| An
MTV-Inspired Management Course?
by
Min-Si Wang
The
clock
struck two in the morning. Three members of my
Management 100 project team, Josh, Alison, and
Lennitt, stood wearily before our PowerPoint presentation.
Thirteen hours from now, we would deliver an oral
report on the status of our class project in front
of our Management 100 class, a freshman prerequisite
at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
in Philadelphia.
After
listening to the initial run-through of our presentation,
our TA, Meredith, leaned forward thoughtfully,
"We need a theme to tie this presentation
together; any suggestions?"
A few ideas were discussed and discarded. Finally,
Josh had an epiphany, "The Real World! That
show basically describes what we've been doing."
"I like that!" Meredith flashed a grin.
The
next day in class, Josh stood before the hushed
room and the blinking camcorder. Behind him, a
logo of The Real World flashed across the white
screen. Taking a deep breath, Josh began: "This
is the story of 11 strangers, picked to form a
team!"
Tired
of tedious class projects and the cycle of class-study-test?
Cheer up! Not all college classes follow that
repetitive format. My Management 100 class, for
example, was a class with a definite Real World
twist and it took the concept of class project
to a whole new level.
 The
entire class, consisting entirely of freshman
business majors, was divided into four project
teams. Each team was responsible for completing
a service project with the guidance of a teaching
assistant (TA), who facilitated group discussions
and more importantly, provided guidance to clueless
freshmen like us. For my project team, 11 freshmen
were assembled together with the goal of teaching
leadership skills to local high school students.
Besides service projects, the course also focused
on oral presentations and management theories.
Sound simple? As the 11 of us found out, a straightforward,
almost cliché, concept like "teamwork"
was more complicated than we thought!
How Were We Going To Teach Leadership?
The
first day of teaching was a disaster. As my teammates
and I stood before our Junior Achievement class
helplessly, the students paid attention to the
ceiling, their hair, the floor - anything but
us. A few days before, we were briefed by a Junior
Achievement coordinator on the Leadership Curriculum
we would use as our instructional material. Teaching
what we had to teach through class discussions
seemed straightforward when the director explained
it step by step. In actual class, however, the
four of us had trouble coaxing responses from
students. Frustrated, we met to brainstorm a better
method.
Still
relative strangers, the first few meetings for
my group were awkward. Discussing the problem,
we tried to curb our exasperation and digest other's
opinions. Some members rarely remained silent,
while others, like me, stared uncomfortably during
the debate and wondered when the right time was
to edge in a word. After licking our wounds for
an hour, we decided to discard the old curriculum
and used interactive class activities that involved
the students' active participation instead. To
our relief, the brainstorming paid off; our pupils
were more responsive to in-class exercises.
 End-of-Year
Presentation
In
December, my whole team had to present our project
to the class through a themed production. We came
up with the idea to use the theme of Saturday
Night Live, and after regular discussions throughout
the semester, we had developed an easy rapport.
Thus, unlike those initial discussions, everyone,
not just four or five opinionated members, provided
input. We had fun, too!
Realizing
this was the last project we would work on together,
we tackled our rehearsals happily 'til the wee
morning hours. It was all planned out -- Lennitt,
as the "Lady's Man," would speak with
a lisp and sport an Afro. Taylor, as the hostess
for Coffee Talk, planned to go 'eighties' with
huge shoulder pads and an over-the-top Brooklyn
accent.
As
we had hoped, the presentation was a success.
Despite all the stress, we had a blast. Maybe
someday we'll even do a reunion show! |
