Out of the Nest

In this month’s Faculty Spotlight, Elizabeth interviews UMW’s Faculty Director for the Speaking Intensive Program and Associate Professor of Communication, Adria Goldman.

You’re in your second year as the Speaking Intensive Director—what drew you to this role?  

I’ve always been annoyed by common misconceptions about the study of Communication, so it is great to be in a position where I can help reinforce the value of communication in various subject areas, and for life, in general. 

Last semester, you presented on a teaching panel at the Eastern Communication Association conference—can you tell us a little about what you presented on?  

I was a part of a panel on collaborative team based and experiential learning. I discussed the class project I use when teaching Seminar in Digital Rhetoric (a capstone course with AMW designation). Students work together to design and implement a project promoting digital literacy to some target audience. The project is student led as the class works together to brainstorm and vote on a topic, create work agreements, develop task groups, and create a grading rubric. I shared details of the assignment and its implementation and discussed the value of student-led, team-based activities. It was fun to share the project with others and I walked away with so many additional ideas to use in the classroom.

You have an extensive teaching background; how do you see your research and teaching informing each other?  

I am always bringing my research into the classroom, whether it’s to add to our discussion on a particular topic or to serve as an example of the research process as I help students with mapping out their own research. The discussions I have with my students also inspire me to research. As we unpack course topics in rhetoric, identity, and pop culture, and I help them with developing their ideas, it makes me want to extend my own research and add to conversations on identity, communication, and pop culture. Teaching courses like Communication Research Methods and Seminar in Digital Rhetoric (capstone course) also give me the cool opportunity to use my research as an example, while constantly challenging myself to stay up to date on research practices—which helps my teaching and my researching.  

What does your research agenda look like right now? Has it changed in unanticipated ways?   

I continue to study the role of identity in communication, and I continue to focus heavily on representations of Black women in popular culture…Following a book project on Issa Rae and her media messages of identity and intersectionality, I have begun…exploring pop culture representations of Black Women’s Sexuality and the real-life implications of such messaging.  

My research agenda did change a tad in that I have spent more attention looking at media literacy.  I am trying to discover ways that I can use my research findings to create resources and activities that promote media literacy for younger audiences…I have always felt like research should live beyond books and academic journals. I am excited that I am finally looking for ways to follow up on that thought. 

Is there anything that stands out to you that has prepared you or continues to prepare you most for effective teaching?   

Reflection has been huge, and I love to include students on those reflections, as well. Thinking about what I originally intended for an assignment, as well as what worked well and what didn’t work well has really helped me in the classroom. I also think it is incredibly valuable to chat with others who are teaching…I have grown so much as a teacher by conversing with others in teaching and learning from their experiences and reflection.  

Who was your favorite teacher?  

I have so many! If I had to narrow it down to one it would be Dr. Pamela Tracy—my undergraduate professor in Communication Studies at Longwood University. Being in her classroom was both challenging and fun. She inspired me to become a professor and I strive to create a classroom culture like she did.  

What is your favorite way to start a class?  

Two ways — first I ask an attendance question about some random fun fact (ex: what is your favorite restaurant) and then we take a moment for students to share good news and updates. It is cool to learn about the students and especially fun to watch them celebrate each other’s good news. 

8 a.m. class or 4:00 p.m. class?  

4 p.m. — that’s a tough one, but I am not a morning person 🙂  

What is your dream class to teach? 

Black Women and Popular Culture. It would follow the format of a book I edited years ago with some friends from graduate school.  The class would use a mix of scholarly, popular, and news sources as we study Black women’s complex relationship with pop culture. I would invite some of the contributing authors from the book to come in and chat with the class.  

What is your one piece of advice for a brand-new faculty member?  

Give yourself time and grace to learn your students, your school, and your teaching style. After each year, reflect on what went well and what didn’t. Whatever didn’t work—learn from it, scratch it off the list, and move on.  

What podcast, book, or show would you recommend right now?  

Abbott Elementary. Quinta Brunson is amazing.  

If you could take any class in the UMW catalog, what would it be? 

