Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Tech Today, submitted by the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning.
Dean Johnson, dean of the College of Business (COB), has selected Laura Sieders as featured instructor in the Deans’ Teaching Showcase. Sieders, the Ed and Betty Robinson Faculty Fellow in Accounting, is being recognized for her outstanding work in making students feel comfortable in the classroom while learning challenging material. She will be recognized at an end-of-term event with other spring showcase members and is a candidate for the CTL Instructional Award Series.
Now in her second year as an assistant teaching professor, Sieders is a COB alumna who serves as director for the MS Accounting and Analytics degree program.
“She has a special sense of pride and responsibility as a COB alumnus who has come full circle back into the classroom,” said Johnson.
Sieders came to academia after 25 years in the corporate sector, where she specialized in not-for-profit accounting. Though she describes her current transition into academia as her second career, Laura was a teacher long before joining the COB faculty, first at Finlandia University and then at Michigan Tech.
As a former colleague said, “Laura’s teaching and leadership centers on individual motivation and growth. As she works with each student and mentee, she always puts them first and fosters an environment for questioning, trying, failing, and continual learning.”
During her nine years in academia, Sieders has taught at every level, from introductory courses for students of all different majors to graduate students pursuing their MS degrees in accounting and analytics. After only three semesters with Michigan Tech, three of Sieders’ courses had ranked in the “top 10 percent sections.”
Sieders’ approach to teaching always starts with the question, “How do I get students engaged in the learning?” A key building block in her teaching method is encouraging students to bring their best — rather than aiming for perfection — to coursework. Sieders’ classroom catchphrase “We are here to make mistakes!” resonates with students, as evidenced by one student’s comments: “She encourages participation in the classroom, celebrating wrong answers as a learning moment and part of the process, not something to be ashamed of. She even encourages her students to catch her when she makes a mistake to show that everyone can make mistakes. Her classes are hard – some of the hardest I’ve taken – but they’re not stressful.”
A recent innovation in her classroom this academic year is known as “Laura’s Whiteboard Mistakes,” where students are awarded a limited number of extra credit points if they call attention to an error that was written on the board and provide the correction. Student evaluation comments from fall 2024 semester indicate that the new practice resulted in an increase in attentiveness and more focus on understanding the material during lectures.
Above all else Sieders is aware that her students are whole persons with a life outside the classroom, experiencing other pressures and stresses, and coming from differing backgrounds of life and education. A student shared that after a difficult exam day, “[Laura] let me watch her grade my exam while gently explaining where I went wrong and emphasizing everything I did right. I’ll never forget that moment and how cared for and supported I felt.”
Johnson said Sieders exemplifies the combination of connection and challenge that helps students in COB excel in their studies and careers. “I appreciate the skill and dedication Laura brings to her work — and we can see the benefit that it has on our students,” he said.
About the College of Business
The Michigan Tech College of Business prepares tomorrow’s business professionals through STEM-infused, AACSB-accredited degree programs and minors. The college offers nine bachelor of science programs in accounting, business analytics, construction management, economics, engineering management, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing; and four master of science programs in accounting and analytics, applied natural resource economics, engineering management, and the TechMBA®.Questions? Contact us at business@mtu.edu. Follow the College of Business on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.