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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. Andy Bertsch - MINOT STATE UNIVERSITY Dr. Jacob Bikker - UTRECHT UNIVERSITY, NETHERLANDS Dr. Bill Bommer - CALIFORNINA 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. Jerry Knutson - AG EDWARDS 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. Sergiy Rakhmayil - RYERSON UNIVERSITY, CANADA Dr. Robert Scherer - CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY Dr. Ira Sohn - MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY Dr. Reginal Sheppard - UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA Dr. Carlos Spaht - LOUISIANNA STATE UNIVERSITY, SHREVEPORT Dr. Walter Amedzro ST-Hilaire - HEC, MONTREAL, CANADA Dr. Ken Thorpe - EMORY UNIVERSITY Dr. Robert Tian - MEDIALLE COLLEGE 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

Volume 12(2) ISSN 2158-3595 Authors have granted copyright consent to allow that copies of their article may be made for personal or internal use. This does not extend to other kinds of copying, such as copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale. Any consent for republication, other than noted, must be granted through the publisher:

North American Business Press, Inc. Atlanta - Seattle – South Florida - Toronto ©Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice 2012 For submission, subscription or copyright information, contact the editor at: [email protected] Subscription Price: US$ 320/yr Our journals are indexed by one of more of the following: UMI-Proquest-ABI Inform, EBSCOHost, GoogleScholar, and listed with Cabell's Directory of Periodicals, Ulrich's Listing of Periodicals, Bowkers Publishing Resources, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Canada. Our journals have been used to support the Academically Qualified (AQ) faculty classification by all recognized business school accrediting bodies.

This Issue Enhancing the Linkage of Learning Objectives to Learning Outcomes for Marketing ..................... 11 Tyrone W. Jackson Academics and students are concerned on what is taught in the classroom and not on the desired learning outcome. This problem is exacerbated with professors assuming skills taught are retained. To ensure skills are retained, studies have shown the simulation method has a greater chance of success. This paper will discuss the steps involved a direct marketing campaign, when taught in a simulation, teach core marketing skills and the desired learning outcomes sought for marketing learning objectives. A structured approach simulation marketing campaign is discussed to instill strategizing, planning, executing, and measuring, which have universal application to careers in marketing. Engaging in Reflective Decision-Making: The Role of Skills in the Development of the Information Systems Undergraduate Curriculum ...................................................................... 20 Jeffry S. Babb, Jr., Herbert E. Longenecker, Jr., Charles R. Woratschek, Amjad Abdullat The Information Systems (IS) undergraduate curriculum has consistently valued the same core Information Technology (IT) skills as those of the professional marketplace. The conundrum faced by department chairs and curriculum committees is how to adjust to changes in the IT environment and marketplace while fostering a core of basic IT skills. That core is the consistent tradition of IT skills for the IS discipline. Argyris and Schön’s work on organizational learning is used as a philosophical and theoretical lens through which the curriculum decision-making process can be better understood. Cycles of skills and learning assessment, which utilize key constituents to provide feedback loops for error detection and correction, both promote and restrain the tendency to react and over-react in curricular decision-making. In light of this, the 2010 Association for Information Systems/Association for Computing Machinery (AIS/ACM) model curriculum is compared to previous model curricula in order to examine the degree to which the need for basic IT skills has actually changed. Future research directions are discussed which will facilitate inquiry into which IT skills have consistently mattered in the Information Systems discipline over the last 20 years. It is our position that a cycle of reflective learning is needed to undertake appropriate error correction and detection in the process of curricular decision-making. Transformative Community Service Learning: Beyond the “Poor,” the “Rich,” and the Helping Dynamic ......................................................................................................................... 34 Nancy E. Bertaux, Kathleen R. Smythe, Elaine A. Crable Service-learning in many universities has focused on student learning through “service” to the “poor.” In both domestic and international contexts, many scholars and practitioners of community service learning are redefining what this means to both students and communities, including considering power dynamics between universities and community organizations and focusing more on a partnership relationship than a hierarchical, charity model. This redefinition process promises to yield more effective, transformative programs for students and communities. This article considers service-learning programs in the context of the “helping dynamic;” discusses the case for a partnership, community-engagement approach; and briefly considers how a case of one university’s international service-learning program could be reoriented.

