INFORMS Open Forum

I've been asked this question recently: "what's one piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession?" and was hoping my fellow INFORMS members would share their response to this question. I look forward to reading your responses.

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Nima Molavi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Management
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City, NC
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My two cents. Ask for materials used in previous years whenever possible. Use/"recycle" them as many as you can (even if you somewhat don't agree with how the stuff is presented). The first year is more like a testing bed...so the fewer variables in your equation, the better.

(PS: I learned it in a hard way ;))

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Vincent Tsz Fai
Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Email: tsz-fai.chow@polyu.edu.hk
https://tfvchow.github.io
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-17-2023 14:38
From: Nima Molavi
Subject: One piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession

I've been asked this question recently: "what's one piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession?" and was hoping my fellow INFORMS members would share their response to this question. I look forward to reading your responses.

------------------------------
Nima Molavi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Management
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City, NC
------------------------------

The two things that have been most beneficial to me are "expectation setting" and "communication". I try to set expectations at the beginning of the course and constantly reinforce those throughout the semester. The key for me has been to set expectations for both the students and for myself. 

For example, I tell them that I will answer their emails/Slack messages within a certain amount of time or grade their homework within X days. I do my best to stick to or exceed these expectations. If I can't, then the "communication" element comes into play. I'll tell them that I'm running a bit behind on my grading and that it will be an extra day or two. Students have been really great about accepting that. The problem comes when I set expectations for myself and then fail to communicate a deviation from those expectations. 

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Stephen Hill
Associate Professor
University of North Carolina-Wilmington
Wilmington, NC
hills@uncw.edu
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-18-2023 05:04
From: Vincent Tsz Fai
Subject: One piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession

My two cents. Ask for materials used in previous years whenever possible. Use/"recycle" them as many as you can (even if you somewhat don't agree with how the stuff is presented). The first year is more like a testing bed...so the fewer variables in your equation, the better.

(PS: I learned it in a hard way ;))

------------------------------
Vincent Tsz Fai
Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Email: tsz-fai.chow@polyu.edu.hk
https://tfvchow.github.io

Original Message:
Sent: 02-17-2023 14:38
From: Nima Molavi
Subject: One piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession

I've been asked this question recently: "what's one piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession?" and was hoping my fellow INFORMS members would share their response to this question. I look forward to reading your responses.

------------------------------
Nima Molavi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Management
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City, NC
------------------------------

1. You can't teach them if they're not listening and they won't listen if you're boring.
2. Your goal is not to teach them how to answer the questions in the back of the chapter by plugging different numbers into the same old formulas. They will almost never encounter something that looks like the Newsvendor Problem. You cannot possibly anticipate all the different problems they'll encounter.  Your goal is to teach them how to think, how to analyze and answer problems they've never seen before. They need to be able to use the Newsvendor model to answer questions that don't look like they're the Newsvendor Problem. If you're not pushing them, if you're not challenging them, if they're not complaining, you're not doing your job.

------------------------------
Kenneth Schultz
Unaffiliated
Englewood OH
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-18-2023 05:04
From: Vincent Tsz Fai
Subject: One piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession

My two cents. Ask for materials used in previous years whenever possible. Use/"recycle" them as many as you can (even if you somewhat don't agree with how the stuff is presented). The first year is more like a testing bed...so the fewer variables in your equation, the better.

(PS: I learned it in a hard way ;))

------------------------------
Vincent Tsz Fai
Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Email: tsz-fai.chow@polyu.edu.hk
https://tfvchow.github.io

Original Message:
Sent: 02-17-2023 14:38
From: Nima Molavi
Subject: One piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession

I've been asked this question recently: "what's one piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession?" and was hoping my fellow INFORMS members would share their response to this question. I look forward to reading your responses.

------------------------------
Nima Molavi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Management
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City, NC
------------------------------

Like your students. You can learn as much from them as they can from you.

------------------------------
Bruce Hartman
Professor
University of St. Francis and Califormia State University Maritime
Tucson, AZ United States
bruce@ahartman.net
website:http://drbrucehartman.net/brucewebsite/
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-17-2023 14:38
From: Nima Molavi
Subject: One piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession

I've been asked this question recently: "what's one piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession?" and was hoping my fellow INFORMS members would share their response to this question. I look forward to reading your responses.

------------------------------
Nima Molavi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Management
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City, NC
------------------------------

Think about ways to continuously engage students; use real/actual world problems to solve hands-on! 

------------------------------
Unsal Ozdogru
Clinical Associate Professor
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago IL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-17-2023 14:38
From: Nima Molavi
Subject: One piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession

I've been asked this question recently: "what's one piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession?" and was hoping my fellow INFORMS members would share their response to this question. I look forward to reading your responses.

------------------------------
Nima Molavi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Management
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City, NC
------------------------------

My two cents from when I was an adjunct: Provide students with their grade expectations near midterm (maybe with an Excel sheet or something that they can play with) -- especially the students who didn't get a decent performance in the first half of the semester. Show them what score they need to reach, or how much work they need to do to get to each final grade level. 

Benefit: 1. To encourage students to learn more for the rest of the semester. 

2. To set them expectations so that they won't be surprised when they finally get their score (also to reduce low course rating)

3. For students to understand where they are and what area they need to improve. 

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Shannon Shang
Lead Data Analyst
Enovation Controls
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-17-2023 14:38
From: Nima Molavi
Subject: One piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession

I've been asked this question recently: "what's one piece of advice you would give to someone new to the teaching profession?" and was hoping my fellow INFORMS members would share their response to this question. I look forward to reading your responses.

------------------------------
Nima Molavi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Management
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City, NC
------------------------------