This Tec de Monterrey professor surprises his students with innovative characters and activities.
Suddenly, a famous bounty hunter from the Star Wars universe appeared in the online class.
He surprised the students in the Project Evaluation class with a robotic voice and a helmet like that worn by the protagonist of Disney’s The Mandalorian series.
Under the helmet (spoiler alert!) was Professor Francisco Orozco, also known as “Ori”, who has incorporated characters into his classes to connect with his students.
“It occurred to me that I should begin classes with a bang, encouraging students not to turn off their cameras, but to really participate in the session.
“It’s like the beginning of an action movie: if it opens well, you can get them hooked,” says the professor, who is also director of the Monterrey Region Accounting and Finance Department at the Tec.
In a galaxy far, far away...
Orozco thinks of himself as a very creative person, and says that one of the challenges he faces as a teacher is how to motivate students who are taking his classes online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In my second youth, I’ve found I have similar tastes to the current generation, or I can at least watch the things they like, such as TV series and video games. I don’t feel so distant from them.”
He explains that after brainstorming popular characters with masks, he decided it had to be a character based on The Mandalorian.
“So, I got a Boba Fett helmet, which was the only one I could find to refer to the Mandalorian series.”
In his first class of the February-June 2021 semester, Orozco introduced himself as “Mandalori” a persona whose name combines that of the character and his nickname.
“Mandalori will only be making surprise appearances, as there will be times when the class can’t take a break and will have to get down to work.”
“It’s like the beginning of an action movie: if it opens well, you can get them hooked.”
Not only the Mandalorian, but also Anonymous
Before The Mandalorian, Orozco says his first character emerged during the August-December 2020 semester, in the midst of the pandemic, while giving online classes as part of the HyFlex+Tec digital model.
Since everyone was talking about hacks in the digital world that summer, he had the idea of ordering an Anonymous mask to wear in class. He named his character Orinonymous.
After finding a program to create a “spooky” voice, he made appearances during the exams to “scare” students into not copying each other.
“Colleagues of mine told me: ‘Connect to my class too to scare them’, but it was really a change of stimulus rather than being about scaring them.
The world of Harry Potter
“Ori” mentions that although he didn’t use any characters before the pandemic, he did include different activities in his classes, such as using a sorting hat like the one that appears in the Harry Potter saga to indicate who had won the best final project prize of not having to take the final exam.
“I have a sorting hat like the one in Harry Potter. In the final exam, I ask someone to wear it and a bit of magic happens. That’s when they find out their entire team doesn’t have to take the exam.”
The Monterrey campus Student Council has asked “Ori” and other teachers to enter their classes in order to interact with influencers and have some fun, such as a TikToker posing as a mother “scolding” her child.
“I have a sorting hat like the one in Harry Potter. In the final exam, I ask someone to wear it and a bit of magic happens. That’s when they find out their entire team doesn’t have to take the exam.”
Creativity
“Ori” believes that having participated in extracurricular activities during his time as a student has helped him to be creative.
“I always participated in soccer and basketball tournaments at the Tec. I took part in the Song Festival several times. It helped develop my creativity and take away my fear of doing these things.”
On his plans for the future, he says he wants to incorporate episodes based on a round of Shark Tank.
“I’m planning to create a Shark Tank episode for the class by cutting and editing the character who’s presenting on Project Evaluation, to analyze what they did well and what needs improvement.”
“I always participated in soccer and basketball tournaments at the Tec. I took part in the Song Festival several times. It helped develop my creativity and take away my fear of doing these things.”
A love of teaching
Francisco shares that there is a teaching gene that comes from his father’s side of the family.
“My grandfather was a teacher, as were almost all his brothers. The only one who wasn’t a teacher was a priest, which is very similar in some ways.”
Orozco remembers that he was the leader of his classmates whenever there was a team project to do.
“I was the ‘taskmaster’ who got them to study. I was a good student, very dedicated, but then I have always liked studying.”
After graduating from the Tec with a degree in Public Accounting and Finance in 2009, he was invited to participate in a teaching assistant program while studying for a master’s at the EGADE Business School.
