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Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice

North American Business Press Atlanta – Seattle – South Florida - Toronto

Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice

Editor Dr. Donna Mitchell

Editor-In-Chief Dr. David Smith

NABP EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. Nusrate Aziz - MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY, INDIA Dr. Andy Bertsch - MINOT STATE UNIVERSITY Dr. Jacob Bikker - UTRECHT UNIVERSITY, NETHERLANDS Dr. Bill Bommer - CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO Dr. Michael Bond - UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA Dr. Charles Butler - COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY Dr. Jon Carrick - STETSON UNIVERSITY Dr. Mondher Cherif - REIMS, FRANCE Dr. Daniel Condon - DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY, CHICAGO Dr. Bahram Dadgostar - LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY, CANADA Dr. Deborah Erdos-Knapp - KENT STATE UNIVERSITY Dr. Bruce Forster - UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, KEARNEY Dr. Nancy Furlow - MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY Dr. Mark Gershon - TEMPLE UNIVERSITY Dr. Philippe Gregoire - UNIVERSITY OF LAVAL, CANADA Dr. Donald Grunewald - IONA COLLEGE Dr. Samanthala Hettihewa - UNIVERSITY OF BALLARAT, AUSTRALIA Dr. Russell Kashian - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, WHITEWATER Dr. Jeffrey Kennedy - PALM BEACH ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY Dr. Dean Koutramanis - UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA Dr. Malek Lashgari - UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD Dr. Priscilla Liang - CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHANNEL ISLANDS Dr. Tony Matias - MATIAS AND ASSOCIATES Dr. Patti Meglich - UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, OMAHA Dr. Robert Metts - UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO Dr. Adil Mouhammed - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, SPRINGFIELD Dr. Roy Pearson - COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY Dr. Veena Prabhu - CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES Dr. Sergiy Rakhmayil - RYERSON UNIVERSITY, CANADA Dr. Fabrizio Rossi - UNIVERSITY OF CASSINO, ITALY Dr. Robert Scherer – UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS Dr. Ira Sohn - MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY Dr. Reginal Sheppard - UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA Dr. Carlos Spaht - LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY, SHREVEPORT Dr. Ken Thorpe - EMORY UNIVERSITY Dr. Robert Tian – SHANTOU UNIVERSITY, CHINA Dr. Calin Valsan - BISHOP'S UNIVERSITY, CANADA Dr. Anne Walsh - LA SALLE UNIVERSITY Dr. Thomas Verney - SHIPPENSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY Dr. Christopher Wright - UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

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This Issue

Should I Take More MIS Courses? Implications from Interviews with Business Recruiters ....................................................................................................... 11 Jun He, Yi Maggie Guo It is important for MIS educators to have a good understanding of what IT knowledge and skills are required in business. In this study, 103 open job positions in the Midwestern United States were investigated via semi-structured interviews with hiring companies. The interviews with key business recruiters suggest that IT knowledge and skills are significantly considered during the recruiting process, even if the target position is not IT-related. The most sought-after skills are summarized. Implications for MIS education and research are discussed. Gender Differences in Attitudes toward IT among IT Majors ............................................................. 26 Anu Gokhale, Kenton Machina The decline in number of students choosing to pursue careers in computing requires a research focus on students’ attitudes toward the subject-matter. The focus on reducing gender disparity across all computing-related fields takes on greater urgency as the nation cannot afford to ignore the potential contributions of half of its population. For the purposes of this article, all computing-related science, technology, and business programs are being referred to by a common title ‒ Information Technology (IT). The purpose of this study was to investigate attitudes toward IT among undergraduate IT majors, using an existing scale that comprises of five factors. In particular, the intention was to seek deeper insights into attitudes of IT majors toward female participation in IT and explore the differences by gender and class standing. The population consisted of IT-related majors at a large public institution. An analysis of data revealed crucial differences by gender and class standing for key factors that contribute to the overall attitude toward IT. Social Work Theory and Application to Practice: The Students’ Perspectives .................................. 36 Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, Haiping Chen, Issac Karikari, Crystal Barnett We believe the success of applying theory in practice is largely contingent on how students define social work theory, identify the role of theory in practice, and categorize benefits and challenges in applying theory to practice. It is on this premise that this article is presented. Two datasets were used to form the students’ perspectives. The first dataset is a seven year compilation of 109 undergraduate student theory papers and the second is a pre-test/post-test online survey of graduate students in an advanced social work theory course. The work offers a context for educators in teaching and helping students to apply theory in their own practices. Learning from Others How to Teach Intermediate Accounting More Effectively: A Survey of Instructors on Course Content, Assessment and Course Management .......................... 48 James F. Loebl The purpose of the study is to present a current picture of the context in which instructors operate and the methods used in teaching intermediate accounting courses. A survey of instructors at public four-year colleges and universities in 10 states found that instructors provide comprehensive coverage of their texts but very light coverage of International Financial Reporting Standards. Further, they rely heavily on traditional means such as exams to assign grades, rather than those emphasizing communications skills. The paper provides a baseline for future studies and an opportunity for instructors to consider incorporating different methods into their own courses.

International Business Study Programs: Outgoing Approaches .......................................................... 60 Kenneth A. Heischmidt, Peter Gordon Primarily, there are two major approaches to overseas study experience for business students to learn about international business and cultures other than their own. These approaches center on long term and short term experiences. This article looks at planning and organizing issues for facilitating outgoing international study opportunities for students in higher education, both long term and short term international study programs. Study Abroad Decisions: Determinants & Perceived Consequences ................................................... 69 Hormoz Movassaghi, Fahri Unsal, Kenan Göçer This study examined factors influencing students’ decisions to study abroad and the perceived impact of such experiences. Findings identified intellectual and personal growth, career enhancement potential, ability to graduate on time, cost, and financial aid availability as the most important “program-related” considerations, and exposure to other cultures and desire to live independently as key “non-program” factors. Development of deeper intercultural understanding, sensitivity, global mindedness, interpersonal skills, and tolerance were the key learning. Factor analysis confirmed “Cultural Understanding and Personal Growth” and “Cultural Tolerance” as the top decision criteria. Statistically significant differences were observed with respect to study abroad locations. Problem-Based Learning Applied to Student Consulting in a Lean Production Course ................... 81 Sue Conger, Richard Miller Students often experience difficulty applying course techniques to real-world situations. Problem-based learning (PBL) helps students apply course material to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to practical use. This research describes a student consulting engagement to analyze a local food bank’s warehouse operations using PBL tenets to guide the process. In the course of the consulting commitment, students developed solutions that met food bank goals, while applying course theories and skills. When coupled with the hands-on, in-class exercises, the consulting engagement provided a positive learning experience for students and is recommended for effective transfer of skills to practice. Implementing a High-Impact, Critical Thinking Process in a Learner-Centered Environment ......................................................................................... 95 Barbara Limbach, Wendy Waugh Using antiquated teaching methods in modern day learning environments is no longer acceptable. Many educators understand the importance of a learner-centered teaching model that encourages critical thinking skills. However, the methods that can be used to attain such a learning environment can be perplexing. The challenges of the 21st century demand that educators seek out and utilize new methods to enhance the education of students where teachers empower learners to solve problems and think critically. A five-step pedagogical process to transition courses, in any discipline, toward one that develops critical thinking skills in a learner-centered environment is proposed.

A Qualitative Analysis of the Curriculum for Career-Ready Graduates from the Perspective of Academics and Business Professionals: China, Europe and the United States .................................................................................................... 100 Anne Marie Mitchell, Sandra Allen This study seeks to identify alignments and disparities in the expectations of professionals and academicians in different countries and continents of the career-ready college graduate. A survey of professionals and academicians in China, Europe and the United States identified preferred teaching methods and areas of instruction. This study analyzes how those preferred teaching methods and areas of instruction line up with a series of hypotheses regarding a pedagogical approach designed to ensure learning outcomes produce the career-ready graduate desired for today’s global economy.

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Should I Take More MIS Courses? Implications from Interviews with Business Recruiters

Jun He

University of Michigan-Dearborn

Yi Maggie Guo University of Michigan-Dearborn

It is important for MIS educators to have a good understanding of what IT knowledge and skills are required in business. In this study, 103 open job positions in the Midwestern United States were investigated via semi-structured interviews with hiring companies. The interviews with key business recruiters suggest that IT knowledge and skills are significantly considered during the recruiting process, even if the target position is not IT-related. The most sought-after skills are summarized. Implications for MIS education and research are discussed. INTRODUCTION

“Should I take more MIS courses?” Non-MIS business majors often ask the question when planning their course selections. As information technology (IT) increasingly saturates every corner of business operations, few people doubt the importance of IT knowledge and skills to one’s career success. However, many students are daunted by the misperception that IT could be hard and boring (Beyer, 2008; Karsten and Schmidt, 2008; He and Freeman, 2010); others wonder the essential elements of IT knowledge that enable them to cope with today’s competitive business environment.

IT knowledge and skills set the cognitive foundation upon which one can employ IT tools to solve business problems (Compeau and Higgins, 1995). Empirical studies provide strong evidence that IT-related abilities largely shape one’s job performance. The exact makeup of IT knowledge and skills, however, remains unclear in the literature (Gregor, 2006). The vague understanding of IT knowledge and skills leads to the symbolic use of computers or computing applications as a proxy for assessing one’s ability of utilizing IT in various situations. This proxy will inevitably restrict our research of IT influence in workplace from further advance.

This study attempts to advance our understanding of what IT knowledge and skills are required in business. Unlike previous research that focuses on the special knowledge requirements of IT workforce, the current study places attention on other business professions. Such an investigation will enrich our understanding of IT knowledge and skills beyond the boundary of the IT profession, provide important guidance to the development of IT curriculum for all business majors, and alleviate the often “significant disconnect between the realms of business and education” (LaFrance, 2010, p. 25).

The paper proceeds as follows. First, previous efforts of studying IT knowledge and skills are reviewed, and a gap in our understanding of IT knowledge and skills required by other business

Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice vol. 14(1) 2014 11

professions is highlighted. Then, a research strategy is developed by using semi-structured interviews to analyze business expectations of IT skills especially in the job market of the Midwestern United States. Results of the interviews are summarized. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of the results. REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH LITERATURE

One major goal of MIS education is to provide students, both MIS majors and non-MIS majors, with IT knowledge and skills that will be needed for the success in their future careers (He and Freeman, 2010). Recently, understanding the makeup of IT knowledge and skills has received increasing attention among IS researchers. Research in the area provides important guidance to education, training, and career development.

There are two lines of research on IT knowledge and skills. One line of the research studies the effects of IT-related abilities on job/task performance. Examples include perceived ease of use (Davis, et.al., 1989; Venkatesh, 2000; Venkatesh, et.al., 2003), computer self-efficacy (Compeau and Higgins, 1995), general and specific computer self-efficacy (Marakus, et.al., 1998, 2007), computer anxiety (Harrison and Rainer, 1992; Compeau, et.al., 1999), and personal innovativeness in IT (Thatcher and Perrewe, 2002). Through the development of IT behavioral theories and models, research in this line has established a strong linkage between one’s IT-related abilities and his/her performance on job or on particular tasks.

Another line of the research studies the makeup of IT knowledge and skills that are required in the business world. This research originated with the seminal work of Ashenhurst (1972) in which important recommendations were given for IT curriculum development. Since then numerous attempts have been conducted to depict an overall pattern of IT knowledge and skills. Table 1 summarizes the recent work in this area.

As shown in Table 1, researchers have developed various IT-skill taxonomies, and there is no commonly-agreed upon theory to explain the makeup of IT knowledge and skills (Lee, et.al., 2002; Gregor, 2006). Two reasons may explain the phenomenon. First, the frequent changes in the technological environment require a constant adjustment of the relevance of key dimensions of IT knowledge and skills (Lee, et.al., 1995; Todd, et.al., 1995), making it “an impossible task” to produce a valid list of concrete computing skills (He and Freeman, 2010). Taking the recent ascension of E-Commerce as an example, “the implementation of e-commerce in an organisation has introduced three main business changes: changes in business expectations, in business perceptions, and in business compliance. These three changes … have driven changes in the competency requirements of IS professionals (Cash, et.al., 2004, p. 62).” Secondly, IT is a diverse field consisting of a variety of domains, each of which has its own set of core knowledge. Coupled with the fast pace of technology development, it is hard to have a taxonomy that is both general enough to cover all the advancements and reasonably parsimonious for a meaningful interpretation.

In addition, prior research on IT knowledge and skills has emphasized the special knowledge requirements of IT workforce. Little attention has been paid to the basic IT skills that are essential for other business professions (the work of Smith (2008) is a rare exception). Given the fast pace of IT proliferation, we need to develop a better understanding of IT-related knowledge and skills that are required in the broad business world beyond the boundary of IT profession. For this purpose, we conduct the current research.

12 Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice vol. 14(1) 2014

TABLE 1

REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH LITERATURE ON KEY DIMENSIONS OF IT KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Paper Research Subject Key Dimensions or Categories

Nelson 1991 IS and business professionals

• Organizational knowledge (knowledge of the organizational goals and objectives, key functions, and environmental factors)

• Organizational skills (interpersonal, group, and project skills) • Organizational unit (knowledge of work unit objectives,

problems, and links to others) • General IS knowledge (IS policies, main IS applications,

privacy policies etc) • Technical skills (programming, database, etc) • IS product knowledge (specific applications being used)

Leitheiser 1992 IS managers • Developer (interpersonal, analysis and design, programming, business, environment, programming language, specific application)

• Specialist (database and data communication, software, hardware, advanced applications)

Lee, et.al., 1995 IS managers, business managers, and IS consultants

• Technical specialties knowledge • Knowledge of technology management • Business functional knowledge • Interpersonal and management skills

Todd, et.al., 1995 Content of advertisements for IS professionals

• Technical skills (relating to hardware and software competence)

• Business skills (industry and organizational knowledge, interpersonal, and communication skills)

• System skills (analytical, modeling, and problem-solving skills).

Lee, et.al., 2002 IS professionals • IS core knowledge • Organizational and society knowledge (specific functional

areas, specific organizations, specific industries, and general environment)

• Interpersonal (interpersonal behavior, interpersonal communication, international communication ability, teaching and training skills)

• Personal traits (Personal motivation and ability to work independently, creative thinking, critical thinking)

Bassellier, et.al., 2001 and 2003

Business managers IT competence components: • Explicit knowledge: technology, applications, system

development, management of IT, access to IT knowledge • Tacit knowledge: experience and cognition

Bassellier and Benbasat, 2004

IT professionals Business competence • Organization-specific (organizational overview,

organizational units, organizational responsibility, IT-business integration)

• Interpersonal and management (interpersonal communication, leadership, knowledge networking).


Cash, et.al., 2004 IS professionals • Technical (hardware, system, application, and software knowledge)

• Business (Organizational, business, and management-related competencies)

• Relationship (interpersonal skills) • Conceptual (the ability of taking unrelated information and

organize it in an ordered manner) Gallivan, et.al., 2004

Classified job advertising for IT professionals

• Operating system skills • Programming language skills • Networks/communications skills • Software development tools • Non-technical skills (communication, interpersonal, leadership,

organization, self-motivation, and creativity) Litechy, et.al., 2004 IS hiring • Technical skills (skills acquired through training and education

or learned on the job and are specific to each work setting) • Soft skills (the cluster of personality traits, social graces,

language skills, friendliness, and optimism that mark each one of us to varying degrees)

Simon, et.al., 2007 IT executives • Technical • Project management • Business domain • Source • IT administration

Smith, 2008 Chief audit executives

Three categories of IT knowledge that are relevant for internal auditors

• Basic IT knowledge needed by all professional auditors, focusing on computing concepts

• Special knowledge needed by auditor supervisors for managing auditing process

• Technical knowledge for IT audit specialists. Lee and Mirchandani, 2010

IT managers Dynamics of the importance of 17 sets of IT skills

REVIEW OF THE PRESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE

The research literature does not provide a convergent pattern of IT knowledge and skills required by the general business. We turned to the prescriptive literature for such a pattern. The term “prescriptive literature” refers to practitioner-oriented publications including methodologies, textbooks and handbooks (Kirsch and Beath, 1996). In general, the prescriptive literature reports commonly-accepted practices or views in certain area of the industry.

The most popular MIS textbooks were sampled to represent the prescriptive literature on the research topic. The premise is that MIS educators are striving to educate students for entering the job market with the ability to deal with today’s business problems; thus, the MIS textbooks selected by most MIS educators well reflect the needs of the dynamic business environment as well as the competitive job market.

Twelve top-selling MIS textbooks at Amazon.com (as of March 31, 2013) were selected for review. These textbooks are designed for MIS introductory courses, where students come from various business majors. Content analysis was performed to identify book coverage. Since all these books have broad


coverage of IT topics and concepts, we have narrowed our analysis to the main topic of each book chapter. For example, all books discuss to some extent supply chain management systems and customer relationship management systems, but only Valacich and Schneider (2010) single out the two types of systems as the main topics of two chapters. Thus, the two types of systems were coded as main topics for Valacich and Schneider (2010). We believe that this approach will lead to the most distinct pattern of coverage of these MIS textbooks. Table 2 summarizes the findings of the content analysis of the sampled books.

TABLE 2

MAIN TOPICS COVERED IN MIS TEXTBOOKS

Main Topics Book1

Book2

Book3

Book4

Book5

Book6

Book7

Book8

Book9

Book 10

Book 11

Book 12

IT, Organization, and Strategy X X X X X X X X X X X X

IT Infrastructure X X X X X X X X Computer Hardware and Software X X X X X X X X

Database X X X X X X X X X Telecommunications and Networks X X X X X X X X X X

Ethics X X X X X X X Security X X X X X X X X X X Decision Support Systems X X X X X X X X X

Business Intelligence Systems X X X X X X X X X

Enterprise Systems X X X X X X X X X Supply Chain Management Systems X

Customer Relationship Management Systems X

System Development X X X X X X X X X X X X Project Management X X X X E-Commerce X X X X X X X X E-Business X X X X X Mobil-Business X X Collaboration X Access X Excel X MS Project HTML/Website Development X X X

Note: 1. “X” indicates main topics covered at the chapter level 2. Books been reviewed:

Book1: Laudon and Laudon (2011)'s Management Information Systems (12th Edition) Book2: Baltzan (2012)’s Business Driven Information Systems (3rd Edition) Book3: Kroenke (2010)'s Using MIS (4th Edtion) Book4: O'Brien and Marakas (2010)'s Management Information System (10th Edition) Book5: Laudon and Laudon (2012)'s Essentials of MIS (10th Edition)


Book6: Pearlson and Saunders (2012)’s Managing and Using Information Systems: A Strategic Approach (5th Edition)

Book7: O'Brien and Marakas (2009)'s Introduction to Information Systems (15th Edition) Book8: Haag and Cummings (2009)'s Management Information Systems for the Information Age (8th

Edition) Book9: Bidgoli (2011)’s MIS2 (2nd Edition) Book10: Oz (2008)'s Management Information Systems (6th Edition) Book11: Valacich and Schneider (2010)'s Information Systems Today: Managing the Digital World (4th

Edition) Book12: McNurlin, Sprague, and Bui (2008)'s Information Systems Management in Practice (8th Edition)

3. The books sampled here are the top-selling MIS books at Amazon.com as checked on March 31, 2013. We acknowledge that the popularity of a book with a particular website is subject not only to the content of the book but also to factors such as price and the release of a new edition. However, we believe that the twelve sampled books as a whole represent the pattern of IT knowledge coverage in the MIS textbook market.

As presented in Table 2, the topic pattern of the sampled MIS textbooks is comparatively convergent

and consistent. Although it has not been explicitly discussed in the literature, MIS educators have general agreement on the IT knowledge and skills that are important for business students. In addition, some textbooks provide training sessions, often in the form of extended learning module (e.g., Haag and Cummings, 2009) or technological plug-in (e.g., Baltzan and Phillips, 2009), for some popular applications such as Access, Excel, HTML, and/or MS Project. An open question is whether the coverage meets the requirements of today’s business. RESEARCH METHODS

The research intends to identify a general pattern of expected IT knowledge and skills in the job market under the assumption that business recruiters require certain IT qualifications for successful job candidates. To this end, we employed a qualitative research strategy with semi-structured interviews. Business recruiters that were able to make hiring decisions were sampled, semi-structured interviews were conducted with questions designed to explore the implicit IT requirements while allowing the emergence of new questions in order to fully understand a phenomenon that is complex, dynamic, and practical in nature. Research Participants

Many private and public organizations located in the Midwestern United States with potential hiring in the near future were asked to participate in the study. These organizations all had internship or other collaboration programs with the researchers’ university so that the chance of participation in the study was high. Each open position was treated as one case for the study of required IT knowledge of skills in business. Organizational background information was collected during interviews with key recruiters. In total, eighty-six organizations, representing 103 open positions, participated in the study. Profiles of the participating organizations are reported in Table 3 for company size and Table 4 for industry distribution.


TABLE 3 COMPANY SIZES

Company Size Counts Total

Small 8

86 Medium 14 Large 58 Not Reported 6

TABLE 4 INDUSTRY DISTRIBUTIONS

Industry Counts Total

Auto Industry 25

86

Manufacturing other than Auto 16 Finance and Banking 5 Marketing and Business Consulting 3 Retailing and Distribution 7 Telecommunication and IT 7 Healthcare 6 Energy and Environment 6 Education and Publication 3 Non-Profit Organizations 4 Military 2 Government 2

Our sample is dominated by large companies (about 67%), followed by medium-sized companies (about 16%) and small companies (9%). Six organizations did not report the information about their business scale. Thus, results from the interviews should be interpreted with caution because the investigated positions are skewed toward hiring in large organizations.

As demonstrated in Table 4, 41 out of 86 (or 47%) participating organizations were in auto and other manufacturing areas with the rest evenly distributed over ten other industries. Such a pattern is consistent with the Midwest economy that emphasizes large scale manufacturing of finished medium to heavy consumer and industrial products. Thus, job openings from these organizations, while perhaps not representing a national pattern, provide important insights of IT knowledge requirements of the Midwest job market. Data Collection and Analysis

Interview teams composed of MBA students (with an average work experience of six years) were trained to conduct semi-structured interviews. They then interviewed key recruiters in participating organizations. The following questions had been prepared for the interviews:

1. Please describe the position that you are planning to recruit for, including the job description, the management level, and some primary tasks.

2. Please describe the qualifications (education background and professional experiences) that you expect for a successful job candidate.

3. Please describe the IT knowledge and skills that are expected for the position, and rank them in terms of importance.

Based on interviewees’ responses, additional follow-on questions were asked. Examples of these

questions include the influence of the current economic crisis on hiring, the demand and the supply of qualified candidates, and the expectations for business education. Each interview lasted 20-30 minutes. All interviews were noted and the transcripts were returned to interviewees for checking before analysis. Researchers jointly coded the interview transcripts for IT knowledge and skills that were required or expected by these business recruiters. Findings

103 open position cases were collected via interviews with recruiters. The interviews have generated rich data about IT knowledge and skills required by different business professions. The breakdown of job


categories is reported in Table 5. In each job category some representative positions are listed to illustrate the scope of the data sample. The comparatively high numbers of job opening in manufacturing, operation, and supply chain management reflect the regional economic structure of the Midwest1.

TABLE 5

JOB CATEGORIES

Job Category Representative Job Positions Counts Total Accounting Accountant, billing manager, tax consultant 6

103

Finance Financial analyst, cost analyst, banking credit specialist 7

Marketing Marketing manager, research analyst, group sales manager, sales representative 17

Human Resources Recruiter, benefits analyst, HR project manager 5 Operation and Supply Chain Management

Operation manager, service engineer, project coordinator, material planner 19

Manufacturing Engineer, product manager, work management specialist, assembly technician 27

IT IT developer, database analyst, tech supporter 15

Office Administration Portfolio analyst, management assistant, business assistant 7

Table 6 reports the management levels of these positions. About 60% of the investigated positions were at the entry level, the rest were at the middle management level. Our sample does not include any senior level positions. Probably due to the sensitivity of senior-level positions to an organization’s operation status and business strategy, the participating organizations were reluctant to release information about any senior-level position opening.

TABLE 6

POSITION LEVELS

Position Levels Counts Total Entry Level 62 103 Middle Management Level 41

The authors carefully examined the content of the interview scripts, and coded the suggested IT

knowledge and skills into different categories. The coding was guided by the knowledge pattern of MIS textbooks concluded in Table 2. The label of each category was modified based on the language used by the interviewed recruiters. For example, Enterprise Systems, Supply Chain Management Systems, and Customer Relationship Management Systems are discussed separately in many MIS textbooks. But most of the interviewed recruiters regarded these systems either as general ERP systems, or as specific enterprise application software such as SAP that their companies had implemented for managing major business operations. We therefore used the label of ERP/SAP for the requirement of knowing these systems.

There was little dispute between the coders regarding the categorization of IT knowledge/skills revealed in the interview scripts; however, a few discussions were conducted on how to label a category to better reflect the common views of the interviewed recruiters. Ten categories emerged from the coding process.


General Computing includes basic knowledge of computers, basic knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, and using operating systems such as Windows. Database covers all database-related issues, including database development and management. It also includes using particular database software other than ERP and SAP. Project Management covers the skills of project management, time management, and multi-task management. Communication via IT includes the use of emails, PowerPoint, and electronic devices (e.g., mobile devices and teleconferencing) for oral and written communications. Internet Knowledge covers the knowledge of web surfing and search, website development and maintenance, and social media. Networking involves the use of network devices and software, such as FTP. Excel and Word were singled out because most recruiters viewed them as stand-alone skills. Other categories are self explanatory. Such a coding scheme also matches the main knowledge areas identified in our review of the introductory MIS textbooks (Table 2).

Interview responses were analyzed in aggregation2. Table 7 reports the frequency of each IT skill being mentioned by the sampled business recruiters. Of the ten IT-skill categories, more than half of the recruiters had expressed expectations for database, general computing, Excel, and communication via IT, suggesting that questions about the four IT skills would very likely be asked in a job interview. In contrast, 15% and 13% of the sampled recruiters had mentioned programming and networking skills respectively; the chance of having questions of the two IT skills would be low in a general job interview.

TABLE 7

FREQUENCY RANKING OF IT SKILLS

Skills Frequencies Possibility of Being Asked Rank Database 71 69% 1 General Computing 69 67% 2 Excel 57 55% 3 Communication via IT 57 55% 4 Project Management 43 42% 5 Word 36 35% 6 ERP/SAP 25 24% 7 Internet 23 22% 8 Programming 15 15% 9 Networking 13 13% 10

It may not be enough to know the possibility of an IT skill being asked in job interviews; candidates

will be eager to learn the extent to which recruiters count the IT skill for judging one’s job qualification. A balanced analysis of the relevance of an IT skill should take into account both the possibility of being asked and the perceived importance from recruiters. Such analysis is presented in Table 8, in which we calculate the product of frequency and perceived importance (the ranked importance provided by interviewees in response to the third interview question) as the weighted relevance for each IT skill. For an easy interpretation, the results are standardized by assigning the level of 100 to the most heavily weighted IT skill.

The pattern of Table 8 is similar to that of Table 7, with an exception that the rank of database skill drops from the first in frequency counts to the third in weights. This change suggests that the sampled recruiters were looking for working knowledge rather than mastery of database from job candidates.


TABLE 8 WEIGHTED RANKING OF IT SKILLS

Skills Weights Rank

General Computing 100 1 Excel 89 2 Database 85 3 Communication via IT 84 4 Project Management 57 5 Word 54 6 ERP/SAP 34 7 Internet 25 8 Networking 18 9 Programming 18 10

DISCUSSION

The importance of IT knowledge and skills to one’s career success is widely accepted (He and Freeman, 2010). The study provides further evidence that one may not be able to start a career without knowing IT. All the sampled recruiters agreed that IT knowledge and skills should be significantly considered during the hiring process. One recruiter observed that “90% of what our engineers do is on computer.” Another recruiter pointed out that “people with advanced technical skills seem to excel at the job.” In a rare case, one recruiter admitted ignorance on the issue: “It’s interesting how important these skills are to our work but honestly I’ve never thought about it before … I just assume that most people have IT skills and if they don’t I assume they can be taught pretty easily.”

Implications for Job Applicants

This study investigates today’s IT requirements for job applicants. Findings of the study suggest that questions of database, general computing, Excel, and communication via IT are likely to be asked in job interviews. Often it is the answer of an IT-skill question that sets a job candidate apart from the large pool of applicants. One recruiter noted that most applicants had prepared well for common questions such as personal weakness and strength, but failed on Excel questions. She further commented that “a person who really knows Excel stands out of the crowd.”

The importance of having database skills and project management skills needs further attention. The requirement of database skills reflects a reality in which business operations have been largely digitalized. For example, for a marketing position, a recruiter described the primary tasks as dealing with “the input of customer orders, distribution of supplies, payment and collection dates, and databases housing their … data sheets.” It is common in the workplace, remarked another recruiter, that “managers are constantly training themselves on … the company’s proprietary applications and databases.” In many cases, familiarity with Microsoft Access was mentioned as a proxy for one’s knowledge of database. In a small company, the recruiter admitted that “knowledge in Access is crucial because this is the main database for established customer information here.”

Having project management skills was required by 42% of the sampled recruiters for successful job candidates. Unlike the way we define project management in academic research, business recruiters interpret the term with broad meaning that covers the ability to schedule product deliveries, manage business processes, work under pressure, cope with multiple tasks, facilitate teamwork, motivate colleagues and keep good relationship with different management levels. This reflects the fact that many companies have adopted project-based team structures in the workplace. Such a broad and practical set of


skills can hardly be assessed during a brief interview. However, most recruiters mentioned that experience with MS Project or similar project management software could be used as the indicator.

