Future students experience campus through mini-sessions at Saturday Make-a-Date

March 21, 2007 - About 70 high school seniors and their parents got a taste of NC State's College of Management at a special Make-A-Date session held this past Saturday.

Typically, high school seniors visit college campuses during the week and shadow a current student, sitting in on classes to see what the environment is 'really' like. But because many top students can't get away from their high school classes during the week, staff in the Undergraduate Programs Office at NC State's College of Management arranged for a special Saturday session, complete with a few 'demo' classes. Student Ambassadors and Peer Leaders were on hand to serve as guides, while the undergraduate advising staff provided program details.

Deepak Sirdeshmukh, assistant professor of marketing; Debbie Brown, lecturer; Eileen Taylor, assistant professor of accounting; and Cecil Bozarth, associate professor, supply chain/operations [shown in photo], all presented mini-class sessions explaining what a student in their area might be learning in the course of their academic programs.

While the students attended their mini-sessions on the various academic disciplines, their parents attended sessions on financial aid and other college details. They also got a taste of the large classroom experience, including a demonstration by Brown showing how a new 'clicker' device helps to make the large auditorium classes more interactive.

Students purchase a clicker when registering for a class that is held in the auditorium, and will be asked as part of their class sessions to respond to questions from the instructor, using the clicker to mark their answers. The clicker automatically registers the students' response to his or her class participation record.

"It's a way to improve the learning experience in our large size classes," said Shannon Davis, associate dean for undergraduate programs. The college has been testing the clicker system this past year and will be used in the coming year.