Successful Teaching Practices @Gies

In weeks 9 – 13 of my BUS 301 course, student teams need this precious time to work the details of their research and proposed solutions for their clients. The instructive part of the course is over (taken care of in weeks 1-8), and now it’s time to roll up sleeves and work the project plan. So instead of hosting typical class in the classroom where all 8 teams attend, the senior managers and I invite just two teams into the classroom on an appointed day for what we call ‘Deep Coaching’, and for the other six teams, we allow autonomy.  We emphasize:  No, class is not cancelled (it never is), but rather team leaders must organize their team to meet elsewhere during regular class time – at a place of their choosing. Teams very often choose the Lincoln Atrium in BIF, Seibel Center, a nearby coffee shop, or a reserved room in the library.  Virtual meetings are not permissible. For team members to earn engagement credit for the day, they must do three things in their MS Teams channel:  Post a detailed agenda at the start of class time, post a team selfie photo at some point during class time, and post a list of actual accomplishments at the end of class time. The senior managers and I award attendance credit to those we see in the photo and we actively monitor the Teams channels to answer questions remotely but virtually in real-time. We find that we do not all need to be co-located in these four crucial weeks, and the team members often report an increased feeling of closeness and productivity with their team during this stretch and feeling more like a trusted work team and not passive students in a classroom.

At the midpoint mark in BUS 301, team members are required to complete a short peer evaluation survey that features 3 rating scales and 3 open ended questions about each teammate.  Peer evaluations themselves are not a novel course design concept in college classes that feature group projects. However, while many group project classes might use peer evaluation scores in the calculation of grades, their authentic use as feedback tools for opening hard conversations is rarely seen and leaves a gaping missed opportunity for learning and practice.  Indeed, in most cases, students inflate the numeric feedback scores (i.e., award 5 stars) often to the point that the peer score itself is meaningless.  In her book Dare to Lead (2018), Brené Brown advances the idea of “rumbling with vulnerability” as it relates to developing as a courageous leader and authentic teammate. As a certified facilitator of Brown’s work, I have developed an in-class activity to take the peer evaluation feedback a step further. On the day we come back to class after all teams have delivered their midpoint presentations to client and have given anonymous feedback to one another using he Peerceptiv tool in Canvas, I ask teams to “rumble” with the feedback.  At the start of class, I introduce Brown’s work and show an 18-minute video wherein Brown describes what a rumble is and how to use the conversational tools. She offers conversation starters that disarm others and open oneself to trust building: 

• The story I’m making up … 
• These are the assumptions I’m working from …
• Tell me more about your passion around this..
• I’m curious about …

I use a worksheet that walks teams through a 9-step process where they begin by reading  their Peerceptiv feedback, sitting with it letting it sink in, staying curious, leaning into vulnerability, and then going around the table one by one, owning their story and inviting conversation using one of the rumble starters.  By offering students tools to process written feedback and by teaching them conversational skills, the feedback becomes meaningful. Students often report upon reflection that the team rumble is when “things turned around” or when the team changed its relational approach or included a teammate in a new way.

In the online, asynchronous format of BADM 310, fostering student engagement and connection is especially important. Over the past two years, I’ve experimented with new strategies to improve the learning experience, and one particularly successful change has been the introduction of Yellowdig.

Yellowdig provides a platform where students can share personal experiences, reflect on course takeaways, and build relationships with their peers. I remain actively involved by posting, commenting, and recognizing insightful contributions. This consistent presence helps sustain a vibrant and inclusive online community. Student participation and the platform’s community health score have remained high, and feedback from students confirms that they value the opportunity to connect meaningfully with one another.

I’d like to recognize Assistant Learning Designer Marta Flores Minero from the Gies Teaching and Learning team for her outstanding support in setting setting up my Canvas site for this course. She was an absolute pleasure to work with.

BUS 301 is a unique course wherein students work in the same team the entire semester. The quality of their deliverables is a function of the type of culture they build in their team. Client teams are announced in Week 2. To help teams get off to a comfortable and relational start, I require teams to leave the classroom on a mission right after team rosters are announced.  Teams are invited to simply go take a walk for 40 minutes.  I ask them to come back and tell me one thing they all have in common, one way in which their diversity can be leveraged into a superpower, and to take and post their first team selfie photo in a unique or strange location on campus that will be hard to guess. While teams are out on their icebreaker walk (depending on weather and time of year, they might go get a coffee drink), the senior managers get busy populating the Microsoft Teams private channels, adding students to the rosters of each of these channels.

