A week ago, Darden’s teaching faculty gathered for a seminar on “Engaging the Students.” Students come to Darden (and most schools) with the expectation of engaging with the faculty. Such an expectation is possibly higher at Darden because “community” is a key pillar of our culture. We aim to…
“Well begun is half done,” says the English proverb. The opening day of a course can create a first impression about a teacher and course that can help (or hinder) the rest of the sessions. To what should the new or seasoned instructor pay attention as one kicks off the…
“I didn’t leave the Republican Party. I felt that the Party left me.” –Ben Bernanke ((A quotation from Bernanke’s Memoir, The Courage to Act, and reported in Newsmax October 7, 2015, at http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/StreetTalk/Ben-Bernanke-Republican-Party-GOP-Federal-Reserve/2015/10/07…
Earlier this month, Melissa Thomas-Hunt and I convened another session in our faculty series on case teaching. This was focused on “Getting the Best out of the Quiet Student.” Here’s a sketch of what we discussed. At the outset, we took a poll of…
So much of the art of teaching by the case method involves asking rather than telling. We teach this way out of a belief and considerable evidence that learning “sticks” when a student makes his or her own sense of an idea, as opposed to passively memorizing it. …
“Tell me and I forget; teach me and I may remember; involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin The seasoned learner is highly relevant to the work of graduate professional schools generally and business schools in particular, where virtually all of…
In contrast to previous years, I will be brief, forgoing my usual exhortation to read more books in the belief that if you’re reading this blog, you are probably doing a lot of reading anyway. And I’ll dispense with telling you how many books I’ve read this…
As I write this concluding post for the fall semester, the present context gives more meaning to our readings about the Great Depression. Donald Trump’s startling win in the Presidential election, the buoyant estimates for infrastructure spending (maybe $1 trillion) under the new administration, and the vaulting gains…
An important lesson of the presidency of George H.W. Bush is the importance of an identity to the success of a leader. An identity refers not only to substance (as in an ideology) but also style (as in how one gets things done.) Identity emerges as a…
“This idea — that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for…
