Education, Teaching, and Learning Forum
TITLE
Teaching Activities for Undergraduate Courses in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
ABSTRACT
While published descriptions of teaching activities for psychology courses abound, there is a
dearth of activities for I/O courses. Panel participants will describe multiple activities/exercises
that have proven useful in their undergraduate courses. Participants are strongly encouraged to
comment on the presentations and to share their personal favorite techniques.
PRESS PARAGRAPH
College courses often “come alive” when teachers actively involve students in the teaching
process. All too often, however, undergraduate courses rely on lectures as the primary mode of
teaching. While lectures certainly do serve an important purpose, they often teach students to
become passive recipients of knowledge rather than active participants in their learning.
Speakers at this interactive discussion will present several activities designed to engage students
in learning about I/O Psychology. Participants are strongly encouraged to participate in the
discussion and to share their favorite teaching techniques.
Teaching Activities for Undergraduate Courses in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
General Summary
Active learning techniques have been shown to not only increase student attention in the
classroom, but to also improve student learning and retention (Bonwell, 1996; McKeachie,
1994). Psychology educators have published many descriptions and evaluations of such
techniques. For example, Ware and Johnson (2000) have published three volumes of
demonstrations and activities in the teaching of psychology. In addition, Division 2 of the APA
publishes a quarterly journal entitled Teaching of Psychology which describes many teaching
methods and techniques. These publications enable educators of psychology to benefit from one
another’s creativity and learn ways to make psychology “come alive” for their students.
While many exciting descriptions of psychology activities exist, a closer look at the content of
the activities shows that few relate directly to the study of Industrial/Organizational (I/O)
psychology. For example, when we scanned the titles in the Teaching of Psychology from the
last decade, we found 43 articles with the word “Introductory Psychology” in their title. In
contrast, Industrial/Organizational Psychology appeared in only two titles. One presenter has
also noticed that while publishers appear to have a plethora of supplementary teaching materials
for her introductory psychology course, few have any knowledge of similar materials for her I/O
course.
This panel presentation and audience discussion is a first step at changing this state of affairs.
Given the sometimes abstract nature of the topics we introduce in undergraduate I/O courses
(e.g., reliability, adverse impact, motivation), we have found that active learning techniques are
especially useful in our courses. Five faculty members, three in Departments of Psychology and
two in Business Schools, will describe several activities they have used in the undergraduate I/O
and I/O-related courses. Activities will be described in the following areas: history of I/O
psychology, measurement, job analysis, stress, and careers. I’ll add more to this list when I have
everyone’s submissions. Please see the summary below for more information about each
individual’s contribution. Finally, while we certainly hope to generate discussion about the
activities we present, we will also strongly encourage participants to share their favorite teaching
techniques as well.
REFERENCES
Bonwell, C. C., & Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: creating excitement in the classroom.
Washington, DC : School of Education and Human Development, George Washington
University.
McKeachie, W. J. (1994). Teaching tips (9th ed.). Lexington, MA: Heath.
Ware, M. E., & Johnson, D. E. (2000). Handbook of demonstrations and activities in the
teaching of psychology, second edition. Mahwah: NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Christine Henle, PhD
Department of Management
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
I teach an Introduction to Human Resource Management class at the undergraduate level, which
covers Industrial Psychology topics such as job analysis, recruiting, selection, training, and
performance management.
As many classes do, the semester begins with the history of the field. Traditionally I covered
this information in a lecture format, which was not very effective. A few semesters ago I started
using an alternative teaching technique for this topic: the jigsaw method. Instead conveying the
information through lecture, students are divided into groups and each group is responsible for
reading about a time period. Each group then teaches the class about that time period. For
example, one group reads about World War II and then shares with the class what the time
period was like, what work was like, and what areas of I/O psychology were important during
this period. In my experience, the jigsaw method results in more student engagement and offers
students the opportunity to practice valuable communication skills.
I use another active learning technique during the discussion of job descriptions. During the job
analysis chapter lecture, I describe the components of a job description (e.g., job identification,
job summary, job content, work conditions). Afterwards, students are given handouts of good
and bad job descriptions. They are asked to identify the different components (if they are
included) and to point out what they liked and disliked about each job description. After
critiquing the job descriptions, students form small groups and write a job description for the
“job” of college student. They must write a job summary, a list of tasks and duties, and the
knowledge, skills, and abilities required for this job. They share with the class what they wrote
so they can see all the different descriptions for the same job. I find that this activity
demonstrates is an excellent way to show how challenging it can be to write job descriptions,
even when the job is a familiar one.
To introduce the essential characteristics of effective selection tests (i.e., reliability, validity,
generalizability, utility, and legality), I tell students that they will be given a test to assess their
knowledge of the material covered so far in the course, and that their grades will be determined
from their performance on this test. The test is handed out, but instead of assessing their
knowledge of the material covered in class, it asks questions about southern culture (e.g., How
long do you need to cook chitlings?). After the test is graded on the honor system, those with the
highest scores are told they will get A’s in the course, the next highest B’s, and so forth.
Inevitably, the students point out that this is not a fair test of course knowledge or a fair way to
determine grades in the class. We then discuss what characteristics an effective selection test
should have and how the test I gave violates those characteristics.