When teams gather back in the classroom, we ask them to post their selfies to their new Teams channel. Each team then reports a fun summary of their walk-and-talk and the rest of the class tries to guess where the selfie was taken.  Icebreakers are not a new concept in course design. But this one I find to be simple and meaningful and not overly contrived or silly. One semester, a student (who later became my SM) sent me a very thoughtful email the evening after this class period and told me how much her nervous system just needed to take a walk and not be inside a classroom. She thanked me for understanding the very stressful lives of students and how offering something as simple as a walk was a powerful way to ease into this class. I’ve continued the activity since.

In BUS 301 this year, I created and piloted a lesson innovation called Pre-Mortem Message in a Bottle Team Activity. Based on contemporary project management practices, I help teams from the very beginning of their teamwork imagine their failure. This act of imaging team failure is intended to mitigate risk to begin building trust. Team members are asked to imagine their team’s future failure and then write out a brief reason for that failure. The activity is designed to encourage foresight and reflection about the dynamics of teamwork. The goal is to think about both what will help the team succeed and what might cause challenges later. Projected on the screen is the image of a ship sinking (it goes with the message/bottle/sea theme). 

The prompt is:  “If our team begins to sink, it will be because . . ..”   Each teammate is asked to write an anonymous response on a small slip of paper, then the papers are rolled up and sealed in one small glass jar per team. Jars are labeled and kept in the windowsill as a visual reminder. As part of this Week 3 activity, we also discuss the adaptive role of conflict in teamwork, how when managed well it can lead to breakthroughs and innovations. Three teams were showing early signs of struggling this semester, so I retrieved their glass “bottle” and asked them to unfurl the messages inside and read them aloud to each other as a way to spark conversation about necessary improvements.

To increase sense of belonging and to help build a learning community, I offer the following extra credit assignment to all project teams during the first crucial weeks of the course.

During the first six weeks of class, if your team plans, executes, and demonstrates a team bonding event of your choice (“do it yourself”), each teammate will be awarded 2 points extra credit. The event should be a fun/social event, with no work or class-related focus. Your team must meet for at least an hour and every member of the team must attend for the entire duration.  We encourage you to pick an activity that means something to your team, so it could be going to one of your teammate’s favorite coffee shops on campus or partaking in someone’s hobby.

The idea is to make it personal and intentional. Some ideas could be a potluck where each person brings food to share, a trivia night, grabbing food or coffee at a unique place, going for a nature walk (e.g., Japan House), exploring Krannert, playing a sport, etc. Your event must somehow personally connect to one or more teammates. The purpose of the bonding event is NOT to engage in work for BUS 301!  Your mission is to get to hang out and  get know one another on a more personal level in order to build trust. To earn credit for this opportunity, please submit as a team the following. All within one singular document, please include… 

1) a team selfie photo including all teammates with a one-liner or phrase under it to remember your event by (like a caption) that reflects the location and meaning of the experience. 

2) as a team, write a 1-2 paragraph reflection on what you learned about one another; must mention something newly learned  about each teammate. Also answer this before-and-after question:  How do you think this experience will impact your team’s overall culture?  

I ask my students to complete a Student Data Sheet before the start of class to help me understand them as a learner and open up communication. I also typically offer students 10-minute one-on-one meetings in the first couple of weeks of class so I can get to know the students a bit and encourage them to come to me if they have any questions. Very simple things but I’ve gotten a good response from students.

One of my most effective teaching strategies for fostering a sense of belonging in my online ACCY 500 course is incorporating singing into live sessions. I offer extra credit to students who sing during a session, and if they do so as part of a group with at least 10 participants, every enrolled student receives the bonus. This simple yet joyful activity has had a surprisingly powerful impact.

1. It provides a refreshing break. Accounting can be intense, and singing offers a fun, energizing pause—for students and for me! Students have joined in from airports, family gatherings, and workplaces. Even children and significant others have gotten involved.

2. It fosters community. Most students organize themselves into singing groups so that everyone benefits. Watching a diverse group of adults—often over age 25—collaborate to sing together creates a shared sense of purpose, humor, and connection.

3. It redefines online engagement. This practice demonstrates that online learning can be interactive, human, and community-driven. It not only boosts morale but also helps students form authentic connections and grow their networks.

In MBA 590 – Strategic Entrepreneurship and Innovation, we introduced a Podcast Episode Curation Group Project as a capstone assessment. It was co-developed by Associate Learning Designer Melanie Wiscount and Professor Sandra Corredor. This assignment moved beyond traditional assessments by engaging students in a real-world medium that builds storytelling, communication, and teamwork skills, which are core competencies for entrepreneurial leadership.

