Good Beginnings

It was the 2nd day of classes today, and the first case of the semester in my advanced corporate (case) class. It probably went as well as any class I remember teaching. By design, it wasn't a tough case - more descriptive/intuitive than computational. But it made for a good warmup and tone-setter for the class.

What made it work was that almost everyone in class had something to add. And in addition, I knew almost all their names already (at the end of the first class, I had them hold a piece of paper in front of them with an assigned number (off my class roll), and I took their pictures one by one with a digital camera. After shrinking and cropping the photos and putting them on two sheets, I had a "cheat sheet" that I could review (the whole process took about an hour, and I probably will be able to do it in half that next time). They were surprised, since none of their professors had ever gotten their names down so fast. Of course, at a better school, I'd be given the pictures automatically, but them's the breaks.

I like teaching cases, and success in the class is largely driven by student preparation and participation (if they're prepared and participate, everything will be fine, but if not, you're screwed). And it definitely leads to better preparation knowing that the professor knows who you are and WILL be calling on you - by name.

As for today, in a 75 minute class, we heard from 23 of the 25 students (often multiple times). Even more encouraging, some of the quieter students from my investments class seem to be the most vocal.

As an aside, I informed the class on the first day of class that they'd be given a quiz on the third day (one week hence) that covers selected skills they should have obtained from the principles class (like time value, DCF valuation, NPV/IRR, common financial ratios, etc...). I gave a very detailed list covering what they should know, so they have no surprises (I even emailed it out to the students the week before classes started). This should give them a good incentive to make sure that they know what they need to know in order to succeed in the class.

The combination of the high visibility and the quiz on prereqs might have something to do with the fact that of the 30 or so that started the class, six have already dropped after only the 2nd class. It might be that, or it could be the usual adding and dropping that happens in the first week (I call the in-and-outers "tourists"). I guess they went back over the border.

Either way, it's a smaller class, and the remaining ones will get a lot more attention and should be better prepared.

So, the semester is now officially off and running.