Ensuring Student Awareness of Corporate Social Media Usage: An Accounting Information Systems Course Project ...................................................................................................... 44 Robert C. Zelin II, Jane E. Baird This paper describes an Accounting Information Systems course project that required students to research Fortune 500 companies’ presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. The project was designed to address the disparity between what college students think social media technologies are used for and how social media are actually used by businesses. Through the project described in this paper, students learned that corporations are using social media for a variety of purposes, with marketing being the most prevalent. Accounting and financial information was found to be much more prevalent on Wikipedia than on Facebook or Twitter. Identification and Analysis of a Tertiary-Education Expectations Gap in Developed Countries ............................................................................................. 51 Christopher S. Wright, Samanthala Hettihewa Participation in tertiary education in developed countries has dramatically expanded over the past few decades. The perceptions of academic researchers, policy makers, employers and the general public have contributed to expectations of significant socio-economic and political gains from that expansion. This study, using a descriptive analysis and looking at the trends in historical perspective, found significant indications of a rising gap between the expectations and the perceived performance of higher education in developed countries. It is suggested that the recent expansion in tertiary-education may need refocusing to avoid growing gap between expectations and perceived-performance in tertiary education. The Parable of the Pig Iron: Using Taylor’s Story to Teach the Principles of Scientific Management ....................................................................................................... 73 Paul L. Govekar, Michele A. Govekar Frederick Winslow Taylor used stories in his writings and during his lectures about Scientific Management. The most famous of these is the story of “Schmidt” and the handling of pig iron. It is clear from Wrege and Perroni’s (1974) historical analysis that this story, as told, cannot be true. Perhaps Taylor was using this as an illustrative story to make a point about Scientific Management. This paper explores the pig iron story as a parable on Scientific Management and discusses how this story can be used to teach the principles of Scientific Management. Dimensions of Quality in Online Business Course Offerings: Content, Format and Feedback ............................................................................................................... 84 Kenneth A. Heischmidt, Yves Damoiseau In this study, the authors identify relevant dimension of quality in business online course offerings. Taking a customer orientation, this study examined the dimensions of students’ expectations and their satisfaction with the fulfillment of those expectations. In a two step process, relevant service dimensions have been identified and their importance explored. From the original fifteen dimensions of perceived quality, six dimensions were identified to have a statistically significant influence on the overall satisfaction with the quality of a business online course. The delivery of online courses needs to consider the important dimensions of content, format and feedback in order to increase the chances for overall satisfaction with the online course experience. Ratings of students with relatively higher grade expectations at the start of the online experience correlated positively with a higher overall satisfaction in the respective online courses. The implications of the findings for online course instructors and college administrators are discussed.

Lessons Learned From Creating Significant Learning Experiences: Re-Designing an Accounting Course with Broader Educational Implications ................................................................ 98 Rama R. Guttikonda, Charles M. Coco Creating significant learning experiences requires a completely new focus on course design and student learning. This paper highlighted the insight gained from Fink’s twelve steps to integrated course design. The result was a cost accounting course that was more active, relevant, and meaningful to students. The course objectives were drastically altered to reflect increasingly varied goals. A new teaching strategy was adopted along with a new set of learning activities to make the course a team-oriented learning process. Course evaluation systems became participative, continuous, and relevant. Use of Social Media by U.S. Colleges: Potential and Pitfalls .............................................................. 105 Kaushik Ghosh, Sudhir Chawla, Karen Mallott Several institutions of higher learning in the US are using social media (SM) technology. The focus of the paper is on how a university’s governance and administrative functions use SM technology as well as the utilization of SM to facilitate interaction with its faculty, staff, and students. In addition, current research attempts to understand the application of SM technologies to the student college choice model proposed by Chapman. This study proposes a model to examine implementation of SM applications throughout an institution and includes recommendations to expand the scope of SM technology usage in universities and directions for future research. Financial Literacy Education for College Students: A Course Assessment ...................................... 119 Vicki J. Jobst Due to college students’ need for financial education, there have been a variety of efforts to transform them into money-savvy adults (Chandler, 2009; Supiano, 2009; Kibbe, 2008; Lorenzetti, 2007; Lyons, Palmer, Jayaratne & Scherpf, 2006; NH Briefs, 2006; Cox Matthews Associates, Inc, 2005). The undergraduate Financial Literacy course at a private Midwestern university was established in 2008 to improve its students’ personal financial behavior. The content, delivery and pedagogy of the course are compared to recommendations from financial literacy education experts and to financial literacy programs at other institutions of higher education. The results are promising. System and Effects: Breakthrough the Bottlenecks of Educational Reform in China ...................................................................................................................................... 129 Li Wei The education system in China is typically government controlled, or an administration-monopolized type of system. Instructed by such an education system and the educational philosophy behind this system, China’s education presents two major effects in recent years. Primarily, the distributions of China’s limited educational resources are imbalanced and not equally allocated. In addition, large amounts of Chinese higher education graduates failed to gain employment, suggesting that graduation means to be unemployed, which causes relative social and ideological issues. Therefore, a concensus has formed across various groups of the Chinese society that there is an emergency need for reforms of China’s education system and the philosophy.