Student teams created professional podcast episodes on topics related to creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Using a structured toolkit, they produced audio content, podcast cover art, and show notes. At the end of the course, we created a Strategic Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast Gallery, where students could listen to and learn from their peers. This peer-sharing aspect further deepened engagement and reinforced learning.

The project encouraged students to apply strategic frameworks, synthesize innovation trends, and communicate their ideas in a compelling way. Over 90% of teams enhanced their work with music, sound effects, and other real-world podcast features.

Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive:

• “It really pushed our team to think creatively on how to curate a captivating podcast.”
• “It was a fun collaboration that synthesized all the ideas of the series of courses.”
• “This course allowed me to review concepts and ideas of other courses. That idea of a podcast was fantastic.”

Course engagement scores rose steadily, reaching 4.17 in Fall 2024—the highest to date. This innovative podcast project played a significant role in making the capstone experience both impactful and memorable.

Another innovation I introduced in BADM 310 was replacing traditional tests with interactive simulations. This shift allows students to apply what they’ve learned in a dynamic, simulated environment, making the learning experience more engaging and practical. Students have responded very positively to the simulations, often commenting on their relevance and interactivity. Their post-simulation reflections have demonstrated a strong understanding of key course concepts and an ability to apply them effectively. This change has helped transform assessment into a more meaningful and applied learning opportunity.

Many undergraduate college courses feature some kind of participation, attendance, or engagement grade. The assessment structure in my sections of BUS 301 uses a 50/50 split of team grades and individual grades. As a component of individual grades, an “Engagement” score is used and makes up 10% of the overall course grade for the student – a significant portion. The four factors that make up the Engagement score are attendance record, quality of entries in a weekly work log, an average peer evaluation score, and Microsoft Teams activity metric.

Instead of waiting until the end of the semester to calculate and post these Engagement scores, and thus surprising some of the lesser-engaged students, my TAs and I calculate a hypothetical (but authentic) Engagement score based on the first 8 weeks of performance. Using an Excel model to calculate the scores, the TAs input and run the data, and then we post to Canvas the “What-if Engagement Grade.”  We assure students that this score does not count toward the final grade, but it is an important and predictive indicator of what a student’s final engagement score will be if they continue on the same behavioral trajectory. 

After these hypothetical grades are posted, students inquire about how they can improve. As an instructional team, the TAs and I take a developmental approach.  We coach individual students and whole teams on how to improve their commitment to the course, to each other, and in the case of BUS 301, to the client. This approach role-models the kind of leadership we hope to inspire in students. I find that the second half of the semester is a major shift –  we see significant increases in team communication frequency and renewed commitments to engagement in team meetings.  It takes a lot of energy around the midterm, but the return on that investment is significant.

A few of us who teach sections of  BUS 301 (Business in Action) collaborate with Assistant Professor Pranav Gupta as part of his research on Collective Intelligence. Using a version of his CI model and serving as portals for team data collection, we deploy a biweekly Team Health Survey to collect real-time data from student teams along four dimensions: Psychological Safety, Collective Effort, Responsiveness, and Leveraged Skills Collective Intelligence.

While professor Gupta is using the data advance his collective intelligence theoretical model, faculty in the BUS 301 classrooms use data practically to coach teams on their performance across these dimensions every two weeks. Like a clinical checkup, teams receive a set of dashboards that depicts their collective performance across the dimensions of team health. This regular feedback, which also compares the team to an expected baseline and to the average scores of other teams in the class, has improved team communication and performance. It also formalizes and makes accessible the ambiguous and varied notions of what “teamwork” is and how students can change their collective behaviors to improve efficiency and effectiveness.  The approach has major potential for all courses that feature a team project lasting multiple weeks.

In Business 101, one of the ways that we coordinate with and connect to other courses, especially those in the cohort course sequence is by using the Gies Professional Pathway (GPP) framework created by Kristina Wright, Director of Career and Professional Development. Students are introduced to the GPP by Kristina early in the semester. It is used for resume development and Career Fair/interview preparation. Further, the capstone project that the students complete has competencies tagged on each deliverable. Finally students complete a GPP self-assessment and look forward to skills they want to work on in Business 201.

One of the things we do to support students’ engagement in Business 101 is to create a flexible and accessible absence policy. Students attend their in-person classes on Friday and may have many reasons for needing to miss class such as mental health, religious observances, or interviews, to name a few. Students only need to fill out a form, and they are given information for making up the class with other peers the following week. This process has the effect of offering flexibility to students, minimizing administrative overhead (emailing back and forth with learners about whether or not an absence is excused, collecting documentation for illness, etc.), and offering accountability (class is important and thus content needs to be made up and not just excused). I have found this also puts the ball in the student’s court and supports their autonomy. If they want to recover the attendance points, they can make up the class. If they prefer to take the hit to their grade, they can do that too. But it means the learner makes the choice and not the instructor.

