Module 1 Assignment: Why It Matters To You

Open Pedagogy Assignments are assignments in which students use their agency and creativity to create knowledge artifacts that can support their own learning, their classmates’ learning, and the learning of students around the world. (See this peer-reviewed article for more details.) The assignment on this page is aligned to the learning outcomes of Principles of Management and we’ve identified the module where the reading appears. All of the assignments can be created with a cell phone camera or any video recording device, Google or Word documents, and your learning management system. 

Assignment 1: Why It Matters to You

LEARNING OUTCOME

  • Describe what management is

In the first module of the course, we introduce the term management, a core concept to this course. When people talk about management, they may be referring to very different aspects. They may be talking about the people who are the managers, especially those people in strategic positions who make important decisions for the organization, such as the executive officers, president, or general manager. Or, they may be referring to the activities and functions of an organization to achieve organizational goals.

For this assignment, let’s start with what you understand about management before we begin the course. You are going to create a short video of less than two minutes explaining your own personal definition of management. You might draw on your own personal work experience or your own observations.

Using your cell phone or any other recording device, create a short video. You don’t have to edit or create a professional-grade film. You’ve most likely have done this type of recording already on social media, so feel free to use the same informal conversational tone.

Think of your audience as other students who are eager to learn about your experience and your perspective.

If you need some questions to guide your response, here are two questions to help you get started.

  1. What is the most important function of a good manager?
  2. Why does it matter to you to learn about principles of management?

A Note To Teachers: Your students in the first term will create videos, and with their permission you can upload them into your course in order to show examples for the next term. The idea will be to have students generate content that other students can listen to and learn from with this assignment.

In our analysis of student performance, we found that students struggle with learning outcomes that build on this concept, so having students focus on what they know before they begin the course may help them with the summative quizzes. We recommend utilizing this assignment as a formative assessment where you can use the misunderstanding and errors of students as learning experiences about this concept.