 students. He also conducts research on methods and techniques for teaching large classes and has written research papers on the subject. He frequently incorporates online assignments and pioneered the use of Lon-CAPA, an online course management system, for mathematics courses at SFU.

Jungic was instrumental in the development of many of SFU’s outreach programs, including the “A Taste of Pi” program, which features enrichment activities for high school students, and the Math Student Ambassador Program, which connects SFU student volunteers with high schools to speak to students about pursuing university mathematics. In addition to his work with university and high school students, Veselin regularly teaches basic courses in mathematics to adult learners, including students in the SFU Liberal and Business Studies program and First Nations individuals who did not complete secondary education.

Jungic will deliver a prize lecture on “The Blended Learning Approach to Teaching a Calculus Class: What May Change and What Should Stay the Same.” His presentation will examine some general facts about blended learning – which he suggests can be described as an integration of “seemingly opposite approaches, such as formal and informal learning, face-to-face and online experiences, directed paths and reliance on self-direction” – and will analyze the use of the approach for various university-level science classes. Finally, he will discuss an ongoing attempt to introduce the blended learning approach to teaching calculus classes at SFU.

Malgorzata Dubiel on teaching the teachers

The second senior lecturer is Malgorzata Dubiel, who in December received the society’s 2011 Adrien Pouliot Award for “individuals or teams of individuals who have made significant and sustained contributions to mathematics education in Canada.”

Dubiel will deliver a prize lecture on “Mathematics for Elementary Teachers: The Most Important Course You Can Teach?” In her abstract, Dubiel notes that the presentation will consider the evolution of SFU’s MATH 190 Mathematics for Elementary Teachers course, “its influence on similar courses at other B.C. institutions, and its influence on our enrichment programs.” Given that many students aiming for careers as elementary school teachers lack confidence in their ability to teach math and often dislike the subject, and given research findings that suggest people form lasting attitudes towards math by the end of grade 5, Dubiel asks, “Shouldn’t we be investing more into educating those who have a crucial role in introducing the next generation to mathematics?”

Learn more about Veselin Jungic and Malgorzata Dubiel:

Veselin Jungic’s faculty profile page: www.math.sfu.ca/people/staff/faculty/veselin_jungic

Veselin Jungic’s personal website: people.math.sfu.ca/~vjungic/

Malgorzata Dubiel’s faculty profile page: www.math.sfu.ca/people/staff/faculty/Malgorzata_dubiel

Students in the Social Media and Business course achieved measurable results for their real-world clients.

Assistant professor Jan Kietzmann of SFU’s Beedie School of Business knows a thing or two about social media. In December, a paper he co-authored entitled “Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media” won the 2011 Best Article Award from the journal Business Horizons.

Now he and instructor Ashish Gurung are using their new Social Media and Business course to develop the social media expertise of business students at SFU Surrey. The course, which was launched last fall, offers a mix of experiences: visits in class and via Skype with thought leaders like the University of Ottawa’s Michael Geist and representatives of organizations like Translink and Yelp; field trips to Vancouver-based social media players like Invoke and Hootsuite; and online engagement with classmates and instructors through Facebook and Twitter (using the hashtag #BUS450).

The most valuable component of the course, however, may well be the work done by the students themselves. As a final project, they develop social media campaigns for community clients or campus issues. The benefits, in terms of both student learning and community impact, have been remarkable:

• One group used Twitter and Facebook to generate more than 100 potentially life-saving registrations for the BC Transplant Society. The campaign’s social media messaging was endorsed and retweeted by, among others, musicians Jann Arden and Bif Naked, television personality Chris Gailus, and hockey legends Doug Gilmour and Brendan Morrisson.
• Another team raised more than $500 for the Surrey Food Bank and garnered more than a thousand blog views to raise awareness of the food bank’s role in the community.
• A third group used fundraising tweet-ups and other social media activities to collect more than $1500 for soccer-playing youth in Manamani, South Africa.

“Our students worked very hard,” said Kietzmann. “They truly engaged communities – local, national and international – and to that end I am very proud of what they accomplished.”

This is a condensed post. Read the full story on the Beedie School of Business News blog.

See Jan Kietzmann’s faculty profile page.

Gordon Myers will begin his term as associate vice-president, academic, in September.

Jon Driver, vice-president, academic, announced the appointment of a new associate vice-president, academic, today (March 23). Here is the text of his message:

I am very pleased to announce that the Board of Governors has
approved the appointment of Dr. Gordon Myers as associate
vice-president, academic (AVPA), for a five-year term commencing
September 1, 2012. Chair or associate chair of the Department of
Economics for more than half of his 12 years at SFU, and currently
serving on both Senate and the Board of Governors, Gordon Myers
brings to the complex AVPA portfolio an excellent administrative
background and a self-professed passion for the role of universities
in society.

Gordon Myers joined the Department of Economics at SFU in 1999. He received his BA from Queen’s University and his MA and PhD from McMaster University (1990). Before joining SFU, he was an assistant professor at the University of Western Ontario and an associate professor at the University of Waterloo. He has been an academic visitor at the University of Essex (England) and the University of Bonn (Germany).