Teaching Portfolio

TEACHING PORTFOLIO


Dr. Don G. Wardell

Associate Professor of Management

University of Utah

David Eccles School of Business


September 30, 1998

PART 1: COURSES

TEACHING RESPONSIBILITIES AND EVALUATIONS

 Since beginning my academic career I have taught the classes listed below. Course numbers beginning with BUS were taught at the University of Idaho, and all others have been taught at the University of Utah. Complete summaries of course evaluations for these courses (except the readings courses) are included in the Appendix (Currently not available on the Electronic Version). Figure 1 shows the trends in evaluation scores of the question on the evaluation form related to my overall performance as an instructor , for all courses that I have taught. Different scales have been used throughout my teaching career, and all scores have been transformed to correspond to the current 1 to 6 scale. Figure 1 shows that while teaching at the University of Idaho, I had a steady increase in evaluation scores. I only taught 3 courses there, and I had a chance to teach all 3 multiple times. Hence I was able to improve my ability to teach the courses. Since arriving at the University of Utah, my scores have shown much more variability, with a slight trend upwards. The variability is a result of teaching many different courses at different levels. My scores tend to be lower when I teach courses at the MBA (including executive MBA) level, and are best for undergraduate statistics courses (both for majors and minors).

Figure 1. Trends in average evaluation scores for the "Rating of Instructor" question for all classes taught


Table 1 shows course evaluation scores for all courses that I have taught more than once. The table reveals that scores have improved over time for the same course in almost every case until recently. In the case of the EMBA class, I attribute the decline to changing textbooks and teaching new topics (sampling and experimental design), which made teaching the course very similar to teaching a new course. More recently there have been small declines in some classes. In most of those cases the evaluation scores have leveled off at a fairly high value. The table reveals that as I gain experience in teaching a course, I am able to make changes that improve my performance.

Table 1. Summary of Course Evaluation Scores for Courses Taught More than Once

CourseTermTotal Students RespondingTransformed Total Score
BUS 332Fall 90
Spring 91		37
43		4.51
5.08
BUS 370Fall 91
Spring 92		71
61		5.13
5.24
BUS 456Fall 90
Fall 91		16
11		4.05
5.38
MGT 249Winter 93
Spring 94
Spring 96
Fall 96
Winter 98		65
32
86
37
45		5.00
5.04
5.52
5.89
5.58
MGT 301Summer 94
Summer 95		13
20		5.12
5.60
MGT 365Spring 94
Spring 95		11
30		4.31
4.53
MGT 662Spring 97
Winter 98		26
18		5.58
5.50
MBA 641Winter 94
Winter 95
Winter 96
Fall 96
Fall 97
Fall 98		45
21
71
65
100
100		3.89
3.95
4.50
5.03
4.98
5.38
EMBA 640Winter 95
Winter 96		25
26		4.44
4.12


Figures 2 and 3 summarize and prioritize the number and types of comments (both strengths and areas for improvement) which have appeared on my most recent evaluations for the MGT 249 and MBA 641, which are courses I teach on a regular basis. I use these charts to help me understand my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, and to help me improve my teaching. While not displayed here, I use similar Pareto charts for other classes. The charts show that students appreciate the consideration shown them (including openness to questions), lecture clarity, and the knowledge I show for the subject. Students also have appreciated the use of the computer in my classes.


a. Comments related to strengths in the Winter 1998 MGT 249 course



b. Comments related to needed improvement in the Winter 1998 MGT 249 course

Figure 2. A summary of comments from the Winter 1998 MGT 249 course



a. Comments related to strengths in the Fall 1997 MBA 641 course


b. Comments related to needed improvements in the Fall 1997 MBA 641 course

Figure 3. A summary of comments from the Fall 1996 MBA 641 course



The figures also reveal areas that I can work on to improve. In the MGT 249 (Figure 2b), the most common type of complaint had to do with the use of in-class demonstrations (this comment also was made by students in MBA 641-see Figure 3b). While the students appreciate the use of computer demonstrations in the classroom, they would prefer to follow along using their own computers. I have tried to use the computer classroom to accommodate students, but there have been numerous technical problems with the classroom. I need to try again, and may be able to use some of our newer rooms to help. The second largest complaint is that my lectures and notes do not coordinate well with the textbook. I sometimes differ in my notation or vocabulary, and it can be confusing to students. Students also thought that the pace could be improved, although some wanted it to go faster and some smaller.

