Abstract
The use of technology in the classroom is a topic that has been present in Management Teaching Review from its very start. Technology can help learning and engagement in many aspects of the management classroom. In Issue 1 of the journal, David William Stoten (2016) discussed the use of the e-portfolio system PebblePad+ in tracking business student competencies and development. Then in Issue 2, the use of Pinterest in the classroom was presented by one of your very own editors (Schmidt, 2016)! These earlier works on technology in the classroom have been followed by several more Management Teaching Review (MTR) articles examining technology. Topics that MTR authors have addressed include engaging applications, such as TikTok (Middleton, 2022), helping with application of project-based learning concepts (Jackson & Halbert, 2021), and even conducting remote oral doctoral defenses (Allen & Williams, 2022).
Technology can enhance student learning and engagement in a number of ways. As educators, we need to find what best fits our strengths and the needs of our students. This issue offers a variety of diverse topics related to technology that have needed more examination in our field. Included in this issue are six articles that provide exciting and novel ways to use technology in our classrooms. All focus on our main goal as educators—helping our students with the best available methods.
This Issue Includes Five Experiential Exercises
The first exercise is “A Little ‘Edutainment’ Goes a Long Way: Leveraging Among Us ®, a Popular Multiplayer Game, to Teach Persuasion Virtually” by Esther Sackett and Lisa M Amoroso. The authors present the popular video game Among Us as a way to teach students about the art of persuasion and the skill of influencing. As the students participate as “crewmates” or impostors, they develop these skills in this fun, interactive game. While the activity began for the virtual classroom, it can be used in both virtual and face-to-face classrooms.
Our second exercise takes the popular information-sharing format of explainer videos to describe a project where management students evaluate the credibility and quality of these videos. In “Allow Me to Explain: A Project Designed to Teach Management Students to Evaluate and Create Explainer Videos” by Heidi Batiste, Jennifer Barajas, and Briana Saldivar provide students with an exercise using these popular, concise videos. Students then take the next step of creating their own credible and high-quality explainer videos, which provides them an opportunity to explore their entrepreneurial skills.
Our third exercise is “Appreciative Inquiry Utilizing Online Platforms” by Stephanie A. Van Dellen, which offers a novel way to learn about and practice appreciative inquiry. Students give appreciative inquiry feedback to peers’ presentations using an online platform. Using this platform, a student can provide feedback through written words along with memes, GIFs, and photos to express their feedback.
The fourth exercise is “Crafting a Bad News Email: An Exercise in Managerial Communication” by Scott Springer and Ann Springer, which looks at an unpleasant, but unavoidable workplace situation—delivering bad news in a written format, such as an email. Students write both an email using the three-phase model for delivering bad news and a response from the perspective of the participant. Thus, they consider the nature of such bad news as both a sender and receiver.
Online students do not have the same opportunities to network as traditional on-ground students. So, effort needs to be made to aid them in developing their peer network. Our fifth exercise is “The Networking ‘Menu’: Fostering Student Networking in Online Management Courses” by Kelly Davis McCauley, which addresses this issue by providing a learning experience for online students to consider how to network virtually. The exercise also provides the students the opportunity to improve their networking skills. Students have a “menu” that gives options for networking to choose from. This helps their actual networking as well as understanding networking concepts.
Finally, from our Resource Reviews section, “Using QuizizzTM in the Management Classroom,” by Caitlin Sockbeson, looks at how the online platform QuizizzTM can be used to setup quizzes and interactive lessons. This tool can be used in a variety of classroom formats such as in-person, online, and hybrid/hyflex classes. It is available for free or at a low-cost subscription, and the quizzes and lessons created may help student engagement.