Dr. Molly Jensen is a clinical associate professor at Marketing Department, Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. She is teaching nonprofit marketing class. What she finds most […]
Dr. Molly Jensen is a clinical associate professor at Marketing Department, Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. She is teaching nonprofit marketing class. What she finds most fulfilling in teaching a service learning class is seeing students realize they can do it. They can read about their field in a book or article, learn something new and then execute an aspect of that learning for the greater good of a community or organization. Her students are expected to do something, create a lesson, marketing plan, and make a business decision. For her, service learning is about doing. She finds that students really don’t know what marketing is until they have to make budget decisions, decide who their target market is, and decide how their will address their target.
Concerning her role as a faculty leader, she said that planning is probably her biggest job then she just needs to get out of the way. She is amazed with what a motivated student(s) can accomplish. Usually, the more she stays out of their way the better the project result. Her main role after planning is to serve as a consultant to her student groups, a protector of her student’s time and energy, and a liaison to community organizations who want to partner.
After being involved the first time with Belize, service learning completely changed her view of teaching. Dr. Jensen used to try to control everything her students did from class attendance to reading and writing. Now she finds that the more she puts on them the better they do. She still needs to set parameters, but she has to learn to let the students work with in those parameters. She struggles, for sure, but she feels she is a better teacher because of it. At least it makes her want to be a better teacher.