The most frequent comment in the Problem Solving (Figure 3b) class really has to do with the design of the class (note that the fourth most common complaint is closely related). The course is co-taught and divided into two sections, one organizational and one quantitative. My partner, Joe Bentley, and I have tried to coordinate the material, but many students feel that the course should not be taught in one block. Many feel that there is not enough quantitative material in the MBA program, and would like to see the quantitative section of MBA 641 enlarged into its own full-quarter class. Others said that the organizational component overlapped too much with the Leadership course given earlier in their program. Some felt that the organizational section of the Problem Solving class should also be its own class. Professor Bentley and I are seriously considering these comments as we design the course for next year, and as we move to the semester conversion.

The other common comments were on the use of the computer and real-world examples. I have mentioned the problem with in-class demonstrations above. The MBA 641 students also would like more of an introduction to Excel. I use Excel extensively in the class, and often use functions with which the students are unfamiliar. One way that I have addressed this comment is to ask the MBA Program office to include an Excel session during the orientation week. I also need to spend more time reviewing and priming students to use Excel in the Problem Solving class itself.

The real-world example comment is fairly frequent in my classes, and one that I know I need to address. One problem is that real world problems are usually too large for us to address in the classroom setting. The other difficulty is my own inexperience in using some of the techniques outside the classroom. More recently I have done some consulting and research projects that have allowed me to bring more examples into the classroom, and the number of negative comments have declined. This coming semester (Fall 1998) I plan to have a guest speaker come and show how he uses the material in his work, to show the relevance. It is interesting to note that the most common positive comment for the 641 class concerned the material itself, and a few students indicated that I did a good job showing the relevance of the material. I just need to do a better job of convincing others of the usefulness of the techniques.

To summarize, the Pareto charts in Figures 2 and 3 give me a very good idea of what I am doing well, and the areas I need to work on to improve. Using these charts in the past has led to the improvements shown in Table 1 and Figure 1, and will continue to help me make improvements in the future.




ANNUAL TEACHING EVALUATION BY DEPARTMENT CHAIR:

At the University of Idaho, the first evaluation was make for the year 1990, after I had taught for one semester. I received a 2+ rating, where 2 is satisfactory, and 3 is excellent. My rating for 1991 was 3. At the University of Utah I have received ratings of "commendable" for teaching for 1992 through 1995, and excellent for 1997 and 1998.


TEACHING METHODS AND INNOVATIONS:

I have worked very hard to make courses interesting and useful for students. In the Problem Solving and Quality Management classes (both of which I helped design) I have taught with other instructors to bring different perspectives to the same subject. In both team-taught courses, I have attended the lectures of the other instructors to integrate the material more effectively. I believe that the team-taught courses help students synthesize and integrate different disciplines.

In all of my classes I continue to use cutting-edge spreadsheet software which simplifies solving statistical problems, as well as many other types of quantitative problems. I have also developed slides and handouts for the students, which they can use to better understand the software tools and the interpretation of the produced output. I have concentrated on the interpretation of the quantitative tools, and let the computer worry about the calculation details. In this way I strive to help students learn the usefulness of the methods without getting lost in the number-crunching details. I believe that the approach I am using will make students more likely to apply the tools to novel situations that they will encounter in the future. In addition, most of them will have access to spreadsheet software in their work, rather than special-purpose software. Hence, they will also have an important computational tool at their fingertips, and know how to use it to solve problems.

I have developed comprehensive sets of notes to be used in all of my courses. Sample notes are included later in the portfolio. Each student obtains a copy of the notes, and then I use my copy as overhead transparencies. The students follow along as I present the material. Portions of the notes are purposely left blank, so that students can write with me the steps to solving the problems. These blank portions also allow for discussion in class, and give students a chance to try some of the problems on their own. The notes have been very well received in my classes.

I was the first faculty member at the School of Business to establish a home page on the Internet that my students can access to see my course syllabi, teaching philosophy, research interests and vita. The home page address is www.business.utah.edu/~mgtdgtw/. I have also included downloadable files that the students can access. These files are "screen movies" that demonstrate how Microsoft Excel can be used to do statistical analyses. I believe that the screen movies themselves are innovative. Students can download the movies, watch them, pause them whenever they need to, and then follow the steps themselves. All of the procedures demonstrated in the movies have corresponding written instructions in the notes that I provide to the students. I hope to continue to update my home page with new material so that all my students, as well as others, can benefit from it. Other items posted on the home page include project descriptions and solutions to homework and practice exams (see the MGT 239 page for an example).

