Rowan Spazzoli

Strategist. Lecturer. Consultant

Saying Goodbye to Students

My favourite teacher in high school was Mrs. Frankiskos, who took us for maths in Matric. Beyond being a phenomenal maths teacher, she would spend time chatting to us before and after class where she’d impart her wisdom and knowledge. We’d have conversations about current affairs, our potential careers, gossip from around the school and receive general life advice.

However, in the last few weeks of our final year these discussions happened less and less. In fact, she started to become colder towards us. I was confused by this, and approached her one day before class.

She said that the most difficult part of teaching for her was saying goodbye to the class at the end of the year. Seeing her students leave was painful because she had invested so much in getting to know and understand them. And suddenly they were gone.  So in the last few weeks of term, she’d pull back and try to divest and dissociate so that it hurt less.

I didn’t quite understand this until I begun teaching at the University. My first taste of it was with my management accounting students in 2014. When I said goodbye to my first two tutor groups I had such a sense of loss. I felt like I’d grown so close to them, and that I’d never get to interact with them again.

Over the past two years that feeling has only been amplified. In my role as an assistant lecturer (on the Strategic Thinking course), not only do I have more influence on their learning but I also interact more in consultation with certain students. I’ll often be involved in giving career advice, assisting with their startups and helping them get through the year

Furthermore, in both years I’ve been in charge of a team of tutors on the course. It is difficult not to get close to the tutors, as we have such great discussions and I get to guide them and watch them grow. And they also leave at the end of the year.

Finally, convening a course this semester (Management Theory in Practice) has resulted in the most difficult goodbye of them all. The class had 45 students, so it was small enough for me to get to know them all. I marked every one of their assignments and exams, including a deeply personal leadership manifesto which was the final paper for the course. I also got to know the businesses they had all started, and went along to events to support them whenever I could.

I’ve watched them grow, mature and change this semester. And knowing I won’t see many of them again is heartbreaking.

The Goodbye Message

On both courses today I sent out a goodbye message. It definitely made me feel more sad, but it also provided closure. In both messages, I thanked the students and said that if they ever wanted to reach out I’d always be happy to chat.

I included this quote in both messages:

“When you achieve your dreams, it’s not so much what you get, it’s who you become in achieving them” 

Henry David Thoreau

I think that, as with Mrs Frankiskos, saying goodbye is definitely going to be the most difficult part of teaching for me. Though I don’t think I’ll be able to employ the same strategy as her to ease the pain, I know I will develop my own one in time.

And despite being sad to see my students go, I can’t wait to see them flourish.

 

Image is taken at my old school during the rugby festival in 2011. I thought the rain was quite appropriate

 

Blog 40/365. Read more about my #365of25 journey here

 

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Managing our decision biases

Forming teaching and learning relationships with students is an inherent part of the education process. The deeper the connection, the easier it is to tailor the content to a student and the better the teacher is able to guide them along the learning journey.

A major problem with this is that it forms biases in the perception of students. Whether we mean to or not, we end up picking out favourites who we subsequently root for throughout the course.

This creates a significant problem when it comes to evaluating students. We are naturally inclined to give our favourites better marks and to score the disengaged students lower. It’s difficult to avoid, even if you’re aware of it.

As I mentioned in my post about updating our exam practices, in our courses we get students to write their peoplesoft number on their exams. This is instead of using the student number (which is formed using the their name and is therefore still recognisable).

I was reminded of the importance of this tonight when marking. I kept wanting to check who the student was before starting the process so I could anchor my marking on this. However, in keeping it anonymous I know my marking is fairer and less biased.

Biases Outside of Academia

In the real world, biases play an active role in so many decisions. As a result, the outcome is often not based on the merit of the situation. Instead, it is tinted by our own perception. And the most concerning thing about this is that we are often unaware of this.

It’s hard, but we really need to take a look at the filters behind how we make decisions.  We need to make every attempt to reduce the biases as much as possible. And in doing so, we take a small step to creating a more just and fair world.

Image is taken at my desk while marking. This has been my view for the last two days

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The two words that make it worth it

This year I’ve been a course convener for the first time and been a lecturer on another course, with a combined 600 students between them. It has been extremely difficult at times. I’ve handled over 1400 query emails, lectured 20+ times and had over a hundred hours of consultation time with students.

Furthermore, there were protests towards the end of the year and we had to make decisions under conditions of extreme uncertainty. At the same time, the protests triggered my anxiety, which I had to try as best I could to work through.

To top it all off, some students are unbelievably difficult regardless of how hard you try.

At one point I decided I didn’t want to come back.

I had had enough.

However, I changed my mind. And today I was reminded of the two words that did:

Thank you

Two students sent me heartfelt emails saying thank you for the courses, and all the work I’d done. The simple gesture of saying thank you made me feel like I had achieve my objective, that I had done well.

And suddenly, those two words made it all worth it.

