Courses
We run 2 courses on innovation for undergraduates and post graduates at Lancaster University Management School.
How we do it
Each course is highly interactive with learning occurring through a combination of online materials, personal learning logs and weekly face to face workshops, rather than conventional lectures. No paper is handed out, all material is available through the course web site. A key feature of the course, and of the workshops, is a weekly innovation dialogue which draws on the students reading of the business press. In dialogue with Mike and I, students assess articles on innovation appearing during the 10 weeks of the course. They set them against the core theories addressed in the course and are assessed through a critical essay on a string of related articles and a reflective learning log. We did not set out to innovate in our course design, but rather set about exploring what we wanted the students to achieve from a course in innovation. Innovation occured nevertheless because we solved problems in how to teach such interesting and ever shifting, live course material.
Mike observed:
“I
cannot claim to have a teaching philosophy because this is my first
real teaching experience. However Mary agreed to my proposal that I
treat the students as I would employees during an extensive period of
management change. We aimed to change normal student behaviour and
develop full student participation throughout the course.”
We
believe that no single element of the course design was responsible for
achieving these objectives. Rather it was the combination of the
self-reinforcing nature of the different elements of the course. We
received Lancaster University Pilkington Award for Innovative Teaching
in June 2005, from Chancellor Sir Chris Bonington. External recognition
is of course enormously rewarding. However, we did not design the
course to win a prize but to stimulate students. Their reflections,
some e-mailed to us personally, some included in anonymous feedback and
some from the 17 students who nominated us along with our colleagues,
convinced us that we had removed some of the barriers to creative
thinking.
What the students say:
Student 1
'I feel that I can truly say that you’ve done a brilliant job and that you achieved the objectives you had set to yourselves. I just hope that the students that do 313 in the coming years enjoy it as much as did. I’d recommend it to anyone who isn’t afraid of a challenging and demanding course. As I realised in our very last lecture, 313 wasn’t just a course, it was more a bit of a life and learning experience! You can truly feel proud of yourselves!'
Student 2
'I would strongly support the nomination for Mary Rose and Mike Parsons to receive the University Teaching Prize for their work on the ENTR313 Innovation Course. The methods of assessment were innovation in themselves, the Innovation Diary kept us abreast of all the current advances and occurrences in innovation, the Innovation Log was really useful to reflect on how we worked as a group and our general understanding of the subject. It was refreshing that not one, but two people were so enthusiastic about the subject that they teach. It is amazing how successful the course was considering that we were the first year to take part in the course. Being encouraged to work in groups was essential and the way that we interacted within the workshops was stimulating and interesting. I believe that Mary and Mike deserve this award, because they worked extremely hard to make the course interesting, interactive at the same time as great fun!'
Student 3
'Superb teaching on an up-to-date course with real practicalities involved. Fantastic. I hope they have many more years working together on such a delightful course.'
Student 4
'I would be willing to support the nomination for Mary Rose and Mike Parsons for the university teaching prize for their pure enthusiasm and excellent balance of academic and practical business experience in regards to Innovation within business.'
Student 5
'The Mary/Mike combination is wonderful, you really work so well together-having the different ways of thinking has been a real treat to us. Mike’s experience has been so interesting to listen to. I don’t know how you do it (hypnosis maybe?!) but I always feel so drawn into what you’re saying, especially when it’s practical experience as we can’t really read up on that in the same way. Mary has been wonderful at supporting the links between modules, it was enlightening to not view everything in isolation, and you are so lovely and friendly and helped out when we’ve been feeling we were sinking.'
