This post is authored by Assoc Prof Mark Frost | Associate Professor in Agribusiness | School of Business
After more than five years teaching online and in China I am about to step back into an on-campus class on Bathurst campus. The glass half full perspective is that I have great teaching resources in ECO 130 Business Economics ready and waiting from Dr. Nicola Thomas, and economics was my undergraduate degree and my PhD focused on international macroeconomics. What can go wrong?
Teaching on Bathurst campus requires 12 weeks of 3-hour workshops, and I want students to keep attending class in the first instance and engaged while they are there. This is my glass half empty nerves emerge. As I go through presentations and lesson plans, how do I maximise delivery and class participation.
Is being nervous good? What can I do? As I reflect on this I am thinking about my preparation, how I deliver, how I engage, what type of presence do I project – all while trying to avoid the classic Ferris Buller Voodoo Economics class – Anyone!!!!
The saving grace is that I have encountered these nerves before as a member of the Wellington Amateur Theatre Society through our annual pantomime shows. Many of these production skills are applicable to the classroom.
Inset left: A young Mark Frost as Luther Billis (Honeybun) in “South Pacific”. Copyright: Assoc Prof Mark Frost.
Learning the script, planning the delivery, encouraging crowd engagement, identifying the peaks in the show and when does the audience draw breathe, how do I transition between Acts, the need to command a presence from the moment you enter stage, staying in character, voice projection, crowd banter, and improvisation when things go terribly wrong are all things that can be transferred from the stage to class.
Inset right: An older Mark Frost as King Ahmed Car in “Ali Barbar on the Orient Express”. Copyright: Assoc Prof Mark Frost.
How will it go? – I am sure it will be right on the night, with good reviews and the crowd wanting more. Thankfully for the students there won’t be any singing or dancing.
Assoc Prof Mark Frost’s teaching interests encompass international management, risk management, finance, and organisational behaviour. He is also actively involved in supervising higher degree research students, with three successful completions achieved over the past five years.