Business 101 works to create a sense of community via a unique delivery model. Students attend a professional development lab every Tuesday on Zoom (all 800+ students). In these sessions students engage with professional development content and get a chance to put it into practice. For example, they learn from Kristina Wright about the Gies Professional Pathway (GPP), they hear from each major/minor director in Gies about the different Gies majors/minors, and they get a chance to connect with their capstone clients. Then on Friday students attend one of 33 small lecture/discussion sessions of 1 hour and 50 minutes. These all occur in person and are led by an advanced undergraduate student, a Section Leader. Section Leaders are given short pre-recorded lecture videos, slide decks, and timing sheets each week as an entire lesson plan which they then deliver to the students. Students LOVE their Section Leaders and rate them very highly (4.8/5.0). Also, the small sections allow students to develop friendships and a sense of belonging at Gies.

I serve as the Program Leader and Instructor for this short-term study abroad experience. I’m a passionate advocate for international education and I have led the South Africa study abroad program in partnership with VACorps since 2023. I initially served as a program assistant on the 2019 Spring Break Cape Town trip.

This immersive experience guides students through a learning journey on entrepreneurship in South Africa. They explore Cape Town’s dynamic business landscape from the city’s thriving startup ecosystem to established corporates and social enterprises.

I invite you to watch this short video to learn more and hear directly from our students. You can also view the course syllabus and the itinerary to get a fuller picture of the experience.

Transformative Learning: During their time in Cape Town, students engage with local businesses and organizations, broadening their perspectives on global business and entrepreneurship. Learning goals include:

• Discuss how business works in South Africa.

• Compare African business decision-making to practices from the student’s home country to gain new insights about how social, political, and economic forces shape home business practices.
• Understand various innovative business strategies, techniques, and philosophies.
• Develop sufficient intercultural competence to function confidently and competently in international settings.
• Identify differences in business philosophy, strategic decision-making, and regional cultural differences through group discussions and intercultural interactions.

A key highlight of the program is learning about the lasting impact of Apartheid from the communities directly affected, which challenges students to think critically about social, political, and economic forces that shape global business practices. Building Community and Lasting Connections: Beyond the academic aspects, I emphasize the importance of setting clear expectations and fostering community among participants. Pre-departure meetings, both formal (covering South African history and culture) and informal (social gatherings), help students build connections before the trip. Many participants form friendships, staying in touch through group chats and continuing their conversations long after returning home.

Encouraging Faculty Involvement: Leading this study abroad experience has been so impactful that I have already recruited two additional faculty members to get involved, with others expressing interest. I encourage you to explore opportunities in global education because it is extremely satisfying to see students expand their worldviews and discover their purpose.

I would like to thank Teaching Assistant Professor Xiangyi Spencer who has served as my Cape Town program assistant on the 2024 and 2025 trips volunteering two weeks of her personal time over winter break each year. Professor Spencer is looking to establish and lead her own study abroad trip in starting in 2027.

I also would like to thank Grace Cleary, Assistant Director at Gies Global Programs. The Cape Town program exists and is successful because of Grace who works tirelessly to promote and support it. Her support includes budgeting, subsidizing trip costs, recruiting applicants, awarding student travel scholarships, assisting with student travel VISA applications, and managing student travel arrangements.

New this year, we implemented an Alumni Mentor program for ACCY 449 and the VITA program. In our pilot year, we have one alumni, Jana Mitchell, who meets with students once a week to help them navigate preparing tax returns through the VITA program. Jana focuses on building critical thinking skills and working in uncertain environments with the students. This is something I saw missing (and have heard from others) in new hires when I was in industry. My hope is that VITA students will be a step ahead when it comes to these things.

I incorporate a partnership with Salt and Light in the VITA program. Salt and Light provides space for students to meet with taxpayers and helps with coordination of volunteers from the community to help students. We also have partnerships with Urbana Library for training space and have worked with DSC and the YWCA New American Welcome Center to provide tax preparation services to their clients.

BUS 101 conducts alumni networking sessions for its 800+ students each fall. The networking is held online with approximately 80 alumni attending. Clair Bryan first offers a brief discussion of how to network, and then small breakouts are created with 1 alum and 9-12 students. The rooms are small enough that each student gets the opportunity to introduce themselves and ask a question. Alums are often former section leaders and recent grads who want to give back, and this is an easy ask – 50 minutes on a Zoom call. This is also a great opportunity for first-semester students to practice networking in a low-stakes environment.

