PROFESSOR, FRITZ KNOEBEL SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT & Barron Hilton Chair in Lodging
H.G. Parsa holds a PhD from Virginia Tech, an MS in Food Science, and an MSc in Genetics. Dr. Parsa is the Barron Hilton Professor of Lodging Management. His research interests include corporate social responsibility, marketing and pricing strategies, and analysis of restaurant and food trends. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research and a Fulbright Visiting Scholar (2005).
Describe a change to your general teaching practice as a result of the pandemic that worked well or better than expected.
First and foremost, I completely rewrote all my syllabi making them more ‘Zoom’ friendly. Now all my syllabi have a text block titled ‘Zoom Etiquettes’ clearly setting the expectations for in-class behaviors and outside classroom communications.
Describe a change to classroom activities or assignments that worked well or better than expected.
I learned that unlike face to face teaching, I need to slow down the pace of my lecture delivery methods while teaching via zoom. As a result, I learned to be more efficient in classroom teaching. My teaching motto is ‘Do a few things right first’ and expand upon them later in the class.
What change/s have you made to your teaching practice during the last year that you anticipate continuing beyond the pandemic?
After each class, I carefully listen to all my lecture recordings and look for opportunities to improve my teaching methods. It is the BEST thing I ever did. I found many mannerisms and body language practices that I should improve and eliminate them as necessary. Body language is the unspoken aspect of Zoom teaching that plays a critical role in improving teaching effectiveness.