Dr. Gary Richards is offering Perspectives in Sexuality during spring 2024 and I would love to be a part of those class discussions. (If I can take two, I’d add Games and Culture by Dr. Zach Whalen. I am always hearing students rave about the course and the cool things they learn.) 

What were you like as a student in college?  

Busy! I was a commuter student with both an off-campus and on-campus job, so my weekly planner was my best friend. Back then, my plan was to be the next Oprah and I made that announcement each year during class introductions. (So funny how later tutoring microeconomics made me shift my plan to teaching!) 

In our monthly Faculty Spotlight, CfT Faculty Fellow, Elizabeth Johnson-Young, goes out to find colleagues who are bringing energy and new ideas into their teaching, often turning that work into research in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).

This month, we’d like you to meet two COB colleagues:

Alex Dunn, Associate Professor of Management

Samira Fallah, Assistant Professor/Strategy

You two have a SoTL article that was recently published. Can you tell us a little about what this project investigated and what you found?

We took a common executive strategic planning tool, called scenario planning, and translated the tool into a process that students can use when planning for various parts of their career and job search process. The activity walks students through evaluating external forces, developing possible future situations, and analyzing the implications of each of the situations. The activity can be completed in face-to-face classes, outside of class, and in online classes.

Our article, titled “The Future Is Scary!: A Job Search Scenario Planning Exercise to Encourage Student Resilience Capacity and Reduce Stress,” has been published in the Journal of Management Education.

What are the implications of the research?

Based on pretest-posttest data, students (N = 71) report that the exercise significantly reduced stress about their own job searches and increased positive mood. Most students also agreed that scenario planning can help with understanding how to prepare and approach different job search situations and can be a useful tool for dealing with future unknowns.

How was the project valuable to you as a teacher and as a researcher?

From a teaching perspective, we now have a great activity that we can use in a variety of classes and can cater it to the specific topic we are teaching. Alex teaches human resources and can use this while she teaches about recruitment. Samira teaches strategic management and can use this while she teaches about scenario planning as a planning tool.

From a research perspective, this project is part of a special issue called “Teaching about Contemporary Careers”. We hope it reaches other management educators who can adopt the exercise and use it in their classes to help students better prepare for their own job searches.

What does your research agenda look like right now? Has it changed in unanticipated ways?

We both have two streams of research: discipline-related discovery research and SoTL research. We have found a great organization called the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS) that supports SoTL research in our discipline. We have plans to continue SoTL research and are working on our next project together that we plan to submit to the MOBTS conference this year, get feedback on, and then turn into another publication.

What is your favorite UMW class to teach?

Alex: Human Resources or Management & Films

Samira: Principles of Management and Strategic Leadership

What is your favorite way to start a class?

Alex: Hearing about student’s lives outside of class – their weekend plans, sports team updates, travels, etc.

Samira: Capturing students’ attention right from start! I prefer starting class with a question, an engaging video, or a relevant news article that gets students thinking about the session’s topic.

8 a.m. class or 4:00 p.m. class?

Alex: Despite being a morning person (like Samira), my speaking voice is not ready at 8am. So, 4pm all the way!

Samira: I am definitely a morning person but 8 am is a bit too early for me! Make it 9, and I am all in!

What is your dream class to teach?

Alex: an advanced OB/leadership class where students solve real-world leadership problems for companies and learn about themselves as leaders.

Samira: a class all about Chief Executive Officers (CEOs)!

What podcast would you currently recommend? (or book/show/etc.—you pick!)

Alex: I don’t want to embarrass myself too much here, but I listen to a daily pop culture podcast called The Toast. I also keep up with Adam Grant’s WorkLife podcast and anything Brene Brown.

Samira: A Podcast, in Persian, called Channel B which introduces interesting books. I am also a fan of “Wisdom From The Top with Guy Raz” and “Inside the Strategy Room podcasts” by McKinsey & Company

We are briefly pausing our entanglement with learning monsters to address a question that has been popping up–do you have any recommendations for summer reading?