That was when a last-minute substitution for a teacher with a class of more than 60 students allowed him to have his first experience as a Tec professor.
“When the program director couldn’t give the class, he told me: ‘Go ahead, there’s no-one better than you. You’re the one who prepares the material’. That moment changed me because I realized I could do it.”
“When the program director couldn’t give the class, he told me: ‘Go ahead, there’s no-one better than you. You’re the one who prepares the material’. That moment changed me because I realized I could do it.”
After completing his master’s degree in Finance in 2014, he began working at the Veracruz campus as a professor. Three years later, he started at the Monterrey campus, where he has taught subjects in the Financial Management block and all the Accounting subjects, under both the Tec21 Model and the traditional format.
The Tec21 Model consists of four components: challenge-based learning; flexibility in how and when learning takes place; memorable university experiences; and inspiring teachers.
The “asteroids” to avoid
As in everything, he points out that there will be people who do not like what he does, but as long as there is respect and no-one is offended, he says this is something he will continue to do.
“One class was in the evening, and many students were tired already. Some were scared (by Orinonymous) because they weren’t expecting anything. Sometimes, the combination of students lends itself to this type of activity, and others not so much.
He explains that, like everyone else, he has faced some personal problems, but he says they should always be kept out of the classroom.
“(During these times), young people are our ‘Vitamin S’ (S for students).”
The multi-platform professor
Orozco has excelled at educational innovation by using storytelling to expand his classes on platforms such as YouTube.
5 years ago, he started the Emprepedia blog, as that cohort enjoyed reading more. Then, he created a podcast that he has now taken to YouTube so that his students can pause the class, rewind it, and fast forward to the parts that weren’t clear to them.
He says that these changes are due to new cohorts having access to many stimuli that previous cohorts did not.
“Now, they turn off the camera and we don’t know what they’re doing. That makes them different from other cohorts. And that’s neither good nor bad. We just have to understand how students’ tastes evolve because that’s how they consume content.”
He says that a big part of teaching is teachers transforming themselves and doing different things.
“Thankfully, the Tec has given us the resources to be able to give our classes. The Tec has helped us transform ourselves so we can help transform our students.”
“The Tec has helped us transform ourselves so we can help transform our students.”
What do the students say?
Orozco is remembered by his students because of the things he does in his classes.
“He’s a teacher who is really dedicated to his students. He always tries to do different things in his classes, so you get involved in the subject, so you have fun and learn at the same time,” says Fernanda González, a Marketing student at the Monterrey campus.
“Being able to take classes with him has been one of the highlights of being at the Monterrey campus. I’m glad to hear about the new things he’s doing and how he’s reinventing them. I’m not lying when I say he’s the best teacher I’ve ever had,” says Dulce Reyes, who’s studying for a degree in Marketing.
Omar Moreno, one of Orozco’s current students, says: “I never imagined that a teacher would invite a TikToker to make us laugh during class. It was worth waiting two semesters to take a class with ‘Ori’. It’s going to be a very good semester.”
“It’s been one of the highlights of being at the Monterrey campus. I’m glad to hear about the new things he’s doing and how he is reinventing them. I’m not lying when I say he’s the best teacher I’ve ever had.”
Advice on giving classes “outside the box”
Here are Professor Orozco’s tips for teachers seeking to innovate in their classrooms:
- Ask your students how they are.
“If the class is at 7 in the morning, we should start by being positive: asking how they are, how they started the day.”
- Change the stimuli you provide.
“You have to modify your class because not all students learn in the same way. One day, start with a video, then bring in a guest speaker, or switch out activities for something more creative. Not all classes can be taught the same way and not all students have the same tastes.”
- Empathize.
“This creates an atmosphere of trust between student and teacher. You need to have a lot of empathy, even more so during the situation we’re going through, when something happens at home or in another class.”
- Be on the same wavelength.
“Teachers should always be aware of what’s going on in the world outside the classroom. They should take an interest in the world beyond their subject.
- Work as a team.
“Teachers should enjoy working and developing things as a team. They shouldn’t see what they do as work to be done alone.”
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