Faculty Excellence at UMUC

Interviewer:

Please tell us about yourself—what made you decide to teach at UMUC? What kind of work do you do when you are not teaching at UMUC? Are there any life experiences that have influenced your teaching at UMUC? If so, please share one story.

Michael Motes:

Business management and accounting played a large part of my Marine Corps career and I considered them to be areas that would interest me as a teacher. In 1995, when I retired from the Marine Corps, my wife (Linda R. Ruggles) was teaching for UM Asian Division. It was my turn to follow her career as she had 18 years with me. While at my last duty station on Okinawa, Japan I took an opportunity to teach a few management classes with UMUC Asian Division.  

I have a small tax practice that I started in 1997 while on Okinawa, Japan. Several of my original clients have stayed with me and I continue to provide tax preparation services. This helps me keep my hand in the accounting profession and up-to-date with current law.

My father returned from WW II and used his GI Bill to obtain his pilot license. In 1954, at the urging of my mother, he completed his GED, enrolled in college and four years later graduated a BS in engineering. His quest for education and my mother’s instance set the tone for continued education. Education was a key point while I was growing up. Later as a Marine Corps supply officer, I found that education was the key to success for any organization. Those with the knowledge, skills and abilities to complete a job were the ones that were successful. In order to make a successful unit, I found as the leader, I had to first become their teacher. Once armed with knowledge the unit’s mission could be completed effectively and efficiently.

Interviewer:

How would you describe your teaching style or philosophy? What experiences or person(s) have influenced your style or philosophy?

Michael Motes:

Present, ask, expect and demand seems to sum up my teaching style.

Dr. Bob Fisher, my first accounting professor, influenced my teaching style the most. He presented the material, set the course outline and asked questions. Students were expected to improve their knowledge, skills and abilities by reading and demonstrating that they could think their way through a problem set using basic information provided.

A memorable event as a student was sitting in graduate quantitative analysis class, at 8 am, watching three professors performing a skit to demonstrate with humor Bayesian revision theory. Then I saw that even the complicated could be presented with humor and an energy that enhanced the learning process.

Interviewer:

Please explain if you do something special or unique in your teaching and what made you develop this.

Michael Motes:

Participation is a key to learning. I structure the class environment as one big cooperative learning center. Participation is more then student activity; it is professor-student, student-professor and student-student interaction in an open and free discussion environment. I encourage all to discuss openly in class the learning of our subject. Students are free to discuss any study or homework assignment openly in class.

Interviewer:

What do you think it is about your teaching style that appeals to students?

Michael Motes:

I believe that students like the open classroom where all may become a part of the community. They seem also to prefer a structured classroom with multiple activities. Assignments and assessments are scheduled so that there is a constant flow of material due and returned evenly over the term. There are no long periods of inactivity that would prompt an out of sight out of mind syndrome.

Interviewer:

Do you teach face-to-face, online, or both? Do you have a preference between teaching face-to-face and online? If so, please explain.

Michael Motes:

I teach face-to-face, hybrid, and online. I prefer online as it fits with my current lifestyle. I am prone to travel from time-to-time and the online format allows me the flexibility to teach.

Interviewer:

Please tell us about your chosen discipline-i.e., what made you interested in the area initially? What do you do to stay current in your discipline? What do you like best about teaching in your discipline?

Michael Motes:

My undergraduate degree is in hotel administration. I often say that hotel administration is a general business degree with a hospitality fling. Accounting (often called the back of the house in the hotel business) is as much a part of success as the more glamorous customer interaction. It is said that "knowledge is power" and I have learned that "information is control." Accounting is an information system that records the history of a particular company. Those that have the knowledge and the information of a business are in a good position to be successful,

As a licensed certified public accountant (CPA) I am required by the State of Maryland to complete no less then 40 credits of continuing professional education (CPE) per year. I complete my CPE at various MACPA seminars, self study classes and other professional literature.

I enjoy seeing when a student learns the basic knowledge, skills and abilities of accounting principles. What makes me smile with a feeling of success is when I see students apply their newly learned material to analytically solve increasing more difficult problems.

Interviewer:

What is the most challenging to you in teaching in this area? What teaching strategy do you use when you encounter the challenge? Are there any special challenges in teaching this subject matter online?  If yes, please explain what could be done to meet the challenges.

Michael Motes:

To work with students who enroll in a class without the fundamental skills to be successful in the study of accounting is challenging.  I provide students an opportunity to determine that they are deficient in these fundamental skills. Then I point them to resources that students may find to be of assistance in their overcoming their deficiency.

Communication is a constant challenge in teaching accounting online. Accountants use a system of standardized journals, ledgers and financial documents to communicate historical information about a business. These formatted documents present a “financial picture and history of a business.” Too frequently I find a feeling that financial numbers are an end unto themselves. Understanding what, how and why values are recorded, organized and subsequently interpreted is what will provide us the whole picture of a business.

If we look only at the surface of a business we will see only the numerical values presented categorically. If we understand the journal events we can learn much of what that company did beyond mere money. Take for example the Hudson Bay Company of the 18th & 19th century. The company books (and trade journals) provide us much more then mere monetary values. We see in the merchandise traded, lands visited, lifestyle and living conditions of the native peoples. We are assisted in seeing this by analyzing merchandise bought and sold for those items that shaped their livelihood.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to students who are interested in majoring or working in your discipline?

Michael Motes:

Accounting is one of the languages of business and it is often found to be a strange new experience for students. Prepare for principles of accounting by ensuring basic skill competencies needed for success. Both the study of accounting and the business world require written language skills and a working knowledge of math and pre-algebra.

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the college of choice for students?

Michael Motes:

Flexibility is already built into the basic education program.  

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the employer of choice for future faculty members?

Michael Motes:

Quality education and flexibility can go hand-in-hand in higher education.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to new faculty who are interested in teaching in your discipline at UMUC?

Michael Motes:

Be understanding of accounting students, but be firm and demanding in what they must learn in order to be successful. Our professional partners require that we graduate only skilled and competent junior accountants.