Defining and Assessing Written Communication Skills of MIS Students ......................................... 137 Nabil Alghalith The paper focuses on the development of a rubric for the assessment of written communication skills, which is mainly used for assurance of learning. The objectives are (1) to defined skill set formed a basis for common expectations related to written communication skills. (2) to use the Written Communication Rubric to measure student progress toward achieving these skills, (3) to help refine the instrument and the assessment process, (4) to identify areas of concern in written communication, and (5) to enhance the culture of assessment in the School of Business.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION

Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice (JHETP)

Domain Statement

The Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice (JHETP) is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of academic and intellectual knowledge by publishing, through a blind, refereed process, ongoing results of research in accordance with international scientific or scholarly standards. Articles should combine disciplinary methods with key insight to contemporary issues central to faculty, administrators, and industry specialists. Articles of regional interest are welcome, especially those dealing with lessons that may be applied in other regions around the world. Accepted manuscripts should make strong empirical and/or theoretical contributions and highlight the significance of those contributions to the higher education field. Objectives 1. Generate an exchange of ideas between scholars, practitioners and industry specialists 2. Enhance the development of theory and application useful to faculty and administrators 3. Provide an additional outlet for scholars and experts to contribute their research findings in

the area of higher education Submission Format Articles should be submitted following the American Psychological Association format. Articles should not be more than 30 double-spaced, typed pages in length including all figures, graphs, references, and appendices. Submit two hard copies of manuscript along with a disk typed in MS-Word. Make main sections and subsections easily identifiable by inserting appropriate headings and sub-headings. Type all first-level headings flush with the left margin, bold and capitalized. Second-level headings are also typed flush with the left margin but should only be bold. Third-level headings, if any, should also be flush with the left margin and italicized. Include a title page with manuscript which includes the full names, affiliations, address, phone, fax, and e-mail addresses of all authors and identifies one person as the Primary Contact. Put the submission date on the bottom of the title page. On a separate sheet, include the title and an abstract of 150 words or less. Do not include authors’ names on this sheet. A final page, “About the authors,” should include a brief biographical sketch of 100 words or less on each author. Include current place of employment and degrees held. References must be written in APA style. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to ensure that the paper is thoroughly and accurately reviewed for spelling, grammar and referencing.

Review Procedure Authors will receive an acknowledgement by e-mail including a reference number shortly after receipt of the manuscript. All manuscripts within the general domain of the journal will be sent for at least two reviews, using a double blind format, from members of our Editorial Board or their designated reviewers. In the majority of cases, authors will be notified within 60 days of the result of the review. If reviewers recommend changes, authors will receive a copy of the reviews and a timetable for submitting revisions. Papers and disks will not be returned to authors. Accepted Manuscripts When a manuscript is accepted for publication, author(s) must provide format-ready copy of the manuscripts including all graphs, charts, and tables. Specific formatting instructions will be provided to accepted authors along with copyright information. Each author will receive two copies of the issue in which his or her article is published without charge. All articles printed by JHETP are copyrighted by the Journal. Permission requests for reprints should be addressed to the Editor. Questions and submissions should be addressed to:

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Enhancing the Linkage of Learning Objectives to Learning Outcomes for Marketing