Less than 30% of the sampled recruiters mentioned ERP/SAP, Internet, programming, and networking skills in their expectations for successful candidates. This finding is contradictory to our original expectations. With many of the sampled companies being in the manufacturing sector, we predicted that specialist technical skills (Leitheiser, 1992) such as ERP and networking would be required. An in-depth analysis of the interview transcripts suggests that this result should be taken with caution. We found that most recruiters would not ask questions about ERP/SAP when interviewing job candidates unless some integrated enterprise systems had been implemented in their organizations. For organizations where ERP/SAP was in the workplace, recruiters admitted that showing adequate knowledge of ERP/SAP would no doubt give a job candidate the edge; however, many of the recruiters also stated that training for the special integrated enterprise systems would be provided at work, therefore knowledge of ERP/SAP would not be a determining factor for them to make hiring decisions. Similar phenomena exist for programming and networking knowledge. As for Internet skills, we found that marketing positions asked for them most frequently. One recruiter remarked that “beyond that (of classical marketing knowledge) we need someone who understands websites, social networking sites, online marketing, etc.” Thus, we conclude that in general the technical knowledge and skills of ERP/SAP, Internet, programming, and networking are more of a differentiator rather than a requirement in the recruiting process. Implications for Education

This study attempts to depict the overall IT requirements raised from the business world. The findings provide strong implications for MIS education. First, we should assure that our curriculum has a broad coverage of IT knowledge and skills that are highly expected by companies. Secondly, we need to understand that different business requires different IT skills. Broad knowledge of IT including general computing and communication via IT will help a student enter the competitive job market; mastery of particular applications such as Excel, MS project, ERP/SAP may help the student stand out from the crowd. The two aspects should be treated with balance in our curriculum.

Our review shows a certain level of consistency in terms of the foundation knowledge of IT among introductory MIS textbooks. However they differ in coverage of more specific applications. Findings of the study will help MIS authors develop textbooks that better meet industry requirements. For example, the introduction and exercise of certain applications, such as MS Access and MS Project, should be incorporated in the book. Students should be able to access more in-depth knowledge either by optional supplemental material or follow-up elective courses. The mastery of these particular applications will be recognized by business recruiters as valid indicators for meeting certain requirements. We do realize that with the rapid advance in IT and the ever-changing nature of IT profession, a regular update to the content of textbooks is needed. Implications for Research

Although it is not our focus, the study provides implications for the research of IT influence in workplace. Current measures for one’s IT-related abilities have focused largely on the use of computers and computing applications. Taking computer self-efficacy as an example, the concept is deemed an appropriate construct for understanding people’s reactions to IT or IT-based applications (Marakas, et.al., 2007). Findings of the study suggest that a broader range of IT knowledge and skills are required in business. Narrowing our attention on the use of computers may limit the research in the future. This study provides guidelines for designing new measures of IT ability with dimensions that are relevant to current business reality. Limitations

The study has several limitations. One is the geographical limitation of the sample population. In the study, participating organizations were selected from the Midwestern United States with cultural and


economic characteristics that are different from other areas of the U.S. and other countries. From the point of view of employment, survey data from the US Department of Labor, as illustrated in Figure 9, suggests that the job market of Midwest differs from that of other regions notably in the sector of manufacturing. Thus, the research findings should be interpreted with caution.

TABLE 9

EMPLOYMENT PATTERN BASED ON THE US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR SURVEY DATA

Northeast South Midwest West

Construction 3.4% 4.6% 3.6% 4.5% Manufacturing 7.5% 7.7% 12.6% 7.8% Trade, transportation, and utilities 18.5% 19.3% 19.2% 18.9% Financial activities 6.7% 5.5% 5.8% 5.5% Professional and business services 13.5% 13.4% 12.5% 14.2% Education and health services 19.6% 14.1% 15.7% 13.2% Leisure and hospitality 9.2% 10.4% 9.2% 11.7% Other services (except public administration) 6.6% 7.3% 6.0% 6.9% Government 15.0% 17.7% 15.4% 17.3% Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Note: The statistics was calculated based on the employment survey data of January 2013 from the United States Department of Labor

In the study, participating firms were selected from local organizations that had internship or other collaboration programs with the researchers’ university. This approach resulted in high level of participation. However, the data was not a random dataset, which may limit the generalizability of our findings. On the other hand, such a sampling frame targets firms and job openings that are believed to be relevant and appealing to business students. However, other less-favorable job areas, such as low-pay operational level clerks, are largely ignored. The small sample size may raise another concern. In the study, data were collected from interviews with 86 business recruiters on 103 job openings. The limited sample size allows the data to be analyzed only in aggregation. Future research that incorporates larger sample sizes will allow other in-depth investigations such as break-down analysis at industry and job category levels. Results from such research will help design special IT education programs tailored for different majors and career requirements. CONCLUSION

Understanding IT-related knowledge and skills for different business occupations “is especially important for IS academics since it directly influences what we teach our students” (Cash, et.al., 2004, p. 60). This study is another endeavor to enrich our understanding of IT knowledge and skills with special interests in the requirements of non-IT business professions.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 86 hiring companies in the Midwest United Sates. Questions were centered on the required or preferred IT knowledge and skills for a target position. Data from a total of 103 job openings were collected. Recruiters widely agreed that IT knowledge and skills should be significantly considered during the hiring process. Ten categories of IT skills were identified from the interviews. These IT skills are ranked in terms of frequency, perceived importance, and their relevance to the business.

Today, the proliferation of IT imposes strong requirements of IT knowledge and skills on business professionals across all occupations. Thus, we need to deliver IT knowledge and skills in an efficient and effective way to help our students gain an edge in the competitive job market, and eventually achieve


success in their future career. However, our curriculum, such as the one recommended by the Association for Computing Machinery and the Association for Information Systems (Topi, et.al., 2010), focuses on students who major in MIS; the special needs of non-MIS majors are not well addressed. As MIS educators, it is a challenge as well as our responsibility to make appropriate adjustments in the MIS curriculum. We should encourage our students to take MIS courses, deliver IT knowledge and skills that are relevant to business, and prepare our students for the challenge of IT-enabled global economy.

We hope the study will help MIS educators convince students of the importance of learning IT, and guide the selection of MIS courses regardless of their majors. Indeed, the necessity of increasing MIS education does not come from IS educators; rather, business recruiters are speaking out with their raised expectations of advanced IT skills for job candidates. ENDNOTES

1. The United States Midwestern region has a strong sector of manufacturing. The employment statistics from the United States Department of Labor (http://www.bls.gov/sae/eetables/tabled1.pdf) shows that in January 2013 (the latest data when the manuscript was prepared), manufacturing took a significant share of nonfarm employment in the twelve states of Midwest, ranging from 6.0% in North Dakota to 16.9% in Indiana with a weighted average of 12.6%. Some sectors of nonfarm employment, such as government, education and health services, and leisure and hospitality, may not be appealing to business students as greatly as to students of other colleges. Combined with the research design of interviewing recruiters seeking business graduates, we conclude that the sample reasonably reflects the target job market for students of business schools in the US Midwest.

2. Due to the limited sample size, we could not conduct a reliable break-down analysis at industry and job category levels.

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Gender Differences in Attitudes toward IT among IT Majors

Anu Gokhale Illinois State University, Normal

Kenton Machina

Illinois State University, Normal

The decline in number of students choosing to pursue careers in computing requires a research focus on students’ attitudes toward the subject-matter. The focus on reducing gender disparity across all computing-related fields takes on greater urgency as the nation cannot afford to ignore the potential contributions of half of its population. For the purposes of this article, all computing-related science, technology, and business programs are being referred to by a common title ‒ Information Technology (IT). The purpose of this study was to investigate attitudes toward IT among undergraduate IT majors, using an existing scale that comprises of five factors. In particular, the intention was to seek deeper insights into attitudes of IT majors toward female participation in IT and explore the differences by gender and class standing. The population consisted of IT-related majors at a large public institution. An analysis of data revealed crucial differences by gender and class standing for key factors that contribute to the overall attitude toward IT. INTRODUCTION

The investigation of students' attitudes toward information technology (IT) has been a substantive feature of the work of the education research community for the past few decades (George, 2006). Its current importance is emphasized by evidence of continued insufficient interest in this field resulting in a shortfall of computer scientists, engineers, and technologists in the workforce (Daempfle, 2003; National Council for Research on Women, 2001; Whalen & Shelley, 2010). This challenge is exacerbated by a projected demand for these professions; in the U.S., it is predicted to increase by 22%, whereas the labor force will increase by only 15% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). Maintaining a diverse enrollment to include women, who now make up nearly half of the labor force, is of even more concern (Dorpenyo, 2011).

The continuing insufficiency in the number of students choosing to pursue careers in computing requires a research focus on students’ attitudes toward IT if the nature of the problem is to be understood and remediated (Osborne, et al. 2003). An increase in women pursuing technical majors does not necessarily translate into women entering and succeeding in scientific and technological careers (Etzkowitz, et al., 2000). Several studies have identified attitude as one of the strongest factors influencing on-the-job success in a technical field (Agbonlahor, 2008). Holt and Crocker (2000) observed that successful use of technology in a business depends not only on the technology itself, but also on the levels of skills and expertise of the employees using the technology. They, however, noted that though the


skills of an individual can be improved by proper training, the attitudes of a user towards the technology will affect his/her willingness to learn about the technology, the decision to use the technology, and the actual uses to which the technology is put.

According to a study of bachelor degrees awarded between 1966 to 2001 women hold nearly half of all the degrees awarded; however, the gap between the number of women receiving science and engineering degrees as opposed to other degrees has increasingly widened (National Science Foundation, 2004). The authors of this study set out to investigate the attitudes of students in computing-related majors toward IT in general and particularly toward female participation in IT. For the purposes of this article, all computing-related science, technology, and business programs are being referred to by a common title ‒ Information Technology. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This section reviews literature that establishes the importance of studying students' attitudes because

of the relationship between attitudes and the careers that students pursue. Also, studies that focus on gender differences in attitudes toward IT are analyzed along with the treatments that help students overcome those differences. Correlation Between Attitude and Behavior

Attitude is an important concept that is often used to understand and predict people's reaction to an object or change and how behavior can be influenced (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Perhaps the most influential definition has been that of Allport, presented in 1935, and emphasized in two succeeding editions of The Handbook of Social Psychology (1968): "An attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual's response to all objects and situations with which it is related." Features of the above can be found in most definitions of attitude.

Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein 1963; Fishbein 1967; Fishbein and Ajzen 1974; Fishbein and Ajzen 1975; Fishbein and Ajzen 1975; Ajzen and Fishbein 1980; Ajzen 1985; Ajzen and Madden 1986) has had broad application in explaining behavior. The theory proposes that an individual's behavior is ultimately determined by the beliefs and attitudes of that individual. A short overview of the Theory of Reasoned Action is given below as the conceptual foundation for the study. Theory of Reasoned Action

This theory is built using five constructs: beliefs; attitudes; intentions; subjective norms; and behaviors. The theory uses the following definitions for these constructs (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980). Beliefs represent the information an individual has about an object. A belief links an attribute to an object. Attitude refers to a person's degree of evaluative affect toward a target behavior. Intention is the subjective probability that an individual will perform a specified behavior, it is considered a type of belief where the target is always the individual and the attribute is always some behavior. Subjective norm is a person's perception of the social pressures applied to perform or not perform the behavior in question by important referents. Behaviors are specific observable acts of the subject. Behaviors may be defined with respect to the action performed, a specific target, the context, and the timeframe of interest.

Beliefs form the building blocks in the framework. Based on observations, reflection and experiences, an individual develops a belief system. This belief system at any given time determines the individual's attitudes, subjective norms, intentions, and behaviors. This approach assumes a rational individual whose beliefs, attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions are internally consistent with one another and externally consistent with reality. Using the set of beliefs toward the outcomes of performing a specific behavior, an individual then forms a favorable or unfavorable attitude about performing that behavior (for example, selecting a major). Based on this attitude and the subjective norm for performing the behavior that the individual perceives, a person forms an intention to perform the behavior. This intention corresponds directly to a related specific behavior. However, individuals may not perform according to


their intentions due to a lack of volitional control to carry out an intended behavior, adding even more complexity to understanding the behavior patterns.

Based on the above theory, although not directly salient to a student’s intention to pursue an IT-related major or enter the IT workforce, it is likely that an individual’s attitude toward IT might influence these types of behaviors. For this reason, an empirical study was conducted to identify attitudes toward IT of undergraduate students in IT-related majors. Correlation Between Gender and Attitude toward IT

Of all the variables that may influence attitude toward IT, gender has generally been shown to have a consistent influence (Weinburgh, 1998). Research shows that there are no significant gender differences in attitudes toward technology among students in elementary grades (Simpson and Oliver, 1990; Jones et al., 2000; Mullis et al., 2000; Breakwell and Robertson, 2001). These differences start to emerge with teenage students and continue thereafter. Studies on women and science found significant gender differences, with women being less positive toward science (Fox and Firebaugh, 1992; Trankina, 1993; Pifer, 1996; Barke et al., 1997). Females can succeed in school including science and math and yet have less positive attitudes toward science. Additionally, studies have shown that men, in spite of lower proficiency in math and science are more apt to continue studying science (Weinburgh, 1998). In a study of students who planned to major in science and technology, it was found that females generally found these disciplines uninteresting and these professionals’ lifestyle (as perceived by them) unattractive (Miller, et al., 2006). So the question arises, how do students form more positive attitudes toward IT? Research posits that positive attitudes toward computing could be influenced with greater exposure to IT and thereby reducing differences in gender. Correlation Between Exposure to IT and Attitude toward IT

The complex relation between knowledge of and attitudes toward IT has been the object of numerous studies. Empirical efforts aiming at understanding the patterns of this relationship suggest that knowledge has an effect on the consistency and discrimination with which attitudes are held (Evans and Durant, 1995). Research has demonstrated that attitudes toward IT become more positive with greater exposure to these disciplines (Gogolin & Swartz, 1992). In addition, the number of math and science courses taken in high school has been shown to directly influence the major chosen in college (Maple & Stage, 1991). Therefore, one can reasonably expect that there would be minimal gender differences in attitudes toward IT among IT majors. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to investigate attitudes toward IT among IT majors. In particular, this research intends to provide deeper insights into attitudes of IT majors toward female participation in IT and explore the differences by gender and class standing. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions examined in this study were these: 1. Is there a significant difference in attitude toward IT between male and female students in IT-

related majors? 2. Is there a significant difference in attitude toward IT between freshman and seniors in IT-

related majors? 3. Is there a significant difference in attitude toward female participation in IT between male

and female IT-related majors? 4. Is there a significant difference in attitudes toward female participation in IT between

freshman and seniors in IT-related majors?


POPULATION AND SAMPLE

The population for this study comprised of students in IT-related majors at a large, public, moderately selective four-year institution in Illinois. The IT-related majors include accounting information systems, business information systems, computer science, computer systems technology, information systems, and telecommunications management. The sample consisted of freshman and senior students enrolled in the IT-related majors mentioned above, and they fully represent the diversity of the University and the State of Illinois – from Chicago urban areas to small rural communities. Typically, the university accepts seventy-five percent of the freshman applicants, and based on self-identification, about 80 percent of the students are White, with an ACT composite test average around 24, compared with the national average of 21. These statistics present a picture of a moderately selective institution with a diverse student body fairly similar to that of other moderately selective US four year institutions of higher education.

Of the 325 participants in this study, there were 143 seniors and 182 freshmen, and 105 females and 220 males. Participation in the study was strictly voluntary. Students indicated their agreement to participate in the study by completing the Scale, as was outlined in the directions of the survey. Prior to giving the survey, proper approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects at the authors’ home institution. MEASUREMENT

This study used an existing scale to measure students’ attitudes. Gokhale, Machina, and Brauchle (2012) developed and validated the Attitudes toward Information Technology (A-IT) Scale designed to measure attitudes of college students toward IT in general, and more specifically, the attitudes most relevant to female participation in those fields. The A-IT Scale contains 30 items. The statements are in the form of a Likert scale, with each statement having five choices, ranging from A to E, with ‘A’ indicating strongly agree, ‘C’ being neutral, and ‘E’ indicating strongly disagree. When assessing the Scale, the norm group consisted of freshman (N = 535) at a large four-year institution. Validity and reliability of the scale were examined using semantic analysis, Cronbach's alpha, and factor analyses.

The factor analysis revealed five factors; all five orthogonal factors had eigenvalues greater than unity. These analyses are a major justification for the validity of this Scale. Cronbach’s coefficient alphas were calculated for the 30 item instrument as a whole, for all factors together, and individually for each of the five factors. The five factors together accounted for 51% of the variance in the instrument. The overall coefficient alpha for the 30-item instrument was 0.85. For the five factors composed of 23 out of 30 items, the coefficient alpha was 0.81.

The A-IT Scale measures the following factors that comprise attitudes toward IT: (1) interest in learning about IT, (2) practical value of IT, (3) positive effect of IT on work life, (4) gender equality of opportunity in IT, and (5) negative impact of IT. All extracted factors had eigenvalues of > 1. Items were determined to belong to a subscale if they had factor loadings of ≥ 0.425 on the associated rotated factor. Within each factor, correlations ranged from .627 to .749, which evidences that each factor measures a unique aspect of the students’ attitudes towards IT. These results confirm the suitability of the scale for this study.

As recommended by the developers of the Scale, after conducting the surveys, during data entry, statements reflecting a positive attitude are scored 5-1 (A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2, E=1); statements reflecting a negative attitude are scored in reverse, from 1-5 (A=1 ... E=5). The positively- and negatively-worded statements were identified by the Scale developers.

In addition to the A-IT Scale, the study inquired about demographic information including gender (1 = male, 0 = female) and class standing (1 = freshman, 0 = senior). These demographic items were used as independent variables. The dependent variables were the five factors in the A-IT Scale administered to the participants of this study.


RESULTS

To analyze the data, a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted for each independent variable (gender and class standing), with the five factors as dependent variables. The results for each were then analyzed for significance using Wilks’ Lambda, with an alpha value of 0.05. For tests having significance, a One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was then conducted.

Table 1 lists the frequencies of the demographic information about participants in this study. Although the sample was evenly divided among freshman and seniors, the distribution was uneven with respect to gender. There were fewer females as compared to males, and these numbers are directly proportional to the gender ratio among IT majors.

Significant differences among means are indicated along with the level of significance in Tables 2 through 5. Tables 2 and 3 show means and standard deviations of students’ attitudes in each subscale (dependent variables) by the independent variable: gender and class standing, respectively. Table 2 posits that when compared to females, males have greater interest in IT, regard that IT has practical value, and hold the belief that both genders have equal opportunity in IT. In other words, females believe that both genders do not have equal opportunity in IT, females have less opportunity than their male counterparts. Table 3 shows that when compared to freshman, seniors are more interested in learning about IT, and believe that IT has a positive effect on work life.

Tables 4 and 5 indicate the results of deeper analysis of data. As seen in Table 4, when compared to freshman females, freshman males are more interested in learning about IT and overwhelmingly believe in gender equality of opportunity in IT. However, it is interesting to note that senior males and females have equal interest in learning about IT, and senior males are not as emphatic in their belief of gender equality of opportunity in IT. Table 5 indicates that there is only one significant difference among freshman and senior females—senior females are more interested in learning about IT than their freshman counterparts.

TABLE 1 DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

Independent Variables Level Frequency Percent

Gender Male 219 67% Female 106 33%

Class Standing Freshman 172 53% Seniors 153 47%

TABLE 2 T-TEST RESULTS WITH MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS BY GENDER FOR

FACTORS OF ATTITUDE TOWARD IT SCALE

Gender Factor 1 Interest in learning about IT

Factor 2 Practical value of IT

Factor 3 Negative impact of IT

Factor 4 Gender equality of opportunity in IT

Factor 5 Positive effect of IT on work life

Female (106) 3.34 (.59) 3.45 (.51) 2.57 (.67) 3.04 (.70) 3.42 (.37)

Male (219) 3.59* (.74) 3.61* (.57) 2.67 (.80) 3.49*** (.77) 3.50 (.40) *p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p< .001


TABLE 3 T-TEST RESULTS WITH MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS BY CLASS STANDING

FOR FACTORS OF ATTITUDE TOWARD IT SCALE

Class Standing Factor 1 Interest in learning about IT





Senior (153) 3.66** (.68) 3.57 (.56) 2.63 (.74) 3.37 (.79) 3.51* (.39) Freshman (172) 3.32 (.71) 3.52 (.55) 2.71 (.83) 3.32 (.77) 3.42 (.41)

*p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p< .001

TABLE 4 T-TEST RESULTS WITH MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS BY GENDER WITHIN

CLASS STANDING FOR FACTORS OF ATTITUDE TOWARD IT SCALE

Factor 1 Interest in learning about IT





Freshmen Male (n = 106)

3.41* (.74)

3.57 (.60)

2.71 (.89)

3.53*** (.71)

3.46 (.39)

Female (n = 58)

3.13 (.62)

3.46 (.45)

2.63 (.58)

2.92 (.72)

3.39 (.45)

Seniors Male (n = 113)

3.70 (.73)

3.62 (.55)

2.64 (.75)

3.45* (.80)

3.53 (.41)

Female (n = 48)

3.51 (.51)

3.44 (.54)

2.51 (.73)

3.14 (.68)

3.45 (.29)

*p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p< .001

TABLE 5 T-TEST RESULTS WITH MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS BY CLASS STANDING

AMONG FEMALES FOR FACTORS OF ATTITUDE TOWARD IT SCALE

T-test results of the perceptions of S & T by class within Females Factor 1

Interest in learning about IT





Freshmen Female (n = 58)

3.14 (.62)

3.45 (.45)

2.64 (.59)

2.92 (.72)

3.39 (.45)

Senior Female (n = 48)

3.51** (.51)

3.44 (.55)

2.52 (.73)

3.14 (.68)

3.45 (.29)

*p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p< .000


DISCUSSION

This study produced crucial differences by gender and class standing for key factors that contribute to the overall attitude toward IT. Interest in Learning about IT

This study found that as compared to females, males are more interested in IT; the significance was at the 0.05 level as shown in Table 2. Additionally, seniors as compared to freshman have more interest in IT; the significance was at the 0.01 level as shown in Table 3. However, upon looking deeper, it was found that females who have taken more courses in IT demonstrate more interest in the field, which relates directly to the class standing. This is evident from Table 4 which shows no significant difference among male and female seniors regarding interest in IT, and a significant difference at the 0.01 level as shown in Table 5 depicting that senior females have more interest in IT as compared to freshman females. Since this was not a longitudinal study, however, these results do not by themselves show that increased interest in IT is the result of taking courses in IT; it is possible that the higher average interest level within the population of senior females results from female attrition in IT majors due to lack of interest, so that only those females who were antecedently more interested pursued their IT major all the way to the senior year.

In many countries, students’ attitudes toward IT appear to be becoming more negative, with females’ perceptions being more negative than those of the males’ (Gedrovics, Wareborn, and Jeronen, 2006). In a meta-analysis of 106 studies, Liao (1999) found that males had slightly more positive attitudes toward technology. In yet another study, male students indicated a statistically significant more positive attitude for STEM when compared to the female students (Mahoney, 2010). Although females tend to hold more positive attitudes toward school and learning, males continue to maintain better attitudes toward science and are more motivated to succeed in science (Simpson & Oliver, 1985). These results, showing that females can succeed in school yet still have less positive attitudes toward science, support the continued underrepresentation of women in the sciences.

With some exceptions, many studies find that the level of experience with technology correlates with liking and interest. Typically, computer liking and interest decrease with age for both males and females but more strongly for females (Gurer & Camp, 2002; Lage, 1991; Shashaani, 1993; Whitley, 1997). In order to be confident in the hands-on world of science and math problems, males are often much better prepared for what lies ahead than females, well before they even start at pre-school (Dorpenyo, Isidore Kafui, 2011). By the time they reach college, where labs involve hands-on type of environment, may males have had years of experience playing with building blocks, cars, video games and other technology which involves problem solving tools and equipment. This can put females at a real disadvantage at the start, but as they continue to study in the technical field, they become more comfortable and are able to compete with the males. By and large, existing literature finds that females’ comfort level with technology increases (and anxiety decreases) with experience, which is in agreement with the findings of this study. This research thus tends to discount the possibility that the sole reason for greater interest in IT among senior female IT majors found in the present study is due solely to attrition of less interested females. Equal Opportunity in IT

This study found significance at the 0.001 level as shown in Table 2 that males believe that they as compared to females have more opportunity in IT, or in other words, females believe that they as compared to males have less opportunity in IT. This belief structure becomes less prominent from freshman to senior, which can be concluded from the results in Table 4, where difference between genders is significant at the 0.001 level among freshman and at the 0.05 level among seniors. However, since there is no significant difference between freshman and senior females regarding their beliefs about equal opportunity for males and females in IT as shown in Table 5, it can be concluded that females consistently believe that they have less opportunity in IT as compared to their male counterparts.


Balian (1999 and 2005) argues that women have not achieved full equity in academic fields in the U.S. because of persistent gender schemas where women are expected to behave in certain ways that disadvantage them in academics. For example, women indicated less stronger support than men for advancement opportunities for women scientists, women more strongly agreed that women could make important scientific discoveries, and women more strongly disagreed that a woman in science is likely to be unhappy (Valian, 2010). These differences indicate a slight hesitation on the part of male students to support equity for women in the sciences. The author argues that these results reveal important differences between male and female college students that can impact the perception and attainment of gender equity in sciences. This leads to the conclusion that discrimination persists because of the accumulation of small disadvantages, rather than the existence of blatant sexism.

One reason that women may not persist in IT could be the negative impacts of a lack of full support for equity by their male peers. Even slight differences or lukewarm, rather than enthusiastic support, can impede women’s progress (Fuselier, Linda, and J. Kasi Jackson, 2010). The authors report that it is especially significant that the difference between male and female students’ attitudes toward women in IT became more pronounced as students completed more technical courses in their undergraduate program. This is crucial for women because STEM careers or academic programs may become less appealing over time because their male peers become less supportive overall. Small instances of discrimination and gender bias, accumulate to disadvantage women and impede their progress in scientific careers (NAS, 2007). Other Factors

This study found that when compared to females, males believe that IT has more practical value. These findings are in agreement with existing literature. According to Hornig (1992), women and men respond differently to mock news stories about new developments in science and technology, with women associating more risk (p ≤ .05) and less benefit (p ≤ .05) than do men with reported developments overall. Hornig reports that results from administration of a questionnaire revealed that women are more likely than men to agree with anti-science statements. Although the Scale does not directly measure beliefs about dangers of IT, there was evidence for gender differences regarding practical value of IT. CONCLUSIONS

Attitude toward a discipline is one of the factors in students’ choice of majors. The low participation of women in IT-related careers is a matter of national concern. Countries that maintain a competitive edge and prosper will be countries that are the most effective in developing their human capital and in nurturing all individuals with the capabilities of developing new ideas and innovations, especially in the scientific and technological enterprise. IT is an enabler for increasing productivity across multiple sectors, as an area of economic activities in its own right, and as a tool in education. User beliefs and attitudes are key perceptions driving IT usage and innovation. Consequently, the promotion of favorable attitudes toward IT and greater female participation in IT-related majors, is a matter of increasing importance. Perhaps one good way is to start is to show female students that gender equality in IT is real; that might be enough to encourage more females to take enough IT coursework to become interested in learning more about the field. REFERENCES Agbonlahor, R. O. (2008). Individual characteristics as correlates of attitudes to information

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Ajzen, I. and T. J. Madden (1986). "Prediction of goal-directed behavior: attitudes, intentions and perceived behavioral control," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 22, 453-474.

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Daempfle, P. (2003). An analysis of the high attrition rates among first year college science, math, and engineering majors. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 5(1), 37-52.

Dorpenyo, I. K. (2011). Recovering the lost voices of women in the field of science and technology: achievements, relevance and the way forward. International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology,13, 140-48.

Etzkowitz, H., Kemelgor, C. and Uzzi, B. (2000). Athena Unbound: The Advancement of Women in Science and Technology. Cambridge University Press.

Daniel T Holt, D. T. and Crocker, M. (2000). Prior negative experiences: their impact on computer training outcomes. Computers & Education, 35(4), 295-308.

Fishbein, M. (1963). "An investigation of the relationships between beliefs about an object and the attitude toward that object." Human Relations 16, 233-240.

Fishbein, M. (1967). A behavior theory approach to the relation between beliefs about an object and the attitude toward the object. Readings in attitude theory and measurement. M. Fishbein. New York, John Wiley, 389-400.

Fishbein, M. and I. Ajzen (1974). "Attitudes toward objects as predictors of single and multiple behavioral criteria." Psychological Review 81, 59-47.

Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, Attitude Intention and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Gedrovics, J., Wäreborn, I. and Jeronen, E. (2006). Science subjects choice as a criterion of students’ attitudes to science. Journal of Baltic Science Education, 5(1):74-85.

George, R. (2006). A cross-domain analysis of change in students’ attitudes toward science and attitudes about the utility of science. International Journal of Science Education, 28(6), 571-589.

Hornig, S. (1992). Gender differences in responses to news about science and technology. Science, Technology & Human Values, 17(4), 532-542.

Mahoney, M. P. (2010). Students’ Attitudes toward STEM: development of an instrument for high school STEM based programs. The Journal of Technology Studies, 36(1), 24-34.

Miller, P.H., Blessing, J.S. & Schwartz, S. (2006). Gender differences in high-school students’ views about science. International Journal of Science Education, 28 (4), 363-381.

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National Science Foundation. (2004). Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. Arlington, VA.

Osborne, J., S. Simon, and S. Collins. (2003). Attitudes towards science: A review of the literature and its implications. International Journal of Science Education 25 (9), 1049-1079.

Simpson, R.D. and Oliver, J.S. (1985). Attitude Toward Science and Achievement Motivation Profiles of Male and Female Science Students in Grades Six Through Ten. Science Education, 69(4), 511-526.

Tan, D. (2002). Majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics: Gender and ethnic differences in persistence and graduation. Available at http://www.ou.edu/education/csar/literature/tan_paper3.pdf

Valian, V. (2010). What works and what doesn’t: How to increase the representation of women in academia and business, Gender Change in Academia, 317-328.


