Summer 2004

Poll Your Constituency
Campaign for Student Success

by Rebecca Gwynne

Educators can never be reminded enough of why they do what they do, especially in the post-secondary setting. Oftentimes the immediacy of job duties supersedes a learner-centered focus: without learners there would be no school. Think of the school as the government official of learner education. Learners "voted" for their schools with their tuition. By making that choice, learners have empowered the school to act as their elected representatives to govern their education process.

Ideally, the power resides in the learner body as in a true government by the people. They are the purpose, the power and the progeny. Learner-centered learning begins with assessing the needs of the learner before, during and after their actual enrollment period. Hopefully, the school campaigns with integrity and is committed to fulfilling campaign promises. Poll your constituency to evaluate your school's record. How do the people who matter most rate the job being done by you, the school, the administration, the learner services and the other teachers?

The easiest way to find and track the answers over time is to create a survey. Perhaps a task force could develop a survey that expresses the particular characteristics of your body politic. Decide what it is that you need to know and develop the questions from there. Take time crafting and testing the questions. Well considered questions inspire better responses. Learners need to rate areas including, but not limited to, the recruiting style of the school, the enrollment process, the curriculum content, the teaching delivery, the overall level of satisfaction, and the post graduation support. Be sure to include a comments section. You may need more than one survey for each step through the enrollment to graduation progression. Learners need to contribute their ideas and to be heard. This creates a sense of ownership and community. Ultimately, that means the school must implement suggestions or explain why not. Even a simple acknowledgment of the awareness of a particular issue (perhaps printed in the school newsletter) goes a long way toward positive public relations.

Empower your learners' voice. Give them a tool to help create a more effective and complete government. When designing your poll keep the following questions in mind: What is the purpose of the poll? What questions will the survey answer? What specific issues will the poll address? What action is the school considering based on the results of the survey?

In the end, polling brings everyone satisfaction and success. Is your school committed to conscious business? Are you committed to the same level of quality in your classroom? If the school isn't already evaluating individual classes, create your own mini-survey. This survey can assist you with your presentation skills, meeting objectives and classroom organization, to name a few. Think about what you can do to improve your skills and the school's objectives.

Good luck, your constituency is depending on you!

Classroom Caper

TOPIC: Create A Client Survey

Objective: Learners create a tracking tool to better serve their clients.

Procedure: Lead a discussion regarding the type of information you could glean from a direct survey. Consider what may be the most important information and if any of those areas may be reasonable or unreasonable to ask of clients. Have quad pods design a 4-8 question survey for their clients. As the groups present their survey, ask them to explain exactly what information they are intending to measure, how they intend to present it to their clientele and how they plan to follow up once they have evaluated their information. After each group has presented, evaluate the surveys as a class.

Discussion: Have you ever participated in a survey regarding a personal service or product? What did you think of the survey? Have you considered using a survey to track your services or business effectiveness? What kind of information would you want to know? Are any of those questions inappropriate? How might you present the survey so that the client will be receptive and helpful? What can you do to make it quick and easy? Might it be appropriate to have surveys for different purposes? Once you have the information, then what? How might you follow up with the client?

Simulation (Optional): Dyads run through presenting the survey to their client. [Note to instructor: If time allows, pair learners from different quad pods and have them take the other person's survey.]

Materials Required: Presentation materials, paper and writing utensils.

Time Required: 30-45 minutes.

E-mail Us Your Capers!

Please use the format:

Topic
Objective
Procedure
Discussion
Materials Required
Time Required
Source

Send to: sma.info@sohnen-moe.com

Website Resources

Take a Poll

See Examples of Polls

Tips on Conducting Online Surveys

"Who Wants to Know? You Do."

Free Online Questionnaire, Polling, Survey Site

my3q

International Symposium on the Science of Touch

The May 2004 ISST: Towards an Integrative Medicine was a huge success! More than 600 scientists, teachers, clinicians and students in the health related fields from around the world attended this event. The presentations were informative and stimulating. The networking was phenomenal!

One of the highlights was seeing Dr. Tiffany Field receive the prestigious Ashley Montagu Award for being a pioneer and a source of inspiration in the massage therapy research field.

Mark your calendars for the 2006 symposium to take place in the United States.

"Our opinion of people depends less upon what we see in them, than what they make us see in ourselves."

- Sara Grand

"To those who have confidence in themselves, change is a stimulus because they believe one person can make a difference and influence what goes on around them. These people are the doers and the motivators."

- Buck Rogers

Rave Review Excerpt*

* Visit The Ethics of Touch website for the full review.

