As the school year comes to an end it’s time to reflect on the accomplishments of the students and wish them well on their next adventures. Some are graduating and moving on to new jobs and others taking a break over summer and hopefully return to a more “normal” campus in the fall. The good news for real estate majors is there were quite a few requests from employers looking to hire this summer. Entry level positions in appraisal, brokerage, property management and capital markets! The real estate program is rich with student athletes right now and many were able to gain another year of eligibility due to Covid-19, so several postponed graduation and are returning to campus next fall and picking up a second major or a minor.
It will be interesting to see how Covid-19 has changed the campus and higher education. Like every company out there, we had to learn a new way to do what we do over the last year and there certainly will be what I like to call “Covid Keeps.” The worst way that you could teach an online class is to just share a recording of your “lecture” and expect students to watch it. But feedback from students is that when I record finance/math problems that I work through it is very helpful. Both for the students that attend class live or missed that session. They can go back and watch me explain how I have got to the answer. I can’t see that I would ever go through complex problems in the classroom and NOT record and post the video as a tutorial. In the fall I played around with teaching classes in a HYFLEX manner. This means that I offer the class in person and online and the student chooses (for each class period) how they want to learn. They can choose to come to live class, watch the class through live-stream video, or take the lesson asynchronously on their own time. There are some bumps I would iron out, but the students for the most part enjoyed the flexibility of choosing how to learn. If there was a guest speaker or I was covering a topic they wanted to have participation in they could come to class or stream but could be more flexible with their work schedules without impacting their learning if they chose not to attend live. I will be teaching HYFLEX again next fall and trying out some new things.
The President of the University, Dr. Robbyn Wacker has been working hard on her It’s Time Initiative, which is loaded with a bunch of great things, but one part of the plan is achieve academic distinction with award winning programs. The Real Estate Program is highlighted a program of distinction as the only Minnesota State School to offer a real estate degree and one of only a few universities regionally. Coupled with the fact that our graduates land great paying and high demand jobs, it is a program we will market and grow. More to come!
I was able to enjoy sabbatical spring semester so had extra time to work on some publications and program efforts, but I miss the students and can’t wait to return to them in the fall. The reason I love my job is the interaction with the students (whether online or in person) and I look forward to returning to the energy they give me. My article, “Infusing Cultural Differences into Complex Real Estate Projects” was recently accepted into the Journal of Real Estate Practice and Education and should be published this summer. I will share more details about the research and study after it prints.
I will be attending graduation ceremonies this Saturday, May 8 and its my favorite time of year. Instead of one large ceremony there will be several smaller ones. It is so fun to see the students and their families enjoying such a great accomplishment! To students that have graduated, alumni that have changed jobs, or industry partners that would like to be added to my distribution list, please provide contact information updates. There is a form here or you can just send me an email kajameson@stcloudstate.edu.
Our strong partnerships with the industry are the reason our program is so meaningful and successful for the students!
Cheers! Happy Summer!!