Weinburgh, M. (1998). Gender, Ethnicity, and Grade Level as Predictors of Middle School Students’ Attitudes Toward Science. Georgia State University. Available online at: <www.ed.psu.edu/CI/Journals/1998AETS/s5_1_weinburgh.rtf>

Whalen, D. F. and Shelley, M. C. (2010). Academic Success for STEM and Non-STEM Majors. Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research, 11(1), 45-60.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors thank all the students who took the time and care to participate in this research, and the faculty members who allowed administration of the Scale during their class time. In addition, this research would not have been possible without the funding and support of the National Science Foundation.


Social Work Theory and Application to Practice: The Students’ Perspectives

Carolyn Gentle-Genitty

Indiana University

Haiping Chen Indiana University

Issac Karikari

Indiana University

Crystal Barnett Indiana University

We believe the success of applying theory in practice is largely contingent on how students define social work theory, identify the role of theory in practice, and categorize benefits and challenges in applying theory to practice. It is on this premise that this article is presented. Two datasets were used to form the students’ perspectives. The first dataset is a seven year compilation of 109 undergraduate student theory papers and the second is a pre-test/post-test online survey of graduate students in an advanced social work theory course. The work offers a context for educators in teaching and helping students to apply theory in their own practices.

SOCIAL WORK THEORY AND APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: THE STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES

As a helping profession, the primary mission of social work is to help clients meet their needs and

enhance their well-being. In order to effectively respond to clients’ needs and demands, professional social workers are equipped with a wide range of knowledge. However, what constitute social work knowledge base remain a major concern and a controversial issue (Trevithick, 2008). A classic debate in social work is whether theories are necessary for practice. Thyer (1994) argues that it is a waste of time for social work educators to teach theory for practice because they do not do a good job of teaching theory. He espouses that most theories in social work are taught incorrectly, and are invalid, which may lead to ineffective methods (Thyer, 1994). In contrast, Simon (1994) insists that it is crucial for social work practitioners to learn theoretical knowledge because theory can serve as an anchoring frame and a conceptual screen for case assessment, causal explanation, intervention planning, and outcome evaluation. Although this kind of expert debate provides a vehicle for scholars or educators to thoroughly discuss the role of social work theory in practice, it does not offer an opportunity for the general consumers of the outcome to express their views, especially students who are required to learn and apply theory in practice.


Because students are receivers and users of social work theory, it is important for them to have a say and learn about their views about social work theory and application to practice. Views on how do they define social work theory, how do they identify the role of theory in practice from their perspectives, and what they see as benefits and challenges when applying theory to practice. Instead of a top-down approach such as the expert debate, this article aims to explore the role of theory in practice from a bottom-up approach; that is, from the students’ perspectives. Grounded in this empirical review outlined below, this article is followed by a literature review, methodology, data analysis/findings, discussion and limitations, and a conclusion organized largely around four parts: defining social work theory, identifying the role of social work theory in practice, benefits of applying social work theory to practice, and challenges of applying social work theory to practice. LITERATURE REVIEW Defining Social Work Theory

When formulating theories there are at least four basic components: formulating concepts, facts, hypotheses, and principles (Turner, 1996). Concepts are agreed upon terms often used within a discipline; facts are information gathered, tested, or researched in relation to phenomena, and evaluated for influence and correctness; hypotheses are the structural way of using the information to link observations for testing and evaluation; and principles are the stated research outcomes and findings (Turner, 1996). However, there is not such a clear and consistent path when defining theory. Tripodi, Fellin, and Meyer (1969) define theory as an interlocking set of logically related hypotheses, which “seeks to explain the inter-relations among empirical generalizations” (p. 13). Barker (1999) consider theory a set of correlated concepts, hypotheses, and constructs grounded in observations, as well as facts, which aims to explain a particular phenomenon. Theory is a framework of interrelated concepts (Lipsey, 1993). They provide meanings and explanations to particular events and helps to solve pertinent problems. Obviously, the definitions of theory become complicated and pluralistic when components, functions, and nature of theory are combined. The following are seven definitions of theory giving an idea of the varied scope in defining theory (See Table 1).

TABLE 1

DEFINITIONS OF THEORY

Authors Tripodi, Fellin, & Meyer (1969) Lipsey (1993) Tolson, Reid, & Garvin (1994) Turner (1996) Barker (1999)

Definitions Theory consists of an interlocking set of hypotheses that are logically related, and it seeks to explain the inter-relations among empirical generalizations. Theory is a framework of interconnected concepts that gives meaning and explanation to relevant event and supports new insights and problem-solving efforts. Theories are set of concepts and constructs that describe and explain natural phenomena. Theory is a model of reality appropriate to a particular discipline. Such a model helps us to understand what is, what is possible, and how to achieve the possible. Theory is a group of related hypotheses, concepts, and constructs, based on facts and observations that attempts to explain a particular phenomenon.


Thyer (2001) Kendall, Adler, Adler, Cargan, & Ballantine (2008)

Theories are attempts to retrospectively explain and to prospectively predict. Theory is a set of logically, interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain, and (occasionally) predict social events.

Social work uses a broad range of theories from other disciplines and professions, such as: sociology,

gerontology, psychology, economics, and so on. In general, there are two major terms used to describe theories in social work profession: human behavior in the social environment (HBSE) theories and practice theories. Thyer (2001) states that HBSE theories are general theories and can be utilize to explain and predict a variety of human behaviors. They can help social workers to have a comprehensive understanding of their clients and environments. Thyer’s definition of HBSE theory is often founded and adopted in social work literature (Munro, 2002). Connolly and Harms (2012) further clarified that HBSE theories should include theories of inner worlds (e.g., psychodynamic approaches), as well as, theories of outer worlds (e.g., structural inequalities). Practice theories on the other hand, mainly focus on how conceptual theories can inform empirical practices. Practice theories link knowledge about clients’ problems and its contexts to knowledge about professional intervention (Simon, 1994). After reviewing the literature it was clear that the line separating HBSE theories and practice theories is blurred in use and in teaching. These two types of theories are interlocking and overlap. Many definitions of theory in social work often include some functions of social work, which makes the main difference between definitions of theory in general and definitions of theory in social work. The following are eight definitions of theory in social work from the literature demonstrating this point (See Table 2). Together they help identify the role of theory in social work.

TABLE 2 DEFINITIONS OF THEORY IN SOCIAL WORK

Authors Simon (1994) Thyer (2001) Greene (2008) Towland (2009) Howe (2009) Babbie & Rubin (2010)

Definitions Practice theory links knowledge about an identified problem and its context with knowledge about an intervention with a conceptual format that is oriented towards action and rooted in previous research. Theories pertain to explaining and predicting various aspects of human behaviors. Theories helped social workers explain why people behave as they do, to better understand how the environment affects behavior, to guild their interventions, and to predict what is likely to be the result of a particular social work intervention. A theory helps to explain a situation and perhaps, how it came about. Theories are particular ways of making sense. They help social workers see regularities and familiar patterns in the muddle of practice. A theory is a systematic set of interrelated statements intended to explain some aspect of social life or enrich our sense of how people conduct and find meaning in their daily lives.


Teater (2010) Miley, O’Melia, & DuBois (2011)

Theory is an essential ingredient in practice that guides the way in which social workers view and approach individuals, groups, communities, and societies. Theory helps to predict, explain, and assess situations and behaviors, and provide a rationale for how the social worker should react and intervene. A theory represents a plausible explanation about the relationship between a set of facts and a framework for change.

Identifying the Role of Social Work Theory in Practice

The role of theory in practice continues to be an on-going discussion in the profession. There are two major camps in the dialogue of theory application in practice. One camp insists theory-free in practice, and the other emphasizes theory-driven in practice. The theory-free camp eliminates the role of social work theory in practice. Thyer (2001) states most etiological theories and intervention theories are wrong, so it is neither essential nor necessarily desirable for practice to be theoretically driven. Rosen and colleagues (1995) found that there were rarely any clear theoretical reasons in practitioners’ rationales for practice decisions. In contrast, the theory-driven camp emphasizes the indispensable role of social work theory for practice. Boisen and Syers (2004) think “social work education rests on the assumption that competent social work practice is grounded in the intentional use of theory. Practice informed by theory distinguishes professional social work from informal forms of helping” (p. 205).

Again, irrespective of the fierce the dialogue, an agreement has been made that there is no dichotomous answer to end the debate claiming social work practice must be either theory-free or theory-driven. In recent years, however, there has been a trend that theory and practice should be integrated, which implies that social work theory should play certain roles in practice. Lam (2004) states that “not only are social workers expected to be informed about relevant theories, but they must apply these theories to practice so that unfavorable conditions in our society can be ameliorated” (p. 317). As a matter of fact, Puolter (2005) thinks learning and applying social work theory in practice is an on-going reflective evaluation of practice guided by current and emerging theoretical knowledge and research to learn when and how to add or replace theory and practice strategies for practice effectiveness. This bridge emphases that practitioners are engaged in a quest of self and practice-correction and improvement done most effectively through the use and replacement of tested and researched strategies and approaches found in theory application (Sung-Chan & Yuen-Tsang, 2008). Benefits of Applying Social Work Theory to Practice

Due to the positive roles of theory in practice mentioned above, there is no doubt that applying theory to practice is beneficial to social workers. The value of theory application in practice is that it: (1) explains clients’ situations and predicts their behaviors; (2) provides a starting point for social workers; (3) helps social workers have an organized plan to their work and reduces the wandering that can happen in practice; (4) offers social workers a clear framework in a chaotic situation and provides accountability to their work; (5) gives social workers a perspective to conceptualize and address clients’ problems with appropriate interventions; and (6) identifies knowledge gaps about practice (Walsh, 2010; Turner, 1996; Gilson & DePoy, 2002; Kendall, et al., 2008, Royse, 2011). Without the integration of theory and practice, social workers are easily and overly affected by their own attitudes, moods, and reactions, which may result in infectiveness, inefficiency, even harm clients (Walsh, 2010).

For example, the theory of ego psychology, which assumes clients better achieve their goals if they reflect on their ways to address life challenges, can guide social workers to utilize the intervention strategy called person-situation reflection to help clients understand their situations and solve their problems (Walsh, 2010). Or using critical race theory, social workers can have an individual-context perspective to rethink power differentials, understand cultural diversity, empower marginalized


populations, and promote social justice, all of which are emphasized by the 2008 CSWE Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (Ortiz & Jani, 2010). Or with the aid of ecological theory, social workers are able to have a whole picture of systems and member functioning and find out effective ways to develop reciprocal transactions and relations between clients and their environments (Ashford & LeCroy, 2010). As such, it is obvious that social work theory can serve as anchoring frame and theoretical underpinnings in directing social work practice. Challenges of Applying Social Work Theory to Practice

When theory is applied to practice, one of the biggest challenges facing social work students is integrating theory with practice in an effective way. Although many social work programs espouse the importance of integrating theory with practice in their field courses, there are still difficulties in realizing such integration. Vayda and Bogo (1991) state that social work students often experience the disconnection between classroom and practicum, and frequently experience difficulty in applying concepts learnt in the classroom to practice. Munro (2002) points out social work students cannot explicitly and systematically apply any relevant theory when they work with clients unless practice supervisors provide a clear theoretical framework. What is worse, because of disconnection between classroom and practicum, social work students are more likely to “see theories as irrelevant to their practice and as merely some kind of game played by academics” (Munro, 2002, p. 462).

In addition, when applying theory to practice, social work students often lack the ability to identify, understand, and use relevant theories to their work with clients (Boisen & Syers, 2004). Because one theory alone may not understand clients’ situations, social work students are likely to draw on multiple theories. Although the use of various theories allows for flexibility and comprehensiveness, it presents a big challenge for social work students to achieve real mastery of theory application in practice especially when different theories are incompatible with each other (Walsh, 2010; Boisen & Syers, 2004). Actually, social work students are often overwhelmed with theoretical knowledge learnt in limited time and have difficulty in selecting most useful information for their practice (Lam, 2004; Boisen & Syers, 2004; Caspi & Reid, 1998). Methodology

Two datasets were used to form the students’ perspectives – one qualitative and the latter quantitative – both of which were collected in a social work program at a Midwestern University. The first dataset is a seven year compilation of 109 student theoretical papers from an undergraduate social work theory and practice course. All students who took this course from 2007 to 2013 and who completed the assignments were included in the analysis. There were incentives for participation. The second dataset is a pre-test/post-test online survey with a control and an intervention group of graduate level students enrolled in an advanced social work theory course. Using an online randomization tool, students from three courses were automatically chosen to be in the intervention or control group. Only the experimental group received an online module on theory application. The control group received regular course content presented in the context of the course in which they were enrolled. Students completed the 15 item survey on social work theory and application to practice and were asked to apply theory to solve a case and reflect on their theoretical application. A total 67 students were invited of which 44 students completed the pre-test and 27 completed the post-test. These students completed the survey on social work theory and application to practice. The key questions they answered included: (1) what is theory? (2) what are the common types of social work theory? (3) how do social workers apply theory to practice? (4) how should social workers evaluate theory? and, (5) can lack of theoretical application and evaluation cause harm in practice?


DATA ANALYSIS & RESULTS Defining Social Work Theory

It was evident from the literature on the definitions of theory in general and social work in particular that many were written by varied scholars or educators but did not adequately reflect the views of social work students who are required to learn theory for practice. In the empirical study, 44 social work students were questioned on what they thought the common types of social work theories were and what they thought theory was. Approximately 77.3% of students (n = 34) thought social work theory should include both practice and HBSE theories. 20.5% students (n = 9) thought social work theory only meant HBSE theories. None of them thought practice theories equaled to social work theory. Most social work students placed high value on the integration of theory and practice, which meant social work theory should not only include theoretical knowledge but also practical knowledge. In addition, almost all students (n = 43) felt that HBSE theories were the indispensable component of social work theory.

In defining theory, 56.0% of the students surveyed (n = 25) thought social work theory was a complicated concept. They thought that theory was a roadmap of sorts for understanding human behaviors and that it included a set of concepts and constructs that described and explained situations. They also felt it was a model of reality used to help describe human behaviors, and worked as a framework to explain past behaviors and predict future behaviors. Yet almost 25.0% of the students surveyed (n = 11) thought social work theory was only a set of concepts and constructs that described and explained situations. From these students’ perspectives, human behaviors and the social environment seemed to be the two key words in social work theory, while social work theory seemed to be a tool to described, explained, explore, and predict human behaviors and situations (or environment). This view carried through in how they defined the role of social work theory in practice. Identifying the Role of Social Work Theory in Practice

As the receivers and users of social work theory, social work students have their own understandings of the role of theory in practice. In the online survey, almost 75.0% of students (n = 33) agreed that lack of theory application and evaluation could cause harm in practice. From the dataset of student theory papers, students further described their thoughts about the role of social work theory in practice as follows (See Table 3).

TABLE 3

STUDENTS’ VIEWS ON THE ROLE OF SOCIAL WORK THEORY IN PRACTICE

Students Shelly3 (2013) Kaitlin6 (2013) Nicole11 (2013) Leila17 (2013) Erin18 (2013)

Comments Human behavior is way too complex for any of us to understand in its entirety so a theory is just a perspective or a “lens” that we assume so that we can narrow down what we’re looking at and do the best we can at understanding people and their experiences. Theory allows a social worker to understand and explore meanings behind a client unique situation. Theory can provide much more than just categorized information and is a vital key to success in this career. Without incorporating theory in practice, social workers would be found incompetent and much less effective at working with clients and groups. Each theory consists of different facts and concepts, and serves as a model that practitioners can use to guide their practice. Theories provide a holistic approach to analyzing the client and using theories to better serve clients.


April12 (2013)

The utilization of theory allows for the practitioners to be able to reference a guild to explain a client’s behavior, the effects of the client’s environment, and how to determine what is likely to be the result of the intervention.

From the students’ perspectives, social work theory does play an important role in practice: (1) it is a

theoretical tool to understand complicated human behaviors and social environment, both of which are the core factors influencing clients’ lives and problems; (2) it is a critical kind of knowledge with which competent social workers should be equipped to effectively work with clients; (3) it is a practical guideline to help social workers analyze cases, understand clients, develop interventions, and increase effectiveness; and (4) it is a conceptual screen to identify the most useful information, which can be used to understand clients’ situations and solve their problems. In essence, the role of social work theory in practice is just as a student described in his paper: “Theory in social work is like the rudder that guides the boat to its destination. It gives the captain (social worker) and its passenger (client) a sense of direction, purpose, and a form of control”. So what are the benefits of applying such important concepts to our work? Benefits of Applying Social Work Theory to Practice

The students’ views are somewhat similar in their understanding of the benefits of applying theory to practice (See Table 4).

TABLE 4 STUDENTS’ VIEWS ON THE BENEFITS OF APPLYING SOCIAL WORK

THEORY TO PRACTICE

Students Jonathan2 (2013) Shelly3 (2013) Shanteal4 (2013) Rachel1 (2013) Jess8 (2013) Kaylin13 (2013)

Comments Another benefit of using theory is that it gives a sense of security and increase effectiveness. It also shows clients that a social worker is competent. Theory can also provide a confidence to practitioners that they are grounded in their approach. Another benefit of using theory is that it allows us to explain our activities to others, transfer our knowledge and skills, and have others evaluate our activities. By using theories that have been supported by empirical observations, social workers are able to feel confident with their ability to work with clients. Using theory in practice can help social workers create a treatment plan, increase sense of security, and explain and predict occurrences in the client’s life. Having knowledge of various theories and how they apply to different clients and situations can help social workers determine a course of action with clients. It provides explanation and reasoning as to why a client behaves in the way they do. Utilizing a particular theory in practice can also help when deciding what treatment to use for a client.


From the students’ perspectives, there are four major benefits of applying social work theory to practice. First, applying theory to practice can increase effectiveness of social work intervention. One student in her paper cited Green (2008) believing that social work theory explains why clients behave as they do, describes how social environment influence clients’ behaviors, implies how social workers can make intervention plans, and predicts what is likely to be the results of intervention. As a result, by applying theory to practice, social workers can have a clear and systematic framework to help them effectively analyze cases, develop interventions, and evaluate outcomes.

Second, applying theory to practice can promote confidence among social workers. Social work theory is a systematic body of knowledge which is grounded in professional experiences, empirical research, and logical analysis, so it can be used as an important indicator showing that social workers are competent and professional. Being equipped with theory, social workers can feel more confident about their professional knowledge and skills when working with clients.

Third, applying theory to practice provides a good opportunity for social workers to transfer theoretical knowledge to solve practical problems. Social workers can use theory to conceptualize and address clients’ concerns, which makes theoretical knowledge applicable and useful. In particular, theory application in practice helps social work students connect classroom to real world.

Fourth, applying theory to practice helps social workers make an in-depth reflection and evaluation on theory learning and application, which can enhance the effectiveness of theory application in practice. Social work theories are not written in stone, so they need to adjust to the changes in real life. By applying theory in practice, social workers are able to know which parts of theory can help them effectively respond to clients’ problems, and which parts of theory are out of date. In this way, social workers also have an opportunity to contribute to theory progression. As there are benefits, there are also challenges to theory application. Challenges of Applying Social Work Theory to Practice

Besides the integration of theory with practice, social work students also face other challenges. In order to better understand the challenges of applying social work theory to practice, a case example was designed in the empirical study. Forty-four social work students were asked to solve this case by applying relevant theory. They were also asked to answer questions about their reflections on theory application to practice. One of these questions was: “Having read the case above, do you think you have a model or method to respond to using theory?” Some 45.5% of students (n = 20) thought they had a theoretical model in their minds when they had read this case. Another, 11.4% of students (n = 5) thought they might have or might not have had a theoretical model in their minds. Also, 43.2% of students (n = 19) had no idea and just skipped this question. Thus, it seemed as if many social work students were unable to locate relevant theories when encountering a practical case. They seemed to lack a plan, process, or model of how to respond to cases in order to apply theory. At the end of the empirical survey with MSW students, an open question was asked about students’ general thoughts and feedbacks on theory application to practice. A text analysis of the 11 comments shared found five common themes: Believe theory, social work, clients, knowledge, and practice). Respectively the students reported (See Table 5).

TABLE 5 MSW STUDENTS’ GENERAL THOUGHTS AND FEEDBACKS ON THEORY APPLICATION

Students Susan11 (2013) April32 (2013)

Comments I believe theory classes should involve some practice to demonstrate how a particular theory is applicable. I believe theory is very important for understanding clients and practicing in an appropriate manner.


John15 (2013) Jim04 (2013) Bob93 (2013)

I feel as though I am still learning a lot of this as it applies to social work. My S503 course was a good overview of theories, now in S513 I am hoping to learn more about application and evaluation of theories. I thought HBSE was helpful, clarified different theories, and approaches to use with clients. It also provided information to assess client progress, and the option to shift to a different theory if one was ineffective. I need more practice.

In addition to this feedback, the paper dataset of 109 BSW students also mentioned challenges in theory application. Some of the students’ answers are below (See Table 6).

TABLE 6

STUDENTS’ VIEWS ON THE CHALLENGES OF APPLYING SOCIAL WORK THEORY TO PRACTICE

Students Elizabeth18 (2007) Manda17 (2007) Kaylin13 (2013) Nicole 11 (2007) LaQuisha9 (2013) Jess8 (2013)

Comments It is a hard area for me to wrap my head around because theory application process is fluid. There are many theories to be considered, and there are rarely 100% correct answers. I am still a little unaware of which theory to use in which situation. There are some risks when theory is relied on too much in practice. If a practitioner relies too heavily on theory to define a client, then they are limited by that theory. Dogmatic theory causes harm by closing other explanations and dismissing the use of other ideas. It can limit and not take into account alternative explanations of the situation. Theory closes out other explanations and dismisses those which offer them as heretics. As a practitioner, you could become too focused on implementing the theory and use it as too strict of a guide for treatment. This can also cause you to begin to see the clients not as people, but as projects.

Discussion

Despite the challenges noted by the BSW students in their assessment there seemed to be no more improvement in the MSW level theory courses. In fact when comparing the pre- and post-test from the online survey it was evident that the students lacked confidence and consistency in their answers. For instance when examining the experimental group, to which 22 students were assigned, only four of the thirteen who responded to both the pre and post-test scored higher on the post-test. More specifically nine of thirteen students did better guessing on the pre-test, choosing random answers, than they did on the post-test after having watched an online module on theory application. Coincidentally one female score a perfect score on the pre-test and failed the post-test. However it was evident that it was not because they were not exposed to the content. Because on average, the pre-test and post-test both showed students scoring 100% on item four of the online survey. This question asked “when evaluating theory social


workers should ….” The correct answer was “consider the theory strengths, area of focus, limitations, and other theories to fix the limitations to determine best use and effectiveness with client groups”.

From the students’ perspectives, there are three major challenges of applying social work theory to practice. First concern is that of choosing relevant and applicable theories to solve a practical case. Social work students are taught a broad range of theories in a limited time and they cannot have an in-depth understanding of all theories especially given that each theory contains a lot of information. Additionally, the complexity of the case itself makes it much more difficult for social work students to locate a relevant, applicable theory to solve the case. At this point, this is where teaching a model of theory application is better than teaching a multitude of theories for implementation (Gentle-Genitty, 2013).

Secondly, students struggle with the flexibility to adjust to the changes in the process of theory application. Yes, theory application is a fluid process to apply theory to practice. A theory may be applicable at a certain stage of an intervention process, but it may be inappropriate when the clients’ situations change or if they are at different levels of the stages of change. When this occurs students should be taught how to use and apply alternative theories to adjust for new or emerging situations. This may alleviate the confusion that comes with determining which theory can be used and in what kind of situations. It will also allow flexibility to adjust or switch between theories as they will have more options.

Thirdly, trying to avoid dogmatism and mechanism in theory application to practice is hard for many social workers and continues to be a concern for students. As the receivers of social work theory, those students with little critical thinking are more likely to consider theory as incontrovertibly true and neglect other possible explanations. The dogmatism can also lead to mechanism, which means social work students may have very strong beliefs in one theory and strictly follow the theoretical guideline of that theory alone. If so, they may easily forget here and now, which leads to the ignorance of clients’ unique personalities and special situations. Thus, it is a great challenge for social work students to effectively apply theory to practice if they cannot critically evaluate theory case by case.

In order to help social work students overcome these challenges in theory application, social worker educators should devote their time to teaching theory application in practice using a model for application and learning. Teaching and learning theory application in a non-standardized way is constrained in the academy (Buchan, Rodenhiser, Hull, Smith, Rogers, Pike, & Ray, 2004). Herein lays the main difficulty in theory to practice knowledge transference. Educators tend to teach theory using what we call a basic encoding-retention-retrieval hierarchical model with tightly prescribed guidelines. They call for formality but if one can teach steps for theory application students may take more away from the classroom to use in application to practice (Gentle-Genitty, 2013).

Therefore, social work educators should become more interested in learning and application outcomes and less concerned with amount of knowledge acquisition and regurgitation. They should also push similar curricula to make it easier to measure, develop, and share approaches on theory application across curriculum. This will give multiple points of learning, exposure, and also help field instructors to appropriately assess and enforce theory application in field. Competency based education on theory and field for practice will then become more of a reality rather than continue just as an aged-old debate. Limitations

The databases used for this analysis and presentation shared the perspective of students and offered a start in the conversation of teaching theory for effective transference to practice. In fact the paper dataset of 109 students, over seven years of which one of the authors was the instructor, added constructive context to the discussion in the students’ own words. There are some limitations however. First, though this dataset of papers presented an honest view of theory from the students’ perspectives – in their own words – the papers were written for a grade and may have only included what students thought the instructor needed to hear. This is a flaw in any student reporting, or self-reporting – especially while still in the course. A second limitation is the small number of students (44) who completed the pre-test from the advanced theory course. A normal class at the advance MSW level enrolls 16. The forty-four students represented students from three courses, with three different instructors – none of whom are authors of


this article. Therefore 44 is a high response rate. However, having a larger dataset to generalize the results would have been more effective. Recommendation for future research include: (1) bringing together both quantitative and qualitative datasets to inform the discussion; (2) ensure the voice of students in the results; and (3) increasing the dataset sample size, and ensuring that the data represented more than a snapshot in time, giving a truer picture of the situation. Conclusion

As the receivers and users of social work theory, social work students considered theory as a complicated and pluralistic concept, which should include both HBSE theories and practice theories. They think of social work theory as a roadmap for understanding human behaviors, a set of concepts and constructs that describe and explain situations, a model of reality used to help describe human behaviors, and a framework to explain past behaviors and predict future behaviors. Social work theory plays an important role in practice, including a theoretical tool to understand human behaviors and social environment, a necessary knowledge to be competent social workers, a practical guideline to direct interventions, and a conceptual screen to identify relevant information.

Competent practice in social work mandates that social workers act from an informed and research-based knowledge base. Theory provides social workers with the tools to offer their clients effective services. Foregoing theory may easily result in negligent, harmful, and unreliable practice. More so, not teaching from a model to provide consistency across curriculum and for measurement of competency is also a negligible practice from those teaching in academia. As social workers gain experience and knowledge in their field they will begin to recognize their own patterns that may enhance previous theories or create new ones. Interventions based on theory are tried and tested and produce somewhat of a track-record that allows social workers to anticipate, with some confidence, the results of any action they take. However, for social worker students they still face various challenges when applying theory to practice. They have difficulty in choosing relevant and applicable theories to solve practical cases, learning to be flexible to adjust to the changes in the process of theory application, and avoiding dogmatism and mechanism when using theory to practice. As a result, efforts should be made by educators in social work programs to help students overcome these challenges. All in all, theory is essential for the social work profession. Many social workers cringe at the idea of theory, when in reality it could be used as a tool to gain confidence in working with clients or particular situations. REFERENCES Ashford, J. & LeCroy, C.W. (2010). Human behavior in the social environment a multidimensional

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Learning from Others How to Teach Intermediate Accounting More Effectively: A Survey of Instructors on Course Content,

Assessment and Course Management

James F. Loebl University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

The purpose of the study is to present a current picture of the context in which instructors operate and the methods used in teaching intermediate accounting courses. A survey of instructors at public four-year colleges and universities in 10 states found that instructors provide comprehensive coverage of their texts but very light coverage of International Financial Reporting Standards. Further, they rely heavily on traditional means such as exams to assign grades, rather than those emphasizing communications skills. The paper provides a baseline for future studies and an opportunity for instructors to consider incorporating different methods into their own courses.

Over the past few years, as I have gone through the annual ritual of preparing syllabi for the two

courses in intermediate accounting I teach in fall, I have wondered whether my courses properly prepare students for careers in the accounting profession and to take the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination (the CPA Exam) or a similar professional exam. I have also wondered whether my teaching methods are in synch with those of other intermediate accounting instructors. So, this past summer, I decided to survey colleagues about their approaches in three areas discussed below that have been of greatest concern to me: (1) the technical content to be covered in each course; (2) the means employed to assess students’ performance and assign grades; and (3) the administration of exams and management of the courses in a way that increases students’ satisfaction with their intermediate accounting courses. AREAS OF CONCERN IN TEACHING INTERMEDIATE ACCOUNTING Course Content

One of the biggest challenges I face in teaching intermediate accounting is selecting the topics to be examined in each semester of a two-course sequence. The incongruity between the length of the textbook I have adopted (1,557 pages for the fifteenth and most recent edition of Intermediate Accounting by Kieso, Weygandt and Warfield) and the class time available to cover it (seven credit hours over two semesters in my case; many instructors only have six credit hours) requires difficult decisions as to which topics can be taught in sufficient detail for the students to understand and which have to be omitted. One of these choices is the extent to which I discuss and/or illustrate the proper accounting treatment under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in July, 2012, that it was deferring action on requiring U.S. companies to incorporate IFRS into their reporting systems (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Chief Accountant, 2012). Since then, there has been considerable uncertainty whether U.S. companies will have to transition


to IFRS and if so, the timeline for implementing the transition. One has to wonder whether scarce class time should be devoted to teaching standards that may never take effect or whose implementation may be delayed for years.

