Enhancing Learning through Sequential Integration: A Diary-based Teaching Strategy for Management Courses

Course outline in a course taught at the graduate or post-graduate level includes several interconnected topics that are covered by the instructors in different sessions spread over a trimester or semester. Frequently, it is noticed by the instructors that the students do not link the content of the topics across different sessions or classes and study them in a fragmented way. Consequently, the effectiveness of learning decreases, leading to poor performance. This paper describes the design and implementation of a course diary (also called “journal”) used in the Production and Operations Management course taught at a business school, to enable sequential learning of the topics. The technique helped the students to connect the topics taught in different sessions and absorb the overall course objectives. The course diary method and the subsequent improvement were studied over a period of three consecutive years across three different sets of students, 180 in each year. A questionnaire using Google form, containing 10 statements covering the scope of the diary and presentation was used to collect the feedback. Ratings along a Likert scale of 1 to 5 were analyzed. It is found that the diary system improved the teaching and learning process as observed through the improved listening skill of the students along with improved written and spoken communication skills. The overall trends as seen through the 10 statements validated the observations. By summarizing the diary content produced by the students the teacher was able to augment the classroom discussions with more examples and cases, enriching the overall interactions in the class. In conclusion, the main benefit of this method lies in its versatility, making it applicable to any course or discipline, regardless of class size. Besides, it fosters meaningful engagement and growth for both students and teachers.