Ways to Integrate Current Events in the Classroom
In some courses, I have required students to bring a current event related to the topic of the course or to the topic for the individual class session. For example, in the beginning of the Customer Relationship Management course, they can bring any current event that relates to the overall topic. When we are discussing customer service and customer-service recovery, I ask them to bring a current event focused on those themes. While I encourage them to find stories, anecdotes or developments in the field of hospitality, I do not require them to limit themselves. Sometimes customer-service challenges in retail sales or in other industries helps them see the breadth of the subject and its importance across the entire economy.

When I use current events, I require students to bring a current event each week, except, of course, on those weeks when there are tests during the class sessions. For most guest speakers, I also do not include current events during the class session, although I have found some guest speakers like to hear what students have found and often comment on the current events. That situation only works, however, when there is a three-hour class session, and the guest speaker is there for most, if not all, of the class.

In some classes, I schedule discussion of current events early in the class session, right after warm-up and announcements. That way, students have read and reread the event before class and come prepared to discuss the event immediately. I have also experimented with using them at the end of the class; sometimes, that schedule works better, especially if the course meets for a three-hour session. For courses that meet twice a week for an hour-and-a-half each time, I schedule the current events for the second session of the week.

If the class is small enough, I have asked every student to stand up and tell us what the current event is about, what struck him or her about it, and what source it came from. I encourage students to make it brief and to the point, and do not allow them to read the article unless they want to read a specific sentence or quote a person. Not allowing them to read their articles makes them learn the key points well enough to explain them, and that helps them retain what they have read. It also helps them practice presenting ideas to a group in a relatively non-threatening situation. Sometimes I comment on the articles and sometimes not.

Using this strategy of every student presenting and my commenting, I have often found that I cover all the material I intended to review or teach in that class session because the stories provide a great connection to what they have read in their homework assignment. In this situation, I often never use the PowerPoint slides I have prepared, but I still send them to students after the class or place them on Blackboard for students to access.

When every student presents his or her current event, the breadth of topics and the information that everyone hears expands the exposure to the industry. However, there is often insufficient time for every student to present when there are a large number of students in a particular course. In those larger classes, I have experimented with students meeting in small groups and sharing their current events. I time them and also circulate to overhear what they are sharing and how well they are listening to each other. Then I ask each group to decide on one or two stories that are most significant or interesting, or relevant to the topic of the day, and those two students present to the whole group. If the group is very large, I do not call on every small group, but if there is sufficient time, I will involve a presenter or two from every group. This strategy means that each small group gets to hear six or eight events and then has to evaluate what they have heard. In addition, everyone hears about six or eight more reports, which provides breadth.

Recently, I tried a different model, just to keep the classroom more interesting. I put the students into concentric circles with students on the inside circle paired and facing students on the outside circle. Then these pairs shared their current events; after three minutes, I moved the outer circle three persons to the right and asked the new pairs to share their current events. By moving one or the other of the circles and creating new pairs, I provided each student with four chances to present his or her current event in a one-on-one conversation and to listen to four current events. It did not provide as much exposure, but it used less class time and worked well as a structure for sharing current events, and it provided some variety.

In each class, I collect all of the copies of their articles and review them after the class meeting. That way I can see what all the stories are about, where they came from, and how the students have marked up their articles in preparation for their explanation of the event or activity.

Challenges of Using Current Events
One of the challenges of using current events comes when there are large classes. In those situations of 40 to 65 students in a particular, I have used many of the strategies mentioned above. I am not sure how well they would work in classes of 100 students or more. From personal experience, I know they work very well in classes of 20 students.

A second challenge involves when to schedule the discussion of current events. If I have run out of time, sometimes I collect them and there is no public sharing. However, most of the time, you can do a lot of sharing in 20 minutes, and that activity intrigues students and gets them excited about the course material if you use current events in the beginning of a class. If you use it at the end, it becomes a good review.

It can also be difficult to bring their attention back to the material you have planned to cover since one current event can raise good issues, and students want to know more about the situation. Providing that information and allowing the discussion to roam sometimes is the most exciting aspect of teaching and a hot topic in your field can be a gold mine of information and dimensions of the subject that make it relevant and exciting to students. In some of those cases, I have spent an hour examining an issue and letting my plans for the day disappear, since it was an important topic and a magical teaching moment. I am sure you know what to do and can separate the honest interest in new developments from those students who just want to keep you from covering the material you prepared.

Using current events means that you need to stay alert to what is happening in the industry so that when an issue comes up and students ask you questions, you can answer them or provide additional background. While that can be a challenge, most of us stay very current with our industry and notice the new developments that they pick up in their search for a current event for that week.

Evaluating Their Involvement
While I make bringing a current event to class a required activity, it is not included as part of their grade. In other words, it is essential to pass the course, but it does not affect their grade. By collecting the articles, I can keep track of who brought an article to each class so that I know who is doing what, but I do not assess the articles for several reasons. One, I am not sure what criteria I would use. Currency of the information? Relevance to the topic? Creativity in finding something unusual? Breadth of sources consulted?

Two, I want to encourage them to read widely and bring whatever strikes their fancy. If the event is too far from the topic or it shows no preparation and a last-minute grasp of something from the Daily News or AM or Metro, I will comment. Otherwise, I do not want to limit them, and the result is a wide range of practices, events and situations that add depth and breadth to the course.

Three, evaluating every story for every student for every week would mean I would need to comment on each story and return them to students in the next class—a lot of work for no educational benefit to the students. I want to encourage them to read widely and find intriguing aspects of what we are discussing. Grading might limit their searching, and one of the major reasons to assign current events involves building their habits of reading current events

At times, I have felt that I was requiring extra work from them and that it did not always connect too closely to the rest of the course, so I have asked students if they wanted to continue with current events. Invariably, they have indicated yes and very strongly. In fact, on course evaluations, students give high marks to current events—which requires more work from them. They like the activity and feel they learn a lot.

Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, is a clinical professor at New York University and a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..