Meet our Term One Lecturers: Paul Hansen

Associate Professor Paul Hansen

Classes have begun, students are settling into routines and they're undoubtedly enjoying Economics under the guidance of Paul Hansen.  Paul is a Kiwi, or more properly a Pakeha (i.e., New Zealander of European descent), who maintains an easygoing attitude about life and learning: often wearing jandals to class.  He maintains an active classroom, encourages discussion and takes personal interest in knowing each of his students.  Paul refers to his role as a lecturer in the MBA as a high-wire act: exhilarating.  

Paul's objective for the class is to help students learn to "think like an economist;" he eschews "the systematic building of theories and models, or their empirical estimation" (from Robert Solow, 1987 Nobel Laureate) as an end in itself.  His course covers a wide breadth of topics including Macro and Micro economics, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, Conjoint Analysis, Economic Psychology and Game Theory. Students conduct a syndicate (group) level analysis of a real business problem using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, including the use of the 1000minds software invented by Paul and his business partner, Franz Ombler.

When 1000minds won a Consensus Software Award (sponsored by IBM and Microsoft), the judges said:

“In removing complexity and uncertainty from decision-making processes, 1000Minds has blended an innovative algorithm with a simple user interface to produce a tool of great power and sheer elegance.”

Paul has taught in the Otago MBA for several years and consistently ranks as one of

our best lecturers.  Office hours: "Whenever I'm around (most of the time!)"

Thanks Paul

The Power of Introverts

Everyone Contributes Valuable Insights!

In a prior post, I emphasized the importance of active learning and the collaborative discovery of
knowledge through shared inquiry in our classes.   Some of our students may remain reflective by nature; others may initially feel hesitant to speak in class; still others may face the challenge of thinking in one
language (e.g., Chinese) before translating thoughts into English; and differences in
culture may compel others to remain respectfully quiet.

I have included the "Power of Introverts" Ted Talk to embolden our more reflective students
and encourage more vocal students to remain culturally sensitive, respect everyone's
right to participate and strive for an inclusive learning experience.

Thank you,

David

Shared Enquiry: the path to becoming a self-reliant thinker

Shared Enquiry = the path to becoming a self-reliant thinker

Right answers do not exist in MBA-level discussions; everyone

in the classroom should actively engage in the discovery of knowledge.

The Otago MBA management team and our lecturers subscribe to an active learning model in which students participate in the learning process and daily practice their thinking skills, while demonstrating the ability to apply course material (e.g., marketing, finance, organizational leadership, economics, statistics) to complex business problems. In other words, we encourage shared enquiry as the path to becoming a self-reliant thinker, someone who can express him or herself with clarity and conviction; who can think conceptually (e.g., identify and define key terms); as well as contribute to the collaborative discovery of a deeper understanding of fundamental challenges facing global businesses.

Our students are asked to adhere to essential guidelines for engaging in productive discourse in our small seminar-style classes:

• Resist overly quick judgements
• Avoid arguing from small-N experience (e.g., we did it this way) and opinion
• Support your reasoning using credible references (e.g., course materials)
• Relate comments to the ongoing discussion
• Strive for dialogue rather than a monologue
• Seek to include all others in the conversation
• Do not direct all discussions through the lecturer
• Consider questions as a good way to enter the conversation
• Avoid dominating with comments that are too lengthy or of little interest to others
• Use courtesy and civility in all communications
• Feel encouraged to continue lively debates outside the classroom

I will have more to say about the importance of building powerful thinking

skills in future posts: we consider this as fundamental to the transformation our students

experience in our programme.

Cheers,

David

Our Classroom: the Power of Introverts

Everyone Contributes Valuable Insights!

In a prior post, I emphasized the importance of active learning and the collaborative discovery of
knowledge through shared inquiry in our classes.   Some of our students may remain reflective by nature; others may initially feel hesitant to speak in class; still others may face the challenge of thinking in one
language (e.g., Chinese) before translating thoughts into English; and differences in
culture may compel others to remain respectfully quiet.

I have included the "Power of Introverts" Ted Talk to embolden our more reflective students
and encourage more vocal students to remain culturally sensitive, respect everyone's
right to participate and strive for an inclusive learning experience.

Thank you,

David