Our university just finished the regular teaching period and is now entering two weeks of final exams:
This is also the time of year for graduation. As I mentioned in a past post, the graduation ceremony here is given far less attention than in America. This is evident by the few rows of spectator seats at the event (in front of the graduates):
It is also evident by the fact that I took the above photo from the classroom window during my regularly scheduled Marketing class. The graduation ended about the same time as my class, so I hurried down to visit with a few of my prior students:
Although several hundred graduated with degrees in International Business, I’m sorry to say that only a handful will actually find a decent job in their field:
In order to motivate participation in my classroom, I reward my students for answering/asking questions by giving them a piece of “small money”:
According to the rules of the US Treasury Department, printing such money is legal if the size is less than 75% of the original (my bills are about 25%). Of course, I’ve altered a bit of text and substituted my grandson’s picture. When the students receive some money, they write their student ID on the back and return it to me at the end of class.
In addition to using the money to measure classroom participation, we hold an auction at the end of the year (click here SoldForTwenty for a small video). This is always a lot of fun as students form joint-ventures and try to out-bid one another for the top items. Snack foods are always in high demand, especially those that can be shared in a group, like this tub of “Snickers” bars which sold for 65 dollars:
Depending on the mood of the group at the moment, some obscure items can go for a high price as well, like these chicken feet (18 dollars):
We also sold a slightly used tee-shirt (too small for Susan) from our oldest son’s Alma Mater for 50 dollars:
Even though the ratio of sales/purchase price ends up low, we always get a few expensive items to keep the interest level high (like this badminton set):
It is also interesting to see how the energy can drive up bids. This year, the toothpaste sold for 35 dollars, while it only went for 12 dollars two years ago:
For those geeky types who have actually read all the way to this point, here is a data analysis of bid price to purchase price using four semesters of auction data:
And if you are the ultimate geek, you can download my data set for your own personal analysis: Auction Items
one word. engineer.
Haha, of course the money is super adorable. I need one for his baby book!
Too funny and so creative! They’ll always remember you as their teacher, I’m sure. It won’t “return void”.
Yes, a very geeky blog post with graph (TMI)! It’s good to see your classroom techniques for sparking interest. Loved the cute little guy on the dollar bill!
It’s a wonderful feeling to still qualify as a geeky engineer, even after teaching marketing and business classes!
yes, these students have certainly never had a teacher quite like dad. enjoyed the video… wish I could’ve seen the rest of the auction! I’m really impressed he was able to sell that obscure toothpaste brand that I found for 35 dollars!