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.

Steven P. Chasen:

One day in 1996, Dr. Emmett Fleming telephoned me and asked if I would teach Research Methods for Managers for UMUC. Of course, I said, "Yes!" I never learned where Dr. Fleming got my name, but I am thankful to the person who recommended me for the teaching position. Now that I am semi-retired, UMUC is my top job priority.

Currently, I am home based, and my only job is teaching for UMUC. From 1977 to 2007, I was an elementary school teacher for St. Mary’s County School System in St. Mary’s, Maryland. I retired from the school system in June of 2007.

When I was an undergraduate student at Towson State College, I was as professor groupie. I hung out with the professors and talked to them. One of my instructors, Dr. Charles Roth, emphasized to me to just think and express myself and do not worry if people agree or disagree with you. From that point, I decided to pursue a teaching degree, and hopefully one day, become a university instructor.

Interviewer:

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

Steven P. Chasen:

For my classes, I exercise two teaching methods: the Socratic Method of teaching and Direct Instruction. I first learned about the Socratic Method from The Paper Chase movie. In the movie, Professor Kingsfield, played by John Houseman, explained to the law students that he asks questions and with their answers, he would ask more questions. In college, I experienced the Socratic Method by way of an English Literature instructor. She asked questions and after the students responded, she would continue to ask more questions. In other words, the Socratic Method motivated students to critically think about the situation.

As for Direct Instruction, my doctoral dissertation explored the benefits of Direct Instruction to teach elementary school children. In brief, my doctoral dissertation taught fourth and fifth grade low ability readers how to write goal-based stories. Using Direct Instruction, the students learn the purpose of the lessons, examples of complete goal-based stories, modeled how to write one, and finally, practice of writing goal-based stories.

When teaching empirical research along with statistics to graduate students, enhancing their critical thinking skills and directly showing the research process, the students grasps the concepts for understanding.

Beside the people already mentioned, two more people come to mind: Mr. Eric Bargar and Dr. Linda B. Gambrell. When I was a first year teacher, I attended a workshop conducted by Eric Bargar that trained teachers how to ask students questions based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. His workshop enhanced my style of using the Socratic Method of teaching.

Dr. Linda B. Gambrell was my doctoral advisor.  While researching and writing my doctoral dissertation, she taught me how to think creatively and critically during the dissertation process. She steered me towards the Direct Instructional method of teaching. From the influence of these two people, I encourage my students to be critical thinkers and explore all possibilities to solve problems.

Interviewer:

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

Steven P. Chasen:

In my class, I present problems for the students to solve. When teaching face to face classes, the students attend classes from7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. The last activity the students want to do is sit through a long lecture. There is a short lecture with PowerPoint slides to reinforce the readings. Once that segment concludes, the rest of the class time is used to formulate an empirical research study based on a problem to solve. The students work together in small groups. After a certain period of time, the groups present their portion of the study. The reason I utilize this method is to enhance the student’s critical and creative thinking skills. In addition, the small group sessions help the students to apply the research concepts to help solve the problem.

Interviewer:

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

Steven P. Chasen:

During the lecture segment of the class, I like to tell stories. This seems to grab the student’s attention. In addition, I am patient with the students and willing to answer their question. In fact, I persuade the students to ask questions. I remind that there is no such creature as a "stupid" or "bad" question. Your questions will only help other students.

When I teach the class online, the first priority is to ask question. That is, communication between the professor and the students and between students to students must be maintained throughout the course. To help this matter, I hold either weekly online chat room sessions or Wimba sessions. This gives the students more opportunities to discuss the concepts of the class and to ask questions.

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.

Steven P. Chasen:

I teach Research Methods for Managers online, face to face, and hybrid. While I like both, I prefer face to face. I enjoy meeting the students and talking with them. Even before class begins, the students and I have friendly conversations. The students like to know that the professor is just another common person who also works and has a life.

However, because my working life is devoted to UMUC, I am willing to teach face to face and online. My priority is to help educate people to help them with their jobs and help them to advance in their job situation.

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?

Steven P. Chasen:

I was an education major in undergraduate school and graduate school, however, I teach in the Management division at UMUC. During my graduate school years, I really enjoyed the empirical research classes. I decided that after I graduated, I wanted to continue conducting research studies; and if possible, teach empirical research and statistics. UMUC provides me the opportunity to teach empirical research and statistics in the management division. 

Even though I do not have a management degree, during my public school career, I managed the school library and technology of the school. My department included a staff and budget, and I supervised all aspects of the department and taught classes.

I like reading empirical research articles and research and statistical textbooks. My students find this strange, but reading the information gives me a thrill.

I like trying out new ways to communicate the information to the students. In the past and currently, I have taken CTL courses. Once I complete the course, I incorporate the new instructional and technology information into the course. In addition, I like the challenge that each semester and students presents. Just like a snowflake, no two semesters are alike. Problems come with the semesters, and I like to solve the problems. I am always willing to help students with their academic problems, so they can pass the course.

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 to teaching your discipline online?

Steven P. Chasen:

Before the course begins, most of the students are already stressed out because of the statistics. The students are scared of statistics. To help them overcome their fear, I use Direct Instruction and demonstrate how to calculate numbers for means difference. In addition, I wrote procedural directions for the students with Microsoft Excel screen shots of calculating data.  Finally, using empirical research, I explain how professional researchers use statistics to support hypotheses. In other words, I bring reality to the students and emphasize that managers must understand statistics to help solve problems.

The one big challenge is trying to ease students into a statistical and empirical research frame of mind. At the beginning, the students were only reading words, but after taking CTL courses in PowerPoint and Wimba, I learned how to connect audio with visual material to improve the lessons. With audio PowerPoint presentations, the students get to hear and listen to the information of the lessons; therefore, the lessons are multidimensional, instead of one dimension.

With Wimba and the online chat room, I schedule real time meetings with the students. There, they are able to ask me questions and to hold discussions on concepts of the lessons.

Interviewer:

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

Steven P. Chasen:

That is simple. Read all you can on the topics and practice what you read. Reading articles and understanding theory will only take you so far. You must apply the theory into the real world to see if the concepts work.

Interviewer:

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

Steven P. Chasen:

UMUC challenges students to think critically and apply what has been learned into the real world.

Interviewer:

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

Steven P. Chasen:

UMUC is a first class organization. Future faculty members will learn that you are welcomed into the house. Experienced instructors are enthusiastically willing to help novice instructors how to teach adult learners. In addition, the CTL courses definitely enhance instructors to improve their teaching skills.

Interviewer:

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

Steven P. Chasen:

I would give them the same advice as I would students: Read all you can on the topic and practice what you read. In addition, do not be afraid of trying different teaching styles to help students learn new concepts. The CTL courses provide valuable information to help learn various teaching styles.