One of the main components of my teaching philosophy is relevance. Students studying human resources wish to obtain a position in the field and many of them are also pursuing the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation. As such, when teaching I want to ensure that I am preparing them for the workplace by providing them with relevant and useful information. My goal is for students to walk away from each course I teach with something tangible – a practice or procedure that will help them in today’s workplace and also prepare them for their certification examination.
My teaching philosophy aligns with my program’s essential employability skills (EES) outcomes. EES are those skills deemed critical for success on the job and for lifelong learning.
Below are two examples that illustrate how I incorporate teaching and learning activities into my courses that provide students with an opportunity to develop identified EES. Both EES examples are from one of the courses I teach in the Human Resources Graduate Management Certificate program - Training & Development.
My teaching philosophy aligns with my program’s essential employability skills (EES) outcomes. EES are those skills deemed critical for success on the job and for lifelong learning.
Below are two examples that illustrate how I incorporate teaching and learning activities into my courses that provide students with an opportunity to develop identified EES. Both EES examples are from one of the courses I teach in the Human Resources Graduate Management Certificate program - Training & Development.
Example # 1
Essential Employability Skill Outcome: Communicate clearly, concisely and correctly in the written, spoken, and visual form that fulfills the purpose and meets the needs of the audience.
How do I help develop this?
One example of how I develop this EES in my training & development course is by having students create a modified training needs analysis survey. I start this activity by modelling my expectations in the first week of the course – I ask students to complete an online student questionnaire. Here is a link to this survey:
HRM 5203 Student Questionnaire
After needs analysis and writing survey questions content is delivered, as a week 2 online learning practice activity, I ask students to create their own online survey. Students are allocated one hour per week for online work and this activity is to take place during that time. Below is the actual online learning activity:
Essential Employability Skill Outcome: Communicate clearly, concisely and correctly in the written, spoken, and visual form that fulfills the purpose and meets the needs of the audience.
How do I help develop this?
One example of how I develop this EES in my training & development course is by having students create a modified training needs analysis survey. I start this activity by modelling my expectations in the first week of the course – I ask students to complete an online student questionnaire. Here is a link to this survey:
HRM 5203 Student Questionnaire
After needs analysis and writing survey questions content is delivered, as a week 2 online learning practice activity, I ask students to create their own online survey. Students are allocated one hour per week for online work and this activity is to take place during that time. Below is the actual online learning activity:
Reflection – Why is this learning activity effective?
I believe this learning activity is effective in developing clear and concise written communication skills. HR students will inevitably be developing numerous employee survey instruments during their careers. This activity allows them to create their own survey questions using an online survey tool. These questions will then be reviewed and evaluated by their term project group members. Groups will then select the 10 ‘best’ questions to use for their training needs analysis survey. Therefore, not only will students be able to practice writing survey questions, but by circulating and defending their own questions they will benefit from collaborative learning and be exposed to different perspectives on what is effective in terms of communication.
Example #2
Essential Employability Skills Outcome: Apply a systematic approach to solve problems.
How do I help develop this?
I believe that one of the best ways to develop problem solving skills is with case studies. Case studies provide students with an opportunity to apply theory to a real-life scenario.
The below document is a case study that I have students complete in pairs at the conclusion of a lecture on Mager and Pipe’s performance analysis flowchart which occurs in week 4 of the training and development course. Mager and Pipe’s flowchart illustrates a step by step model of analyzing performance problems. With the case study I am asking students to apply this model to a scenario representative of the workplace. This activity from start to finish generally takes one half hour to complete.
Essential Employability Skills Outcome: Apply a systematic approach to solve problems.
How do I help develop this?
I believe that one of the best ways to develop problem solving skills is with case studies. Case studies provide students with an opportunity to apply theory to a real-life scenario.
The below document is a case study that I have students complete in pairs at the conclusion of a lecture on Mager and Pipe’s performance analysis flowchart which occurs in week 4 of the training and development course. Mager and Pipe’s flowchart illustrates a step by step model of analyzing performance problems. With the case study I am asking students to apply this model to a scenario representative of the workplace. This activity from start to finish generally takes one half hour to complete.
Reflection – Why is this learning activity effective?
I believe this learning activity is effective in developing a student's ability to apply a systematic approach to solve problem because it asks students to apply a just learned theory of problem solving to a real-life work scenario. To aid in completion of the case study, I embed prompts directly from Mager and Pipe's performance analysis flowchart into the scenario so students can more easily connect theory to practice. Students complete this case study as an in-class activity with a partner and I am able to provide guidance and feedback throughout the activity.