I use demonstrations to illustrate principles of variability and problem solving. I often use a play dough fun factory to simulate an extrusion process, and have students use cause-and-effect analysis to determine what makes the finished product improve. I also use M&Ms to demonstrate attribute control chart construction. In the problem solving class (MBA 641), I use examples from game shows to illustrate concepts of conditional probability and Bayesian updating. In the EMBA statistics class I developed an experimental device that the students use to perform their own experiments. The device is a small board with 4 nails, across which a rubber band can be stretched. Four lines are drawn on the board behind the nails. The experiment consists of using the board and rubber band to shoot checkers into a target area. Students can change the number of nails over which the rubber band is stretched (over 3 or 4 nails), and the distance to which they pull the rubber band back. This experiment is a very good vehicle for discussion of response variables, experimental factors and factor levels, extraneous or confounding variables, randomization, blocking and measurement. I think the students find the demonstrations useful, as well as entertaining.

I often use class projects to stimulate out-of-class learning. In the quality and EMBA statistics classes, I have asked students to apply the techniques we discussed in class to processes with which they were familiar. I used real data sets in the MGT 249 and 301 projects, allowing students to see that there are difficulties associated with such data. I believe these projects have been very successful, and student evaluations have been favorable, indicating that the students have found the projects to be valuable.

I have worked to integrate both my own and others’ research into my courses. I stay current on the latest developments in quality management to include them in the class. For example, I teach some of the most recent advances in control charts. I have used papers from Technometrics and Journal of Quality Technology to discuss average run lengths of more advanced control charting techniques. I have also used articles from Quality Progress to discuss some of the more practical considerations in implementing quality management. I have also used articles from Quality Progress in the MGT 249 class, to show some of the practical uses of linear regression, and to show some alternative fitting methods to least squares. In the problem solving class (MBA 641) I have used articles from Management Science and Simulation and Gaming to provide alternative approaches to statistical decision making procedures. I try to use as much current literature as I can to add to the material in the text book.

I have also been able to incorporate some of my own research. For example, I have presented to students the ideas behind monitoring customer satisfaction data. The topic fits easily into the quality course since it integrates customer satisfaction with control charts. In my research work, one of the methods I suggest for monitoring satisfaction data is to chart a c2 statistic. Hence I can discuss the research in the statistics course when discussing categorical tests of hypothesis. Teaching has also led me to new research questions. A question in my statistics class prompted me to look into the details of constructing confidence intervals for the parameter of a binomial distribution when the sample size is small. It also caused me to look at a similar method in quality control for charting attribute data. I have since written papers on these subjects (see section II below), and then been able to bring them back to the classroom, giving demonstrations of how the methods work.




REPRESENTATIVE COURSE SYLLABI, NOTES AND EXAMS:

This section shows course syllabi, handouts and exams (not available on the web version) from courses taught most recently. The syllabi outline course objectives, as well as my grading procedures. They also highlight topics covered in each class. The slides I use in every class, and hand out to students so they can follow along. Portions of the slides are purposefully left blank, so that we can carefully discuss the methods, and so that students can try problems out on their own. The exams show what material I have stressed, and how I have sought to use exams to synthesize material.

REPRESENTATIVE COURSE SYLLABI

My most recent and most oft used syllabi are shown directly on my home page.


REPRESENTATIVE COURSE NOTES

 I have included 4 pages of notes from the MGT 249 (Business Statistics II) course. The notes are on hypothesis testing. They give a flavor of the notes used in class.

PART 2: RESEARCH ON TEACHING

PUBLICATIONS AND WORKING PAPERS

I have written one article directly related to teaching, and three that have applications to teaching. The citations are listed by date below. Note that the last one is a working paper. Wardell (1992) describes my experiences teaching total quality management at the University of Idaho. Wardell and Candia (1996) describes a method that can be used to monitor customer satisfaction data, and the method is directly applicable to monitoring teaching evaluation scores. I plan to work with two colleagues to describe how the extension works. Wardell (1997) and Wardell (1998) describe how spreadsheets can be used to simplify statistical and quality control related computations. Wardell (1997) especially has some figures that are pedagogically useful when discussing small sample interval estimation. All of the papers listed below are available from the author upon request.

Clicking on the title of the paper will link you to the paper's abstract.



GRANTS

In 1996 I received an Educational Technology & Distance Education Starter Grant from the University of Utah Faculty Assistance Program for $3985. The grant money was used to purchase hardware and software that to improve my web page for classroom use, and to begin work on creating multimedia presentations.

PART3: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND PLANS

The following are my planned objectives for professional development over the next 3 years (and maybe longer).

