Teaching as a Contact Sport

After nearly two decades in higher education as a faculty member and based on my experiences and research, here is what I believe to be the ingredients for good learning experiences and great teaching.

First and foremost, teaching/learning is not a solo sport; it is a team effort--a contact sport.  The professor must bring:

• Knowledge of content;
• Genuine concern and respect for students;
• The three A’s: Availability, Accessibility, and Affability;
• Attention to details and organizational skills;
• Active learning assignments that connect to learning goals;
• Equitable grading and transparency in same;
• Level playing field among classmates;
• Desire to coach/mentor students; and
• Willingness to go above the call of duty.

The students must bring:

• A desire to learn;
• Respect for professor and classmates;
• A willingness to prepare for class, put in the required time and pull their weight;
• Willingness to keep an open mind and search for alternative solutions to a problem;
• Critical thinking skills;
• Desire to contribute to peer knowledge; and
• Motivation to go “above the call of duty;”

The coaching/mentoring role of teaching does not stop after the student leaves the college or university. As many of you can attest, years can go by before we hear from our alumni. Yet when we do, it is because the seeds that we planted long ago have taken root and begun to grow into maturity. One of the ways we can keep in touch with our alums and continue to have a mentoring role is through social networking (I hear the groans!) such as Facebook and Linked in. As a general rule, I do not friend students until they have graduated. Looking at my Facebook friends list, about 15% are former students. In Linked In, I have a similar number in my network. In addition, it is not uncommon for former students to contact me and ask for a letters of recommendation. Recently, a 2000 graduate emailed me asking if I remembered him (I did) and requesting a letter of recommendation for a doctoral program. Yes, I am very pleased that he asked me and proud of him for his great achievements.

If you have fears of being overwhelmed by students stalking you online, I believe with judicious "friending" you can manage boundary issues. By using social networking, I have made myself available and accessible to former students. My life has been enriched by them. Likewise, I hope their lives and careers have been enriched by my mentoring and coaching.

Don’t be afraid. Get in the game. Teaching/coaching/mentoring is a contact sport.

Sharon B. Buchbinder, RN, PhD

Sharon Buchbinder is the author of two books from Jones & Bartlett: Introduction to Health Care Management and Career Opportunities in Health Care Management.



Raising the Bar

At the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) Annual Meeting in June 2010 in Portland, Oregon, as I chatted with undergraduate Program Directors (PDs), I detected a disturbing trend in admissions to our Health Care Management (HMCN) programs. Almost to a person, PDs complained bitterly about the declining GPAs of students transferring in from community colleges. While PDs were aware that states have an obligation to enable its citizens to move from two-year to four-year institutions in as seamless a manner as possible, there was consensus that there are some seams that should not be crossed. Community college students are required to have at least a 2.0 GPA to graduate from a two-year program. However, what appears to be happening is that when students know they will not be able to graduate due to low GPAs, they game the system and transfer in with 54 credits and GPAs below 2.0. That’s less than a C; we’re talking D averages. Even more astonishing is the fact that the four-year institutions are accepting them with these low GPAs. Why would a college or university do that?

Cash. Dinero. Geld. Money. Pure and simple.

When I investigated, I discovered there were large federal financial incentives for students to attend 4 year colleges and universities. These revenues can be windfalls to institutions struggling with furloughs, travel cuts and other financial cut backs. Why not take advantage of them? This may all be good in theory--that is, until these low GPA students hit courses for which they are under-prepared and there is no infrastructure in place to support them.  So, bottom line, students are accepted that the universities know are low performers, take their money and then, give them little to no assistance when they struggle.

How is this not like the mortgage industry extending credit to those they knew they could not pay their monthly bills? What makes higher education immune from questions of integrity and moral behavior?

The HCMN PDs are particularly frustrated because, in many instances, unlike Nursing, they are not allowed to screen low-performing students out of their programs. Why? Because the field does not have a standardized exam to point to and say that graduates must pass this to practice. To name but a few disciplines that require or encourage an exam to provide proof of competency, Nursing has NCLEX, Occupational Therapy has Certification and state licensure and Public Health has the Certified Public Health  Exam.  Shouldn’t our HCMN students be as knowledgeable as the people they will be working with?

Isn’t it time for HCMN Undergraduate Programs to raise the bar? 

What do you think?

Sharon B. Buchbinder, RN, PhD

Sharon Buchbinder is the author of two books from Jones & Bartlett: Introduction to Health Care Management and Career Opportunities in Health Care Management.



Are Health Care Professionals Prepared for Disasters?

On September 11, 2001, my husband was attending a week-long course in New York City. As I stood in my kitchen in Baltimore, Maryland, drinking a cup of coffee and watching Good Morning America, I heard Diane Sawyer say, “We have breaking news.” Horrified, I watched the scenes of the Twin Towers under attack—and suddenly realized I had no idea where my husband was. After four frantic hours of trying to reach him, he finally returned my call. His hotel was next to the Empire State Building, in walking distance of the attacks. Almost all the surgeons at the meeting climbed onto a bus to go to a treatment center to help the victims. My husband, sensing the futility of this volunteerism, did not go. His instincts were correct. When the busload of physicians returned, they reported they stood around for twelve hours without access to news and did nothing.

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Caring for the Caregiver

Our generation is now being referred to as the “sandwich generation,” i.e., we are the bologna and cheese between two thick slabs of children and parents in the great hoagie of life. Good child care, while not always easy to find, is relatively abundant, accessible and affordable for most working parents. Good elder care? Not so much. In the U.S., the vast majority of eldercare is provided not in continuing care retirement communities, assisted living facilities, or nursing homes, but in the community, by the family (National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 2004).

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New Year’s Resolution

One of the annual rituals that many of us go through at the holidays is a personal inventory of what we want to do in the coming year. The list can be endless: lose weight, exercise more, save money, get a better job, finish that novel, et cetera. In organizations, we call these strategic goals; that list, too, can be endless: increase productivity by 10%, cut costs by 7%, increase employee diversity by 5%, and so on. What about the intersection of personal and organizational goals? Where does that list go? What should it include? I have a suggestion: less anger.

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