At CfT, we are big fans of the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education series from the West Virginia University Press. Their latest book, Improving Learning and Mental Health in the College Classroom, follows the series’ pattern of current research supporting actionable steps that faculty can use in their classrooms. ‘Theory into Practice’ sections in each chapter offer a variety of strategies that work across teaching and learning contexts. This book is a strong contender for the No Time to Read Book Club–check it out and let us know your thoughts!

Elizabeth F. Barkley and Claire Howell Major have written books about collaborative learning and learning assessment techniques. Their books are noteworthy for offering a variety of strategies with clear discussion about the pros and cons to all approaches. Two personal favorites from these authors are Engaged Teaching: A Handbook for College Faculty and Interactive Lecturing: A Handbook for College Faculty. Engaged Teaching is great if you are doing a complete rethink of your practice, especially in response to new teaching and learning needs for students. Interactive Lecturing proves that the lecture is not dead–and can actually be engaging for students.

Books and pools can sometimes be a tricky combination—cannonball, anyone? If putting on the earphones and listening to a podcast is more your style, we recommend the following series (most with deep back catalogs of episodes):

• Intentional Teaching with Derek Bruff (new episodes every Tuesday and a fabulous newsletter as well)
• Tea for Teaching with John Kane and Rebecca Mushtare (if you are doing the TILT workshop with CfT in June, listen to the May 24th episode with Mary-Ann Winklemes)
• Lecture Breakers with Barbi Honeycutt (so many great active learning strategies and resources)
• Teaching in Higher Ed with Bonni Stachowiak (Be sure to check out episode 465 with Sarah Rose Cavanagh discussing her latest book, Mind Over Monsters, another No Time to Read Book Club finalist)

Share with us your summer reading and podcast favorites–we would love to give them a shout out (and add to the piles on our desks, nightstands, and playlists!)

Teaching during a pandemic challenged all norms of what can be done in classrooms–and, now, we’re not sure if what we’re doing works anymore. Extensions or hard deadlines? Prescribed assignments or choose-your-own options? Attendance policies or Zoom options?

If we want to compassionately challenge students, we have to know and name the ‘learning monsters’ they bring to our classes. Learning monsters are the messages students carry about their ability to learn and respond to challenges. Compassionate challenge starts with recognizing monsters auditing our classes by taking seats in our students’ minds.

This past Tuesday, we asked faculty in a Center for Teaching workshop to identify ‘learning monsters’ who attached to our students this year. Meet the students you never knew you had…

The Stress Monster, who doesn’t know what to study or how to study or why everyone else gets it besides them.

Multifactor Medusa waits to the last minute to complete an assignment AND thinks they cannot do anything AND runs out of time AND thinks they are not good enough–in anything.

Terrible Time Terror (T3 to the rest of us) juggles jobs, family, friends, classes, studying, and social media plus a dose of imposter syndrome and loneliness and remembers high school being so much easier.

Self-Sabotaging Sally has a task list, a tower of worries and questions, and a nagging voice telling her that she could and should be so much more.

The Box is afraid of everything–asking for help, college, failing, your class, and not being perfect. The Box is scared and sad–Box just wants to stay, well, in a box.

Coming late to the party (of course) is Failure. Failure is scary and stinky and chews on the confidence of even the strongest student.

We all carry learning monsters with us. No one relishes the idea of failing or falling short in achieving a goal. These monsters, though, can be super-sized (think Incredible Hulk scary) when…

• we are in high stakes situations
• we are challenged by anxiety
• we are experiencing depressive symptoms or depression

As students look in their backpacks and see these super learning monsters staring back, they can respond in a variety of ways. We may see more absences, frustration with grades and class activities, withdrawal from group work or teams, perhaps some tears during office hour visits.

What can we do? How can we challenge students who need compassion and understanding?

• We can anticipate that ALL students bring learning monsters to the classroom.
• We can purposefully design safe spaces for learning.
• We can create small, scaffolded experiences to expand student knowledge of self and strategies to face their fears.

Challenge: Take some time to identify and name the learning monsters lurking behind and among your students. How do student behaviors relate to avoiding these creatures?

Next week, we’ll get out our flashlights and shine a light on strategies to expand student self awareness because learning monsters love nothing more than ‘not knowing’.