Tyrone W. Jackson

California State University, Los Angeles

Academics and students are concerned on what is taught in the classroom and not on the desired learning outcome. This problem is exacerbated with professors assuming skills taught are retained. To ensure skills are retained, studies have shown the simulation method has a greater chance of success. This paper will discuss the steps involved a direct marketing campaign, when taught in a simulation, teach core marketing skills and the desired learning outcomes sought for marketing learning objectives. A structured approach simulation marketing campaign is discussed to instill strategizing, planning, executing, and measuring, which have universal application to careers in marketing. INTRODUCTION

Throughout the college years, students move from one marketing course to another with professors assuming and expecting that skills taught are retained. Marketing courses teach students a myriad of skills to college students. However, as students move from one marketing course to another, retention of skills learned previously is assumed and passively assessed via traditional measures of tests, assignments, and presentations. How do we, as academicians, really know if students are acquiring and retaining the necessary skills to be effective marketers in their careers? Students may learn material for the final exam of a prerequisite class but then forget it as knowledge depreciates over time (Kipps & Kohen, 1984).

Teachers typically use grades to assess the outcome of their learning expectations; however, accrediting bodies typically require a more in depth analysis of learning outcomes. Marketing programs at colleges and universities must ask themselves how a particular marketing course prepares a student for a career in marketing. However, before students are taking major marketing courses, they are required to pass the general education and business core courses. These courses are designed to prepare students for upper level work (Carlson et al., 2002). If the desired outcome of the prerequisite and core business courses is achieved, then upper-level faculty can safely assume that students have a core competency of the basic business subjects and writing, meaning that they don’t need to waste time re-teaching this material. The question remains do we really know if students are acquiring and retaining the necessary skills to be effective marketers in their careers?

Suppose, the concepts were taught in a simulation, would students retain them better so that they can be applied beyond the classroom? Studies suggest that students benefit from role-play simulations in acquiring skills (DeNeve & Heppner, 2005). In addition, simulations increase skills retention (Bonham, 2008). In the context of marketing, a prime candidate for a simulation would be the execution of a direct marketing campaign for a company (Chakraborty & Nowak, 1998). Since most students matriculate and enter the professional world where a team environment is highly likely, a group project for this simulation

Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice vol. 12(2) 2012 11

is realistic. Students would benefit from the core marketing skills taught. Given the structured approach, team and other “real world” aspects, students would not too soon forget the experience. Academicians can test students’ retention by having them apply the direct marketing skills learned to “perceived” non-marketing areas; this is a “truer” test of retention for example, the job search process. In general, students perceive job search (i.e., full-time/part-time employment, internships) as non-marketing related. In reality, job search is very much about marketing; it is about marketing oneself as opposed to marketing a company’s products and services, which is the focus of most courses and textbooks.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the core marketing skills involved in developing a successful direct marketing campaign using a simulation can be applied to a “real world”, personal, and near-term scenario of seeking employment. As such, this direct marketing simulation project could be given to an undergraduate class comprised primarily of juniors and seniors or a graduate student with more in-depth applications. This paper focuses on the use of a direct marketing (DM) campaign for expository purposes and can be extended to other types of marketing campaigns, e.g., interactive, web, etc. MARKETING LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The problems of marketing curriculum and the shortsighted views of academics and students alike are challenged during accreditation from AACSB. With the AACSB raising their expectation of learning outcomes for business courses marketing programs will face additional challenges (Doyle & Wood, 2005).

Undergraduate business students are expected to accomplish the following learning outcomes by understanding the current issues and challenges with the intention of anticipating and understanding emerging future business challenges (AACSB, 2007).

• Business knowledge – Students will be able to describe the basic functions of business - accounting, marketing, management, finance, international business, and quantitative analysis

• Critical Thinking - Students are able to identify business problems, research and analyze those problems and make sound business decisions

• Communication – Students are able to demonstrate leadership and communication skills (oral and written) and exhibit professional behavior

• Ethics - Students will be able to recognize, analyze and choose resolution to ethical problems explicit or implicit in decision making

• Leadership – Students will demonstrate business leadership and decision-making skills necessary to be effective managers

• Technology – To identify and use the most appropriate technology in decision-making and improving personal productivity