Another dilemma is the coverage I should give to weighty topics, such as impairment of long-term receivables, troubled debt restructuring and derivatives, which the authors have placed in chapter appendices. Does such placement suggest that I should assign a much lower priority to covering these topics compared to any that are illustrated within the chapters? Assessment of Student Performance

In assessing my students’ performance and assigning their grades, I place a very substantial weight on examinations. While I require one memorandum between one and five pages in length in each course, the memorandum accounts for slightly less than 10% of a student’s grade. In addition, on two or three occasions each semester, the students write up the answers they find to financial accounting questions they are asked to research in the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC). The ASC assignments are submitted with other homework problems and are not graded for the quality of the students’ writing skills. Given the importance of strong communication skills in advancing their careers, I wonder if I should incorporate more written assignments to help the students develop those skills.

With respect to examinations, I include problems for which the students can receive credit for each step or calculation performed correctly, as well as multiple choice, true/false and similar objective questions. The objective questions generally comprise 10-20% of the examinations. The students seem to prefer a format weighted heavily in favor of problems, and I believe that analyzing problems and presenting solutions in a clear, logical fashion will be far more critical to their success in the accounting profession than selecting the correct answer to a multiple choice question. However, I am concerned that the format may not adequately train the students to abstract concepts from the calculations and journal entries presented in class as multiple choice questions frequently require students to do. Further, I wonder if more multiple choice questions are warranted given their predominance on the CPA Exam. I would not question my exam structure if my students had the opportunity to take a CPA Exam review course for credit toward their degree and be schooled in the art of taking multiple choice tests.

Course Management Issues

Studying intermediate accounting can be both challenging and frustrating, so that I regularly evaluate changes I can make to increase the students’ satisfaction. The most frequent objections students raise about my classes are: (1) the text is difficult to read; (2) there should be more exams or opportunities to raise their grades; (3) students should be allowed to refer to their texts or notes during exams; and (3) common exams in the second course should be eliminated. I think the students’ main problem with the text is comprehending the technical language in which it is written. While I suspect this problem would occur with other texts, I am interested in finding out what texts other instructors use and open to a change that would facilitate the students’ grasp of the material. With respect to exams, I administer four, including the final, in my first course, a four-credit class, and three in the second course, a three-credit class. All tests are closed-book and no notes are permitted.

Common exams are the norm in our program in the introductory and managerial accounting courses required of all business administration students. I prefer to administer them in my second intermediate course because they prevent unauthorized information passing between students in different sections and they permit scheduling an extended period for taking the exam (two hours versus an 80-minute regular class period). Unfortunately, due to classroom availability and the students’ class schedules, these exams are held on two Friday afternoons during the semester. Despite the sound reasons for common exams, they meet with resistance from the students. So, I have wondered whether other instructors administer common exams. If common exams are an uncommon practice among my colleagues, perhaps I should consider different testing options.


Finally, there are many campus discussion groups and presentations on using clickers, flipping the classroom or other methods to engage students in a more interactive learning environment. As I have considered using clickers, I thought it would be interesting to learn if their use has caught on in intermediate accounting classrooms across the country.

Having discussed the teaching issues and concerns I wanted to address in my survey, this paper will next provide a brief review of the literature on surveys of accounting instructors and their teaching methods. Following the literature review, the paper will then focus on: (1) the survey methodology; (2) the findings of the survey; and (3) changes to my methods that I have implemented or am considering as a result of the survey. Finally, the paper will conclude with a summary of the study and its findings.

LITERATURE REVIEW

With respect to the issues covered by the survey conducted in this study, two previous studies are

relevant: (1) Dow and Feldmann’s (1997) study of professors who taught the first course in intermediate accounting; and (2) Munter and Recker’s (2010) analysis of the 2009 survey of accounting educators conducted by KPMG and the Education Committee of the American Accounting Association (AAA).

The purpose of Dow and Feldmann’s (1997) study was to determine the extent to which accounting professors’ pedagogical methods were consistent with calls by the AAA, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) to improve students’ communication skills and make them active learners. Dow and Feldmann found that instructors relied primarily on traditional criteria to assign grades. Approximately 78% of respondents indicated that 70% or more of the course grade was based on examinations (Dow & Feldmann, 1997). At the same time, 66% of respondents indicated that grading criteria emphasizing oral or written communication skills (i.e., class participation, papers or cases) accounted for 10% or less of the grade (Dow & Feldmann, 1997). Finally, Dow and Feldmann found that over 55% of the instructors required students to individually prepare written assignments and/or make oral presentations.

Munter and Reckers (2010) analyzed the KPMG/AAA survey to determine the progress that was being made in integrating IFRS into accounting programs across the country. Munter and Reckers found significant uncertainty among educators concerning whether the U.S. would adopt IFRS (68% were either confident or very confident the U.S. would do so) and when the transition to IFRS would be complete (only 57% thought it would occur by 2015). Further, they found that many schools had not taken any meaningful action to integrate IFRS into their curricula and that half of the schools had not even identified the faculty who would be responsible for developing materials or teaching IFRS (Munter & Reckers, 2010). Respondents indicated that the primary factors preventing incorporation of IFRS were making room in the curriculum for IFRS and developing materials to teach IFRS (Munter & Reckers, 2010). Finally, Munter and Reckers found that, of the 57% who believed the U.S. would transition to IFRS by 2015, 27% stated that the first class to graduate from their school with a comprehensive knowledge of IFRS would be the class of 2014-2015 or a later class. Of the 43% who did not see a transition occurring until after 2015, if at all, 54% stated that the first graduating class with a comprehensive knowledge of IFRS would be the class of 2014-2015 or a later class (Munter & Reckers, 2010).

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

As discussed above, the purpose of the survey is to discover the choices other intermediate

accounting instructors make in selecting topics and assessing their students’ performance, as well as their approaches to course management issues such as the required textbook, administering exams and engaging students through the use of clickers. The survey is intended to provide a description of the current state of intermediate accounting pedagogy. This description can both be informative to instructors who are seeking different approaches to delivering their courses and provide a baseline against which


changes can be measured in future studies. Since there were no particular expectations as to the findings concerning teaching methods, no hypotheses were formulated or tested.

The survey was conducted online using the Qualtrics Survey service. The panel was created by looking at the online schedules of classes at public four-year colleges and universities in 10 states and selecting each instructor who was listed as teaching any of the intermediate courses offered by the instructor’s institution and whose e-mail address was available on the institution’s website. In six states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin), the panel members were selected from the schedules for the Fall, 2012 term. In four states (Maryland, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania), the panel members were selected from the schedules from as many of the academic terms from Fall, 2012, through Fall, 2013, as could be accessed. In all, 377 instructors were invited to participate in the survey, with the original distribution followed up by two reminder e-mails. By the survey’s close, 67 of the panel members completed and submitted the survey, which represents approximately an 18% response rate.

The survey instrument consisted of 30 multiple choice questions. Information about the accounting program at the instructor’s institution and the context in which the instructor operated was collected, as well as information concerning topics covered, assessment tools and course management techniques. The findings of the survey are discussed below.

SURVEY FINDINGS Context in Which Instructors Operate

The class time available to teach a subject limits the number of topics an instructor can include in the course syllabus. When asked how many courses are included in their intermediate accounting sequence, 50 of the 67 instructors (75%) replied there were two. Of the 50, 44 indicated the first course was a three-credit class, while 48 replied that the second course was a three-credit class. The other 17 replied intermediate accounting was spread over three courses, and all but one indicated that each course was offered for three credits. Thus, nearly two-thirds of the respondents operate in a program which allocates a total of six semester credits to intermediate accounting.

Contextual factors that could affect instructors’ choices concerning assessment include: (1) average class size; (2) the minimum grade a student needs in each course to successfully complete an accounting major; (3) whether students could take a CPA Exam review course for credit; and (4) the attention given by their departments to their graduates’ passing rates on the Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section of the CPA Exam. This last factor could also influence the instructors’ selection of topics to be covered in the courses.

As shown in Table 1, 46% of the instructors polled teach sections that range from 16 to 30 students, while another 28% teach sections that range from 31 to 45 students. Twenty percent teach sections in excess of 45 students, which seem large for teaching a difficult, technical subject such as intermediate accounting.

TABLE 1

QUESTION: ON AVERAGE, HOW MANY STUDENTS ARE ENROLLED IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURSE(S) YOU TEACH?

15 or fewer 4 6%

16-30 31 46% 31-45 19 28%

Over 45 13 20% Total 67 100%


In approximately two-thirds of the programs, students need only to earn a “C” in their first and second intermediate courses to obtain an accounting degree (44 of 65 respondents so indicated for the first course, while 43 of 65 so indicated for the second course). Sixty of 63 respondents, or 95%, reported that no credit was available for taking a CPA review course. Finally, as Table 2 indicates, only 46% of the instructors stated that their departments had discussed passing rates for 2012, the most recent, full calendar year for which results were available when they took the survey. Surprisingly, 38% responded that it had not been discussed for more than four years, if ever. Seven of the respondents checking “Other” stated either that the department never discussed passing rates or that they could not remember ever discussing passing rates. Table 2 supports the notion that accounting faculty are not educating their students simply to pass the CPA Exam. Further support lies in the fact that 43 of 63, or 68% of the respondents, indicated that they had not reviewed the Content and Skills Specification Outline for the FAR section that is posted on the AICPA website and became effective on January 1, 2013.

TABLE 2

QUESTION: WHAT WAS THE MOST RECENT YEAR FOR WHICH INFORMATION ON THE CPA EXAM PASSING RATE FOR GRADUATES OF YOUR ACCOUNTING PROGRAM

WAS DISCUSSED IN AN ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT MEMO OR E-MAIL, OR AT A DEPARTMENTAL MEETING OR OTHER SIMILAR FORUM?

2012 26 46% 2011 7 12% 2010 1 2% 2009 1 2% Other 21 38% Total 56 100%

Course Content

When asked how frequently they cover IFRS, Table 3 shows that instructors were about evenly split between presenting IFRS in all, many, some or none of the chapters in which the authors discuss the standards. When coverage is provided, it most commonly entails a discussion of the differences between U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and IFRS in general terms (see Table 4). Of those providing at least some IFRS coverage in their courses, 56% indicate that they rarely or never provide illustrative examples of IFRS during lecture, 61% rarely or never assign homework questions, and 52% rarely or never include a question on IFRS on their exams.

TABLE 3

QUESTION: FOR HOW MANY CHAPTERS IN WHICH THE AUTHORS DISCUSS THE PROPER ACCOUNTING TREATMENT UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL

REPORTING STANDARDS (IFRS) DO YOU INCLUDE COVERAGE OF IFRS IN YOUR COURSE(S)?

All of the chapters in which the authors discuss IFRS.

19 28%

Many of the chapters in which the authors discuss IFRS.

14 21%

Some of the chapters in which the authors discuss IFRS.

19 28%

None of the chapters in which the authors discuss IFRS.

15 23%

Total 67 100%


TABLE 4 QUESTION: WHEN YOU COVER THE PROPER ACCOUNTING TREATMENT UNDER

IFRS, HOW FREQUENTLY DO YOU:

Question Never Rarely Sometimes Most of the Time

Always Total Responses

Discuss the differences between GAAP and IFRS in general terms?

1 3 13 17 18 52

Provide numerical/illustrative examples during lecture?

15 14 12 7 4 52

Assign questions, exercises or problems that involve the proper accounting under IFRS?

12 19 11 7 2 51

Include multiple choice questions, short-answer essays or short problems on the proper treatment under IFRS on an exam?

9 18 13 10 2 52

Taken together, Tables 3 and 4 suggest that accounting programs have not made much progress in

integrating IFRS into the curriculum since the KPMG/AAA survey in 2009. It also appears that it will be sometime after 2015 that graduates at most institutions will have a working knowledge of IFRS (Munter & Reckers, 2010). Coverage of IFRS is nonexistent in 23% of the intermediate accounting instructors’ courses, and fairly light in over 50% of the remaining courses. It is possible that some instructors do not teach IFRS because their programs have separate courses on IFRS or international accounting that incorporate IFRS (which this survey did not ascertain). However, given the expanded discussion of IFRS in intermediate accounting texts, it would appear that integration is expected to occur in courses throughout the curriculum. Undoubtedly, the uncertainty about what the SEC will require of U.S. companies has affected, and will continue to affect, the extent to which instructors incorporate IFRS into their courses.

Table 5 indicates which of 19 enumerated topics are covered at some point in an intermediate sequence at the instructor’s school. The relatively high level of “Not Sure” responses reflects the fact that a significant number of the respondents do not teach each intermediate course offered at their schools and therefore, cannot definitively confirm coverage of a specific topic in another course. For all topics that are presented by Kieso et al. in the text of a chapter, with the exception of interim reports, instructors indicate by substantial margins that the topics are covered in their programs. With respect to topics presented in chapter appendices by Kieso et al., the margins are strongly in favor of covering topics such as impairment of long-term receivables, LIFO retail method for valuing inventories and dividend allocations when fully participating preferred stock is outstanding. For most of the rest of the topics, instructors were fairly evenly split as to whether coverage occurred. Only the 10-column worksheet and variable interest entities were omitted in a large majority of programs.


TABLE 5 QUESTION: MOST OF THE ITEMS LISTED BELOW ARE ILLUSTRATED IN AN APPENDIX TO A CHAPTER IN THE 14TH EDITION OF INTERMEDIATE ACCOUNTING BY KIESO, WEYGANDT AND WARFIELD. PLEASE INDICATE WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING TOPICS ARE COVERED IN ONE OF THE INTERMEDIATE COURSES IN YOUR ACCOUNTING PROGRAM. ASSUME THAT A TOPIC IS “COVERED” IF THE STUDENTS ARE ASSIGNED ONE OR MORE HOMEWORK EXERCISES/PROBLEMS ON THE TOPIC AND ARE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TOPIC ON AN EXAM. IF A TOPIC WOULD BE COVERED IN AN INTERMEDIATE COURSE THAT YOU DO NOT TEACH AND YOU ARE UNCERTAIN OF ITS COVERAGE IN THAT OTHER INTERMEDIATE COURSE, PLEASE CHECK THE “NOT SURE” OPTION.

# Topic Yes No Not Sure Total

Responses 1 Preparation of a 10-column worksheet 15 30 17 62 2 Impairment of long-term receivables 38 14 10 62 3 LIFO retail method for estimating

inventories 40 13 10 63

4 Computer software costs 28 21 15 64 5* Compensated absences for employees 36 7 19 62 6 Troubled debt restructurings 21 21 21 63 7* Property dividends 34 12 17 63 8 Dividend allocations with fully

participating preferred stock 37 11 14 62

9 Stock appreciation rights 27 16 19 62 10* Transfer of investments between

categories (e.g., from available-for-sale to trading securities)

36 12 15 63

11 Derivatives 21 26 15 62 12 Variable interest entities 11 28 23 62 13 Revenue recognition for franchises 25 25 13 63 14* Consignment sales 40 15 9 64 15 Postretirement benefits other than

pensions 23 22 17 62

16 Sale-leaseback transactions 25 20 17 62 17* Direct method for calculating cash

flow from operating activities 42 14 8 64

18* Interim reports 26 19 18 63 19* Auditor’s and management’s reports 34 17 12 63

*Topic presented in text of chapter rather than appendix. Assessment

Tables 6-9 summarize the weights assigned to four means of assessing student performance in assigning grades: (1) examinations; (2) written assignments requiring a memorandum of one to five pages; (3) homework exercises and problems; and (4) class participation. The results are strikingly similar to those in Dow and Feldmann’s (1997) study. Seventy-three percent of the instructors surveyed (versus 78% for Dow and Feldmann) stated that examinations account for at least 70% of a student’s course grade. Further, 61% replied that they based less than 10% of the course grade on written assignments requiring a memorandum. With respect to class participation, only 31% assign a set weight, while 33%


answered that class participation does not affect a student’s grade in any way. Another 31% said that class participation could be considered in raising or lowering a student’s final grade. Based on the responses, it appears that traditional means of measuring student achievement (i.e., examinations and homework assignments) still predominate, and that assessment tools measuring communication skills (i.e., memoranda and class participation) are not utilized extensively (Dow & Feldmann, 1997).

TABLE 6 QUESTION: WHAT TOTAL WEIGHT DO YOU GIVE TO EXAMS (INCLUDING THE FINAL

EXAM) IN DETERMINING THE STUDENTS’ GRADES FOR YOUR INTERMEDIATE COURSE(S)?

Less than 50% 4 6% 50-59% 2 3% 60-69% 12 18% 70-79% 23 35% 80-89% 23 35% 90% or more 2 3% Total 66 100%

TABLE 7 QUESTION: WHAT TOTAL WEIGHT DO YOU GIVE TO WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS REQUIRING A MEMORANDUM OF ONE TO FIVE PAGES IN DETERMINING THE

STUDENTS’ GRADES FOR YOUR INTERMEDIATE COURSE(S)?

Less than 10% 39 61% 10-20% 20 31% 21-30% 5 8% More than 30% 0 0 Total 64 100%

TABLE 8 QUESTION: WHAT TOTAL WEIGHT DO YOU GIVE TO HOMEWORK EXERCISES AND

PROBLEMS STUDENTS SUBMIT TO YOU IN DETERMINING THE STUDENTS’ GRADES FOR YOUR INTERMEDIATE COURSE(S)?

Less than 10% 27 41% 10-15% 20 31% 16-20% 12 18% 21-25% 5 8% More than 25% 1 2% Total 65 100%


TABLE 9 QUESTION: WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS WOULD BEST DESCRIBE THE

ROLE CLASS PARTICIPATION PLAYS IN DETERMINING STUDENTS’ GRADES FOR YOUR INTERMEDIATE COURSE(S)?

A set weight is placed on class participation in determining the students’ grades.

21 31%

While there is no set weight placed on class participation, a student’s participation could be considered in raising or lowering the final grade assigned to the student.

21 31%

Class participation is not a factor in any way in determining the students’ grades.

22 33%

Other 3 5% Total 67 100%

As seen in Table 10, there is a wide disparity among instructors when it comes to exam composition.

Twenty-six percent allocate no more than 20% of the total points to multiple choice and similar objective questions, another 26% allocate 21% to 40% of the points to objective questions and 27% allocate over 60% of the points to such questions. While use of multiple choice questions could facilitate grading for large sections, a cross-tabulation of class size (see Table 1) and percentage of exams devoted to objective questions revealed no significant relationship between the two based on p-values.

TABLE 10 QUESTION: APPROXIMATELY WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL POINTS

STUDENTS MAY EARN ON YOUR EXAMS IS ALLOCATED TO MULTIPLE CHOICE, TRUE/FALSE AND SIMILAR OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS?

0-20% 17 26% 21-40% 17 26% 41-60% 14 21% 61-80% 9 14% 81-100% 9 13%* Total 66 100%

*Rounded down so that total equals 100%. With respect to written assignments, 29 of 67 instructors, or 43%, require one or two memoranda of

one to five pages in length and 9, or 14%, require three or more such memoranda, while 29, or 43%, did not require any. Further, 33 of 67 respondents, or 49%, do not require students to use the ASC to research financial accounting issues, while 29, or 43%, include one to two assignments involving the ASC and five, or 8%, require three or more such assignments. The finding concerning the ASC is surprising as the ASC contains all of the authoritative pronouncements that comprise GAAP and would be a useful resource for many students in their accounting careers. Further, as Dow and Feldman (1997) point out, having students use such a resource apart from their texts develops research skills and encourages students to become the active and independent learners the accounting profession seeks. Perhaps the lower-than-expected usage rate is due to the fact that meaningful assignments are difficult to complete with the “Basic View” access which the FASB provides free of charge and many programs are not subscribing to the “Academic Accounting Access” to the ASC through the AAA.


Course Management Forty-one of 67 instructors, or 61%, reported using a text authored by Kieso et al., while 25, or 37%,

indicated that Spiceland, Sepe and Nelson authored their text. Thirty-six of the 67, or 54%, replied that they use the publisher’s program to manage and grade their homework assignments, suggesting that over half of the instructors are using an electronic version of the text in their classes.

Turning to exams administered (including the final), instructors split almost evenly on the number of exams with 30 of 67, or 45%, giving three exams and 29, or 43%, giving four. Six, or 9%, administer five or more exams. Only 14 of 62 respondents, or 23%, administer common exams in the first course and 12 of 63, or 19%, do so in the second course. The instructors also indicated that the exams are scheduled for periods longer than the regular class periods for 10 of the 14 common exams in the first course and 10 of the 12 common exams in the second course. For those instructors who did not give common exams, five of 48 indicated that they offer their exams in the first course at a time other than the regularly scheduled class period to allow more time to complete the exam, while four of 51 do so in the second class. Sixty-two of 65, or 95%, replied that students may not refer to either their texts or class notes during exams. Only seven of 66, or 11%, permit reference to notes specially prepared for the exam.

Finally, only one of 65 instructors reported using clickers to increase student engagement.

CHANGES BEING IMPLEMENTED OR CONSIDERED Course Content

In the past, I have limited coverage of IFRS to the first course in which the students write a memorandum analyzing the changes they would have to make to a British corporation’s balance sheet for it to conform to GAAP. The survey indicates that I am not alone in providing such minor coverage of IFRS. Nonetheless, I feel I should discuss substantive differences between GAAP and IFRS in a few areas, such as property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, to prepare students for a potential transition to IFRS by U.S. issuers. Even if the SEC were to reject a transition altogether, which I think is unlikely, many students in this global economy will need a working knowledge of IFRS because their employers will be multinational corporations or their subsidiaries that report under IFRS. Further, when I incorporate IFRS in discussion, I will present an illustrative example or assign a homework exercise to help students appreciate the differences between GAAP and IFRS.

As for the topics from Table 5, I have only presented stock appreciation rights in the past. I intend to include topics presented in chapter appendices, such as impairment of long-term receivables and the LIFO retail method, which a substantial majority of my colleagues cover. With respect to topics appearing in the chapters themselves, I will include all except for the interim reports and the auditor and management reports, as they can be covered in other courses (e.g., advanced accounting or auditing). While making room for new lecture topics is challenging, I hope that adopting an electronic text will ease the process. Because publishers include access to numerous videos with tutorials and demonstration problems with the electronic version, I can pare a number of illustrative examples from my lectures.

Assessment

The survey shows that I include fewer multiple choice questions on exams than nearly 75% of my colleagues. On the other hand, my requirements for demonstrating written communication skills (one memorandum between one and five pages) are in line with those of my colleagues. The survey did not resolve my uncertainty in either of these areas. However, I am considering allocating as much as 30% of my exams to multiple choice questions. In addition to better preparing students for the format of the CPA Exam, the additional objective questions could reduce the time required to complete the exams, which in turn could eliminate the need for common exams. I am reluctant to add one or more writing assignments because of additional grading time and the students diverting time from other important course content.


Course Management While I am in the solid majority of instructors who use a text by Kieso et al., the time has come for

me to join the ranks of those who have adopted the electronic version of their text, which I will do in the 2014-2015 academic year. I recently took a “test drive” of WileyPLUS, which includes online access to the text, study guides that accompany the text, videos demonstrating how to solve various problems and interactive features that provide students with hints at different stages of multi-part homework problems. The resources provided far exceed those made available to students on the text’s companion website when they purchase a hard copy. These additional resources should assist students to better understand the text, complete homework assignments more accurately and efficiently, and prepare more thoroughly and effectively for exams.

With respect to exams, the survey confirms the number of exams I administer and my closed-book policy to be reasonable. On the other hand, the survey suggests that common exams are going the route of landlines and VHS recorders, and that I should consider alternatives such as shorter tests or online testing.

Finally, clickers have not caught on in intermediate accounting, despite the fact that instructors have become quite adept at incorporating technology into their courses. Thus, I think that I should explore other means for engaging the students, such as flipping the traditional classroom and out-of-classroom experiences.

CONCLUSION

This study has presented a current picture of the context in which intermediate accounting instructors operate at public four-year colleges and universities, the topics they select to teach, and the methods they use in assessing their students’ performance and managing their courses. The study found that accounting programs most frequently offer intermediate accounting in a two-course sequence for a total of six semester credits and require students to earn at least a “C” in each course to complete the accounting major. Approximately 74% of instructors teach sections that range from 16 to 45 students, with class sizes of 16 to 30 being most prevalent (46%). While preparing students for the CPA Exam may be a goal, it does not appear to be the primary goal of intermediate accounting instructors.

The study also reveals that instructors are either not covering IFRS or providing fairly light coverage that includes discussion of the differences between GAAP and IFRS in general terms, which is in keeping with a survey conducted in 2009 by KPMG and the AAA (Munter and Reckers, 2010). Otherwise, in determining topics to be taught, instructors attempt to comprehensively cover the material presented within the chapters of the text, while having no set policy as to topics included in chapter appendices. The most commonly adopted text is authored by Kieso et al., and a significant percentage of instructors appear to have adopted an electronic version.

In assessing their students, intermediate accounting instructors rely heavily on traditional means, such as exams, to assign grades while placing minor emphasis on tools that involve communications skills, paralleling the results of a 1997 study conducted by Dow and Feldmann. The percentage of exams devoted to multiple choice and similar objective questions varies widely among instructors, but most instructors administer closed-book exams during the regularly scheduled class periods.

Finally, the study provides a baseline for future studies of teaching methods in intermediate accounting courses. In addition, the study presents current instructors with an opportunity to discover pedagogical choices their colleagues are making and to consider and incorporate changes that enhance their students’ learning experience and satisfaction with intermediate accounting courses. However, the study’s consideration of approaches to increasing student engagement was limited. While content and assessment will continue to be significant issues, future studies investigating methods of delivering that content to actively engage students in the learning process would be extremely beneficial to instructors in adapting their intermediate accounting courses to changes in learning styles brought about by ever-changing technology.


REFERENCES American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Examinations Team. (2011). Content and skill

specifications for the Uniform CPA Examination. Retrieved from http://www.aicpa.org/BecomeACPA/CPAExam/ExaminationContent/ContentAndSkills/DownloadableDocuments/CSOs-SSOs-Effective.Jan2013.pdf

Dow, K. J., & Feldmann, D. A. (1997). Current approaches to teaching intermediate accounting. Issues in Accounting Education, 12, 61-75.

Kieso, D. E., Weygandt, J. J., & Warfield, T. D. (2013). Intermediate accounting (15th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Kieso, D. E., Weygandt, J. J., & Warfield, T. D. (2012). Intermediate accounting (14th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Munter, P., & Reckers, P. M. J. (2010). Uncertainties and budget shortfalls hamper curriculum progress on IFRS. Issues in Accounting Education, 25, 189-198. doi:10.2308/iace.2010.25.2.189.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Chief Accountant. (2012). Work plan for the consideration of incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards into the financial reporting system for U.S. issuers: Final staff report. Retrieved from http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/globalaccountingstandards/ifrs-work-plan-final-report.pdf


International Business Study Programs: Outgoing Approaches

Kenneth A. Heischmidt Southeast Missouri State University

Peter Gordon

Southeast Missouri State University

Primarily, there are two major approaches to overseas study experience for business students to learn about international business and cultures other than their own. These approaches center on long term and short term experiences. This article looks at planning and organizing issues for facilitating outgoing international study opportunities for students in higher education, both long term and short term international study programs. INTRODUCTION

Competition among business schools and requirements noted in AACSB accreditation standards has necessitated increasing emphasis in “internationalizing” the business curriculum and student experiences across North America and throughout the world (Gordon, Heischmidt and Greenwood, 2000). Exposing students to international business can be approached in various ways such as bringing international speakers into the classroom, case study analysis, and study abroad. An out of country study experience may be viewed as the best approach for business students to learn about international commerce (Blasco, 2009). Study abroad has been very popular in Europe for a number of years (Peitro and Page, 2008). A large number of schools have developed opportunities for students to study for a semester or school year at another school outside of their home country. Dwyer and Peters (2013) documented the value of long-term impact of study abroad. Their findings show study abroad positively influences the career path, world-view, and self-confidence of students (Dwyer and Peters, 2013). Chieffo and Griffiths (2004) documented the educational impacts of international short term programs on students educational endeavors and personal lives. An abbreviated opportunity is a shorter term immersion program of 2-3 weeks for students to travel internationally to visit and experience businesses and cultural sites (Heischmidt and Gordon, 2010). These short term programs have provided very positive benefits for student participants (Carley, Stuart and Dailey, 2011; Ritz, 2011). An increase in personal maturity and a broader world perspective are among these benefits. Eckert, Luqmani, Newell, Quraeshi, and Wagner (2013) provide a summary of benefits to students who study abroad. This paper will discuss some of the factors that impact the successful implementation of outbound international study programs.


FACTORS IMPACTING SUCCESS

While others have provided step by step model for developing a short-term study abroad program (Eckert, Luqmani, Newell, Quraeshi, and Wagner, 2013), there needs to be a full discussion of the primary factors that impact the decisions related to international study on the university campus. Certain areas of the university that impact international study environment need to be collectively considered before deciding what type of international study program is best for the university and individual students. These interconnected areas include: university structure, university support, academic curriculum structure; students backgrounds, and faculty experiences (Table1).

TABLE 1 CONNECTED AREAS

University Structure/Support

Any international study opportunity needs active support of department chairs, college deans, provosts, and the university president. Without their unqualified support an international program has very little chance of success. The support may consist of administrative leverage in terms of finances (for students and faculty), procedures and structures. For example, the creation of special scholarships for both student and faculty international programs can provide a significant boost to any international effort. Additionally, recognition of internationalization efforts by faculty in the tenure and promotion process will send a strong signal for all members of the faculty that it is worth their time and effort to be involved in such endeavors.