Image is from the exam tents on campus. It was incredibly hot and noisy. We had to write in these tents because it was the only way the university could fortify against protestors. There are 50+ police in riot gear that surround the venue as well as fences, barbed wire and a bunch of emergency services. Really not the best conditions to write an exam under. But the students made it through, and that’s all that matters

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We care more

Seth Godin was the person who inspired me to start this blogging journey. He writes every day, sometimes only a few lines, and his nuggets of wisdom are awesome.

His post today, titled The Unfair Advantage, is about how caring more can create an incredible advantage, in business or in life. It’s difficult to do, but it keeps people coming back.

In the courses I run, we’re disadvantaged in a few ways. We don’t have the biggest administrative capacity. The marking process is highly subjective (unlike something like accounting) which frustrates students. And the concepts are sometimes difficult to grasp as they are often quite abstract and “fluffy”

But over the last few years we’ve developed a culture that sets us apart for many students

We care more.

If you’re struggling in a course we set you up with a mentor to help you. If you’ve had a family emergency we’ll support you and get you back on track when you return. If you are having a career crisis we’ll find a way to guide you onto the path that’s right for you.

We help our students start businesses. We encourage them with activities outside the course. We take an interest in their growth and development.

For some students, this doesn’t matter. They’re fine without us. But for others we have the ability to change their whole world. It’s difficult, and it means going over and above the call of duty. But it’s worth it.

We care more

Image is from my students’ Genesis project demo day (as part of their Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship). I’m not involved in their project but drove to campus specifically to see their event and ended up buying one of their fantastic products

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The contradictory practice of grading students

In the course that I lecture on, we assign students a final paper entitled “My Leadership Manifesto.” In this paper the students are to discuss their understanding of leadership and critique the leadership concepts they’ve been taught. Following this, they outline what type of leader they’d like to be and the leadership style they’d like to pursue in the future.

I love this assignment, as it forces students to really engage with the course content and reflect on their own leadership style going forward.

However, I have found it incredibly difficult to grade it. It’s not that there aren’t some great ones and some terrible ones, it’s more that a grade doesn’t properly reflect what has gone on. The difference between a 63 and 68 makes no sense, particularly when you consider how highly subjective these papers are.

And this is one of the most difficult things about academia for me. That we’re forced to give marks for work that is highly subjective and dependent on the student and their way of thinking. In some instances, such as accounting and mathematics exams, it makes sense to grade a student. But when it comes to personal reflections and subjective writing, which happen in both the Strategy and the Management courses I lecture on, it makes little sense.

If I were to grade these in my own way, I’d first and foremost focus on the feedback, as this is a crucial part of learning. Then there would be three grading levels according to how the student has met their own potential: outstanding, commendable and insufficient. This would then pave the way for proper reflective learning.

Unfortunately, putting in place such a system within a hierarchal, mechanistic organization such as the university is difficult. However, I hope that one day we’ll move toward a marking system that is tailored toward learning and not towards an arbitrary allocation of marks.

And maybe our students would be better for it.

Image is of the exam tents that UCT has erected on campus. Exams are another outdated form of assessment which are in dire need of an review

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Updating our exam practices

The course I lecture on, Strategic Thinking, aims to avoid examining how much someone is able to parrot learn and instead tries to test their reasoning, analysis and insight. Some of the ways we do this include:

  • releasing the case study for the exam 2 weeks before
  • leaving the questions as open as possible (i.e. not being prescriptive)
  • allowing students to bring their course readers and notes into the exam
  • alleviating time pressure by making the exam four hours long
  • not setting a memo but instead having a discussion around how we would approach marking each question
  • anonymising the exam papers so there is less bias in marking (which has to do more with our process than how the student thinks)

At this point we’ve done about as much as we can within the university’s rules. However, there is still a long way to go. As we move into the fourth industrial revolution, knowing content/information is going to be less important than having the ability to think critically.

We all need to update our teaching practices to ensure we prepare our students for this future.

Image is from the strategic thinking exam in 2015

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Going Beyond

When dealing with students in the courses I manage my mantra is to consistently go beyond the call of duty in helping them. In my email exchanges I often include an offer of support if they need it. I’ll sometimes come to campus just to meet with one student to chat about their exam worries. And I’ll give out my number in the course documentation in case there is an emergency.

It can sometimes be very tiring and overwhelming . Particularly in a week like this where we’re dealing with protests, final DP/ marks lists and are a week away from exams (which are taking place in a militarized tent). In the last 2 days alone I have had almost 100 emails that have been tended to.

However, despite this it is worth it. It creates an environment where students aren’t afraid to ask for help. It gives them the opportunity to stumble without the fear of wiping out. And most importantly for me, it sometimes helps foster a deep and long lasting connection that goes beyond the course.

And this is where the magic lies for me. For the majority of students, they’ll never engage this much or need the support. But for the one or two that do, I can have a real impact. And that is ultimately why I teach- so that I can be involved in helping a person grow in their academic, personal and professional life, and that I can grow alongside them.

So yes, it can be exhausting some times. But going beyond is what makes it worth it, and I wouldn’t change a thing

Image is with Langa Manqele (Centre), one of our guest lecturers on the course and Vuyo (right) one of the students.

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