Sample Materials

The sample materials below are examples of tools and presentations that I have developed for use in my lecture courses. Some points that I would like to make as you review my material:

  • I make significant effort to build my lecture courses in a manner that reflects my teaching philosophy
  • My group projects emphasize the quality production of both a paper and a presentation
  • Presentations are held to a real-world scenario, requiring students to dress and speak professionally. For this reason, all deliverables are required a day early; ensuring that groups have at least one day where they can rehearse before presenting

COURSE EXPECTATIONS DECK

While the course syllabus is shared with students on the first day of class, I develop an additional presentation deck to further clarify and emphasize the importance of course expectations. I present the course expectations deck to students before showing them where these expectations are noted within the syllabus. An example of a course expectations deck is below:

PRESENTATION POINTERS

Believing that it is just as important as knowing information, is the ability to present that information to a desired audience in a manner that engages. Having previously worked as a consultant, I have noticed that students seem poorly-instructed on how to develop an effective and aesthetically pleasing presentation.  Presentation decks are often too wordy and are often not designed so that slides progress at a similar pace. To aid students (while creating clear expectations), I have built a presentation deck that serves as an example for what I believe is good presenting:

SPORT BUSINESS EXTENSION PROJECT – GENERAL GUIDELINES

This group project is assigned to my sport finance students as a means to 1) become familiar with SEC filings/company financials, 2) consider potential financial implications with new business opportunities; 3) encouraging creativity and critical assessment. The guidelines that I present for group projects are typically designed for a general outline of what I want from them—more question based than defined requirement based.  Based on my previous work experience, many projects are designed to answer questions internally or externally (e.g. clients), not describe or package what is already known.

Also, as can be seen on my syllabus, when I teach Monday-Wednesday-Friday courses, I try to incorporate a workshop environment on one of those days. In my current program, every lecture class seems to require at least one group project. Because I want to see high quality group papers and presentations where all students in the group made significant contributions, I incorporate this time into courses where it is appropriate (e.g. Sport Finance). This ensures that students can find a time where they can all meet and work on the project together. Moreover, I function as a facilitator/manager during these workshops; answering questions and providing direction when appropriate. I believe that creating workshop environments help students focus more on the group projects that I assign, take more initiative to exceed the minimum standards of the project, and feel more confident that their efforts will be rewarded (as they are receiving guidance and encouragement throughout the process from the end evaluator).  What I have also come to notice, is that students tend to be more proactive in asking me questions, and more accountable for their own production as the semester proceeds.

CURRENT SPORT ISSUE PROJECT – GENERAL GUIDELINES

The same philosophy and mindset applies in the development of this group project. A difference with this project from my Sport Finance projects is that I provide less time for this project (3-4 weeks), and I stagger group times (for starting and presenting these projects). This offers students whose other classes are back-heavy and opportunity to complete a group project early, and makes sure that groups present current sport social issues that are different from one another.

Also, because of the assignment staggering , and the fact that my Social Aspects of Sport section was a Tuesday-Thursday weekly format, students were not provided time in class to work on these projects.

GROUP CONTRIBUTION FORMS

These forms represent a mandatory submission element for all group projects that I assign. Aligning with my teaching philosophy of reinforcing professionalism and accountability, these forms allow members a forum to voice perceived inequality and/or misbehaving within their groups.  Members are not allowed to split the percentages evenly among members, with the rationale that such distribution is unlikely with even the best groups. Groups are also strongly encouraged to communicate through email to 1) share recaps of meetings with each member’s agreed upon responsibilities listed that include deadlines for those responsibilities to be met, and to 2) submit any member’s created portions of work among the group. This is to encourage that students develop behaviors that will reduce the likelihood that they are exploited when they enter the workplace, for a common business adage is “if it isn’t in writing, then it never happened.”

Once projects are completed, and all deliverables are completed, I review the forms. I look for whether any member’s percentage of contribution is grossly disproportionate to the rest of the group. If, after viewing all of a group’s contribution forms, there is a consistent pattern of disproportionate contribution, I investigate further. All members are then asked to provide the group emails that share responsibilities, deliverable deadlines, and each member’s submitted portions of work via email. The information provided is then reviewed. If the information in the group contribution forms is consistent with the documentation/information received from members’ emails, those members with grossly disproportionate contributions (i.e. they did not meet their agreed upon responsibilities, and do their “fair share”) receive a grade lower than the other members–as much as a whole letter grade less. This penalty for failure to participate is communicated in the classroom, project decks, and on the online course page. The first link below is a template of the group contribution form that I have used with my courses. The second link is a completed example of a fictitious group, to help students visualize what I expect them to submit.

GROUP PROJECT GRADING RUBRICS

Grading rubrics for group projects are designed to be flexible. While certain format and content requirements are provided, these rubrics are designed to encourage students to think critically about what information they should include in their projects, as well as how that information should be presented. In other words, they are designed to encourage groups to think critically, creativity, and thoroughly. Something which I mention multiple times throughout the semester is that an “A” grade for many academic assignments would be the equivalent of “meeting expectations” in much of the work force. For this reason I discourage “check the box” grading criteria. A couple examples are provided below:

GROUP PROJECT FEEDBACK

Upon conclusion of group projects, I believe it is important to provide timely and constructive feedback. This feedback happens in two contexts. First, I provide feedback immediately following their presentations (taking the group outside of the classroom for 3-5 minutes), sharing notes that I took on my group presentation evaluation form while they were presenting. Then, I provide collective feedback the class following the completion of all group projects. An example of the group presentation evaluation form and feedback deck (Sport Finance Business Extension Project) are provided through the links below:

EXTRA CREDIT TEMPLATE COMMUNICATION

Something that I believe essential for aiding student performance is to consistently communicate expectations through class discussion, and through the documents I provide.  Moreover, I make sure that my expectations align with my philosophy. One example of aligning my expectations with my teaching philosophy involves extra credit. I try to make extra credit assignments meaningful for my students, and I also want to encourage them to work on the assignments prior to actually needing extra credit. Therefore, I provide one extra credit assignment opportunity to the students per lecture course I teach. This extra credit assignment is on the syllabus and made available the first day of class. The submission deadlines are usually before course midterms. I regularly remind students that I will offer no additional extra credit throughout the semester, because I want to encourage them to be proactive. I also want to discourage them from believing that their is an “escape hatch” offered for those who fail to work diligently all semester.

The below example is an extra credit assignment that I provided for one of my Sport Finance courses. The template is already provided in the format that I am requesting, and within the template I clearly share my expectations on the assignment, as well as the rationale for its development.