The structure of the university can significantly facilitate the development of international study programs and usually impacts the broad administrative issues of international study. For example, is there an international center at the university campus? If so, what is the focus of the international center related to the role of a broader educational purpose of the university? Is it recruiting of incoming international students that assist with revenue generation decisions in tight budget times or the facilitation of international outgoing programs, both semester long and short term programs, while assisting students in these outgoing efforts. If the focus is on incoming students, assistants will likely be directed toward incoming students with a much lesser time allocation to outgoing students. A focus on outgoing programs this may substantially facilitate the development of both semester long and short term outgoing international study programs for students by the university. This facilitation could be helpful to students considering international study as well as the willingness by faculty to development and promote such programs. Another example would be the policy of the university registrar related to accepting the transfer of credit. What amount of credit does a five hour ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) course transfer, as a three or two semester hour course with the domestic institution? There are also concerns that need to be addressed related to differences in international grade scales (eg. 4 or 10 point grading scales used by international institutions) and the normal distribution of grades in a class (a bell curve or positively skewed curve). Curriculum Structure

Students will likely look at an international experience as expanding their education, yet they may want the experience to count in some way toward their degree. Faculty organizing international experiences for students need to factor this desire for academic credit into their planning. Are there areas

University Structure/Support Curriculum Structure Student Background Faculty Experiences


related to students’ degree programs that accept for credit the classes a student may take internationally? Is there the flexibility at the university (common university studies), college and department levels to accept either course credit or course substitution from both international transfer credits when a student completes a semester long program overseas or local credits from a short term (2-3 week) international program delivered by the institution? Students and parents tend to be practical in their decisions. If a student is paying for an experience it is best if it fits into the students’ academic degree structure in some constructive way. Student Background

The prospective students’ backgrounds need to be considered when designing international study programs. These considerations include their age and maturity, past travel experience, financial capability, and academic background. Different universities attract a student body that varies related to academic ability, financial resources, life experiences (which may impact maturity), parental support and expectations of the university experience. Students enrolled in large urban universities tend to be different from students attending smaller rural academic communities. Students attending private institutions may have more robust financial assets than students attending small regionally oriented state schools. Understanding these factors may go a long way in the decisions related to designing successful international study programs, such as costs incurred; minimum academic level required; prerequisite course; or academic credit hours earned prior to travel. Faculty Background

It is important to understand the background and personality of the facilitating faculty involved with planning, recruiting, coordinating and traveling with the students on an international program (Carver and Byrd, 2008). Faculty coordinators need to be able to relate to students and to get them excited about a program of international study. Faculty members should have prior travel experience with the areas to which they will be sending/leading students and there needs to be a least two faculty accompanying any group traveling internationally. A whole host of unexpected events may arise that require multiple faculty leaders. Issues related to sickness of students and even a faculty member, delayed students, lost passports, split up groups on the airline travel, and student discipline. CONSIDERING LONG TERM AND SHORT TERM OPPORTUNITIES

A long term international study experience can be defined as lasting more than eight weeks abroad. This long term experience, more typically a semester or a year, is appropriate for many students, especially those who have the financial resources, have the freedom/flexibility to be away from their regular home situation, and can structure the experience so as to not delay graduation (Kehl and Morris, 2007).

Semester long international business study programs may be grouped by three different models: direct enrollment, hybrid programs, and island programs (Hanouille and Leuner, 2001). Direct enrollment places students directly into courses at the receiving international institution. Hybrid programs have students take a combination of classes at the hosting institution as well as taking classes from a faculty member at their home institution. Island programs are self-contained programs that have faculty of the home institution providing all instruction to the participating students, yet everyone is located together overseas, usually at a host institution (Hanouille and Leuner, 2001).

Longer time international study programs may not be best suited for all students (Ladika, 2009). Some students do find it difficult to be away from their home institution for such a long period of time. Many students, including first generation college students as well as nontraditional students, fall within the situations mentioned above (Shallenberger, 2009). These students who wish to be exposed to international business experiences, and may need to have options in addition to the traditional semester long exchange program (Gordon, and Heischmidt, 2000).


Alternate approaches to facilitating international business education should to be considered. In contrast to semester long programs of international study, a study program that consists of a shorter period of time may be appropriate for many university students, usually consisting of one to three weeks. An appropriately designed short term program may allow many students, including a growing number of nontraditional students, a chance to experience international business in person while balancing the needs of family and jobs at home. LONG TERM PROGRAMS

Most long term programs provide students with opportunities to study in a country outside of their home country for one or two semesters. Consideration in the timing of a semester long program is important. Many universities overseas have academic calendars that are different from the U.S. For example, southern hemisphere has a summer break when schools in the northern hemisphere are in the middle of winter. Also, the start of semesters might be significantly different even in northern hemisphere schools. In Germany, for instance, the “fall” (winter) semester begins in October and ends in late February. “spring” (summer) semester begins in March and finishes in late June/July. Once timing issues related to the academic calendar are evaluated, the review of long-term possibilities and agreement need to be considered. The long-term agreements fall into five categories: bi-lateral agreements, consortium agreements, overseas campuses, transfers, or direct application. Bi-Lateral Agreements

There are various types of long-term semester study programs. Among these are partnering or bi-lateral programs where the home institution partners with an international partner for a one to one agreement. There is generally an agreement related to reciprocal tuition for students, assistance with lodging selection, and a go-to location (office) for all questions and assistance related to international student affairs and assimilation into the hosting institution. Consortium Agreements

A second type of long term program could be described as consortium based. The consortium is usually centered on a nonprofit organization that specializes in facilitating student exchanges among a number of partnering institutions. One example of a nonprofit centered organization that facilities consortiums is the Magellan Exchange. The student exchange program facilitated by Magellan Exchange includes institutions in twelve different countries including areas of North America, Central America, Europe and Asia. The institutions in the consortium pay a small annual membership fee and in return are provided with the necessary administrative support to offer successful student and faculty exchanges. Overseas Campuses

The third type of semester long opportunities is provided by university owned campuses in an overseas location by some larger universities. These serve as satellite campuses for the home institution, providing the full range of student services and education similar to that offered at the home institution. These tend to necessitate an upfront financial commitment from the home school. Transfer

There are some other creative ways a student might be able to custom design an international long-term experience. These, however, require a considerable investment of time up front. One option would be to determine if other universities in the same state offer a program in the desired country. Thus, a student may be attending one university in their state, then transfer to a second university in the same state (or domestic school consortium) that has an exchange with an international partner school the student finds interesting.


Direct Application Possibilities In addition, universities in some countries do not charge tuition to foreign students. If the student can

identify such institutions, they could apply directly to the out of country university for a semester. The student would be faced with the task of gaining admission to that university as well as the need to transfer grades back to their home university. The authors are aware of a recent situation where a student at a state university in the United State who wanted to study in Paraguay was able to spend a semester overseas at no tuition cost by using such a technique. SHORT TERM PROGRAMS

In additional to the traditional semester long international study program, programs of a shorter duration need to be part of mix of opportunities that universities provide to students in this ever changing world. Short term program, usually 2-3 weeks in duration, provide students with an opportunity to participate in an international experience without investing an entire semester or year for the experience. There are a number of contributing factors that make short term international study programs appropriate for many students. Students Background and Focus

As mentioned in the considerations section, the background of students needs to be considered when designing both full semester and short-term international study programs. The prospective students’ background considerations include their age and maturity, past travel experience, financial capability, and academic background. Short term programs might be an attractive alternative to semester long programs, for students with limited travel experience, limited financial resources, and those who are younger, less mature with a fear of the broader world.

Especially for upper level students, short term programs need to be academically focused. For example, this may mean short term programs designed specifically for business students. Incorporating the usual visits to cultural and historic sites with visits to businesses and presentations by business leaders will provide the richest learning experience. The use of alumni and the international affiliates of local businesses greatly facilitate the arrangement of speakers and plant tours at their affiliates in international locations. Many times, the international affiliate is excited to host faculty and students from the “sister facility/city”. Costs

One advantage of short term programs is the cost, which is usually less than semester long programs. The financial capability of prospective students will impact the actual budget of the program. In order to keep the cost of a program as low as possible so as to appeal to the broadest possible range of students, institutional/faculty planned programs can be arranged for student international experience, but necessitate faculty members planning that is far greater than pre-packages programs. Included in these planning items are travel, sightseeing, dining and lodging arrangements. Pre-packaged programs from commercial providers, such as Education First (EF) Tours and Casterbridge Tours, provide excellent educational tour programs, but at a cost which is usually higher than that of institutionally arranged programs. Again, developers of international programs need to look at their institution and both the demographics and social economic makeup of the student body attending the institution. Faculty Background

The faculty members involved with a school planned international travel program must first consider the level of personal involvement they will need to invest in organizing the experience. Organizing faculty members need to check on travel policies of their university. Some schools have pre-established policies and procedures for such travel. Policies related to bidding, contracting and payments on travel arrangements must be clarified. Additionally, the faculty must be familiar with the policies for


reimbursement of travel expenses incurred by the faculty in possible program planning as well as actually traveling with students.

Next, the faculty organizer should then investigate if their school has an in house travel office to assist or maybe even complete this entire step for the faculty. The main role of the faculty member in such a case is to establish an effective communication channel with the travel office to assure the intended travel plans are in agreement between both parties and to follow up on a regular time frame to assure the arrangements for the travel are completed. Price and Location

Determining cost/price is the next step. Related questions include the following: are there grants or scholarships established to support such travel by students? How does the institution pay for the expenses of the accompanying faculty members?

The organizing faculty members need to consider if they want a program that involves primarily one international location with possible day trips out of that location or do they want a multi country/ multi-city experience. Each possibility has its own advantage. A single location allow for more in depth emersion into one international culture. This also substantially cuts down on pre-trip arrangements, hotel check-in and check-out responsibilities and likely reduces between country travel costs and the need for obtaining multiple travel visa for certain students. Students can also become familiar with their surroundings and gain a substantial level of independence with the one culture visited.

For short term programs, the faculty member has to consider when is the best time for students to get one, two or three weeks of time away from their responsibilities of work or family. The breaks between semesters, during January and May/June appear to be a good time to arrange one to three week short term programs, while summer is best for programs of three weeks or longer. Travel Arrangements

If there is no travel office on campus, the faculty member has the choice to make arrangement on their own or to go through some type of travel broker. The advantage of going through a travel broker that specializes in these arrangements is the significant time savings for the faculty member. The major disadvantage is the extra financial costs associated with a broker. Some companies have pre-established travel dates for groups and they will likely consolidate your group with another group if you expect a number of students that is short of a full coach (usually about forty or more students). Avoid the consolidation of your university group with a group of another age, such as high school students or senior citizens.

If the arrangements are not made with a travel broker or travel agent, then the faculty member needs to make all travel arrangements. Again, the arrangements need to include the following: air travel, reservations at hotels in all the cities visited, travel to and from departing and arriving airports, travel between hotels, travel within cities, museum passes and tickets, guest speakers and location for these speakers, all meals that are included, and all other scheduled events for the group. The primary advantage of organizing everything on your own is the assurance that arrangements are done correctly and the costs are usually lower because you are not paying broker fees. The disadvantage is the time expense for the faculty member to make all of these arrangements.

Program Promotion

Faculty members then need to promote the international study by way of open information sessions, posters, emails to prospects, and presentations in classes (Heischmidt, Gordon, and Dobson, 2000). They also have to dedicate the time to personally talk with every student that considers these study opportunities as well as to get the student excited about international travel. Recruiting of students is a reflection of the support of the institution and advocacy by interested faculty; it is a year-long process with prior successful programs allowing favorable word-of-mouth to future students.


Curriculum Students will be evaluating an international program and applying this experience to their degree

requirements. A semester long experience will likely have a student completing a semester worth of classes at the host institution that will need to be transferred back to the students home institution. Will all of the courses completed by the students count toward degree requirements.

For students on short term programs, decisions need to be made as to the credit the student is to receive – typically three hours. Are students most interested in general studies credit, credit in their major, or credit in their minor? The type of course credit will also depend upon the intent of the program. Is the program mostly cultural in nature or are there a substantial number of business visits and mostly business students involved with the international experience? The former focused primarily on culture may be best suited for general studies credit; the programs with a major dimension on business visits are appropriate for business credit. Classroom Experiences

Once the overseas program is organized and students are enrolled, the utilization of pre-departure classroom sessions is necessary. Students need to attend a number of sessions prior to departure that will allow them to get to know one another as well as the faculty members accompanying them on the program overseas. In these sessions, many day to day issues related to international travel need to be covered. There will be a lot of experiences significantly different (behavior, governments, foods, people, words, languages, etiquette, customs, airline travel, weather, foreign language, etc.) than the student is accustomed to at their home institution. In addition to the classroom information, a web site should be established for students to visit to become familiar with the countries, cities and businesses they will be visiting.

Along with the itinerary that is used both in recruiting and student orientation, the class should have a set of academic expectations of students. Generally speaking, there should be multiple pre departure assignments that allow a student to become familiar with the countries, cultures, business conditions, and companies that will be visited. Whatever work the student puts in on the front end of the program (pre-departure) will likely enhance their experience while they are traveling overseas, especially for the first time traveler. During the overseas visit and upon return home, the students should be required to maintain a daily diary of their travel observations and a reflective written narrative of comparisons between home cultural, economic, social environments and the corresponding environments of the countries visited.

Overseas Opportunities for Faculty

While the above discussion has focused on the needs of the students in higher education, another consideration is the potential for faculty internationalization associated with participating in international exchanges. Perhaps multiple faculty members want to participate in international study programs so they can bring international experiences back to their classroom. The semester long or short term international study program allows the facilitating faculty to bring an international experience to many more students at their home institution who otherwise miss out on this internationalization of the classroom. COMPARISON SUMMARY

A large number of items have been discussed in this article. As a way to synthesize many of the points from this article, Table 2 is provided as a quick comparison of the semester long and short term international business study programs. The table may be used to provide a quick background related to decisions by a school related to the development of international programs at the institution.


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TABLE 2 COMPARISON OF SEMESTER LONG AND SHORT TERM INTERNATIONAL

BUSINESS STUDY PROGRAMS

International Business Study Programs

Semester Long Short Term

Time Frame 56-365 days 7-55 days Costs (Excluding Tuition) $5,000 - $25,000+ $1,400- $6,000 University Support Necessary Necessary University Program Partners Necessary Not Necessary Students International (Globalization) Background

No Experience Necessary No Experience Necessary

Necessary Student Maturity More Advanced Limited Parental Support (Financial and Emotional)

Necessary Limited Necessity

Faculty Involvement (Sending Institution)

Limited to Moderate Moderate to Extensive

Faculty Background Less Experience Required More Experience Required Travel Arrangements Support Medium Needed Limited to Extensive Curriculum Flexibility Greater Level Needed Moderate Flexibility Needed Faculty Overseas Opportunities (Professional Development)

Moderate Moderate to Excellent

CONCLUSION

The experiences of the authors providing international study opportunities for students during the last two decades suggest these experiences can be some the most rewarding learning experiences in a student’s entire higher education experience, especially in a challenging global economy. Many of the students that have participated in these experiences have indicated significant changes in cultural understanding, receptiveness to people different from themselves, and personal growth that exceeded anything they had ever experienced in a classroom setting. If a faculty wants to really impact a students’ life, providing an affordable (in time and money) international study opportunity may be the most beneficial and rewarding experience they will ever facilitate.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Blasco, M. (2009). Cultural Pragmatists? Student Perspectives on Learning Culture at a Business School.

Academy of Management Learning & Education. Briarcliff Manor: 8 (2), 174-187. Carley, S., Stuart, R. & Dailey, M. (2011). Short-Term Study Abroad: An Exploratory View of Business

Student Outcomes. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 12 (2), 44-53. Carver, P.P. & Byrd, J.T. (2008). Marketing a European Experience to the Less Traveled. Journal of

American Academy of Business, Cambridge. Hollywood. Sept. 14 (1), 131-136. Chieffo, L., & Griffiths, L. (2004). Large-Scale Assessment of Student Attitudes after a Short-Term

Study Abroad Program. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10 (fall), 165-177.

Dwyer, M. & Peters, C. (2013). The Benefits of Study Abroad. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://www/transotopmsabrpad/cp,/publications/magazines/0403/benefits_study_abroad.shtml, April


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Eckert, J., Luqmani, M., Newell, S., Quraeshi, Z., & Wagner, B. (2013). Developing Short-Term Study Abroad Programs: Achieving Successful International Student Exchanges. American Journal of Business Education, 6 (4), 439-458.

Gordon, P. & Heischmidt, K.A. (2000). Segmenting the Market to Maximize Curriculum Globalization. Allied Academics, Inc. Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Studies, October, 5 (2), 11-12.

Gordon, P, Heischmidt, K, & Greenwood, R. (2000). How to Internationalize the Business Curriculum: Some Ideas That work Based on Experience. Proceedings of the Western Decision Science Institute, Fall, 308-310.

Heischmidt, K.& Gordon, P. (2010). International Business Study Programs in a Challenging Economy. North American Management Society Conference Proceedings 2010, March 24, 95-101.

Heischmidt, K., Gordon, P., & Dobson, J (2000). How to Increase Student Participation in International Programs: A Discussion of a Program That Works. North American Management Association Proceeding, Spring, 14-16.

Hanouille, L.& Leuner, P. (2001). Island Programs: Myths and Realities in International Education. World Education News & Reviews. 14 (1), 1-6.

Kehl, K. & Morris, J. (2007-2008). Differences in Global-Mindedness between Short-Term and Semester-Long Abroad Participants at Selected Private Universities. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad. 15 (Fall/Winter), 67-79.

Ladika, S. (2009). Beyond Stereotypes in Education Abroad. International Educator, Washington. 18 (2), 28.

Pietro, G. & Page, L. (2008). Who Studies Abroad? Evidence from France and Italy. European Journal of Education. 43 (3), 389-398.

Ritz, A. (2011). The Educational Value of Short-Term Study Abroad Programs as Course Components. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism. 11(2), 164-178.

Shallenberger, D. (2009). Education Abroad for Adult Students. International Educator, Washington. 18 (1), 50


Study Abroad Decisions: Determinants & Perceived Consequences

Hormoz Movassaghi Ithaca College

Fahri Unsal

Ithaca College

Kenan Göçer Beykent University

This study examined factors influencing students’ decisions to study abroad and the perceived impact of such experiences. Findings identified intellectual and personal growth, career enhancement potential, ability to graduate on time, cost, and financial aid availability as the most important “program-related” considerations, and exposure to other cultures and desire to live independently as key “non-program” factors. Development of deeper intercultural understanding, sensitivity, global mindedness, interpersonal skills, and tolerance were the key learning. Factor analysis confirmed “Cultural Understanding and Personal Growth” and “Cultural Tolerance” as the top decision criteria. Statistically significant differences were observed with respect to study abroad locations. INTRODUCTION Study abroad programs (SAP) have become increasingly popular among students in United States and many other countries. The most recent data from the Institute for International Education shows a total of 273,996 students from the U.S. studied abroad for credit in 2010-2011 mostly as undergraduates (236,470), an increase of nearly 80% over a decade earlier. Europe was by far the destination of choice (54.6%), followed by Latin America (14.6%) and Asia (11.7%), though 14 out of the top 25 host countries were outside Europe, an increasing trend over time. United Kingdom (12.1%), Italy (11.1%), Spain (9.5%), France (6.2%), and China (5.3%), rounded up the five most popular destinations for American students. At the same time, in 2011-2012, the number of international students in the U.S. had increased to a record high of 764,495, a growth of 32% since 2000-2001, with slightly more undergraduates (309,342) than graduates (300,430); of these, students from China (25.4%), India (13.1%), S. Korea (9.5%), Saudi Arabia (4.5%), and Canada (3.5%) accounted for over half of international students in the U.S. (Institute for International Education, 2012). Since 1980s, colleges and universities in the U.S. have steadily expanded their study abroad opportunities, increased the global contents in many of their programs, instituted foreign language requirements, offered overseas internship options of various durations, developed exchange programs with foreign universities, and recruited international faculty and students, all aimed at increasing


American students’ exposure to other cultures as well as in response to heightened demand by corporate world and students alike. Among business schools, for example, a 2010-2011 survey by AACSB found that 16% of its member schools around the globe had campuses in countries outside their own, with most popular additional locations being in Europe (61% having a second campus), Asia (57%) and Latina America/Caribbean (24%). Similarly, the survey found AACSB member schools had 6655 partnership agreements with other institutions, nearly half with European institutions (3183), followed by Asia and North America - 1484 and 1086 existing partnerships, respectively (AACSB, 2012). Increased participation of students in SAP, particularly in the last two decades, has generated several studies with largely two overriding foci. One stream of research, and by far the thematically dominant one, has focused on uncovering the perceptions and attitudes that have shaped students’ decisions to study abroad (Albers-Miller et al 1999, Jones and Cunningham 2008, Toncaret et al 2008, Goel et al 2010, He and Chen 2010, Presley et al 2010, Garver and Divine 2011), while another strand has concentrated on assessing the impact of study abroad programs on students’ intercultural awareness and personal development (Black and Duhon 2006, Clarke et al 2009, Moghaddam et al 2009, Wright and Clarke III 2010, among others). The target audience of almost all of the prior research has been business students and in many cases those who had not studied abroad before were asked on their perceptions of why they wanted or did not seek to study abroad. Our study contributes to the extant literature by focusing on students across all majors/schools, not just business students, who had actually gone through the study abroad experience and with the benefits of hindsight and reflection could identify their motives, impressions, and transformational experiences. In addition, while some of the existing studies on SAP have focused either on factors that have motivated or posed as barriers to study abroad while others explored the impact of such programs and experiences on students’ personal, academic and professional growth, our research combines both of these foci among students from a Comprehensive college in upstate New York who studied abroad. More specifically, this study’s main objectives are to:

1. identify factors that influenced students’ study abroad decisions and their locational choices, 2. assess students’ satisfaction levels with different aspects of their SAP, 3. examine perceptions of the impact of such experiences on students’ long-term intellectual,

personal and professional development, and 4. examine location of study abroad sites in the decision process and evaluate the differential impact

on students.

LITERATURE REVIEW Factors Affecting Decisions to Study Abroad Prior research indicates a multitude of factors that students take into consideration before applying for a SAP, chief among them: program academic qualities and fit with their degree requirements - timely graduation, its location and related health and safety conditions, its implications for their future career goals and prospects, costs/affordability and availability of financial aid, and students’ unique personal/ attitudinal dispositions. Garver and Divine (2007) study of 210 business students at a large public Midwestern university in the U.S. found trip location, cost, length of time spent abroad, relevance to student’s major, language spoken in class, whether the trip would delay graduation, living accommodations, and career benefits to be the attributes that most significantly influenced students’ decisions. Europe and Australia were named to be the most preferred locations while India and Asia the least. As for duration, eight and sixteen weeks were most preferred while two weeks and year-long least preferred. Relyea, Cocchiara and Studdard (2008) similarly found student propensity to participate in a study abroad trip to be a function of perceived career value, relevance to major, and cost. Jones and Cunningham (2008) focused on sports management students attending a university in Southwest US who indicated gaining experience, travel opportunity, further education, learning outside of


classroom, increased job prospects, and affordability to be the most important factors that would motivate them to participate in a sports management SAP. Salisbury (2008) found the following relationships in his research on factors influencing students’ choice of SAP: family’s socioeconomic status and parents’ education level were positively related to the student’s intent to study abroad; a student receiving financial aid was less likely to study abroad than those not receiving aid; males were less likely to study abroad than females; students demonstrating a higher openness to diverse ideas/people were more likely to study abroad and attendees at liberal arts colleges indicated more interest in studying abroad than students matriculating at non-liberal arts colleges. A number of studies have investigated the tourism factor in selecting a particular study abroad site. Nyaupane, Paris and Teye (2011) investigated this relationship and concluded that social motivation such as having a good friend or having boy/girlfriend in a foreign country or having a relative in a foreign country were significant variables in the site selection. Gertner (2011) studied similarities and differences in the brand personality perceptions of countries when the students went through the selection process. Another study determined that personal safety, cost/price levels, and hospitality of the potential country were important in their site selection process (Gertner, 2011). He and Chen (2010) survey of 192 undergraduate students at a Southeastern university in the US found touring opportunities, social contact, and cost to be the most important factors influencing students’ choice of an overseas study destination followed by language of study, quality of education, course content, and recommendations from others. They found that students who had not been abroad were more likely to intend to participate. However, they noticed no significant differences among students from different majors related to the factors that motivated students to attend SAP. Finally, a recent study indicated that personal, situational, and location variables influence students’’ decision to study abroad or not, and location selection (Hackney, Boggs, and Borozan, 2012). Benefits and Challenges of Studying Abroad Studying abroad is often characterized as “life-changing” in many ways: opportunity to advance personal growth, acquire cultural awareness, and gain knowledge about different places and people. Study abroad enables people to see other viewpoints that differ from their own ethnic, national or religious perspectives (Black and Duhon, 2006). It entails a transformation in students’ attitudes who often return from such experiences with a broader worldview (Wright and Clarke, 2010). The Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) surveyed alumni from all of its study abroad programs from 1950 to 1999. Data from more than 3400 respondents (a 23% response rate) indicated that studying abroad was indeed a defining moment in the participants’ personal lives whose impact were felt years after their experiences (Dwyer, 2004). At the same time, job markets/employers in many countries recognize study abroad as a differentiating factor in the recruitment process. Global firms find those students who have studied abroad to be more attractive because these applicants already have had exposure to international cultures and can effectively communicate with people from other countries because of their elevated cultural awareness (Leggett, 2011). Applicants are also thought to have higher levels of creative thinking because of their adventurous spirit in studying abroad (Martinez, 2011). In one study, 450 employers were asked to generate a list of traits and competencies gained from study abroad that would be beneficial to the workplace. More than 50% of the respondents listed: “interacting with people who hold different interests/values/perspectives”, “understanding cultural differences in the workplace”, “adapting to situations of change”, and “gaining new knowledge from experiences” (Gardner et al, 2009). SAP also results in higher levels of flexibility/tolerance, perceptual acuity, emotional resilience, and personal autonomy (Black and Duhon, 2006). Black and Duhon (2006) report that results from a cultural awareness instrument that they administered to 26 business student participants at the beginning and end of a summer SAP in London indicated that the program enhanced students’ cultural awareness and personal development, affirming that as a result of their SAP experience, students became more culturally empathetic, tolerant, self-confident, and independent.


Moghaddam, Peyvandi, and Wang (2009) investigated the relationship between three personality traits of risk taking propensity, goal (performance and learning) orientation, and openness to experience of 92 business majors (14 graduate and 78 undergraduates) and their perceptions of the effectiveness of summer abroad course they attended. They found students’ goal orientation had some impact on how they perceived the abroad courses. Using Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior and drawing on responses from 188 business students at a Midwest university in the U.S., Presley, Datha-Martinez and Zhang (2010) found “attitude” “perceived behavioral control,” and “subjective norms” to be significant predictors of intention to study abroad. Positive outcomes associated with studying abroad, they discovered, included experiencing a new culture, improvement of language skills, opportunity to grow and develop as a person, new career opportunities, exposure to an interesting or fun experience. Negative outcomes stated by students included homesickness and delay or disruption of academic progress. Cost and availability of financial aid were the biggest concerns. Finally, in their two separate but related studies, Clark III et al (2009) and Wright and Clark III (2010) surveyed 85 undergraduate U.S. students majoring in business who participated in a semester long, faculty led university sponsored SAP in Belgium and compared them to a similar control group who completed a junior level international course at home. Results showed that SAP helped students become more globally minded. METHODOLOGY The respondents for this online survey were undergraduate students at a private Comprehensive college in upstate New York, with approximately 6500 students. The names and e-mail addresses for the 558 students representing the five schools at the College (i.e. Business, Communications, Health Sciences, Humanities & Sciences, and Music) who had studied abroad between Fall 2009 and Fall 2011 semesters were obtained from the Office of International Programs. A survey questionnaire was designed to include mostly Likert scale questions, as well as some demographic and open-ended questions. Responses were solicited through SurveyMonkey. Results were tabulated and analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Two reminder e-mails were sent to increase participation rate. Students accessed the on line survey through a link provided in the e-mail. Students were required to sign on using their college accounts to ensure they were matriculating students and to prevent multiple completions. A total of 231 students of the above students completed the on-line survey fully, resulting in a response rate of 41%. It is important to note that, the high percentage of our survey’s response rate notwithstanding, the overall participation rate of the undergraduate students at the College mirrors very closely the national average participation rate of their peers in United States. In the last five academic years (2006-07 through 2010-11), according to the data released by the Office of International Programs (OIP) and Registrar, ratios of the undergraduate students from the College participating in study abroad programs of various durations (short, semester or year-long) to the average fulltime students population during the same period have been 9.8%, 8.3%, 8.6%, 9.9% and 8.8%, respectively. These are fairly in line with the latest Open Doors survey by Institute of International Education that reported 9.5% of all US undergraduates study abroad in any single academic year. In addition, according to OIP’s latest report, approximately 36% of College’s students choose to study abroad while earning their undergraduate degree. In terms of profile, our survey respondents’ distribution mirrored closely the underlying student population of the College in terms of students’ school affiliations but was skewed more towards the upper class and female students (36% juniors and 54% seniors; 20% male and 80% female). They had participated in SAP in over 30 countries, with majority (38%) choosing the United Kingdom as their destination, followed by Spain (7.5%), China (7%), Australia (6.5%) and Italy (6.5%). Most of the students studied abroad through the College’s “affiliated” programs (35.7%), or through the College’ own London Center (34.8%).


FINDINGS Selection of a Study Abroad Site: Program-Related Factors

As noted earlier, a number of “program-related” factors play important roles in the determination of whether and where students study abroad. Students and families are concerned about the cost of the program and the availability of financial aid. In addition, students are concerned about the ability to graduate on time, the mix of courses offered by the host institution, relevance of the program and courses offered to their majors’ degree requirements and potential internship opportunities. Of course, many students are also interested in improving their foreign language proficiency and select the locations accordingly. Respondents in our study were asked about certain “program-related” considerations that influenced their choices by answering a series of scaled questions where the attributes ranged from “Important,” to “Somewhat Important,” “Unimportant,” and “Somewhat Unimportant”, and a “Neutral” category as well! Students were asked to check any and all of the factors that influenced their decisions to study abroad. Results for the top 5 factors are summarized in Table 1. It should be noted that, for simplicity in reporting, the “Important” and “Somewhat Important,” values are combined into one group. Similarly, “the Unimportant,” and “Somewhat Unimportant.” values are added together. Review of the responses indicate that, from the students’ point of view, the potential impact of a study abroad for personal growth and career improvement prospects is the most important factor with 91% selecting this option (please note that the tables in this paper have been abbreviated because of the page limitation. Hence, some of the figures used in the discussion may not be seen in the tables). Ability to graduate on time (84%) and the length of the program (80%) were the next two influential variables shaping students’ choices. As expected, costs of the program and availability of financial aid did rise to the top, with 74% and 61% of the students rating them as important or somewhat important. On the other hand, surprisingly, only 38% chose their study abroad as an opportunity to develop their foreign language proficiency skills and only 30% of the respondents identified the opportunity to do internship as an influential factor in their decision to study abroad. The former may be the result of relatively large percentage of our sampled students who studied in the second campus of the College in London for the advantages that were alluded to earlier.

