Shaping Leaders ThroughIIM-Inspired Management Education

Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty must help students deal with high stress and keep on working to achieve results. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students’ intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans and develop mutual trust. This is what mentoring is all about.

Learning is enhanced when it becomes team effort rather than a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others increases involvement in learning. Sharing one’s own ideas and responding to others’ reactions sharpens thinking and deepens understanding.

Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn by sitting in classrooms listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and regurgitating answers. They must cogitate over what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.

Knowing what you know and realizing what you don’t know focuses the mind on learning. Students need appropriate feedback on performance to benefit from courses. At various points during the program and towards the end, students need chances to reflect upon what they have learnt, what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.

Time plus energy equals learning. There is no substitute for time on task. Learning to use one’s time well is critical for students and professionals alike. Allocating realistic amounts of time means effective learning for students and effective teaching for faculty. How an institution defines time expectations for students, faculty, administrators, and other professional staff can establish the basis of high performance for all.

Expect more and you will get more. High expectations are important for everyone – for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves, and for the bright and well-motivated. Expecting students to perform well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high expectations for them and make extra efforts.

There are many roads to learning. People bring different talents and styles of learning to college. Brilliant students in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or in an art studio. Students rich in hands-on experience may not do so well with theory and exams. Students need the opportunity to display their talents and learn in ways that work for them.