Cass Grimm and Clair Bryan in the Office of Career and Professional Development recruit alumni to participate, and Clair helps run the sessions.

In Business 101 students complete an Social Impact Project. In the project, students work with actual client companies to assess their current social impact and offer a suggestion on how to improve that social impact. Students research the company, identify a social impact area that interests them, investigate a current initiative or program of the client, and finally develop a suggestion to improve the client’s current program. Throughout the process, they are encouraged to use generative AI to support their learning and brainstorming. Finally, client representatives come to campus in person, engage with student presentations, and network with students.

Cass Grimm and Elizabeth Chominski as well as the entire Career and Professional Development team help onboard companies and ensure that the engagement with companies runs smoothly.

Beginning in Fall 2023, I participated in a pilot directed by the Provost’s Office to reduce the performance gap among students (the ICRI – Inclusive Course Redesign Initiative). As part of this pilot program, I redesigned my ACCY 201 course to help bridge the gap. You can view a summary of the redesign changes in this document.

I would like to recognize the team at the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, specifically Cheelan Bo-Linn and Katie Dialpaz, and many others at the CITL for their help, input and guidance in redesigning the course.

Motivated by my research into business education and societal inequality, I developed BADM 395 (Business, Power & Inequality) to address a critical gap: helping students understand the historical and current roles businesses play in perpetuating or mitigating inequality. You can view the course syllabus here.

The course has grown steadily in popularity, with enrollment increasing from 13 students initially to 28 today, reflecting its resonance with students seeking purposeful education.

Innovative Course Content & Teaching Approaches: BADM 395 tackles deeply challenging and meaningful issues, such as the legacy of slavery, bias in technology, gender inequality, and modern forms of oppression. I employ a variety of impactful teaching methods, including guest speakers and alumni panels allowing students to hear firsthand from experts addressing critical societal issues, such as bias in technology and the historical power dynamics in the food industry. I utilize Yellowdig, an online community building and learning platform where students can continuously engage with course topics. I assign a book review which encourages critical thinking skills. Students have to examine topics that are not often discussed, frequently from a perspective they have never considered, and think critically about how this information impacts their own understanding of the business world. And, as part of the course, students work in teams to deliver group presentations that apply course concepts. A sample student presentation about pig butchering (an online scamming technique) and its connection to human trafficking is available here.

Impact on Students: The true success of this course lies in the transformative impact it has on students. Students regularly report gaining deeper insights into the pervasive nature of social inequalities and their connections to business practices. Student feedback underscores how the course empowers them to identify their purpose and potential societal impact in their future business careers:

• Increased Sense of Agency and Purpose: “The biggest takeaway I’ve had from this class is the sense of agency it’s imparted onto me…I began to realize how much of the world’s unethical business can manifest on a small scale. For example, someone working in supply chain management for a Fortune 500 company can have a massive impact on sustainable sourcing of goods. This class makes me excited to start my career as a new graduate.”
• Awareness of Persistent Issues: “It’s crazy to see how baked-in bias is into essentially all of our societal systems.” “I learned how slavery has set building blocks for current business practices still used today.“
• Personal Transformation and Commitment to Action: “Thanks to Professor Fulton’s suggestions, I took a deep look into how I could utilize my interests in real estate to improve the system of racism…This further inspired me to learn more about the issue and make a positive impact on society.“

Future Vision & Broader Impact: My goal is to see BADM 395 become a general education requirement at the university, emphasizing its importance for developing socially conscious, purposeful leaders across disciplines. I would like to not only educate students but also equip them with the mindset, knowledge, and confidence to foster meaningful societal change through their careers in business and beyond.

When I first began teaching ACCY 500, the course was structured as a 16-week sequence covering both Financial and Managerial Accounting. The format was later revised to fit within an 8-week session focused exclusively on Financial Accounting. After teaching under this new course structure, I found it too limiting and recognized that students would benefit from dedicated time on managerial accounting concepts as well.

Consequently, I redesigned the 8-week course to allocate four weeks each to Financial and Managerial Accounting. I also shifted the instructional approach from a traditional “debits and credits” model to a more application-based framework: Accounting for Users. While this change initially seemed daunting, it proved to be highly effective. Students engaged deeply with real-world cases and completed a final project involving company evaluations.

Since implementing this new structure and approach, student course evaluations have risen to an average of 4.8 out of 5.0, indicating strong satisfaction.