Staging You vs. Marta/José Luis

A few months ago, I took a course titled "How to achieve the formative objectives in the new ESHE" by Alfredo Prieto Martín. One of the first exercises was based on the paper "What the Student Does: teaching for enhanced learning", published by J. Biggs in "Higher Education Research and Development 18: 57-75". The scenario was two students, Marta and José Luis. Marta was very thorough in her study, she usually goes deeper than required when understanding the course material, she is interested in all the topics, etc. On the opposite side of the spectrum, José Luis is not convinced he should be at the university to begin with. He quickly skims through the material to see if he can make the minimum score to pass the course.

Based on this scenario, a few questions were posed along the lines of what to do to improve the overall learning experience in such setting. There are multiple aspects to consider here. Typically, the further appart the learning profiles of the students in a class, the more difficult to teach at a level that is appropriate.

But when I first saw the example, I started thinking if such example, with a twist, could be given to the students themselves. After a few days thinking about it, something solid came to light. The situation in the scenario, with very minor changes can be taken to a place more familiar to the students. Here is what I tried in the very lasts minutes of my first class of the semester.

The first step was to warn that the following exercise was not directly related to the course topic, although I considered it interesting because it is something that they might find in their near future working for a corporation. A job offer was published in the newspaper (I showed the actual offer taken from the paper a few weeks ago, to add more realism). The offer contained some of the topics covered in some courses and mentioned explicitly the need to have a telecommunication engineering degree. I proposed the students to follow me for a while for some hypothetical thinking.

They took the offer and sent the CV right away. Sure enough, a few days later they had the interview with somebody we'll call "Big Boss", and they got the job. The conditions for the job were to make sure a team of two subordinates and you managed to keep a set of tools working seamlessly for the company, solving problems, fixing bugs, etc. The salary was fairly high on the condition that the team performed well. This is to convey certain pressure to make sure everything goes smooth.

The team is made of Marta and José Luis. A month down the road, problems appear. Certain problems take longer than usual to solve, users are beginning to complain, not all bugs are fixed, etc. Marta is an incredibly thorough person. Smart, quick to analyze a problem, even quicker to propose solutions, creative, reliable, etc. José Luis, on the other hand, was the opposite. Unreliable, sometimes a tad irresponsible, detached from the main problems. The services to maintain were divided among you three, and obviously, those taken care by José Luis were greatly lagging behind.

"Big Boss" calls you to the upstairs office and says that the department is not performing as expected (add the line that "your job is at risk" to increase tension). The conversation is a bit delicate and quickly you mention that José Luis is the culprit. "Big Boss" wants solutions, and although you were quick to point out that he should be replaced or transferred, the actual situation in the company rules that completely out of the picture. Big Boss expects YOU to solve the problem and ... you got three minutes to talk in groups of two or three to propose the most effective measures you would take to solve the problem. Anything goes except firing or transferring José Luis.

As mentioned before, the exercise was done at the very end of the first class. The interaction had been close to null. My students usually go to that first class mainly to pay attention to the rules to pass the course. But at that point, the three minute period translated into a sea of conversations.

After the time was up, I kindly asked each team for the proposed solutions. The first pleasant surprise was that they were mainly all on board with the role playing. They saw themselves sitting on that office with Big Boss feeling that either they fix the problem, or they will be fired. It follows a summary of the main actions that popped up (in no particular order):

• Talk with José Luis to find out exactly what is happening.
• Re-distribute the load among Marta en José Luis to see if that made any change
• Have Marta work closer to José Luis to see if he learns how to improve
• Fix a date between Marta en José Luis to see if they exchange (at least) some tips on how to work more efficiently
• Pay José Luis extra money if his performance increases
• Behave more as a coach for José Luis rather than as his Boss
• Get together with José Luis regularly to address his shortcomings
• ...

Students were really decided to attack the problem. Many solutions came up and they were more than willing to discuss them. So, at least as an ice-breaker, the exercise was a success. But by the time solutions are discussed, the time is up. Class is over, but before leaving you drop the punch line.

Explain that this example is not only useful because it could happen in a real situation to them and they need to perform on something that is not covered in any course, but it has a second interpretation. "Big Boss" is the University authorities. The person that was hired to make the most out of the team is the teacher! And turning to the students, you say: "it remains to find out who are you going to be in this course... I'll see you next Friday". And you leave.