After researching sixty-three AACSB accredited business schools the common learning objectives for

marketing listed were: • Explain and describe the functional areas of marketing • Use and integrate the concepts of marketing and core business knowledge to solve marketing

problems and issues • Analyze markets and identify appropriate segmentation criteria to discover promising market

niches • Develop an effective marketing strategy, including a marketing mix, for a product/service • Utilize technology to facilitate and enhance the accessing, reporting and critical analysis of

market research information to improve the timing, accuracy, and quality of enterprise decision-making

12 Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice vol. 12(2) 2012

• Employ analytical problem-solving skills, and ethical decision-making techniques to resolve complex marketing issues within the context of the internal enterprise structures and external institutional requirements

• Understand competitive advantage and positioning, interpretation and analysis of market data • Awareness of the linkages between firm internal operational decisions and the external

environment • Understand fundamental marketing research concepts, procedures and applications and their

application in a business context; and be capable of undertaking a marketing research project, from design, through analysis to report generation and presentation

• Identify and explain the consumer decision process and factors that influence this decision process and be capable of applying this knowledge to marketing campaigns and strategies

• Assess the information needed to identify and select target markets

These marketing objectives comprise many of the needed skills that can be utilized in business when conducting a marketing campaign. APPROACTH TO LINK LEARNING OBJECTIVES TO LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning objectives can be classified as changing of knowledge, attitudes, or behavior. I believe that management schools should focus on behavioral change (skill training). To identify learning objectives, one should start with skills needed to perform the relevant business tasks (e.g., how do I manage a marketing campaign?). The next tasks can identify techniques that can used to develop skills (e.g., time lines). The following steps are to search for exercises that will allow students to use these techniques (e.g., prepare a marketing campaign). Finally, students can be required to monitor their success in mastering techniques. Marketing simulation concepts specifically of a marketing campaign mapped to a real world experience such as career goals (e.g. finding a job, applying for a graduate program, etc.) provide the necessary skills for students to achieve the marketing learning outcomes. Simulation Concepts

The simulation requires students to follow a structured process utilized in direct marketing. Students are review the concepts of a direct marketing campaign. The students work through a real-world case to see the application of direct marketing. Students then apply the direct marketing structured process in a team project in simulated setting. Then the students apply the same structured direct marketing process to a personal goal. The structure steps and objectives used in the simulation are as follows:

Direct Marketing (DM) – Direct marketing refers to a company’s direct communication with consumers / customers focused on eliciting responses to offers for its products and services (e.g., purchases) via a process that is tracked and measured. This process requires an understanding of diverse marketing concepts and builds upon multiple marketing courses. Simulation Objectives

1. Objective #1: Students will learn the key steps in a direct marketing campaign. i. Students will understand direct marketing and its benefits. ii. Students will be exposed to the steps involved in a direct marketing campaign iii. Students will learn how a direct marketing campaign is used in business while studying a case

study.

2. Objective #2: Students can work individually or in teams to conduct a direct marketing campaign.

3. Objective #3: Students will apply what they learned in the direct marketing campaign project and work individually to a “real world”, personal, and near-term scenario to implement a plan to


obtain employment. Some examples of individual career goals you can apply this simulation to are: i. applying for graduate or some other professional school, ii. applying for a career job such as: job after graduation, internship/externship or iii. a career transition into a new career job opportunity.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The direct marketing campaign project was presented in an undergraduate marketing course titled High Performance Professional Skills at California State University, Los Angeles in the College of Business and Economics. The course is offered every quarter. Some quarters offer two sections of the course per quarter. The average enrollment for course is 30 students. The course is required for all marketing majors. However, other business majors as well as non-business liberal arts majors have taken the course based upon its popularity. The majority of the students enrolled in the course are juniors and seniors having already been exposed to basic business courses of: accounting, computer information systems, economics, finance, management and marketing. The project is introduced at the beginning of the course and students are expected to work on the project throughout the course. While some students do not necessarily complete the individual career goals at the ending of the course there progress to their career goal is reviewed and documented and provides a basis for the attaining the learning objectives for the project. Students report their results after the course has completed which allows tracking of their career goal as well as the effectiveness and the retention of marketing skills. There are three primary learning objectives for the direct marketing campaign project. Objective #1: Gain Knowledge of a Direct Marketing Campaign

Students are first presented with an understanding of direct marketing and its benefits to businesses ranging from large, medium and small companies. A review of direct marketing so students will be able to understand the following:

• How direct marketing allows businesses to communicate straight to the customer? • How direct marketing messages emphasize a focus on the customer, data, and accountability? • How direct marketing techniques are usually marked by driving a particular "call to action,"

which is a core principle of successful advertising? • How direct marketing focuses a great deal on actionable and measurable outcomes that

produce positive responses from consumers?