TABLE 1 IMPORTANCE OF PROGRAM-RELATED FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDY ABROAD

DECISION (IN PERCENTAGES)

Factors SI+I* SU+U**

Potential impact on personal growth and career improvement prospects 91 2 Ability to graduate on time 84 8 Length of the program (Time spent abroad) 80 6 Costs of the program 74 11 Availability of information and guidance for studying abroad 71 13 * Somewhat important (SI) and important (I) combined; ** somewhat unimportant (SU) and unimportant (U) combined

Selection of a Study Abroad Site: Non-Program-Related Factors Our review of literature indicates that the most important “non-program” related factors that impact students’ study abroad decisions are exposure to other cultures, desire to live independently in a foreign environment, and of course travel within the host and surrounding countries. Family background and family encouragement, as well as the recommendations of faculty advisor and friends do also impact


students’ decision and choice of locations. Top 5 factors from our study are summarized in Table 2, below.

TABLE 2 IMPORTANCE OF NON-PROGRAM-RELATED FACTORS IN STUDY ABROAD

DECISION (IN PERCENTAGES)

Factors SI+I* SU+U**

Learning about other cultures 96 1 Learning to be independent in foreign environments 94 2 Travel opportunities within the country 92 2 Learning how to communicate with people from other cultures 88 4 Availability of cultural/historical sites within that country 78 6 *Somewhat important (SI) and important (I) combined; ** somewhat unimportant (SU) and unimportant (U) combined

It is not surprising that “learning about other cultures” is the most important motivational factor in this study as well; about 96% of the respondents selected this factor as the main reason why they studied abroad. Learning how to be independent in foreign environments was the second most important (94%), and travel opportunities within the country (92%) was the third important reason to study abroad. Overall, our findings confirm, for the most part, results of several of other earlier studies on the major factors that typically motivate students to study abroad and their relative importance (Carlson and Widaman, 2002; Noda, 2007; Qinggang et al, 2011). Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction with the Enrolled Study Abroad Program The majority of the students (88%) in our sample spent either the fall or the spring semester in a foreign country. Table 3 summarizes the top factors that influence the level of satisfaction associated with select attributes of the program or the living environment in their country of destination. As before, for simplicity in presentation, “Strongly Agree” and “Agree” categories were combined into one group, similar to “Strongly Disagree” and “Disagree” categories.

TABLE 3 LEVEL OF SATISFACTION/DISSATISFACTION WITH THE STUDY ABROAD

EXPERIENCE (IN PERCENTAGES)

Factors A+SA* D +SD**

My study abroad experience was culturally very rewarding 99 1 I liked the people of the host country 95 2 I visited a lot of tourist attractions in the host country 94 3 Social life was very exciting in the city that I studied 89 2 I liked the food that the host country offers 86 4 * Agree (A) and strongly agree (SA) combined; ** disagree (D) and strongly disagree (SD) combined


Given the primacy of “learning about other cultures” among non-program related factors that influenced the study abroad decision of the students in our dataset, it is reassuring that 99% of the responded stated that their study abroad experience was culturally very rewarding. They appreciated their interactions with the host country nationals (95%) and enjoyed visits to the many tourist attractions in the host country (94%). They cherished the social life (89%), liked the food (86%), attended many cultural shows (83%), and found the quality of their academic experience very rewarding (78%). The levels of dissatisfactions were rather minimal across most categories. Study Abroad “Outcome” Experiences In addition to the various factors that impacted students’ study abroad decisions and their perceived satisfaction with various aspects of living abroad, we were interested in learning about students’ views and reflections on ways that they thought their experience living and studying abroad had influenced their personal and professional development. Top 5 factors are summarized in Table 4.

At the outset, respondents “strongly agreed” or “agreed” with 8 of the 13 scale items in the 90-99 % range. They strongly believed that because of their study abroad experience, they had learned how to deal with unfamiliar circumstances, developed an appreciation and understanding of other cultures, learned to be independent, and gained more global mindedness, interpersonal skills, and tolerance. The entire experience made them more self-confident.

TABLE 4

KEY OUTCOMES OF STUDY ABROAD EXPERIENCE (IN PERCENTAGES)

Factors A+SA* D +SD**

Ability to deal with unfamiliar circumstances 99 0 Appreciation/understanding of other cultures 97 0 Independence 97 0 Global mindedness 93 0 Interpersonal skills 92 1 * Agree (A) and strongly agree (SA) combined; ** disagree (D) and strongly disagree (SD) combined

When asked about personal growth, nearly all (99%) agreed or strongly agreed that study abroad had enhanced their ability to deal with ambiguity and unfamiliar circumstance, 97% felt that it served as a catalyst for their increased maturity and independence, and 91% reported increased sense of self-confidence and tolerance of different points of view. When questioned about intercultural development, 97% of the respondents said that study abroad helped them better appreciate other cultures, 93% felt study abroad instilled in them global mindedness, 92% reported that it increased their interpersonal skills. Results of Further Statistical Analysis Two sets of Factor Analyses were conducted in order to group variables. The first one aimed at determining the factors that influenced students in deciding whether to study abroad or not as well as their site selection. The original questions included scales from “Very Important” to “Very Unimportant.” Principles Component Analysis was used as the extraction method. Varimax with Kaiser Normalization rotation method was used that led to the identification of six factors. Total variance explained was 69.5 percent. The alpha coefficient indicated that reliability of the factors. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling was computed to be 0.666, a satisfactory value for further analysis. The detailed findings are summarized in Table 5, below.


TABLE 5 IMPORTANCE OF DIFFERENT CRITERIA IN THE STUDY ABROAD DECISION

Factor Loadings Factor 1: Cultural Understanding and Personal Growth Learning how to communicate with people from other cultures .847 Learning about other cultures .808 Potential impact for personal growth and career improvement prospects .582 Learning how to be independent in foreign environments .567 The challenges of living in a foreign country .513

Factor 2: Cost/Affordability Availability of financial aid .911 Costs of the program .880

Factor 3: Travel Opportunities Travel opportunities to other countries in the region .827 Travel opportunities within the country .813

In general, the results of our multivariate analyses confirm findings reported in Tables 1 and 2 on the major “program” and “non-program” criteria that influenced students’ study abroad. In addition, the rankings of those attributes as reported in the univariate analyses of Tables 1 & 2 are consistent with the factor loadings weights above, such as those associated with cross-cultural learning, costs of the program and availability of financial program, or potential impact on personal growth and career improvements. Similarly, results of the Factor Analyses on key factors influencing the locational choices of students in our sample were in line with many of the earlier studies such as Black and Duhon (2006) and Wright and Clark (2010).

The second Factor Analysis aimed at determining those variables that had an impact on the students while studying abroad. The original questions included a “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree” Likert scale. Principles Component Analysis was used as the extraction method. Varimax with Kaiser Normalization rotation method was used to identify six factors. Total variance explained was 66 percent. The alpha coefficient indicated that reliability of the factors. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling was computed to be 0.822, a satisfactory value for further analysis. The detailed findings are summarized in Table 6, below.

TABLE 6

THE IMPACT OF THE STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM

Factor Loadings Factor 1: Cultural Tolerance Tolerance of people from different cultural backgrounds .858 Tolerance for different points of view .855 Tolerance for different ways of doing things .819 Appreciation/understanding of other cultures .701 Study abroad experience was culturally very rewarding .452 Factor 2: Personal Attitudinal Experiences


TABLE 6 THE IMPACT OF THE STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM

Factor Loadings Self confidence .816 Independence .783 Ability to deal with unfamiliar circumstances .727 Interpersonal skills .709 Factor 3: Living Condition Attractiveness Liked the that the host country offers .687 Finding a house/flat/room was difficult -.632 Lived in harmony with roommates .629 Weather conditions were excellent in the host city .530 Understanding of the role of the U.S. in world affairs .738

Similar to the earlier analyses on factors influencing choice of study abroad locations, the above factor loading related to the satisfaction with (or lack thereof) and impact of study abroad experiences are in line with results reported in Tables 3 and 4, with all but five loading into various factor groupings. Our Factor Analysis results are in concert with findings of earlier empirical studies such as those reported by Dwyer (2004), Clark et al (2009) and Wright and Clark III (2010) The choice of location to study abroad was another component of this study. The location factor was investigated in three broad categories. Namely, English speaking countries (UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada), all European countries except the UK, and all other countries.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to test whether there were significant differences among the above three groups of countries using factor scores from the 13 (6+7) factors identified earlier using a 5% significance level. The findings are summarized below:

1. Country groups showed a significant difference with respect to Cultural Tolerance Factor (F (2,162) = 4.30 p<0.05). Students who studied in “Other” countries found the cultural tolerance experience more rewarding than those who studied in “English Speaking” and “Other European” countries. It should be noted that this factor was the most important one (Factor 1) in terms of the impact of studying abroad since it had the highest level of variance explained.

2. Country groups showed a significant difference with respect to the “Living Condition Attractiveness (food, housing, weather)” factor [F (2,162) = 13.034, p, <0.001]. Students who studied in European countries found the living condition attractiveness better than in English- speaking countries. Students who studied in other countries also found the living condition attractiveness better than in English-speaking countries.

3. Country groups showed a significant difference with respect to the “Travel Opportunities” factor [F (2,168) = 13.129 p<0.001]. Students who studied in English-speaking countries found travel opportunities better than in “other” countries. Students who studied in “Other European” countries also found travel opportunities better than in “Other” countries. One explanation of this is that there is little language barrier in (English is commonly spoken in European countries) the European countries that makes travel much easier. In addition, the proximity, size, and existence of a well-developed travel network in Europe facilitate travel.

4. Country groups showed a significant difference with respect to “Cultural Understanding and Personal Growth” factor [F (2,168) = 7.1, p<0.05]. Students who studies in “Other” countries found the “cultural understanding and personal growth” experience more rewarding than those who studied in “English-speaking” and “Other European” countries.

5. Country groups showed a significant difference with respect to the “Information Availability and Safety Considerations” factor [F (2,168) = 4.51, p<0.05]. Students who studied in English-


speaking countries found the information more readily available for these countries than “Other European” and “Other” countries.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Our findings, while based on a survey at one institution and largely Caucasian student population, confirmed results of a number of other earlier studies reviewed before while at the same time uncovering, with greater details and specificity of categories, programmatic and other factors that shaped students’ decisions and their satisfactions. In general, our respondents felt they had become more globally minded, gained higher levels of intercultural sensitivities, and became more confident in dealing with issues in unfamiliar environments by the end of their study abroad experience. Findings of our study confirmed the long-term impact of study abroad on students’ personal, professional, and academic lives. They show that study abroad positively and unequivocally influences the career path, world-view, and self-confidence of students. These are indeed critical skills that are increasingly important in the rapidly changing, multicultural marketplace that they will encounter upon graduation. Two years ago, the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Act was passed as an initiative to further promote the practice of studying abroad while in secondary and higher education. The concept of the legislation was based upon the vision that an experience such as studying abroad is an essential element to the quality of education (NAFSA, 2011). The argument behind the legislation is that study abroad opportunities are “effective in helping students develop practical skills that complement classroom learning”, including a tolerance for ambiguity, analytical skills, and improved problem solving. The specific goals of the program were to increase to one million U.S. students studying abroad each year within the next ten years, encourage diversity in student participation in study abroad, diversify locations of study abroad, particularly in non-traditional countries, and encourage a greater commitment by institutions of higher education to expand study abroad opportunities (NAFSA, 2011). Although findings of numerous studies confirm the variety of benefits associated with study abroad experiences, and while the study abroad by students enrolled in U.S. higher education has more than tripled over the past two decades, only 1.4% of all U.S. students enrolled in all levels of U.S. higher education and 9.5% of all US undergraduates study abroad in any single academic year according to the latest Open Doors survey by Institute of International Education. Consequently, while the college in this study has an active Office of International Programs and its students’ near parity with the US participation rate of undergraduate students in SAP (9.1% vs. 9.4%, respectively), there is still a large percentage of students in the College studied (approximately 64%) who do not study abroad. Therefore, in the interest of increasing students’ participation rate and promoting the quantity and quality of the SAP at this Comprehensive college and elsewhere, it is suggested that the academic affairs and student affairs officials:

• Custom design and promote programs that appeal to the widest spectrum of students with varying curricular and geographic interests as well as time and financial constraints.

• Take steps to inform students about financial aid availability and related qualification requirements.

• Engage in systematic communication programs designed to inform students about benefits of SAP to include highlighting the benefits of opening new career opportunities, gaining an opportunity to grow and develop as a person, and exposure to fun and interesting experiences.

The Factor Analysis conducted indicated that “Cultural Understanding and Personal Growth” were the most important criteria in the study abroad decisions of the students. When investigating the impact of a study abroad, the perceived “Cultural Tolerance” and “Personal Attitudinal Change” experiences were most important factors. Further statistical analysis showed the location of study abroad site was important. In terms of travel, students found the English-Speaking and other European countries more attractive. However, students felt that studying in “other” countries was more valuable in terms of cultural experience.


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Problem-Based Learning Applied to Student Consulting in a Lean Production Course

Sue Conger

University of Dallas Rhodes University

Richard Miller

University of Dallas

Students often experience difficulty applying course techniques to real-world situations. Problem-based learning (PBL) helps students apply course material to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to practical use. This research describes a student consulting engagement to analyze a local food bank’s warehouse operations using PBL tenets to guide the process. In the course of the consulting commitment, students developed solutions that met food bank goals, while applying course theories and skills. When coupled with the hands-on, in-class exercises, the consulting engagement provided a positive learning experience for students and is recommended for effective transfer of skills to practice.

INTRODUCTION

This research sought to apply problem-based learning to a Lean Six Sigma class to improve students’ ability to apply class concepts as part of a consulting exercise. Many full-time and working, part-time MBA students have little exposure to the principles of Lean Six Sigma or the Toyota production system (TPS). This lack of exposure is even more evident in the traditional undergraduate student whose industrial work experience was usually limited to a summer internship. Further, traditional books and teaching methods rely heavily on manufacturing experience. Without a contextual basis on which to build, helping the students to understand Lean Six Sigma theory and the corresponding skills in a single semester is a daunting task for though students often understand the principles, applying them outside of the classroom is a challenge. This problem is frustrating to students because those who are working at the time of the course expected to transfer what they learn to their jobs immediately. Further, over the past few years during which the Lean Production class was taught, the number of students with manufacturing work experience decreased, calling for a modification of the teaching style and platforms used to compensate for this lack of experience.

The issue was how best to bridge the analogical gap between theory, case, and actual practice. The solution was to add the problem-based learning (PBL) approach to the class in conjunction with the consulting project. The goal of combining these two elements was to provide a basis for applying Lean Six Sigma principles to both a series of Lego exercises and a real-world, consulting project. The unique quality of this approach was the evolution of students’ fledgling, mental frameworks that were reinforced


through failure and re-synthesis by their application of knowledge to both the Lego exercises and the consulting situation.

This paper illustrates how Lego exercises, when coupled with PBL, provided a useful framework for students to transfer their knowledge from the classroom to a consulting project. First, the literature of PBL and experiential learning are discussed to show how these methodologies create an appropriate base of knowledge, or scaffolding, to ensure that students can create an appropriate mental model to successfully complete their projects. Next, the Lego-block projects and the transfers of knowledge between the classroom and the consulting project are described. Finally, the consulting project, its assessment, and its outcomes are described.

PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

Bennis and O’Toole (2005) note that students are ill equipped to deal with complex, unquantifiable

issues after they leave college. They argue that teaching environments fail to provide students with the knowledge of how to be ‘fact integrators’ rather than ‘fact memorizers’ (Bennis, et al., 2005, p. 101). To combat this issue, the classroom environment has been moving beyond just lecturing to experiential learning (Kolb, 1984). As this trend evolves, instructors apply new methodologies to the classroom to engage the students beyond the ‘sage on the stage’ model to the 'guide on the side' model (King, 1993).

PBL encompasses a series of techniques that provide common characteristics such providing applied, participative, interactive, and whole-person emphasis on the experience and giving students contact with the environment, ensuring problem variability and uncertainty, scheduling structured discussions of student findings, including student evaluation of the experience, and providing feedback to participants (Clark et al., 2010; Gentry, 1990; Itin, 1990). PBL covers a wide range of in-class and real-world exercises including assessment centers, forums, group discussions, panel meetings, writing experiences, student-written textbooks, computer assisted instruction, in-class cases, COMPUSTAT tape usage, communication workshops, Delphi forecasting, time management sessions, game show formats, learning cooperatives (where students take the responsibility for teaching themselves), internship programs, job search preparation, on-the-job training, field trips, and live cases (Gentry, 1990, p. 17-18).

The design of the experience is crucial to its success as weaving variability and uncertainty into, for instance, Lego exercises, requires significant thought and planning. Yet, variability and uncertainty provide an effective means for students to test their mental models and understanding of techniques while also offering a way to extend them at the same time. Further, in moving beyond the ‘sage’ teaching method, instructors must be able to expertly and quickly analyze what students are doing and how they are thinking in order to imbue structured discussions of the situations with the mentoring and guidance when needed to shift their thinking.

Students, through evaluating their PBL experiences, clarify what they have learned and also, lingering uncertainties. This leads them to both solidify their mental model with new information and stay open-minded about remaining uncertainties. Mentoring feedback occurred throughout the process and at the conclusion of the consulting project. Feedback served to reinforce knowledge learning and identifies areas on which to further concentrate learning efforts.

PBL does not mean abandonment of lectures. Rather, the instructor’s role is to help provide the students with scaffolding (Hmelo-Silver, 2004), background information that supports their exploration of the topic they are trying to learn. Scaffolding is the theoretical, skill, and practical application of theory relating to the problem area for the PBL exercise (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). Such scaffolding is developed through lectures and reinforced and matured through sensitivity testing done within the PBL exercises (Argyris, 1980; Christenson et al., 2009; Hmelo-Silver, 2004).

One of the most common PBL techniques is case studies that expand beyond the classroom to simulate a real-world situation. However, cases are best applied when the students already have solid grounding in theory and its application. In addition, there are limitations to the variability and complexity of problems that can be addressed through classroom case analysis, regardless of how sophisticated or well-written a case might be (Argyris, 1980).


From our experience, the issue of using Lean Six Sigma case studies is further exacerbated because fewer students have manufacturing experience, which can be beneficial in completing this type of case. Thus, their difficulties stem not only from failure to properly analogize but also from failure to completely understand the case and its implications. Further, students who work in service industries are typically not familiar with Lean Six Sigma or TPS concepts and the wastes that exist in service jobs. Thus, the case study method is a poor choice for Lean Six Sigma concepts because students lack the conceptual foundations needed to derive meaningful solutions. In addition, as with many other fields, there are several skill objectives used in applying Lean Six Sigma and TPS tenets that need to be learned, such as value-added analysis and root cause analysis, and learning these skills without practicing them is difficult.

To counteract students’ lack of contextual foundations, Lean Six Sigma classrooms have used Lego exercises for a number of years (Rosen et al., 2011). From an experiential learning standpoint, Lego building exercises were a more effective way to convey the basic aspects of Lean Six Sigma than lectures alone (Kolb, 1984). However, the complexity demonstrable through Lego exercises was limited because classroom scalability does not support all of the interdependencies with implementations present in a real-world application. For instance, policy, human resource, or physical environmental limitations cannot be explored (Argyris, 1980). Further, there was no means to question what was being done or the materials being used. Thus, issues of supply and its sources were not considered.

A similar teaching dilemma is encountered in medical schools, as they found that the traditional lecture model failed to impart the contexts and interdependencies that doctors encountered (Donner et al., 1993). In response, PBL was developed to help students understand medicine more holistically (Schmidt et al., 2011). In order to provide this holistic viewpoint, problems need to be adequately complex. Thus, PBL advocates recommend that the problems be ill-structured, not have a single correct answer, and have insufficient information to solve the problem the outset (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). This problem structuring requires students to iteratively work towards a solution as new knowledge gaps are discovered and rectified (Hmelo-Silver, 2004).

Knowledge gaps are one of drivers of the PBL process because the students must revisit their assumptions and hypotheses about the problem. Therefore, they need to assess the state of current information about the problem, frame and reframe the problem as necessary, ask the appropriate questions, and assess their knowledge gaps. This iterative sequence reinforces the tenets being taught. In the case of Lean Six Sigma, when coupled with the Lego exercise and consulting project, such reinforcement enhances student ability to be a fact integrator better than lectures alone.

Two distinguishing aspects of PBL, from the instructor’s perspective, that enable a holistic viewpoint to be conveyed are the open-endedness of the problem and the lack of direct guidance (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). PBL emphasis on the role of guidance is for the instructor to act as a tutor or coach when the students need assistance. As a result, this assistance is only to clarify ideas and review the thought and task processes. The student’s job is to identify their knowledge gaps, find the pertinent information, and teach themselves.

Applying Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning loop iteratively built and reinforced the scaffolding. Kolb recommends that students complete four phases of learning to assist them in acquiring their new knowledge:

1. Concrete Experience – being involved with what is occurring in the here and now; an in-class exercise for example

2. Reflective Observation – understanding the meaning of the learning experience through observation and impartial description of different perspectives

3. Abstract Conceptualization – using logic, ideas, and concepts to build general theories about their experiences and develop new perspectives

4. Active Experimentation – making changes by applying new general theories to personal situations


These phases can be implemented in the classroom through a variety of methods. A common method for phases 1 and 4 for Lean Six Sigma is a Lego-block building exercise; phases 2 and 3 can be accomplished through reflection papers (Reynolds, 1998). All of these were used throughout the class. LEGO-BLOCK BUILD EXERCISES

At the time of this project in 2012, the Lego exercises had been used for four years in a variety of

mixed undergraduate and MBA classes. The exercises provided an experiential learning framework that enabled the topics of the class to be reinforced through application. Also, by manipulating the conditions of the Lego exercise processes such as product variations many vital aspects of Lean Six Sigma could be introduced and the nuances and complexity of the topics could be explored more thoroughly. The Lego exercises were conducted in 7 of 12 class meetings and accounted for approximately one-third of the class meeting time.

The purpose of the Lego exercises was to provide a stable environment for students to begin to understand the basic principles of Lean Six Sigma. Exercises to build Lego cars (Figure 1) were used throughout the semester with progressively more complex models introduced in later exercises (Figure 2). The students were assigned to groups of 5-6 students. The students’ goal was to build as many cars as possible in an eight minutes with as little excess inventory as possible (See Appendix A). The overall metric of success for each eight minute session was the total profit, calculated as total revenues less the costs of materials, labor, and inventory (See Appendix B).

FIGURE 1

TYPICAL LEGO-BLOCK BUILD

The students had many degrees of freedom when creating and implementing Lego solutions. The only

rules students were required to follow were: 1. Only one person may do any given assembly operation 2. Assembly and warehouse materials must be physically separate 3. Once material has been pulled from the warehouse, it must be accounted for as an inventory cost. Rules ensured that problems and issues occurred during the assembly processes. For instance, if an

assembler had too much work to accomplish in eight minutes and no one to help them out, the first rule forced the team to assess team workflow balancing. The second rule prevented supermarkets that eliminate inventory, thus increasing the level of information flow and communication that must take place


for students to implement just-in-time inventory (Liker et al., 2006). The last rule ensured that problems with just-in-time inventory and single piece flow could not be ignored without paying a price in their team ranking and grade. Students were warned after the first exercise that variations would occur and that they should design their systems to accommodate change. As was often said by the professor, “Only when you break something, fix it, and keep it fixed can you be sure that you have made a better system.”

FIGURE 2

VARIATIONS OF LEGO-BLOCK BUILD DESIGNS

During the first several weeks of Lego exercises, the students began to see the wastes in their systems

and began applying the principles of Lean Six Sigma learned in readings and lectures to Lego assembly processes. Their typical learning points were: flow, work balance, TAKT time (i.e., cycle time), kanbans (i.e., scheduling), visual factory, quality at the source, waste identification, push vs. pull inventory, achieving single piece flow, and quick changeovers for variations (Dennis, 2007; Naylor, et al.,1999; Shahram et al., 2011). These topics were overlaid onto the Six Sigma define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC) processes (McCarty et al., 2005) and the Deming Cycle: plan-do-check-act (Gupta, 2006). These learning points were detailed in class lectures and readings, which were structured to occur at approximately the same time that the students typically experienced those problems in their Lego exercises.

The typical configuration (Figure 1) was used for approximately the first half of the semester, which was about the time it took for students to begin to master the process. Then, 13 variants of the model to be built were introduced to ‘break’ the team’s process, forcing them to redesign their information management and process to accommodate variations. Some of the variations were as slight as the headlights swapping colors with the light bar and some were radical, for instance, a requirement that finished cars use 50% fewer parts than the original configuration (Figure 2). The purpose of the variations was to cause the teams’ systems to be placed under the maximum pressure thus forcing failures and subsequent corrections. The variants forced students to identify knowledge gaps that they worked at bridging throughout the semester.

In particular, the most difficult issues for every team were information flows and communication. At the beginning of each semester, students expected the physical assembly of the cars to be their key issue. They were warned repeatedly that this was minor and that they needed to focus much more on their ability to transfer information. Invariably, about half way through the semester, students would realize that without information, the best assembly systems were useless unless they knew what they were building and what everyone around them was doing. This concept was further explored during the PBL consulting assignment discussions.


PBL CONSULTING ASSIGNMENT Methodology

The consulting assignment took place at a local non-profit food bank that consolidated food donations, sorted and segregated donations, and then distributed them to schools, local food pantries and soup kitchens. This project was selected because it met many characteristics desired for PBL (variability, uncertainty, no clear answer, and whole-student engagement). Because the food bank exhibited needs that could be addressed by application of class teaching -- poorly defined processes for inventory control, warehousing, and information flows. The food bank understood that their internal processes were not ideal, but had little understanding of how to proceed in fixing its problems. From a PBL perspective, this situation was ideal because the students would need to identify their knowledge gaps and those of the food bank and iteratively work towards open-ended solutions. This process also met the Bennis and O’Toole criteria (2005) for students to become fact integrators. As a result of these conditions, the students completed several cycles of assessing their knowledge gaps and obtaining the necessary facts, steps that could only be done by integrating course concepts into their thinking.

The two student groups worked on separate but related issues: warehousing-inventory management and a non-perishable food sorting process. Dividing the problem into two sub-projects insured the teams adequate time to complete their projects without being overwhelmed by the scope of the food bank problems.

The PBL structure required the instructor to shift from being the ‘sage on the stage’ to tutor (Donnelly, 2006; Hmelo-Silver, 2004; King, 1993). During the project, it would have been easy to lead the learning process and show the students a solution to the problem, but this would have short-circuited the PBL process and would not have allowed the students to learn in their own way (Argyris, 1980; Hmelo-Silver, 2004). The most frequent tutoring topics were helping the students to identify their knowledge gaps and directing them to developing strategies to close the gaps in a way that fully met food bank requirements. For example, at the beginning of the projects, most of the students had never been in a warehouse or involved in a sorting process, and they did not know enough about the situation to understand which questions to ask.

Several tutoring sessions went beyond Lean Six Sigma topics and dealt with processes for collecting information. During the first visits to the food bank, it was observed that the students did not accurately capture what they observed. For example, after the students interviewed an employee who oversaw the shipping dock the instructors debriefed the students. What students had taken away from the interview and what was actually taking place on the shipping dock were two separate things. The first impulse of the students was to suggest that the employee had given false information. In fact, the employee had relayed his belief of what was happening as he saw it. This situation was an important teaching moment to show the students that they always needed to compare what was told to them and what was actually happening. In other words, their interview discussion should have been coupled with observation with equal credence give to both. Through the tutoring, students were helped to see that inconsistencies shown in this situation occurred in other places as well. This led to discussions of techniques to rectify the inconsistencies and topics such as triangulation of information sources, constantly questioning what they knew and did not know, and effective interviewing about inconsistencies. Transfers Between the Classroom and the Food Bank

The goal of the PBL approach to the consulting engagement was to provide a mechanism to transfer the learning taking place in the classroom to a complex, ill-defined, real-world problem. Lectures provided the scaffolding, the Lego exercises provided initial technique practice, and the consulting project provided the uncertainty and variability of the real world. The learning outcomes and the resulting scaffolding were effective as, in the words of one student, “The projects were useful and completely related to the course material since the key to maximizing profits is to minimize waste, which is the basic principal of Lean.” Thus, by recommending ways to remove waste from the food bank processes, the


student teams gave alternatives from which the food bank could choose for streamlining and improving its processes.

The Lego exercises and the consulting project were concurrent activities. The principles of Lean Six Sigma are universal and can be transferred from one setting to another; therefore, during the Lego exercises potential solutions would be discussed as a group to facilitate student understanding of potential boundary-spanning, food bank solutions. Lean Six Sigma concepts were developed in lectures and reinforced during every Lego exercise. The Lean concepts included the need for accurate and timely information flows, using the KISS (Keep It Simple Student) principle in developing solutions, the need to address client needs, and designing solutions that act on information immediately. Following the guidelines of the PBL method, the professors did not give solutions during the visits to the food bank. Rather, students would spontaneously say, “We did this in the last Lego-build…” thus drawing the desired analogies and forcing a discussion of how what they had done with Lego blocks could be applied to the food bank situation.

The transfer of the concept of acting on information immediately provides an example. Students often did not act on information during the first Lego exercises. The initial process was hectic and the students would receive information, such as a request for inventory, and then go on to another activity. They then would forget about the initial request and consequently their performance suffered. After the students learned this lesson during the Lego exercises, they became aware that the food bank did the same thing. They would get a shipment in, place it in the shipping are, and then forget to move the inventory to the warehouse. Thus, the scaffolding being created in the classroom provided a basis for insights into food bank problems.