  1. Improve current teaching methods. I can use feedback (e.g., the Pareto diagrams) from teaching evaluations to determine where I need to improve, and make systematic changes to classroom presentation, etc. I can then observe results of changes, and move on to next change. I can also attend seminars on teaching technical material.
  2. Learn more of the practical side of management science, quality management, and operations management by participating in internships. I feel that one way to improve both my teaching and research is to gain experience in actual manufacturing environments. Eventually this could include a sabbatical leave. I also feel that I may meet this objective by taking as many opportunities as possible to make tours of operations in and near Salt Lake City. I have only visited a few, but already have obtained several examples that I can use in class.
  3. Receive first-hand experience with the international dimensions of management through exchange programs with foreign universities. These exchanges may be for short periods, or may involve a sabbatical leave. I also plan to achieve this goal by attending selected international conferences.
  4. Learn new teaching methods by attending seminars sponsored by the School of Business and the University of Utah, as well as sessions at professional meetings emphasizing teaching. I can practice the methods by discussing a few cases in the problem solving and quality management classes. I can also attend courses on using multimedia technology.
  5. Improve cross-functional approaches to teaching and course design. I can use feedback from teaching evaluations to determine what worked and didn't work in the problem solving and quality management classes. I can also talk with the co-teachers about what they would like to change. We can then redesign the class, incorporating changes with the highest potential impact into the next class.
  6. Continue to use new technological methods to improve communication with students. I would like to learn more about web page design, and benchmark other faculty members’ uses of their pages to communicate with students. I also plan to attend seminars sponsored by the School to learn more about how new software (such as Lotus Notes) can be used to improve teaching. Finally, I need to work on the project for which I received a technology grant.


DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS

I have participated in the following programs to help meet the development goals.
  1. In May 1998 I participated in Thunderbird's Faculty Development in International Business Program, traveling to Latin America. I visited businesses, government agencies and educational facilities in Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. I learned more about doing business in each of these countries and in Latin America as a whole. I now have several examples that I can bring to the classroom.
  2. In 1997 I worked as a consultant to American Express Travelers Cheque Operations. I was able to develop a simulation model for them, which I can discuss (without compromising confidentiality agreements) in my problem solving class, where simulation is one of the main tools discussed.
  3. In March 1996 I supervised an MBA field study in Beijing, China. I also visited Nankai University in Tian Jin, China. The field study experience helped me to obtain some real world experience, as well as international experience. I also taught one class session at Nankai University and learned a little about teaching in a foreign culture.
  4. I have attended several seminars given by the School of Business related to diversity issues. The most noted of these were two seminars presented by C. Roland Christensen of the Harvard Business School. Both were very helpful in terms of being exposed to teaching using cases.
  5. I have attended several Lotus Notes and Learning Space training sessions provided by the School. I am now working to implement Learning Space in some of my classes.
  6. In 1995 I attended the 10th Annual Making Statistics More Effective in Schools of Business Conference in Sacramento, California. This gave me a chance to hear what others across the country are doing to improve their statistics classes by using computers, integrating cases, etc.
  7. I attended a 1995 college-sponsored workshop given by Harvey Brightman. I found this workshop exceptionally helpful because Harvey teaches classes that are very similar to those I teach. I have tried to use some of the in-class group techniques that he described, giving students more opportunity to learn the material in class. I have also tried writing some multiple-choice exams that get at the higher levels of learning. I think I was successful at both efforts, but need to do more.
  8. I attended a three-session seminar in the University's Marriott Library on multimedia presentations. Most of the time was spent on how to use PhotoShop. I had to miss the last session which was added because the class went to slow, and so I missed how to integrate the media into one package.
  9. I have participated in two teaching rendezvous sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence at the University of Utah. These have given me a chance to hear what others across the University are doing, and the interaction with colleagues across campus is helpful.
  10. I continue to review numerous journal articles and books to help stay current on research and teaching. The majority of the articles were related to quality management and control.

PART IV: SERVICE OF A PEDAGOGICAL NATURE

GRADUATE STUDENT COMMITTEES

I am currently and have been part of committees responsible for graduate student studies and theses at both the University of Utah and the University of Idaho. Each student is listed below, as well as a brief description of my responsibility.

University of Utah:
Scott Metlen
Ph.D. Candidate, Production and Operations Management, 1998
Member of Dissertation Committee.

Jeff Snow
Ph.D. Candidate, Decision Sciences, 1998
Currently serving as dissertation chair, for dissertation entitled, "A Multivariate Continuous Improvement Information System." Also wrote questions for qualifying examination.

Brad Baird
Ph.D. Candidate, Production and Operations Management, 1998
Chair of Dissertation Committee. Wrote questions for qualifying examination.