Various marketers vary on the number of steps in a direct marketing campaign. Some marketers have five, seven, eight, and as much as twelve steps used in direct marketing campaigns. Students were presented with ten steps for a direct marketing campaign to provide sufficient detail and clarity of the steps especially given their lack of practical awareness of direct marketing campaigns. The ten key steps of a direct marketing campaign students are taught are:

(1) Develop the Direct Marketing strategy and specific campaign objective (2) Define the target audience (3) List the major steps in the plan (4) Set a completion date (5) Determine the budget (6) Determine the expected outcome (7) Design the offer/collateral (8) Develop the target list (9) Launch the Direct Marketing campaign (10) Measure the results


The students are then presented with a “real case study” of how effective direct marketing campaigns can be used in a business context. There are various case studies available to present direct marketing campaigns. One of the more effective case studies is the Charles Schwab “Talk to Chuck Campaign” (see Figure 1). Charles Schwab is a very prominent brokerage company. Schwab manages some $1.6 trillion in assets for nearly 10 million individual and institutional clients. Traders can access its services via telephone, wireless device, the Internet, and through more than 300 offices in some 45 states, plus London and Hong Kong. Besides discount brokerage, the firm offers financial research, advice, and planning; investment management; retirement and employee compensation plans; and about 70 proprietary Schwab and Laudus mutual funds (Hoovers, 2011). Students work through the case to understand and answer the questions of: why was a direct marketing campaign used, when to use a direct marketing campaign, what were the processes (i.e., key steps) in executing a direct marketing campaign, and how successful (i.e., measurement) was the direct marketing campaign.

Students are asked to identify in the case, how the company Charles Schwab applied the direct marketing campaign to the “Talk to Chuck” campaign. A key message and collateral depicted in the case was the effective branding of the ‘rotoscoping’ image for the campaign depicted below.

FIGURE 1

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW CASE, “TALK TO CHUCK”

Students were then asked to compare and then match the steps used in the “Talk to Chuck” campaign by Charles Schwab to the ten steps in a traditional direct marketing campaign. The students identified ten steps involved in the “Talk to Chuck” direct marketing campaign despite the different labels used in the case and were successful in matching them to the steps involved in a traditional direct marketing campaign. Objective #2: Conduct a Direct Marketing Campaign

The steps to follow provide a structured approach to conducting a DM campaign. 1. Develop the DM strategy and specific campaign objective – Determine the overall DM marketing

strategy for the company, conduct market research, assess the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). Develop the objective for the specific DM campaign (e.g., acquisition, conversion, lead generation, etc.). The objective should be clear and quantifiable


(e.g., 300 visits to the store to redeem a coupon; upsell new products to 250 users of old products; have 100 people download a new tool from the website, etc.). Determine the specific DM campaign’s core message. DM skills applied: strategy development; market research; SWOT analysis; customer acquisition, growth, and retention strategies.

2. Define the target audience – List the attributes of the typical customer the specific DM campaign is targeting, including psycho-demographics and other criteria. Build a target profile. DM skills applied: customer segmentation and modeling (e.g., database marketing and data mining).

3. List the major steps in the plan – Define the major steps to execute the specific DM campaign. In example, the major steps for a multi-channel DM campaign (e.g., mail, web, phone) could be: (1) Channel selection (5) Postage (2) Creative development (art/copy) (6) Business reply (card/email confirmation) (3) Production/printing (7) Name Change of Address (NCOA) process (4) Direct mail/email list development (8) Fulfillment For large projects, organizing these steps into components will help avoid being overwhelmed with too many steps to manage. DM skills applied: project planning.

4. Set a completion date – Set an end date in order to provide a timeline to achieving the objective of the specific DM campaign. For large projects, defining milestones, setting dates for these milestones, and managing to milestone dates will help avoid being overwhelmed with a long time horizon. DM skills applied: project planning, marketing calendar development.

5. Determine the budget – Determine and manage the project budget by organizing the specific DM campaign into components. Building on the example in #3 above, the components could be: (i) total budget; (ii) creative development; (iii) production/printing; (iv) direct mail/email lists; (v) business reply charges. DM skills applied: project management, budgeting, and vendor management.

6. Determine the expected outcome – Determine the expected outcome of the specific DM campaign. This can be used for comparison against actual results. Sample metrics could be: • Expected number of responses • Cost per response • Return on investment

Metrics can be used to make adjustments during the campaign or in the next campaign (i.e., test and learn approach).

DM skills applied: impact analysis of marketing to company financials and profitability, what-if sensitivity analysis and scenarios.

7. Design the offer/collateral – Develop an offer/collateral that motivates the target audience to respond immediately to the specific DM campaign. The offer needs to be attractive, compelling, and easy to understand. DM skills applied: value proposition development.

8. Develop the target list – Determine the “customer” list to use to reach the target audience (i.e., in-house or purchase from brokers). Identify the customer segments on this list. Specify the list size, the quantity to test (as part of a test and control design), and the list cost. Select channels that best fit the target audience. DM skills applied: test and control groups and schema design; DM vendor types.

9. Launch the DM campaign – All of the above steps are critical to the execution and success of the overall DM strategy and the specific DM campaign from multiple perspectives, e.g., cost


management, marketing opportunity management, customer relationship management, etc. Once the above steps have been completed, then execute the DM campaign. DM skills applied: cost management, strategy to action/ implementation, campaign planning and management, customer experience management.

10. Measure the results – The success of the overall DM strategy and the specific DM campaign is determined by measurement. Too often, marketers spend tireless energy developing campaigns without a true benchmark for measuring its effectiveness. Worst yet, they spend millions of dollars with uncertain (and even, largely unmeasured) returns. Once the campaign is launched, conduct response analysis to measure how actual results compare to the expected outcomes initially defined and capture the key lessons learned. This type of measurement will ensure the efficiency and success of the overall DM strategy and subsequent campaigns. DM skills applied: response analysis, marketing metrics and analysis.

Objective #3: Implement a Plan to Obtain Employment Students will leverage what they learned in Objective #1 and develop a strategy and plan to a “real

world”, personal, and near-term scenario of obtaining employment. Most of the steps from Objectives #1 and #2 apply as follows:

1. Develop the strategy and objective – Conduct a self-assessment of core skills, capabilities, and experience using SWOT. Leverage research from career placement offices, other students, alumni, outplacement services, etc. Identify the type of job opportunities being sought and the specific career objectives.

2. Define the target audience – Acquire a list of potential employers and group them into employer categories based upon job descriptions, roles, responsibilities, geographical locations, etc.

3. List the major steps in the plan – Develop a high-level plan to manage the job search process, including dependencies, what-if scenarios if and when delays or disappointments occur.

4. Set a completion date – Manage the job search process to a timeline, including milestones for major steps, e.g., finalize resume, complete job applications, schedule interviews, etc.

5. Determine the budget – Manage the job search process to a limited budget and impute funds accordingly (e.g., for interview attire, time spent away from current employer, travel, etc.).

6. Determine the expected outcome – Identify expectations or success rate for each job opportunity and employer category.

7. Develop the value proposition and the collateral – Determine how one’s skills, capabilities, and experience match the job opportunities being advertised and tailor communication and collateral accordingly (e.g., resume, curriculum vita, cover letter, follow-up letter, etc.).

8. Develop the target list – Identify the target list of potential employers (i.e., a test and control design, test and learn approach).

9. Launch the plan – Execute the plan for job opportunities via various channels (e.g., mail-in applications, website submissions, university services, job fairs, career development centers, etc.).

10. Measure the results – Track results from the various target goals (e.g. job opportunities and employer categories, graduate and professional schools). Improve and refine the plan accordingly, and re-launch as needed.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

The direct marketing campaign projects have included a total of 165 students. This spans a time period of two and half years of using the simulation and personal goal campaign project. The preliminary results in terms of students attaining their career goals are the following:

•26% have found internships •32% have found employment •11% have been accepted to graduate school


There were a number of students (21%) that had an existing full-time job. Almost all of the students (20%) who already had an existing job remained in the job during the period after taking the course.

