Teaching.IU

Context

My course Ethics and the 21^st Century Business Leader contains a module focused on diversity and equity. An example lesson focused on the implications and intersections of race within business ethics. This strategy enhances retention and recollection of course learnings through the introduction of physical perspective. Thinking back to your childhood, what are some of the most vivid memories you recall? A great number will relate to visual and/or emotive experiences; both of which possess long-established connections to memory retention and retrieval (Glaser, 2016 & Buchanan, 2007). It is for this reason that we hold field trips among our cherished schoolyear memories. In higher education, often cost, time, administrative, or logistical constraints put an end to such excursions, but field trips can still be surprisingly manageable by thinking locally and utilizing the campus environment as context. Not only are many logistical hurdles removed, but using sites known and frequented by students often makes use of already existing visual and emotive connections while also increasing the odds of students revisiting these locations, and by effect your materials, on a regular basis. I was delighted to see positive impacts of this strategy during recent use in my business ethics courses and would encourage other instructors to likewise seek out this method that takes the classroom just a few additional figurative and literal steps outside into deep engagement and learning.

Step-by-Step Implementation

1. Determine the desired learning outcome(s) for your particular lesson. My objective for the day included having the students better understand how historical context can impact business perspective.
2. Determine a publicly accessible location within walking distance that relates to your lesson. I chose Peoples Park in Bloomington. This park is the former site of a racially-motivated firebombing of a Black-centric store known as the Black Market (Beckley, 2020). The park has had an at times tumultuous history, with “Black Lives Matter” recently being painted without authorization on a wall adjoining an active bicycle shop (Askins, 2020). 
• Note:  Your site does not require such an explicit connection to your course content.  For instance, the backdrop of a campus statue of Adam and Eve provided ample context for discussion on the gender wage gap for a different lesson. 
3. Optionally prepare handouts and materials. I often find value in having handouts or activity materials for use at the site or in route thereto. For this example, I created printouts of several historical pictures of what is now known as Peoples Park. Moreover, I printed out purported characteristics of contemporary white supremacist culture (Jones & Okun, 2001).
4. Lead the class to the site. Meeting at the site instead of classroom may result in students getting lost or confused. Are there related landmarks along the route you can talk about? Use the walk to administer a “pre-test” of sorts on what you’ll be discussing in-depth. For instance, what did students think of the recent painting of “Black Lives Matter” on the wall of the bike shop?
• Note: This teaching strategy is focused on the use of local physical context. Much effort must go into addressing subject areas such as race in an equitable way that does not further marginalize minority students. The precise handling and preparation of those equity efforts is not gone into in-depth in this strategy as this strategy can apply to any subject area.
5. Facilitate class discussion at the site. I distributed photos and explained the history I researched. It is important to solicit student input at the site. Nearly all students will have some form of experience and interaction with your content knowingly or unknowingly due to their familiarity with the site; ask them what their interactions have been, what meaning they’ve attached to this area before, etc.
6. Conduct additional lesson activities at the site. Leverage the powerful presence of place. I had students break into small groups to generate input from a variety of perspectives (local government, bike shop owner, community, etc.) on what should be done with the “Black Lives Matter” painting now that they better understood the site’s history. I also conducted an activity regarding white supremacy and how it plays out in business organizations.
7. Conclude class. I recommend ending class early enough for students to get back to the original classroom on schedule. This buffer time has additional benefits:  a) students needing to decompress alone or in small groups can do so, b) students wanting to stay at the site for further observation and reflection can do so, and c) students wanting to converse with you one-on-one on the walk back can do so. 
• Note: As a former therapeutic case manager for the foster care system, I can ascribe that a conversation while walking or driving can have unique benefits by creating a more relaxed environment void of the eye contact and power differentials inherent in classrooms and more formal spaces. 

Effectiveness

• When given a choice as to taking a contextual trip or staying inside, students consistently choose to engage in place-based learning.  Reflection specific to these trips has voluntarily constituted the bulk of reflection logs, videos, and other student submissions. 
• Sample Online Course Questionnaire responses have included: 

• • I liked that Sader used many different types of media, such as articles, videos, interviews, discussions, and field trips to explain topics to us.
  • I enjoyed everything that we did in class, it always felt very engaging. Specifically the field trips and activities. There was no sort of "lecture" which I really enjoyed and Professor Sader opened my eyes to new things.
  • Keep the field trips and real applications to IU.
  • I enjoyed the place based learning he implemented, it felt good to get out of the classroom. We would walk around campus and learn about things going on around us.
  • We were encouraged to have classes even outside of our normal classroom at various locations on campus, an addition to the course I personally enjoyed thoroughly.

• As an instructor, this strategy also positively impacts my teaching efficacy by forcing me to make connections between my content and my local community.

Inclusivity

• Beyond my primary goal of increasing learning retention and recollection, student feedback has indicated this strategy is also about “building empathy.”  Literally speaking, field trips are a physical repositioning of our perspective.  And by seeing content through a new physical perspective we often experience a shift in mental perspective as well.
• This strategy encourages students to share their unique experiences with the physical spaces we visit.  Peers may have entirely different experiences with an identical physical space.  A strategy supplement is to solicit student input for locations, e.g. a former social work student of mine made me aware that a campus bridge has strong connections with her predominantly Black sorority.
• Since this strategy involves exiting the standard classroom environment, mobility limitations as to location accessibility and physical exertion must be kept in mind and appropriately accommodated. 
• Make-up work replicating the impact of the physical environment is difficult to provide to students who may be experiencing frequent absences due to illness; virtual reality may be a ripe area for accommodation exploration.

Adaptability

• Several options exist to virtually employ this strategy:

1. 1. An instructor can telecast and/or record on-location. The students are not physically in the space but can view the instructor in the chosen space and still engage vicariously. This variant requires additional materials and expertise to successfully implement.
   2. Locations can be visited virtually. This can range from walking the streets of Google Earth to a more interactive experience of Second Life. This variant requires additional expertise from both instructor and students.
   3. Students can independently explore physical spaces. Suggestions can be provided by the instructor but students can also choose locations of meaning. Though this option has no additional requirements, it does lack the communal nature of the original strategy.

• I have used this strategy effectively and frequently across disciplines. The general steps do not require discipline-specific adaption. I recently taught a course on Urban Problems & Solutions using this strategy as a class to observe pedestrian and vehicular behavior at well-known campus street intersections. Creative connections between physical form and course content are always possible.