Brian Gilson
Master of Statistics Candidate, Mathematics Emphasis, 1998
Thesis Committee Chair. Supervising thesis projects.

Lez Stodart
Ph.D. Candidate, Production and Operations Management, 1997
Member of Dissertation Committee. Reviewed dissertation drafts.

Adam Sutcliffe
Ph.D. Candidate, Strategic Management, 1996
Member of Dissertation Committee. Reviewed dissertation drafts.

Madeleine Pullman
Ph.D. Candidate, Production and Operations Management, 1996
Member of Dissertation Committee. Wrote questions for qualifying examination and reviewed dissertation.

Rohit Verma
Ph.D. Candidate, Production and Operations Management, 1995
Member of Dissertation Committee. Wrote questions for qualifying examination and reviewed dissertation.

John Goodale
Ph.D. Candidate, Production and Operations Management, 1995
Member of Dissertation Committee. Wrote questions for qualifying examination and reviewed dissertation.

Mario Candia
Master of Statistics Candidate, Economics Emphasis, 1994
Thesis Committee Chair. Supervised thesis projects.

University of Idaho:
Anne Shih
MS Candidate, Department of Statistics
Thesis Committee Member. Reviewed thesis "Sensitivity Analyses on the Worth Functions of Various Strategies in a Bernoulli Sequential Trial" for defense.

Nathan Hesterman
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Forest Products
Dissertation Committee Member. Wrote questions for qualifier exams.

Pete Gomben
MS Candidate, Department of Forest Products
Thesis Committee Member. Reviewed and helped revise thesis.



FIELD STUDIES:

I have supervised the following MBA Field Studies.

University of Utah Computer Science Department Project
Joshua Colton, Nancy Hsiao, Bryce Ostler, Edas Pazera, Adele Teodoro, Ge Wu
Salt Lake City, Utah
Winter and Spring Quarters, 1998

Richina Group Project
Shwo-Jen Chen, Yao-Hsien Feng, and Mike Wood
Beijing, China
Winter and Spring Quarters, 1996



DIRECTED STUDIES:

I have taught several independent study classes. They are listed below.

University of Utah
Tariq Moghul
Independent study of MBA 641 to accommodate early graduation, Spring Quarter 1998.

Brandon Kunz, Trent Ogden, Paul Whitlock, Doug Fitzpatrick, Melinda Clawson
Directed study of linear programming and simulation, with emphasis on using spreadsheets to do the computation, 1996. The class was requested by the 5 students after taking the Problem Solving (MBA 641) class.

Troy Holbrook and Emily Mihamou
Independent study of MBA 641 to accommodate a student exchange to France, Winter Quarter 1996.

Gerald Harding
MGT 249 Correspondence Course, 1995

Yanping Tang
Wrote, administered and graded 2 exams for testing out of undergraduate statistics (MGT 239 and MGT 249), 1995

Jeff Snow
Ph.D. readings course on multivariate statistical process control, 1993

Jennifer Roney
Ph.D. readings course on experimental design, 1993

University of Idaho
Nathan Hesterman, Ph.D. student in the Forest Products Department
Readings course on a special problem related to quality control, 1991.




OUTSIDE TEACHING:

I have taught a short course on statistical process control at the "Wood Products Academy on Quality Control" sponsored by the Forest Products Department at the University of Idaho, 1991.

I have also taught a short course on statistical process control for the Light Metals Division of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) preceding the TMS Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA, February, 1992.

I have worked with a group of five 5th graders at Brookwood Elementary School in Sandy, Utah as a coach of their future problem solving team. I worked with them on brainstorming problems, identifying the underlying problem, brainstorming solutions, determining criteria for good solutions, evaluating solutions, and elaborating on the preferred solution. (January - February, 1997)




TEXTBOOK REVIEWS

I have reviewed two textbooks, as listed below.

Introductory Business Statistics for John Wiley & Sons, 1995.

An intended Microsoft Excel supplement to Basic Business Statistics, 6th Edition for Prentice Hall.




OTHER

I served as a Utah Quality Award (Educational Division) Criteria Committee member, and was an examiner for the Award, reviewing one educational organization’s application.

PART 5: AWARDS AND OTHER RECOGNITION

TEACHING AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

I was the recipient of the Marvin J. Ashton Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business, 1997.

I was runner-up for the Marvin J. Ashton Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business, 1996.



UNSOLICITED PRAISE FOR TEACHING

I have received a few cards and letters from students thanking me for different aspects of my teaching. These are not available on the electronic version.

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