Council Communicator Spring 2004
Reviewed by Debra Curties, Executive Director
Sutherland-Chan School, Toronto, Canada

Every massage student should be exposed to this book. The Ethics of Touch is workmanlike in the best sense of that old-fashioned word-not only is its subject matter comprehensively addressed, but also great care is taken to present issues and scenarios in a manner that is relevant and true to everyday clinical practice.

The concern for educators, who are providing a general practical education, is scale: what is a basic yet sufficient coverage of this subject matter for our students? How do we expose them (cerebrally and experientially) to the fundamental ethical questions so that they graduate prepared to become safe and effective therapists?

The Ethics of Touch is a welcome addition. After clarifying basic terms and principles, its chapters progress steadily through the core issues: ethical principles, boundaries, effective communication, dual relationships, touch and intimacy associations, special consideration for working with clients who have experienced abuse and utilizing supervision. Each subject is addressed in an individual chapter (the boundaries chapter is especially good). The language is clear and understandable, and the text is rich with accessible personal examples and instances from professional life. Complex subjects are clarified in a straightforward manner. The importance of self-accountability is addressed early on, as the authors go out of their way to demonstrate that consistent ethical behavior stems from self-knowledge based on internalized values rather than mere adherence to externally set rules. They recognize that most unethical behavior is subtle and inadvertent, coming from a lack of understanding or thoughtfulness in the well-meaning practitioner. The goal is not to be error-free, but to grow in awareness and effectiveness in the service of a client-centered approach to providing health care. They also show how communication is the key to handling ethical grey areas that arise in the therapeutic relationship.

Readers tend to approach writings about ethics with a certain amount of hesitancy. The Ethics of Touch does a consistent job of hitting the right level. As a reader who has been around the block a few times with these issues, I didn't agree with every point and didn't feel that the writers needed me to. I found the preachiness level low and the pragmatic relevance level very high. As an educator I was quite engaged.

The Ethics of Touch is a trustworthy book, and a useful one.

Upcoming Workshops

Aug 14-15	AMTA: Rockford, IL 630-980-4740
Aug 14	(3-hr) Business Ethics (3-hr) Take Your Business to the Next Level-Part 1
Aug 15	(6-hr) Take Your Business to the Next Level-Part 2
Sep 22	The Institute of Beauty & Wellness Milwaukee, WI 414-227-2889 (3-hr) Informal Business Mastery Roundtable
Jan 13-17	AOBTA Conference The Miyako Hotel, San Francisco, CA 856-782-1616
Jan 13	Council of Schools (4-hr) Does Anyone Know You're There? (If your school is bursting with students this workshop isn't for you!)
Jan 14	AOBTA (3-hr) Marketing From Your Heart
Feb 25-26	Annual Massage Therapy Symposium: Northwestern Health Sciences University Bloomington, MN Dale Healey 800-888-4777 x348
Apr 29- May 1	Body Mind Spirit Santa Clara, CA 888-499-1600
Apr 30	(3-hr) The Ethics of Touch (3-hr) Creative Teaching Techniques
May 1	(3-hr) The Ethics of Touch

Mission Statement

Teacher's Aide is a cooperative venture among all of us who teach business: a support system to make our job easier, more effective and fun. This newsletter is a forum for exchanging creative techniques on teaching business as well as a resource for exercises, handouts, quotes and tools for use in class. We welcome contributions, so please send them today.

Summer Motivation Tips

Make your students feel welcome by putting a daily message on the board that they see when entering the classroom. Include a personal greeting, highlights of what they will be learning in class and an activity or question to get them thinking about the lesson theme. You can even tie the greeting header into the class lesson: Hello Financial Wizards; Good Day Marketing Masters; Good Morning Future Successful Business Owners.
Gain a new perspective by holding class outside (weather permitting) or even in a different room.
Take a field trip to the offices of a guest speaker (e.g., a marketing business, a print shop, a successful graduate of your school).
Bring in a guest to speak on motivation.
Create a "School Name" for your class and mascot that represents both the character of the class and inspires the class to excellence.

Plan with other teachers to bring your classes together for a mutually beneficial collaboration.
Have a potluck lunch and practice networking skills.
Develop a community project that incorporates several ideas from class such as planning a public education and service outreach featuring activities within the students' scope of practice.
Hold a comical awards ceremony gifting each learner with an appropriate title commemorating their unique talents. It's particularly effective if you can relate it to skills necessary for successful business, like "most sincere handshake."
Solicit suggestions from learners for motivational activities for the class.
Have learners write questions on index cards to be collected and answered "creatively" in the next class.