Dynamic Large Lecture Course in Organizational Behavior

Project Description

The objective of this project is to continue transforming the dynamic large lecture style course, Organizational Behavior 221, according to pedagogical best practices.

Please follow the links below to a profile of the creative collaboration during the Spring 2016 semester between the OB221 team and the School of Theatre, who provided an amazing command performance in OB221, at the Tsai Center, for the first time, for a Senior Thesis Showcase. Below that is a compilation video about The Nile Project, an African musical collective we use to teach lessons about leadership and teamwork in OB221. The Nile Project visited BU in March 2015 and provided a command performance for OB221 at that time.

Creative Collaboration with School of Theatre: Spring 2016 Senior Thesis Showcase

Outcomes:

Develop dynamic custom pre-work, creative digital media, and networked-based learning content that can be deployed to be completed by students prior to their arrival to lecture or discussion class sessions. Develop digital media platform(s) for moving and distributing course content and readings while fostering greater interactivity and distributed learning.
Continue to expand the relationships with the School of Theatre, College of Communications, School of Music and School of Visual Arts. Seek to extend our collaborative work into the School of Engineering and the Medical Campus.
Continue to study and enhance the Moderated Simulcast Lecture (MSL) initiative to further expand productivity and capture learning outcomes. Enhance and extend our virtual lecture experience, reducing the need for classroom space for the MSL experience, and strengthening Questrom’s virtual and distributed learning capabilities.
Develop more interactive experiential application exercises where the students apply the concepts working with real problems from organizations.
Continue to pioneer and advance the concept of conducting large lectures only when they pedagogically make sense.
Investigate expansion of global awareness and reach through collaboration with global leaders
Foster and integrate the expectation that with every applied project for student teams in OB221, students develop their own digital content and short videos that capture lessons and experiences.

Transforming the Large Lecture Course Faculty Voices

Project Video

Project Team

Dr. Lloyd Baird

Dr. Lloyd Baird is Professor Emeritus of Management at Boston University and served as Chair of the Organizational Behavior Department. He was also the Jon Huntsman Visiting Professor at Utah State University. During his tenure at Boston University he served as Executive Director of the Leadership Institute, on the steering committee of the Executive Development Roundtable and Research Director of the Human Resources Policy Institute. All consortia of leading corporations devoted to improving leadership capability in their organizations. They bring together global organizations from across industry sectors, military and government agencies working together to enhance, drive and improve their own efforts of leadership, talent management and innovation. He is author of numerous books and articles, and he consults regularly in the areas of executive leadership, capability development, innovation and process improvement. He received his BS degree from Utah State University and his MBA and PhD from Michigan State University.

Dr. Jack McCarthy

Dr. Jack McCarthy was an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, where he also served as the Director of the Executive Development Roundtable, a major consortium and research center on leadership. In July 2015 he was also named as the Director of the Humphrey Fellowship Program at Boston University, comprised of exceptional mid-career professionals from developing nations studying for a year in the US under the Fulbright initiative, in which he has taught a year-long seminar series on leadership for the past nine years. In addition, he was the faculty director for the school’s core undergraduate Organizational Behavior course, where he and colleagues have received major grant funding from the university in recognition of ongoing innovations in teaching and learning. Dr. McCarthy holds an MBA from Babson College and a DBA from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University.

Sandra Deacon Carr, Ph.D.

Sandra Deacon Carr, Ph.D. is a Master Lecturer in the Organizational Behavior Department at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business where she teaches organizational behavior, leadership, and team learning. She is the Faculty Director of the BU Cross-College Challenge (XCC), the Faculty Director of Questrom Team Learning Services and co-author of The Team Learning Assistant. Sandra was awarded the Questrom’s inaugural Broderick Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning and Experience in 2014, and the General Electric Fund Team Learning Award for outstanding contribution to Team Learning at Boston University. She has extensive coaching, counseling and team mediation experience and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma.