IUPUI

Wendeln Draws on Gateway Scholar Experiences to Improve Classes for Students

Kelley School of Business Clinical Associate Professor and Gateway Scholar, Ken Wendeln

INDIANAPOLIS - Ken Wendeln was efficient, effective and got things done when he worked as a senior level executive for international and U.S. companies. Since retiring as a business manager and turning to education, his job title has changed to Clinical Associate Professor in the IU Kelley School of Business. But he continues to focus on being efficient, effective and getting things done - for students.

Whenever he wants to remind himself of the best ways to do that, Wendeln reaches for a folder containing teaching techniques he learned as a Gateway Scholar two years ago. The Gateway Scholars Program was created to support invited course coordinators and Gateway instructors in their efforts to find new ways to improve teaching and learning in introductory classes with large enrollments. Each scholar receives a $5,000 stipend for their participation in the program's Summer Institute and a year-long faculty learning community. The Faculty Learning Community (FLC) for Gateway Scholars enables the conversation and work begun in the Summer Institute to continue throughout the academic year. The FLC focuses on discussions regarding the implementation of new teaching strategies as well as how scholars can bring new ideas about pedagogy to the attention of other Gateway instructors.

"I keep the folder handy as a reminder of the basic things I need to be thinking about and doing when I am working to improve a class or develop a new one," Wendeln said. "Reflecting back on the basic learning theory and some of the teaching techniques allow me to make course adjustments along the way."

When Wendeln went through the Gateway Scholars program in 2004, he was teaching X100, an introduction to business class. About 900 students a year take the class in sections that have as many as 250 students. The class is one of the required courses for entry into the IU Kelley School of Business, but it also attracts students who use it as an elective for other majors.

"The big challenge with a large class is to make it feel small and relevant to students, Wendeln said. "You need to be extremely well prepared and organized to connect with and engage students."

"One of things I learned in the Gateway Scholars program," Wendeln continued, "was the importance of leading and motivating the students through the course in each and every class. Use of well prepared power point slides, enabling students to get the material easily and visually was one way to do that." Wendeln also looked for short videos, interesting websites, and relevant issues going on in the business world to keep material presented in class interesting and relevant to students. He also assigned a "fair amount" of homework and online quizzes so students were doing work and preparing for each class throughout the semester. "I try to make sure that students do some reading and a pre-quiz before they come to class, so they have some familiarity with what they will see in class, he continued. "It doesn't have to be time consuming."

Although he no longer faces business competitors, Wendeln said he recognized that he faced another form of competition. "I am competing for students' time with other classes and other priorities such as jobs or families," he said. "I need to work hard at making sure that when I get them to class they enjoy and profit from being there, because they can learn the material more efficiently and effectively by coming to class than trying to do it in some other way."

Another influence of the Gateway Scholars program was to add business case studies that have more relevance to the students. Subway Restaurants with Jared Fogel, who is an IU Kelley graduate, and Mike's Carwash are case studies with ties to Indiana. "They can see the businesses locally and experience them, making them more interesting and relevant to students," Wendeln said. Three more video cases highlighting Indiana businesses will launch in the fall 2006 semester.

Wendeln came from the business world to IUPUI, not to teach, but to get an MPA degree. After a business career as a turn-around manager, Wendeln decided to retire from managing businesses and stay put in Indianapolis, rather than continuing to jet around the country and world on business trips and living from a suitcase in hotels.

"I held jobs in virtually every functional aspect of a business, with the exception of human resources director," he noted. Those jobs included working as a sector executive overseeing many international businesses, division general manager, vice president of marketing, director of manufacturing operations, financial controller, and international product development. "Most of the businesses I was involved with needed a major change because other competitors or the market had passed them by."

A graduate of The University of Notre Dame, Wendeln was well aware of the importance of completing a degree in four years even before he started college. "I had been accepted to the engineering programs at several big ten schools, as well as at Notre Dame, but my Dad told me and my brothers that for each of us he would pay for four years of college.and only four years. Since Notre Dame's engineering program was the only one that encouraged graduation in four years, my choice about where to enroll was pretty simple."

After he graduated, he moved to Chicago, where he enrolled in the evening MBA program at the University of Chicago. At the same time he went to work for Honeywell. From Chicago, Honeywell sent Wendeln to Minneapolis and then to Brussels, where he introduced new automation products into the European region.

When he had decided to get off the business world merry-go-round after thirteen relocations and four company changes that ended in Indianapolis, he wasn't ready to start riding a rocking chair. It was while he was pursuing his MPA degree that Wendeln was asked if he wanted to teach. He started with an on-line business auditing course, a summer accounting class, and then was asked to take on the large sections of the introductory business class. "I have a broad international business background and they were looking for someone who could bring business experience to the classroom."

"I didn't have a formal teaching background and the Gateway Scholars program helped make up for that," Wendeln said. During the Gateway Scholar Summer Institute, Wendeln said, "We spent a full week, six hours a day working on various aspects of teaching and learning. I thoroughly enjoyed that immersion. The staff in the Office of Professional Development did a great job of organizing sessions. We went to different places, looking at teaching from different aspects. It gave a broader view of the university within the community."

"You also realize that most of us who are teaching are tied to a particular school," he continued. "The fact is undergraduates are in touch with a variety of schools and disciplines. By working with instructors and administrators from in these other disciplines, you learn from them and make contacts that help you do a better job in your teaching."

"It's too easy to get caught up in your own silo, if you don't have a chance to work with colleagues from other schools," Wendeln noted. "There is a lot to learn from other people across the university." The Gateway Scholar program's Faculty Learning Community provided a network, not only of those who went through the program at the same time he did, but with others from the Kelley School of Business who have participated in the program. "It allows us to work together to improve and better coordinate the courses we offer our students," Wendeln said.

This combination of 'real world experience' along with the academic support and collegiality seems to be working well. Wendeln has received several Schuyler F. Otteson Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Awards, a Trustees Teaching Award, and recognition from the University College freshman cohort as an individual who is "making a difference in their success".

Wendeln continues to be guided by his favorite quotation by Elbert Hubbard: "The more one knows, the more on simplifies." "What I've done in my classes is to bring things down to what is important and relevant to the students' learning and contributes to their overall education."