One last teaching technique I have found effective occurs during the presentation of career paths
in HRM. To give students an idea of the types of jobs that exist in Human Resources, I invite a
panel of professionals from various companies to speak in class. I try to locate a representative
sample of professionals, including employees from small and large companies, new entrants as
well as seasoned veterans, and both HR generalists and specialists. Before the panel comes to
class, students write three to five questions for the panel. Their questions include various career
information interview questions (e.g., career paths, salaries), as well as questions about the
course content (e.g., how do they handle selection and training in their jobs). After the panel
participants describe their background and work, the presentation is opened up for questions and
answers. The panel is an excellent way for students to develop career exploration skills, as well
as to see how class topics are implemented in the business world.
Cynthia Prehar, PhD
Department of Psychology
University of Pittsburgh
I currently teach an upper-division psychology course entitled “Introduction to I/O Psychology”.
Nearly every “lecture” has an active-learning component. Some techniques come in the form of
a short in-class exercise while others take an entire class period. In addition, some are out-ofclass experiences, either in the form of extra credit opportunities or required projects. I will
describe one activity from each of these categories.
Short in-class exercise. I conclude the lectures on reliability and validity with a short in-class
exercise that 1) tests their understanding of the concepts and 2) introduces them to sources of
published test information. The exercise takes about 20 minutes to process. First I bring in a
source of published test reviews (e.g., Test Critiques, Mental Measurements Yearbook) and
introduce the students to it. Next, I divide the students into teams to discuss one a review from
the book. After providing them with background information on the test, I instruct them to focus
on the technical review section. After approximately 10 minutes of group work, we discuss the
article as a class. Each group is asked to interpret a different coefficient in their own words.
Usually, points of confusion arise and I use the opportunity to re-teach some of the concepts.
The exercise helps both the students and me see where additional study is needed.
Full class exercise. I introduce the topic of work stress with a full-day exercise that exposes
students to several stress measures and provides them with experience in interpreting survey
data. First, students complete several work stress measures, each of which corresponds to an
aspect of the general stress model that I lecture on in the next class period (e.g., stressors, strain,
moderators). Next, the class divides into groups and each is assigned one survey. They then
score each class member’s survey and calculate the mean and the range for the class. Finally,
they write a short interpretation for each individual based upon the class statistics and normative
information. After the surveys are returned, we discuss the survey results as a whole, noting the
important of normative information in our conclusions. We then discuss how this exercise
simulates both individual and organizational assessment.
Extra credit exercise. To introduce students to both SIOP and career paths in I/O Psychology, I
offer an extra credit assignment on the first day of class. By navigating SIOP’s web-page, they
find a position in either academics, consulting firms, or a single private sector employer. For the
assignment, they must describe the position and compare it to the textbook’s information on I/O
employment settings. Students turn in both a hard copy of the assignment, as well as a PC disk
with the assignment on it. My TA then compiles the position descriptions and creates a handout
with job descriptions from all three employment settings. The handout is given to students in a
later lecture on careers. This assignment is beneficial as it introduces students to the SIOP
website and a job search method. In addition, the final handout allows students to learn from one
another’s work.
Required course project. Because job analysis is such a pivotal aspect in the design of selection
tests, training programs, and performance appraisal, I require an out-of-class project on it. For
the assignment, students must 1) analyze a job using at least two different job analysis methods,
2) write 20 task and 20 KSAO statements, 3) conduct a linkage analysis, and 4) write a report
summarizing steps 1-3 and reflecting on the assignment. I provided several handouts for the
assignment, including guidelines for writing task and KSAO statements and interview and
observation guidelines. Because many students expressed difficulty in writing the task and
KSAO statements, I also developed a practice exercise where we critiqued 10 different
statements. The assignment is intensive for both the students and instructor grading it.
However, my students tell me that though job analysis seemed so simple after the lecture, they
now have a much better appreciation and understanding of just how intricate it can be. There is
also room for changing and or reducing steps (e.g., require a job description instead of task and
KSAO statements, no linkage analysis).
Eric Heggestad, PhD
Department of Psychology
Colorado State University
I teach an undergraduate course that focuses specifically on industrial psychology. A particularly
interesting aspect of the course is that it includes a lab component. I have tried very hard to
integrate the lecture and lab components of the course. What I eventually arrived at
was a semester long simulation. On the first day of class, students are asked to pretend that they
have been hired into the human resources department for a computer networking company, Van
DeLay Industries. As the protégé to the HR director, their first assignment is to develop an
HR system for the new position of network administrator. They are to pretend further that the
course is a series of seminars that the company has sent them to learn about a variety of human
resources functions. In the lab, then, students complete a series of projects for the simulated
organization. Specifically, they conduct a job analysis, write a position description, design a
performance appraisal system, write a recruitment ad, design a selection system, and conduct
adverse impact and differential prediction analyses.
The projects that the students complete are fairly detailed. For instance, for the job analysis
project students are required to write a structured SME interview and conduct an interview with
an SME (we bring in actual network administrators to serve as SMEs). Then, based on the
information gained from the SME interview and from “existing company information,” students
develop task and KSAO statements. They then develop a scheme for categorizing the task and
KSAO statements and design a linkage matrix. Finally, they write a position description for the
job of network administrator.
Designing the lecture and laboratory sections of the course in this way has, in my opinion, been
successful. I was initially afraid that students would find the role-play simulation "cheesy."
However, students report that they like the hands on aspects of the course and that it helps them
to understand the topics presented conceptually in the lecture component of the course.