The information theme was a critical tenet of the class and a lack of understanding of its importance led to repeated difficulties during the Lego exercises and the food bank project as the students struggled with the concept. During the second visit to the food bank, one student who had been performing root cause analysis on a Lego problem commented, “This is just like the Lego cars on a larger scale.” His realization led to a solution at the food bank for more detailed and visible labeling of the inventory before its transfers to the warehouse. This solution created scaffolding from the food bank back to the classroom because the student successfully transferred the solution to their Lego exercises. This outcome exemplified the effectiveness of learning as the students became aware of the applicability of their new knowledge.

Another example of this continuous reinforcement of the scaffolding became apparent during the later visits to the food bank. During one visit, a student had the observation that the problems that they were trying to grasp were the exact same problems that they were trying to solve in the Lego exercises. The issue revolved around how to use visual communication during the variation builds to let the assemblers know what vehicle they were building. The solution that was developed was to color code each of the variations and all subsequent items such as training documents, kanbans, etc. The sorting area of the food bank had the same issue in that multiple varieties of food boxes used in the sorts could be identified using a similar solution. Once this watershed event took place, the students began to see that many solutions for one context could also solve the other context. See Figures 3 and 4 for an example of the crossover.

Another key learning point for the students related to how the complexity of applying Lean Six Sigma to a larger scale resulted in waste still being in the system. One of the teaching points during the Lego exercises was that a system will rarely be in perfect balance, but with a small system, it might come close. In the food bank, the complexity quickly made any attempt at balance a quixotic endeavor. However, this lesson was hard for students to embrace because, from their success in the Lego exercises and in applying color-coding to the sort boxes, they thought that most other learning points should transfer as well. With tutoring, they were eventually able to identify the key bottleneck operations at the food bank and design solutions to ensure the waste in these areas were minimized while the waste somewhere else was unchanged or could increase. Thus, a local increase of waste in one area actually could lead to lower overall waste in the warehouse.


FIGURE 3 COLOR-CODED SHEET FOR LEGO VARIATIONS

FIGURE 4 COLOR-CODED SORTING BOX AT THE FOOD BANK

Consulting Project Evaluation

Several types of evaluations were conducted during the course of the consulting project. First on-site team discussions were conducted at the end of every food bank visit. The second evaluation was based on individual reflection papers that included their analysis and recommendations of the food bank’s issues. The third type of evaluation was a team paper to demonstrate group consensus on key issues and how best to address them. Finally, acceptance of the analysis and recommendations of the client were critical in providing feedback to the students. Each of these is discussed in this section.

The first type of consulting project evaluations were of on-site, group review discussions. To gather information, the students visited the food bank five times, conducting Gemba walks, mapping the operations, and interviewing the staff. During each visit, students discussed potential solutions with staff, reevaluated their assumptions and knowledge, and collected more information. These iterations allowed for critical analysis of the recommendations for their adequacy in meeting the food bank’s specific needs. During the discussions, the students identified what they had learned during the present visit and remaining knowledge gaps. The professors sought to ensure that progress towards successful project’s completion was made and attended the discussions to ensure needed tutoring took place. Tutoring was deemed necessary when either incorrect or inconsistent information were in danger of being accepted or when students were not sufficiently sensitive to food bank needs.

The primary purpose of the reflection papers was to complete Kolb’s (1984) concepts of reflective observation and abstract conceptualization. A portion of each reflection paper was for students to connect


the aspects of Lean Six Sigma to the Lego exercises. In addition to assessing student learning, the papers allowed insights into each student’s thought process for the professor to better understand their progression in grasping course concepts. The papers then provided an ideal format for the instructor to apply PBL principles to coach students by critiquing their problem perceptions and solution analyses. Then, the reflection papers were shared with all of a student’s team members. The individual reflection paper further provided less assertive students an opportunity to voice their ideas that might have been lost in a team decision process. By sharing the reflection papers, all team members were able to see each student’s ideas and, hopefully, bring them to the group discussion for the team paper.

The team paper served a separate issue, and from our observations a more important one, of creating a consensus of what the key issues were and how to address them. The team assignment forced students to defend their ideas for improvement against those of the rest of the team. Through articulation and discussion of everyone’s ideas, the teams gained further insights into the problem and the principles of Lean Six Sigma.

The last test of project effectiveness was the client acceptance and implementation the recommendations. The final report to food bank management was an unqualified success as the entire set of student recommendations was agreed to enthusiastically and scheduled for implementation. The effect of the students’ impact on the food bank was evident during the later on-site visits as they noticed that the preliminary recommendations that had been discussed with the floor personnel and managers already had been implemented. From the students’ perspective, these implementations were the most sincere complement that they could have received by seeing that their ideas were valued and were helping the food bank to improve its operations.

One month after the final report was delivered the authors conducted a post-project follow-up at the food bank. The manager mentioned that the food bank was ahead of their budget for the year by two million pounds of food delivered (out of a total budget of 10 million pounds) and were then on target to increase deliveries to 15 million pounds of food for the year. While the students’ suggestions were not the sole reason for this increase, their analysis and recommendations had helped the food bank to understand its own knowledge gaps and had transferred some of their scaffolding to the food bank’s employees. Some of the increase was attributed directly to student recommendations. Educational Objective Success

The educational objective of PBL and the consulting project was to create scaffolding from the classroom to the food bank project thus, reinforcing decision processes and application of Lean Six Sigma tenets and related tools. The objective was met as evidenced by the students’ ability to transfer their accumulated knowledge successfully from the classroom to the food bank problem. The underlying objective, though not explicitly stated at the outset, was to engage the students in a project that provided them with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and develop self-confidence in the use of Lean Six Sigma. Project success exceeded the initial objective of improved student integration of material as evidenced by the food bank’s implementation of the complete set of recommendations. In addition, student analogizing appeared to also have been successful by the following student comment, “This [food bank project] … really helped in learning how to apply the material.” Caveats in Project Selection

Two important caveats about the selection and management of potential projects related to scale and scope. The complexity of the problem and the potential solutions should be closely analyzed and detailed in a written statement of work prior to the class beginning. Both scale and scope of work should be considered. For example, while originally negotiating with the food bank, we had agreed on the two projects described above. At outset of the negotiations they wanted the project also to include the coordination and communication between two facilities, but the professors deferred this aspect from consideration. In other words, the scope must be carefully managed. The allotted amount of project time should ensure adequate time for the students to navigate themselves through the numerous knowledge gaps they face. In the project described, had inter-location communications been included, project success


likely would have been jeopardized. Therefore, careful, pre-class project definition ensured that both pedagogical and client goals could be addressed.

The second caveat deals with expansion of the scope of work, often referred to as mission creep. During the first several weeks of the project, students suggested possible solutions to the various issues and the food bank management realized the value of the project. They asked for the project to be expanded to another area of the facility that was experiencing similar problems. However, this request was turned down for two reasons: time remaining in the semester and more importantly, the students were succeeding with the current scope. It was decided that the additional scope could place at risk both their learning and the quality of the project outcome. If the scope had become too large, the students’ stress level may have caused frantic, ill-considered solutions rather than trying out different ideas from the class to see which might apply and how. As with any project such as this, there was always the desire to please the client for a variety of reasons, but the ultimate goals were both student learning and quality of client outcomes. Therefore, both scope and scale need to be balanced and managed by the instructor in developing project definitions that optimize student learning. SUMMARY

This paper describes the use of PBL for an MBA-level course to successfully complete a Lean Six

Sigma consulting project. The goal of the projects was to provide a means for students to learn how to create a mental model robust enough to allow them to transfer knowledge from classroom learning to practical situations. Through the application of PBL by using readings, lectures, and the in-class Lego exercise as scaffolding, the students performed a consulting engagement with a local food bank.

The project outcomes were successful for students who were able to apply theory to practice, and critically evaluate and compromise on solutions that fit the context. As a result, students engaged in discussions they would otherwise not likely have had and were able to successfully develop solutions for warehouse management of the food bank. We recommend this approach to other professors teaching relatively abstract subjects to greatly enhance their students' learning.

The synergy of coupling controlled experiential exercises in the classroom to a PBL-based project has many applications outside of Lean Production courses. The experience from this project reinforces the use of problem-based learning and scaffolding through which students learn in the relative calm and stability of a classroom. Then, a properly complex project can provide student an opportunity to apply theory to practice, and analogize and adjust their analysis to contextual specifics.

REFERENCES Argyris, C. (1980). Some limitations of the case method: Experiences in a management development

program. Academy of Management Review, 5, 291-298. Bennis, W.G. & O'Toole, J. (2005). How business schools have lost their way. Harvard Business Review,

83(5), 96-104. Christensen, C.M. & Carlile, P.R. (2009). Course research: Using the case method to build and teach

management theory. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(2), 240-251. Clark, J., & White, G. (2010). "Experiential Learning: A Definitive Edge In The Job Market". American

Journal Of Business Education, 3(2), 115-118. Dennis, P. (2007). Lean production simplified: A plain language guide to the world's most powerful

production system. New York, NY: Productivity Press. Donnelly, R. (2006). Blended problem-based learning for teacher education: lessons learnt. Learning,

Media and Technology, 31, 93-116. Donner, R.S. & Bickley, H. (1993). Problem-based learning in American medical education: An

overview. Bulletin Of The Medical Library Association, 81, 294-298. Gentry, J. W. (1990). What is experiential learning. Guide to business gaming and experiential learning,

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Gupta, P. (2006). Beyond PDCA: A new process management model. Quality Progress, 39(7), 45-52. Hmelo-Silver, C.E. (2004). Problem-based learning: What and how do students learn? Educational

Psychology Review, 16, 235-266. Itin, C.M. (1999). Reasserting the Philosophy of Experiential Education as a Vehicle for Change in the

21st Century. The Journal of Experiential Education, 22(2), 91-98. King, A. (1993). From sage on the stage to guide on the side. College Teaching, 41(1), 30-35. Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development.

Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Liker, J.K. & Meier, D. (2006). The Toyota way fieldbook. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill. McCarty, T., Daniels, L., Bremer, M. & Gupta, P. (2005). The Six Sigma Blackbelt handbook. New

York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Naylor, B.J., Naim, M.M. & Berry, D. (1999). Leagility: Integrating the Lean and agile manufacturing

paradigms in the total supply chain. International Journal of Production Economics, 62, 107-118. Reynolds, M. (1998). Reflection and critical reflection in management learning. Management Learning,

29, 183-200. Rosen, P.A., & Rawski, G. (2011). An experimental production exercise with LEGO cars. Business

Education Innovation Journal, 3(1), 27-32. Schmidt, H.G., Rotgans, J.I. & Yew, E.H.J. (2011). The process of problem-based learning: What works

and why. Medical Education, 45, 792-806. Shahram, T. & Cristian, M. (2011). The impact of Lean operations on the Chinese manufacturing

performance. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 22, 223-240. APPENDIX A – LEGO-BLOCK PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Lego Competition

During the course of the semester, we will be using the Lego assembly as a hands-on learning exercise about the principles of Lean. During the course of the project we will have a variety of assignments and activities stemming from it.

During/after each run you need to collect the following data at a minimum:

• How many people assembled, handled materials, collected data, etc. • Total pieces produced • Total WIP (see WIP form), cost, where in process • Detailed quality issues (assembly, material handling, where in process) • Changes made to assembly, flow, # of people, material handling, etc. • Disassembly times

Components of the Lego Project

1a. Reaction papers (Individual) – As we progress through the project, each time we have an in-class component of the project, you each will be required to turn in a 2-3 page (double spaced) reaction paper that covers the following items:

• Observations during the exercise What was the lesson that was learned during the exercise? What specific components of Lean came out during the exercise? During the next exercise, what would you do differently based on the lessons

learned? This needs to be specific action items Any other observations, improvements, etc., for the next round

• Use of root cause problem solving for at least one issue per build (to be included after Root Cause Lecture)

This will be in the form of a 5 Why


Note: I don’t want a recap of the data from each person: include this in your team report. You are welcome to include the data as it makes a point or illustrates the recommendations that you are making. This paper is due on Mondays at 8:00 am (Use drop box on eCompanion for each build)

1b. Reaction Paper (Team) – Each team needs to submit an executive overview of: • Basic information on performance (not limited to the following):

Number of vehicles built and variants Disassembly quantity and time Total profit/loss per round Major issues for the build

• Detailed action plan for next build that is the consensus of the team; hence, why you submit a single team paper!!

Who, what, when, how This paper will be due on Tuesdays at 8:00 am • One representative from each team will e-mail this paper to me and cc the rest of the

team 2. Analysis of the Project – During the project you will be analyzing the progress that is being

made on implementing Lean. We will cover a variety of tools that you can use to analyze the project and plan for its improvement. Keep a team folder of all of your team meeting notes, team reflection papers, data, etc. This will serve you well as you write item #3. I recommend that you create a data keeper to manage this data set.

3. Lean Report – You will turn in a single-side A3 report (11”x17”). All of your critical information must be contained on the report of what you have learned, implemented, and results of improvements. (Warning, using small font for the report is not an option. All text must be at a minimum, 10 pt Times New Roman/Arial.) You can have supplemental materials and appendices, but these materials cannot be used during the presentation of the report. Project Issues to be factored into the analysis

• The task was to build a car from 40 different parts. • Car parts should be kept in a separate place (inventory) while car assembly is done in

different table (factory). • Each part has a value which is doubled when moved to the assembly table if the car was not

built successfully. However, teams would make profits if they managed to build full cars. • The group can allocate people as material handlers, assembler, or both. Each worker has a

wage that is added to the overall cost, i.e., material handler $3000, assembler $5000, and combo (material handler and assembler in the same time $8000).

• To improve the flow, teams have to come up with a system and improve continuously, e.g., using visual aids to minimize missing/extra parts.


FIGURE B1 PARTIAL EXAMPLE OF LEGO-BLOCK ASSEMBLY REVENUE AND COST SHEET


APPENDIX C – PBL PROJECT REPORT DESCRIPTION

Implement Lean Six Sigma Report Complete a minimum 12 page paper (Title, Bibliography, etc. do not count in page total) on the following:

• Description of what the process is and how Lean Six Sigma is a fit o Measurement and analysis of the problem that shows that you are treating root causes and

not symptoms • Current process state • Ideal process state map • Improved process map (map to be implemented) • Identify the waste streams (people, process, inventory, etc.)

o This class is also about supply chains, so identify supplier and customer issues • Sources of variation and how to reduce them (this is the focus of the paper, so a large portion

should be focused on this section) - DMAIC o Concrete and explicit ways to implement Lean o Specific implementation plan o How to monitor and control the improvements

Include both short-term and long-term…They are different so have specifics for each • Potential issues and/or barriers to implementation (personnel, training, layout, system,

process, etc.). What can be done to overcome these issues?

Note: Process maps count as 1 page each (These can be hand drawn, but must be professional looking)


Implementing a High-Impact, Critical Thinking Process in a Learner-Centered Environment

Barbara Limbach

Chadron State College

Wendy Waugh Chadron State College

Using antiquated teaching methods in modern day learning environments is no longer acceptable. Many educators understand the importance of a learner-centered teaching model that encourages critical thinking skills. However, the methods that can be used to attain such a learning environment can be perplexing. The challenges of the 21st century demand that educators seek out and utilize new methods to enhance the education of students where teachers empower learners to solve problems and think critically. A five-step pedagogical process to transition courses, in any discipline, toward one that develops critical thinking skills in a learner-centered environment is proposed. INTRODUCTION

Modern educational theory has revolutionized the way we teach and how students are expected to learn. This has caused a paradigm shift in higher education from a teacher-centered to learner-centered approach (McClean & Gibbs, 2010). The philosophy of learner-centered teaching changes the focus from the teacher to the learner. Focusing on students has always been considered a crucial ingredient of effective teaching (Smart & Csapo, 2007). Teachers provide learners with resources and opportunities to acquire knowledge according to their own learning styles (McClean & Gibbs, 2010). In the learner-centered paradigm, faculty focus less on transferring factual knowledge to students and more on developing a learning environment that empowers students to construct knowledge for themselves (Webber, 2011). The expectations of students in a learner-centered approach are very different. Through active engagement and experiential learning, students are required to become independent and reflective life-long learners who are able to function in a dynamic educational and professional environment. Instead of conveying information, teachers develop active learning experiences (McClean & Gibbs, 2010). The first step in using active learning is a willingness to change the teaching approach. Teachers must thoroughly plan activities and accept the risk of sharing control of the classroom with students (Smart & Csapo, 2007). Active learning provides opportunities for interaction and involvement through controlled activities and instructional interventions that are planned around clear objectives (Smart & Csapo, 2007). Lifelong employability requires knowledge, the ability to apply that knowledge in multidisciplinary, team-oriented, and dynamic environments, and lifelong learning (Bedrow & Evers, 2011). The directive for lifelong learning calls for a different mindset, one that embraces reflection and self-learning.


Educators must effectively prepare students as lifelong learners to ensure a seamless transition to work environments (Bedrow & Evers, 2011). Evidence is mounting that “knowing” is not enough. Being able to apply that knowledge to analysis, decision making, and problem solving within team-based, complex environments is essential for success (Bedrow & Evers, 2011). Active learning strategies develop more engaged students, with deeper learning and a greater ability to solve problems and think critically (Smart & Csapo, 2007). Based upon existing theory and best practices, the authors have developed the following five-step Process for the Development of Higher Level Thinking Skills which can be implemented in virtually any teaching setting (including online) to create a more active learning environment and to move learners toward higher level thinking. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS Step 1: Determine Learning Outcomes and Objectives Considering the importance of a course, its placement in a program, and its role in providing a base of discipline knowledge, a teacher should carefully identify key learning outcomes and objectives that recognize what learners should know when they exit the course. The development of well-written outcomes and objectives will greatly accelerate a learner's movement into higher level thinking (Ball & Garton, 2005). To make critical thinking happen, these learning outcomes and objectives, as well as the linked activities and assessments, must require students to perform and demonstrate higher level thinking. Thus, an effectively designed course should target a specific behavior, introduce and practice the desired behavior, and end with the learner exhibition of the behavioral response. Learning outcomes focus on what students will learn, not on what the instructor is teaching. Outcomes include an appropriate verb and impact to clearly define what the student will do and how they will apply the knowledge. For example, students will be able to design a company report, using information provided in the case study, suitable for discussion at the Board level. The behavior is to “design” the report, using the “case study materials” provides the practice for this behavior, and “suitable for discussion at the Board level” describes the expected behavioral response.


FIGURE 1 PROCESS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER LEVEL THINKING SKILLS

(Limbach & Waugh, 2012)

Step 2: Facilitate Learning Through High-Impact Activities To make learning more meaningful, teachers should develop high-impact activities. Activities, experiences, or interventions that are focused around clear objectives develop more engaged learners, with deeper learning, and a greater ability to think critically (Smart & Csapo, 2007). According to Swaner (2011),

The term ‘high impact’ comes from George Kuh’s work with NSSE [National Survey of Student Engagement]. They are particularly beneficial for students in terms of academic and personal growth, career development, and a wide range of desired learning outcomes. There’s something unique about these practices. They seem to have a greater impact than what we’re used to. (p. 7)

Swaner (2011) also stated that high impact practices Tend to be very intense, not simply students walking into a lecture hall and hearing a lecture but students [being required] to learn on multiple levels. They’re creating new knowledge, implementing it in real-life settings, and reflecting on the implications for themselves and the community. (p. 7)

Students respond positively to high-impact practices, but they do pose additional challenges. Swaner (2011) found the following about high-impact practices:

Students find them to be worthwhile and connected to their lives. These experiences help give them direction and skills for career choice. Obviously this is not the only goal, but it is a goal of students. One negative piece about it, and this speaks to the intensity of these experiences, is that students report that [high-impact practices] are a tremendous amount of work, that it’s eating up a lot of their time and energy and effort. (p. 8).

For learners to foster understanding and stimulate intellectual growth, they must pose arguments, state opinions, and critique evidence using primary and secondary sources. The art of interactive discussion begins with establishing what is known and allows the teacher to extend beyond to develop new ideas and

1. Determine Learning

Outcomes and Objectives

2. Facilitate Learning through

High-Impact Activities

3. Allow Frequent

Opportunities to Practice before

Assessment

4. Continue to Review, Refine,

and Improve

5. Assess Learning Outcomes and

Objectives


understandings. Clasen and Bonk (1990) posited that although many strategies exist that can impact learner thinking, teacher questions have the greatest impact. They went on to indicate that the level of learner thinking is directly proportional to the level of questions asked. When teachers plan, they must consider the purpose of each question and then develop the appropriate level and type of question to accomplish the purpose. All learners need experience with higher level questioning once they become familiar with a concept. Choosing high-impact, learning activities that allow the learner to critically think, is important (Schafersman, 1991). There are many options to consider when choosing high impact practices. Collaborative assignments and projects teach students to solve problems and provide an opportunity to work in teams. Community-based learning projects bring together academic knowledge and real-world applications. Capstone projects allow students to exhibit mastery in a discipline. Internships provide real-world working experiences. Step 3: Allow Frequent Opportunities to Practice before Assessment Practice is necessary to master any skill; learners must have the opportunity to practice the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that will be evaluated. Learners become responsible for their own learning when teachers create a supportive environment by providing clear expectations, monitoring class activities, and carefully tracking student participation. Collecting feedback from students about what they have, or have not learned, may present the need to offer opportunities for re-learning and expose areas in need of improvement. Practice improves learning and makes it more permanent. Improving at any skill requires the investment of time and energy, it also requires immediate feedback to ensure proper learning. Students can use instructions to guide them in their practice and feedback to make necessary adjustments. Step 4: Continue to Review, Refine, and Improve Teachers should strive to continually refine their courses to ensure that their instructional techniques are in fact moving learners toward critical thinking. Feedback, like assessment, compares criteria and standards to student performance in an effort to evaluate the quality of work (Ko, 2004). When assessing a course, and prior to providing opportunities to practice what is to be assessed, learners must first understand the standards by which they will be assessed. Next, learners should be provided with constructive and relevant feedback by the teacher and peers, as well as assessing their own performance. Learner feedback can then be used to improve instruction and learner performance. Feedback is define by The American Heritage Dictionary (2009) as “the return of information about the result of a process or activity; an evaluative response” (para. 1). Feedback that is positive will cause continuation of a behavior, feedback that is negative, will cause a change in behavior. According to Wiggins (2012),

Advice, evaluation, and grades are not improving learning because they do not provide the descriptive information that students need. To be useful, feedback should be goal referenced; tangible and transparent; actionable; user friends (specific and personalized); timely; ongoing; and consistent. (para. 10)

Step 5: Assess Learning Outcomes and Objectives Learner achievement should be measured based on learning objectives, course and program outcomes, and specific discipline knowledge. This measurement can provide an immediate and significant source of information for the outcomes-based assessment process in evaluating a particular course, departmental program, curriculum, instructional techniques, specific learning activities, and learner achievement. This step facilitates the continuous review of the course outcomes and learning objectives to ensure they are still relevant. When reviewing the course, teachers should pay particular attention to alignment. Quality Matters (n.d.) suggests that

Alignment is achieved when Learning Objectives, Assessment and Measurement, Resources and Materials, Learner Engagement, and Course Technology work together to ensure that students


achieve the desired learning outcomes. When aligned, each of these course components is directly tied to and supports the learning objectives. (para. 5)

SUMMARY The successful implementation of the Process for the Development of Higher Level Thinking Skills in any learning environment requires the thoughtful consideration of current instructional techniques and the commitment to embrace changes and differences so as to flourish in an active, high-impact, learner-centered learning environment. REFERENCES Ball, A. L., & Garton, B. L. (2005). Modeling higher order thinking: The alignment between objectives,

classroom discourse, and assessments. Journal of Agricultural Education 46(2). Bedrow, I., & Evers, F. T. (2011). Bases of competence: A framework for facilitating reflective learner-

centered educational environments. Journal of Management Education: 35(3), 406-427. DOI: 10.1177/1052562909358976

Clasen, D. R., & Bonk, C. (1990). Teachers tackle thinking. Madison, WI: Madison Education Extension Program.

Feedback. (n.d.). In The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Ko, S. (November-December, 2004). Assessment, feedback and rubrics. Retrieved from http://deoracle.org/online-pedagogy/assessment-feedback-rubrics/assessment-feedback-and-rubrics.html? PHPSESSID=752c9504781f3ef2b8df4ecdad8ce589

McClean, M., & Gibbs, T. (2010). Twelve tips to designing and implementing a learner-centered curriculum: Prevention is better than cure. Medical Teacher: 32, 225-230.

Murchu, D. O., & Muirhead, B. (2005). Insights into promoting critical thinking in online classes. Retrieved August 30, 2010, from http://itdl.org/Journal/Jun_05/article01.htm

Quality Matters Program. (n.d.). Higher ed program rubric. Retrieved on August 2, 2013 from https://www.qualitymatters.org/rubric

Schafersman, S. D. (1991). An introduction to critical thinking. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://www.freeinquiry.com/critical-thinking.html

Smart, K. L, & Csapo, N. (2007, December). Learning by doing: Engaging students through learner-centered activities. Business Communications Quarterly: Focus on Teaching, 451-457.

Swaner, L. E. (2011). “Implementing High-Impact Learning” Academic Leader, 27.11: 7-8. Webber, K. L. (2011, November 29). The use of learner-centered assessment in US colleges and

universities. Research in Higher Education. DOI 10.1007/s11162-011-9245-0 Wiggins, G. (2012, September). Seven keys to effective feedback. Retrieved August 2, 2013, from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx


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A Qualitative Analysis of the Curriculum for Career-Ready Graduates from the Perspective of Academics and Business

Professionals: China, Europe and the United States

Anne Marie Mitchell Columbia College Chicago

Sandra Allen

Columbia College Chicago

This study seeks to identify alignments and disparities in the expectations of professionals and academicians in different countries and continents of the career-ready college graduate. A survey of professionals and academicians in China, Europe and the United States identified preferred teaching methods and areas of instruction. This study analyzes how those preferred teaching methods and areas of instruction line up with a series of hypotheses regarding a pedagogical approach designed to ensure learning outcomes produce the career-ready graduate desired for today’s global economy. INTRODUCTION

For well over the past two decades, educators in areas including international business, marketing and public relations (PR) studies, have been immersed in assessing approaches to curriculum development to ensure career-ready graduates are prepared to succeed in the global economy.

In one study of executives working for Canadian firms, researchers learned that North American business executives found academe “too remote, too academic and not consumer-oriented enough in their approaches” (Beamish, 1989). The findings urged academe to make needed improvements to better equip graduates with business studies and business skills. Communication skills were ranked by respondents as the most important of the 12 skills that business schools teach to international business students.

Almost 25 years since the Beamish study identified the value business leaders place on communication skills, the authors now pose three hypotheses: 1) writing skills are the most highly valued communication skills within the framework of communications studies; 2) ethics are ranked as the least valuable of the behaviors taught within the communications curriculum; and, 3) there is little agreement among professionals and academics worldwide on the educational requirements (e.g., behaviors, teaching topics, materials, etc.) for career success.

The authors assert that these factors illustrate the difficulty that continues to plague undergraduate educators seeking to prepare a student for success in a global economy. Unanswered questions include: What are the implications of this struggle for the undergraduate students with high expectations of the global transferability of their undergraduate studies and the reality of the education delivered? Is a refreshed approach to pedagogy and curriculum mapping one pathway to address this disconnect?


Educators also must grapple with how much to rely on professional input to help map the undergraduate curriculum. Is the “product” educators produce – “the career-ready student” – the right focus? What do we trade off by giving the business world what it wants in our curriculum versus the behaviors and skills that we as educators believe are important? And is there a difference? LITERATURE REVIEW

The question of how to teach students in international programs has been examined in the literature. Manton, et al (2008) reinforce it is the responsibility of academics to teach the skills and competencies necessary for graduates to succeed in the global environment. Two major trends in mobility have profoundly shaped international curriculum development: program and institution mobility (Altbach & Knight, 2007; Hatakenaka, 2004) and the mobility of academics traveling frequently to work on educational programs (Clarke & Flaherty, 2002). Educators thus gain first-hand observations of, and frequently differences in, pedagogy around the world. But whether such knowledge is being reflected in the curricula is another question. Doh (2010) called outright for a curriculum that was more international in scope, decrying the lack of global vision in U.S. institutions as “shockingly national – even regional” (p. 165). Pedagogical Influencers

Based on Beamish (1989) and his early study, Forray and Goodnight (2002) attempted to define what to teach in an era of increasing globalization. In their research, they got even closer to stakeholder expectations in a survey of alumni and recruiters on awareness of and attitude toward the curriculum in international business programs. Kao and Mao (2011) believe academe should be led by the needs of the business environment, and validated a conceptual framework for aligning education with changes in global markets. Finch and Crunkilton (1999) suggest that curricula must simultaneously be justified by the profession, yet remain pedagogically focused.

Zapalska and Ilacqua (2007) argued that academe needs to adopt new pedagogical techniques to teach students to respond critically to the challenges of doing business with foreign cultures. In groundbreaking studies, Limaye (2000) addressed the importance of a pedagogy that forces students across countries and cultures to face their perceptual variations. He maintains the resulting cognitive dissonance is a valuable teaching and learning tool. Learning Styles

The differences in teaching and learning styles in the U.S. and China, for instance, reinforce that students of those respective cultures learn differently (Nevett, Nimran & Viboonsanti, 1993; Smith & Fu, 1994; Waller, 1993; Zhang, 1999). One study asserts that the methods of instruction used in home universities can equally be used in host countries (e.g., Kaynak, Yucelt & Barker, 1990) whereas others argue that business educators must adapt their teaching activities for overseas students (Clarke & Flaherty, 2002). Finally, Mahrous and Ahmed (2010) found even students themselves have differing opinions on the efficacy of various teaching tools on their learning outcomes.

Yet for the many differences that exist, there are also similarities as identified through a three-country comparison of Canada, New Zealand and the U.S., where students agreed that regular lectures, case methods, decision-making exercises, and group discussions are universally preferred (Kaynak, Yucelt & Barker, 1990). Writing Skills

In the U.S., few academics would argue with the notion that teaching writing skills is a critical element of student preparation for professional employment. The National Commission on Writing (College Board, 2004) calls writing a threshold skill for both employment and promotion. Public relations professionals agree. In its seminal report, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA, 1999) maintains public relations’ writing is an essential, discrete skill. Noted public relations educator Van


Slyke (2006) calls the student’s ability to write a news release reflecting professional expectations “the ticket to the dance.” Allen and Knight (2009) found collaboration between professionals and educators an effective, reliable means of identifying career-specific skills. Question of Ethics

Less precise and more difficult to define, teach, and, for students, to learn is ethical interpretations, especially in cultures with varying definitions of what constitutes ethical behavior and appropriateness of communication. In the U.S., it is generally acknowledged that incorporating ethics into the curricula and pedagogical approaches is not only appropriate (Carveth, Ferraris & Backus, 2006; Rogers, Kochunny & Ogbuehi, 1993), it is also critical in teaching students to survive in the global business world (Kreitner & Reif, 1980). While some question the ability to actually teach ethics (Rothenburg, 2003), Kienzler (2004) notes only the challenges of teaching ethical decision making. Schaupp, Ponzurick & Schaupp (1992) argue for a case method for teaching ethics.

Au, Chan and Tse (2006) cite the recent upsurge in corruption in China as a rationale for studies on business ethics education in their country. Even so, finding common ground for the discussion of the pedagogy of ethics and ethical behavior is difficult because of the vast chasm between Eastern and Western notions (Schulman, 2006). The authors found little research and virtually no published studies in the literature comparing the U.S. and China in the importance attached to the pedagogy of ethics in the curricula of communication skills as an extension of ethical behavior. The authors intend to at least nibble around the edges of this thorny question. HYPOTHESIS

This study and the series of hypotheses posed within rest firmly upon the foundation established by Beamish and extended by Forray and Goodnight. In this study, the authors identify the value that business leaders place on communications skills when assessing undergraduates during the hiring process.

The authors postulate that, even more narrowly than Beamish’s broadly identified “communication skills”, 1) writing skills are the most highly valued of the communication skills taught within the framework of communications studies; 2) ethics will be ranked as the least valuable of the behaviors taught within the communications curriculum; and 3) there is little agreement among professionals and academics worldwide on the educational requirements (e.g., behaviors, teaching topics, materials, etc.) for career success.

We make this series of hypotheses based both on the literature and on our experience as educators at Columbia College Chicago, educators committed to ensuring that our curriculum is driving toward a mission of “career-readiness in an increasingly global economy”. We began the process of moving toward career readiness as a goal two years ago, when we began to transform the pedagogy in PR education. We determined “career-readiness” was an appropriate outcome to strive for based on a number of factors, including: 1) our college’s focus on ensuring career-readiness through its sponsorship of industry-prep events for graduating seniors, which requires our students to present a body of work constructed throughout their education representing content produced through in-classroom and internship experiences; 2) our own Marketing Communication department’s emphasis on career-readiness vis a vis required coursework with a marketing-yourself curriculum and a departmental brand emphasis on having a faculty of teaching professionals dedicated to helping students get started in their career; 3) national data confirming that four in ten 5th through 12th grade parents say that getting a good job is the reason why their child will get an education beyond high school (Inside Higher Ed, 2012); and 4) anecdotal information from our students that helping them get started in their career is a primary motivator for academic engagement (Internal Assessment Studies, 2010 through 2012).

The global aspect of our mission is a direct result not only of the globalization occurring within the U.S. economy, but also the College’s emphasis on globalization. Let us summarize three quick examples. First, as Columbia College students study in Prague, England, Italy and a host of other countries, they receive lectures and network with not only the faculty members traveling with them from the U.S., but


with the Europe-based professionals and academics who lecture, structure and even evaluate their assignments while overseas. Many of our students leave determined to return. Have we prepared them to succeed in the eyes of our peers and colleagues abroad, many of whom are hiring managers and job applicant evaluators? Second, there is an increasing number of faculty from across the college teaching and collaborating in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including one author of this paper who spent part of the fall 2012 semester as a visiting lecturer at Tongji University in Shanghai. Our college has aggressive student exchange program with Tongji University for their students to study at Columbia. Can we say with confidence that what they learn and how they learn will apply at home? Third, many of our graduates go on to work for global agencies and global companies, and aspire to transfer overseas. Are they ready?

The need has never been greater to ensure we can deliver on our promise to prepare these students for the rich, global careers they are increasingly determined to seek. At the same time, it warrants ongoing debate within the academic community on the benefits and pitfalls of career-readiness as a desired outcome of education. METHODOLOGY

Informed in part by Diamond’s (1989) writing, we began our four-step process by renewing the curriculum map for the Marketing Communication department. Step One: Behaviors

The first step involved bringing together a cross-section of full-time faculty members to brainstorm the desired learning outcomes for our graduates, first, in terms of behaviors of the career-ready graduate best prepared for career success. Based on our close partnerships with industry, and the fact that many members of both full-time faculty and the adjunct corps continue as working professionals albeit in a limited capacity (e.g., on boards of or as advisors to area non-profits), we were able to draw on recent input and insights to develop a list of four behaviors we felt confident captured industry desires as well as our own aspirations for our students.

TABLE 1 BEHAVIORS

Behavior Insight

Seeker Content

Creator/Storyteller Collaborator Ethical Leader

Defined by…

Exhibit curiosity, critical

thinking, analytic

approaches that reflect

multicultural literacy

Create effective, strategic and unique

communication solutions

Display the interpersonal

and teamwork

skills required to

co-collaborate on projects and engage audiences

Form and draw from empathetic

values and demonstrate

accountability

Step Two: Skills

Our second step was to have the team of full-time faculty translate each behavior into relevant skills that could be applied to our curriculum and subsequently measured. We came up with a list of 20 skills total.


TABLE 2 SKILLS

Behaviors List Skills List

1. Insight Seeker: Exhibit curiosity, critical thinking, analytic approaches that reflect

multicultural literacy

Employ critical thinking skills Employ creative thinking skills Employ visual thinking skills

Employ research skills (primary and secondary) Identify and define multicultural perspectives

Identify and define historical (including political and social) perspectives – methods, theories,

strategies and tactics Identify and define major technologies (digital,

social, web-based, etc.) Demonstrate active interest in learning about the

profession 2. Content Creator/Storyteller: Create effective,

strategic and unique communication solutions Apply real-world understanding to content

Apply appropriate technologies to campaigns/projects

Craft technically and grammatically correct written materials

Craft targeted messages Analyze a problem and follow and appropriate

course of action Create thematically consistent and unique content for a multitude of platforms (verbal, visual, digital,

web, social media, etc.) 3. Collaborator: Display the interpersonal and

teamwork skills required to co-collaborate on projects and engage audiences

Work as a team member Demonstrate sound interpersonal skills: rapport,

preparation, empathy, self-awareness, give and take Deliver presentations with purpose e.g., designed to

educate and/or motivate an audience 4. Ethical Leader: Form and draw from

empathetic values and demonstrate accountability

Objectively and respectively discuss communications practices, including ethical

implications Solve problems in a manner that demonstrates deep

understanding of ethical implications Articulate the impact of one’s work on oneself and

the greater community Step Three: Vetting the List

As a third step, the draft list of behaviors and skills was vetted with adjunct faculty members so adjustments could be made to customize the map accordingly. While minor adjustments were made to the list of skills based on input, no changes were suggested to the list of behaviors and the findings supported the direction of our research. Step Four: Objective Validation and Input

The fourth step was to develop an online survey targeted to professionals and academics outside of the college to gather their perspective on whether our curriculum map is:


• Developing the right behaviors • Developing the right skills • Utilizing the best methods of instruction We wanted to identify the commonalities and variances in perspectives among U.S., Chinese and

European professionals and academics concerning each of the above-listed points to satisfy the three questions raised in our hypotheses:

• Writing skills are the most highly valued of the communication skills taught within the framework of communications studies;

• Ethics will be ranked as the least valuable of the behaviors taught within the communications curriculum; and

• There is little agreement among professionals and academics worldwide on the educational requirements (e.g., behaviors, teaching topics, materials, etc.) for career success.

To collect the input, we administered an online, 11-question survey to professionals and academicians

primarily working in the PR field of marketing communication through a variety of formal and informal channels, everything from posting a link on LinkedIn to access our professional networks to asking our contacts at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) to forward it to members. RESPONDENTS’ PROFILE

While the link was sent to approximately 100 potential respondents, the total number of respondents

at this time is 26 (n =26), which 12 from the U.S., nine from China and five from Europe. In marketing research, a 3% response rate is considered statistically significant, so 21% exceeded expectations. In addition, we determined that fewer quality responses from senior-level decision makers outweighed the benefits of a higher number of respondents at more junior levels with less overall accountability.

TABLE 3 RESPONDENTS’ GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION

I work primarily in… China 34%(n=9)

Europe 20%(n=5) United States 46%(n=12)

Total: 26 Results from the questionnaire were scored and developed into four profiles: one for total

respondents, one for China-based respondents, one for the U.S.-based respondents and one for academics only. With only 20% (n=5) of our respondents representing Europe, we determined we didn’t have enough input to draw conclusions on attitudes of Europe-based professionals and academics. All of our survey respondents self-identified as professionals while thirteen of our respondents also self-identified as academics. The academics represented a cross-section of ranks, ranging from adjunct professor to full professor. Four of the academics reported themselves as either assistant professor or professor rank, which are full-time teaching positions in the U.S. We do not know if that is the case in Europe and China, something we hope to seek a clearer understanding of at the next stage of inquiry.


TABLE 4 RESPONDENTS’ ACADEMIC RANK AND PROFESSIONAL COMPOSITION

Academic Ranking Composition: Professional Composition:

Instructor 31% (n=4)

Vice President 19% (n=5)

Adjunct Professor 39% (n=5)

Managing Director 27% (n=7)

Assistant Professor 15% (n=2)

Communications Officer

27% (n=7)

Professor 15% (n=2)

Agency/Group President

27% (n=7)

Total 13 Total 26

The academics are comprised of a mix of rankings, ranging from instructor to full professor. On the other hand, the professionals all hold exclusively senior-level positions within public and private corporations (81%). The junior-most professional responding to our survey held the title of vice president (15%), a position that has major new business, account and people management responsibilities. Beyond that, the remaining respondents all held the senior-most positions of managing director, communications officer or agency/group president.

In terms of industry area of focus, all of the professionals represent one of the four categories from which we were seeking input: public corporation, private corporation, public sector and non-profit/non-governmental organization (NGO), with the smallest represented groups being the public sector (8%) and NGOs (12%).

TABLE 5

REPRESENTED INDUSTRIES

Area of industry you most often represent…

Public Corporation 54% (n=14)

Private Corporation 26% (n=7) Public Sector 8% (n=2)

NGO 12% (n=3) Total 26

In another testament to the experience of our respondents, most respondents (85%) have been

working for more than 10 years.

TABLE 6 YEARS IN PROFESSIONAL/ACADEMIC PRACTICE

I have been an academic or PR

practitioner for… Less than 10 years 15% (n=4)

10-20 years 47% (n=12) 20-30 years 23% (n=6)

More than 30 years 15% (n=4) Total 26


LIMITATIONS

Our response rate is one key limitation with our study. We were disappointed in the low level of responses from Europe (n=5) despite multiple attempts to utilize our network of Europe-based peers and colleagues. We were aiming for a relatively even distribution of respondents representing China, Europe and the United States. As we achieved a relatively even response from China and the U.S., we were able to make comparisons between the two countries, which we were not able to do with Europe. We did include the responses from Europe in the overall data and are determined to renew efforts and expand our study. Also, we have an overall low response rate (n=26), which includes responses from the U.S. and China, although again this limitation must be balanced with the advantage of having data from senior-level professionals and academics, which we believe is a valuable attribute of our study. THE DATA

We collected data in four areas of our curricular map: behaviors, skills, topics and methods of instruction. We’ll examine each area and reflect on how the findings tie to our hypotheses. Behaviors

We began our data collection by seeking input on our list of four behaviors. We asked respondents to rank each of the behaviors in one of five categories, ranging from vital/required at the high end, to unnecessary on the low end, with an opportunity for a ranking of neutral.

The behavior that received the highest ranking was “content creator/storyteller,” which 100% of academics, 92% of U.S.-based respondents and 89% of China-based respondents agreed was vital/required. The second most highly ranked behavior was “insight seeker,” which 81% of respondents viewed as vital/required. At a distant third was “collaborator,” which 66% of total respondents agreed was vital/required, followed by “ethical leader,” which 62% of total respondents agreed was vital/required.

TABLE 7 PERSPECTIVES ON BEHAVIORS LIST (TOTAL RESPONDENTS: INCLUDES

RESPONDENT BASED IN EUROPE)

Behaviors List Country Vital/Required A positive but not a required behavior

Neutral Leaning Toward

Unnecessary

Unnecessary

Insight Seeker: Exhibit curiosity, critical thinking, analytic approaches that reflect multicultural literacy

China 66% 33% 0% 0% 0% U.S. 83% 17% 0% 0% 0% Academics 85% 15% 0% 0% 0% *Total Respondents

81% 19% 0% 0% 0%

Content Creator/Storyteller: Create effective, strategic and unique communication solutions


85% 12% 0% 3% 0%

Collaborator: Display the interpersonal and teamwork skills required to co-collaborate on projects and engage audiences

China

67% 33% 0% 0% 0%

U.S. 67% 33% 0% 0% 0% Academics 71% 30% 0% 0% 0% *Total Respondents

66% 34% 0% 0% 0%


Ethical Leader: Form and draw from empathetic values and demonstrate accountability


62% 35% 0% 3% 0%

As one of the overall goals of this study was to use the process to validate our list of behaviors, the input here is meaningful. Only one or possibly two different Europe-based professionals ranked two of our four behaviors as “leaning toward unnecessary”. Besides that finding, all four behaviors were ranked by the remaining 95% of professionals and 100% of academics as either vital/required or a positive. None were ranked below a neutral as leaning toward unnecessary or unnecessary. This input validates that the behaviors we’re striving to develop and hone in the curriculum are on track to create the career-ready professional in the view of professionals and academics worldwide. Universal Agreement with Importance of Content Creation/Storytelling

As mentioned previously, the behavior that received the highest ranking was “content creator/storyteller,” which 100% of academics, 92% of U.S.-based respondents and 89% of China-based respondents agreed was vital/required. This is a critical insight as the core of our communications curriculum in the last five years or more has migrated toward content creation, in line with our belief as educators in its value as well as the college-wide mandate to prepare students to leave their undergraduate experience with a body of work constructed through both in-classroom and internship experiences. Ethics Receives Lowest Ranking

While we were not surprised by the low ranking that “ethical leader” received at 62% of total respondents, we noted a wide gap in the perspective on ethics between China and the U.S. Only 44% of professionals and academics in China ranked “ethical leaders” as vital/required behavior, while 75% of the U.S.-based professionals and academics ranked it as vital/required. It should be noted that the remaining academics and professionals in both countries ranked “ethical leader” as a positive but not a required behavior, and none saw it as neutral, leaning toward unnecessary or unnecessary. This finding calls into question how ethics should be taught on a global scale and what it means to be considered vital/required in one country and simply a positive in another. How does this translate into the practice of communications ethics? This question alone begs for more in-depth inquiry. Early Indication of the Importance of Writing

When asked in the open-ended section at this point of the survey what behavior(s) one would add to the list, the majority of respondents with something to add replied “superior writing skills” and elaborated on its importance. While we believe that if we had explained the difference between skills and behaviors in the introductory paragraph we may have negated this comment, the fact that several respondents listed “superior writing skills” as critical helps validate our hypothesis number one: writing skills are considered the most important of the communication skills offered within a communications curriculum. Following “superior writing skills,” “business acumen/strategy” and “sustainable solutions” were specified in descending order of importance as needed additions to our behaviors. Again, in our curricular map, most of these attributes are treated as skills, outlined in the next section of this study. Responses to the question of behaviors yielded two critical findings that apply to our process: Need to Clarify Terms

Responses to our first curriculum map-related question on behaviors was helpful input on the need to consider how we communicate the totality of our curriculum mapping approach to survey respondents in the future. Not all of our respondents keyed in on the meaning of the term “behaviors” and how a


behavior differs from a skill, which we move toward in the next section of the survey. On the one hand, by not including a description of the overall curriculum map and a definition of key terms, we were able to gain additional insights in the open-ended sections that we may not have gained otherwise. Alternatively, some of our respondents may have benefited from descriptors given the different interpretations of words and concepts in different cultures and possible language gaps. Need to Understand and Develop a Hierarchy of Behaviors

When developing and listing the behaviors on our curriculum map, there was little thought given to the hierarchy of behaviors presented. We did not spend time hypothesizing which of the four might be considered most important, nor did we develop any weighting to translate to the curriculum. The feedback provided through this study indicates that this will be an important category to address in the future. It’s clear that, to the professionals and academics who responded, there is a hierarchy in their view based on the weighting they provided the various behaviors. And so we believe that considerations of weight, focus and timing of the placement of the four behaviors in the curriculum merit consideration. Skills

Moving beyond behaviors to skills, we collected data on 20 skills, each of which line up with one of the four behaviors. Again we asked respondents to rank each of the skills in one of five categories, ranging from vital/required at the high end, to unnecessary on the low end, with an opportunity for neutral. Importance of Writing as the Number One Communication Skill

As we learned in the prior section on behaviors, in which respondents commented in the open-ended section on the importance of superior writing skills to career-readiness, writing again is validated as the most critical communication skill. Writing, framed as to “craft technically and grammatically correct written materials”, was the most highly rated skill of the 20 listed with a ranking of vital/required by 81% of total respondents, and notably, 100% of respondents from the U.S. This is the only skill to receive a 100% rating as vital/required by any category of respondents. This is the second validation within this study of hypothesis number one: writing skills are the most highly valued of the communication skills taught within the framework of communications studies. Perspective on Technology

Social media, digital, web-based and/or technology overall appear two places in our map: first, in order to behave as an “insight seeker”, we list “identify and define major technologies (digital, social, web-based, etc.)” as a skill that demonstrates this behavior; second, to behave as a “content creator/story teller” we list “apply appropriate technologies to campaigns/projects” as a relevant skill. Surprisingly these skills received rather average ratings as 50% and 42% respectively ranked them as “vital/required” skills. One reason the second skill (“apply appropriate technologies…”) is rated so low overall (42%) is that 11% of respondents from China ranked it as vital/required, while 58% of U.S. respondents ranked it as vital/required. Here we have a dual finding: first, the overall low ranking of technologies is a surprise given its current value in the global economy; second, there is an apparent disconnect between China-based and U.S.-based professionals and academics on the importance of a foundation in technology to the career-readiness of the undergraduate. Disparities Between Academics and Professionals in China vs. the U.S.

While the disparity in attitudes toward technology was discussed in the prior point, it’s one of several differences between professionals and academics in China versus those based in the U.S. Another is in the area of critical thinking skills. While 97% of U.S. professionals and academics find “employ critical thinking skills” to be vital/required, 56% of professionals and academics in China agree. Another difference is in the area of writing. As already pointed out, a full 100% of U.S.-based academics and professionals find the skill of “craft technically and grammatically correct written materials” to be


vital/required, while 67% of China-based communicators agree it’s vital. In fact, 11% of respondents from China are neutral on the importance of writing. Least Vital/Required Skills

Only one respondent found visual communication skills to be vital/required (4%), although a full 84% of respondents said that visual communications skills are “positive but not required”. The ability to “articulate the effect of one’s work on oneself and the greater community” was second lowest ranked in terms of a vital/required skill (12%) while “identifying and defining historical perspectives in communications” was third lowest (19%). In fact, of all 20 skills listed, having an understanding of historical perspectives was the skill with the highest percentage of respondents choosing “leaning toward unnecessary” (11%) or “unnecessary” (4%), perhaps pointing out that, in an age of technological innovation, an ability to look forward is considered more valuable than the ability to look back. Ethics is Lowest-Rated Skill

The only other skills to receive the lower-end ratings of “leaning toward unnecessary” or “unnecessary” were: “create thematically consistent and unique content for a multitude of platforms;” “solve problems in a manner that demonstrates deep understanding of ethical implications;” and “articulate the impact of one’s work on oneself and the greater community.” Two of these three low-ranking skills are related to ethics. Notably, zero percent of China-based respondents believe that “solve problems in a manner that demonstrates deep understanding of ethical implications” was vital/required, although 75% found it a positive but not a required behavior. The teaching of ethics receives overall low rankings from all respondent categories including academics, confirming our hypothesis on the low value professionals and academics place on the teaching of ethics. Topics

Moving beyond skills to topics addressed in the classroom, we collected data on 15 topics, which were listed and not aligned with a particular skill or behavior. Again we asked respondents to rank each of the topics in one of five categories, ranging from vital/required at the high end, to unnecessary on the low end, with an opportunity for neutral.

TABLE 8 PERSPECTIVES ON TOPICS

Topics Respondent

Category Vital/Required A positive

but not a required behavior

Neutral (not positive nor

unnecessary)

Leaning Toward

Unnecessary

Unnecessary

Social/cultural knowledge

China 56% 44% 0% 0% 0% U.S. 45% 54% 0% 0% 0% Academics 62% 38% 0% 0% 0% Total Respondents

52% 48% 0% 0% 0%

Legal environment


31% 42% 23% 4% 0%

Economic environment

China 22% 53% 22% 0% 0% U.S. 50% 42% 8% 0% 0% Academics 39% 54% 7% 0% 0%


Total Respondents

42% 46% 12% 0% 0%

Financial environment


31% 50% 15% 4% 0%

Political environment


27% 54% 15% 4% 0%

Technological Environment


20% 72% 4% 4% 0%

Arts & Entertainment Environment


16% 32% 40% 12% 0%

Trade Agreements


8% 31% 31% 30% 0%

International Alliances


15% 35% 23% 27% 0%

Communications Research


35% 50% 15% 0% 0%

Communications Ethics


54% 31% 15% 0% 0%

Advertising Best Practices


24% 32% 32% 12% 0%

Social Media Environment

China 44% 44% 12% 0% 0% U.S. 67% 25% 8% 0% 0%


Academics 62% 23% 15% 0% 0% Total Respondents

58% 34% 8% 0% 0%

Consumer Behavior


65% 31% 4% 0% 0%

Marketing Research


50% 46% 4% 0% 0%

Following is a summary of our findings: Lack of Alignment on Teaching Topics

Whether we did not list topics that respondents believed are valuable or there is overall ambivalence in this area, this section uncovered the least agreement among professionals and academics within the countries and categories surveyed. In the area of disagreement between countries, 34% of China-based respondents find the topic of technological environment vital/required while 0% of U.S.-based respondents and 7% of academics agree. At the same time, there is a disparity in belief on the value of business education as 42% of U.S.-based respondents believe instruction on financial environment is vital/required versus only 11% of China-based respondents. Even within the countries there is a clear lack of agreement. For example, concerning attitudes within China toward the topic of political environment, 22% agree it’s vital/required; 45% agree it’s a positive but not required; 22% are neutral; and 11% are leaning toward unnecessary. As a second example, concerning attitudes within the U.S. toward the topic of international alliances, 8% agree it’s vital/required; 24% agree it’s positive but not required; 33% are neutral; and 34% are leaning toward unnecessary.

Consumer Behavior is Most Valuable Topic

One surprise was the importance of consumer behavior, which was listed as vital/required by more respondents (65%) than social media environment, which came in at a close second (58%). All but one respondent found consumer behavior to be vital/required or a positive, making it overall more highly rated than social media environment as a topic, and the most highly rated topic overall. Methods of Instruction

Moving beyond topics to methods of instruction, we collected data on 10 methods of instruction, which were listed and not aligned with a particular skill or behavior. Here we asked respondents to rank each of the methods as one of the following: effective always; effective usually; effective at times; leaning toward ineffective; or ineffective.


TABLE 9 PERSPECTIVES ON METHODS OF INSTRUCTION

Methods of Instruction

Respondent Category

Effective Always

Effective Usually

Effective at Times

Leaning Toward

Ineffective

Ineffective

Lecture China 22% 56% 22% 0% 0% U.S. 0% 42% 50% 8% 0% Academics 8% 54% 30% 8% 0% Total Respondents

8% 42% 46% 4% 0%

Case Study China 63% 25% 12% 0% 0% U.S. 8% 50% 42% 0% 0% Academics 38% 31% 31% 0% 0% Total Respondents

32% 44% 24% 0% 0%

Problem-based Learning


58% 42% 0% 0% 0%

Group Discussion China 44% 44% 12% 0% 0% U.S. 17% 58% 25% 0% 0% Academics 31% 52% 15% 0% 0% Total Respondents

27% 53% 20% 0% 0%

Group Presentation


8% 57% 23% 12% 0%

Term Paper China 0% 56% 44% 0% 0% U.S. 0% 8% 84% 8% 0% Academics 0% 31% 61% 8% 0% Total Respondents

4% 26% 58% 12% 0%

Field Trip China 11% 56% 33% 0% 0% U.S. 0% 33% 67% 0% 0% Academics 0% 30% 70% 0% 0% Total Respondents

8% 42% 46% 4% 0%

Study Abroad Program


19% 35% 35% 11% 0%

Guest Speaker China 0% 56% 44% 0% 0% U.S. 0% 33% 67% 0% 0% Academics 0% 54% 46% 15% 0%


Total Respondents

0% 46% 54% 0% 0%

Workshop China 11% 67% 22% 0% 0% U.S. 8% 50% 42% 0% 0% Academics 8% 62% 30% 0% 0% Total Respondents

19% 54% 26% 0% 0%

Following is a summary of our findings regarding instruction topics: Case Study Method of Instruction is Most Valuable to China-Based Respondents

A full 63% of China-based respondents find case study method of instruction to be the most valuable versus 8% of U.S.-based respondents and 38% of academics rated it as effective always. Problem-Based Learning Most Valuable to U.S.-Based Respondents

The finding in the category of problem-based learning is another illustration in the difference in perspectives between China-based respondents and U.S.-based respondents. While this method received the most enthusiastic reply from the U.S. compared to all other methods, with 67% finding it effective always and 33% finding it effective usually, 67% of China-based respondents find it effective usually and only 33% find it effective always. So while the U.S. is more supportive of this method than all others listed, and the variation in perspectives may be slight as the difference is in the word “always” versus “usually”, the finding reinforces a difference in perspective and the challenges inherent in creating a universal, global curriculum. Guest Speakers Not Viewed as “Effective Always” by a Single Respondent

Not a single respondent rated guest speakers as an “effective always” method of instruction. The majority of respondents were almost evenly divided between effective usually and effective at times. Term Paper, Group Presentation and Study Abroad Rated by Some as Leaning Toward Ineffective

While not one respondent identified any of the methods listed as ineffective, three methods were listed by more than 10% of respondents as leaning that way. Those three methods – term paper, group presentation and study abroad – received ratings of 12%, 12% and 11% respectively in the category of “leaning toward ineffective”. This finding again points to the possibility that a definition of terms or examples might be enough to explain their value or, alternatively, could lead to more questions and possibly lower ratings. It is a question to probe in future studies. Lower Ratings for Methods

In contrast to the other categories in this survey, ratings in methods of instruction were largely across the spectrum. In contrast to the other areas respondents rated, not one method received an over 70% rating in any category. In addition, six of the 10 methods received “leaning toward ineffective” ratings. Real-World Project Work Found Lacking

In the open-ended section following this question, several respondents suggested adding “real world project work” to the methods of instruction. This important piece of data points to the high-level of interest evaluators of career readiness have in knowing a graduate has experienced real project work outside of the classroom environment. It is great insight into how to improve the list of methods of instruction, opening the door to include internship projects and the “body of work” development identified early in this report as a key focus of the college and the department.


CONCLUSION At the outset of this study, we stated a three-part hypothesis:

• Writing skills are the most highly valued of the communication skills taught within the framework of communications studies;

• Ethics is the least valuable of the behaviors taught within the communications curriculum according to professionals and academics; and

• There is little agreement among professionals and academics worldwide on the educational requirements (e.g., behaviors, teaching topics, materials, etc.) for career success.

Our first hypothesis concerning writing skills was validated as writing, framed as to “craft technically

and grammatically correct written materials”, was the most highly rated skill of the 20 listed with a ranking of vital/required by 81% of all respondents, and notably, 100% of respondents from the U.S. This is the only skill to receive a 100% rating as vital/required by any category of respondents.

Our second hypothesis concerning ethics also was validated as two of the lowest-ranking skills were ethics-related: “solve problems in a manner that demonstrates deep understanding of ethical implications;” and “articulate the impact of one’s work on oneself and the greater community.” Notably, zero percent of China-based respondents believe that “solve problems in a manner that demonstrates deep understanding of ethical implications” was vital/required, although 75% found it a positive but not a required behavior. The teaching of ethics receives overall low rankings from all respondent categories including academics.

Our third and final hypothesis was validated only in part as we learned that, contrary to our initial thoughts, there is significant alignment on behaviors among professionals and academics in China, Europe and the U.S. There is however a lack of alignment in the areas of topics and methods of instruction, pointing the need for additional input on our curricular map in those categories.

In the end, who decides the meaning of career readiness? While industry is a vital partner, the responsibility to define “career readiness” rests in the educators’ hands. The educator determines what “career readiness” means, its value and how to drive toward that outcome. While it is important and even vital to partner with industry on the scope and design of curriculum, this must be done with the perspective that not everything in the curriculum will line up with industry needs or expectations. Is it right to eliminate an understanding of the history of communications from the curriculum because it is viewed as less vital to the functioning of a career-ready marketing communication professional than other skills? Should educators forego the teaching of ethical matters because it doesn’t rank as high on the professionals’ most-desired skills as critical thinking? We would argue that the answer is no, and that it is up to the educators to educate both the students and the industry professionals on the value of such a curricular emphasis. It is possible that, as is often the case in business, the realities of the day-to-day, short-term profit motives distract from the long-term vision. Doing what is right is often overshadowed by the need to do what is needed right now. It is up to the educator to strike the balance, and to help the student learn what is needed now and learn the value of what is right, so they can add perspective and rational thought to the global marketplace of ideas and, ultimately, shape the global economy with a mind to balance of short-term needs and long-term societal aspirations.

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