Qualitative results from the project based upon Student Surveys from the course indicate that students have an overall appreciation of the skills learned. The course has consistently received the highest rated marketing courses in the department. Students have reported the following:

• An overall appreciation of the skills learned • A realization that these skills should be taught to every student • An understanding of the different job market channels and measuring the response rate for

each channel

Overall the students were able to acquire and utilize the skills required in the direct marketing campaign project. However, students on average reported the hardest skills to learn were: Project Planning and Tracking In-Progress Campaign Results (conversion rate through the pipeline). CONCLUSION

It is apparent that the steps for conducting a direct marketing campaign are easily transferable and can be applied to implementing a plan to obtain career goals (e.g., employment). The reason is direct marketing campaign teaches core marketing skills as well as provides a structured approach consisting of strategize, plan, execute, and measure. When taught using a simulation, students are more successful in acquiring and retaining these skills and applying them to “real-world” situations. Using approaches that link marketing concepts and skills to “real-world” and “life-long” learning skills help students retain marketing skills and achieve marketing learning outcomes. FUTURE RESEARCH

The project will need a longitudinal study beyond three years to effective measure the success of the project. The research will require several years to assess the retention of the marketing skills and specifically the adoption of a direct marketing campaign approach applied to job search by alumni of the course. It will also be interested to see differences of those alumni of the course who have careers where they are conducting direct marketing campaigns versus those alumni of the course who have careers not using direct marketing campaigns. Additionally, results in the utilization of the direct marketing campaign approach for job search can vary by alumni based upon majors and how many years after graduation in gauging the retention of marketing skills.

The effectiveness of this type of project is easily transferrable to other business majors based on the preliminary results of non-marketing business majors having completed the project. The skills utilized in the structured steps of a direct marketing campaign require knowledge of other business skills such as: writing, critical thinking, financial analysis, forecasting, economic analysis, database systems, and project management. These skills are taught and emphasized in the business disciplines of: accounting, computer information systems, economics, finance and management. The scope of the project could also be extended to non-business students such as liberal arts majors. Finding a job is not a major or a profession specific. REFERENCES AACSB (2007). AACSB Assurance of Learning Standards: An Interpretation, Paper presented at the AACSB International Accreditation Quality Committee, Tampa, Florida, 1-16. Bonham, G. Matthew (2008). Using a Role-Playing Simulation to Bridge Theory and Practice in Graduate Professional Education, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, San Jose Marriott, San Jose, California, Feb 22, 2008.


Carlson, J. L., Cohn, R. L., & Ramsey, D. B. (2002). Implementing Hansen's Proficiencies. Journal of Economic Education, 33, (Spring), 180-191. Chakraborty, Goutam and Glen Nowak (1998), Teaching Direct Marketing and Teaching Exchange, in the National Direct Marketing Institute for Professors, Atlanta, Georgia, March 11-13. DeNeve Kristina M. and Mary J. Heppner (2005). Role play simulations: The assessment of an active learning technique and comparisons with traditional lectures. Innovative Higher Education 21, (3), 231-246. Doyle, J.M., & Wood, W.C (2005). Principal Course Assessment, Accreditation, and Depreciation of Economic Knowledge (2007). Journal of Education for Business, 80, (January/February), 176-185. Kipps, P. H., & Kohen, A. K. (1984). The depreciation of human capital over time: The case of economic knowledge revisited. Journal of Economic Education, 15, (Winter), 90-91. The Charles Schwab Corporation. (2011). Hoover's Company Records, 10320. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.mimas.calstatela.edu/pqdweb?index=0&did=168151531&SrchMode=2&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1328477650&clientId=17855.


Engaging in Reflective Decision-Making: The Role of Skills in the Development of the Information Systems

Undergraduate Curriculum

Jeffry S. Babb, Jr. West Texas A&M University

Herbert E. Longenecker, Jr. University of South Alabama

Charles R. Woratschek

Robert Morris University

Amjad Abdullat West Texas A&M University

The Information Systems (IS) undergraduate curriculum has consistently valued the same core Information Technology (IT) skills as those of the professional marketplace. The conundrum faced by department chairs and curriculum committees is how to adjust to changes in the IT environment and marketplace while fostering a core of basic IT skills. That core is the consistent tradition of IT skills for the IS discipline. Argyris and Schön’s work on organizational learning is used as a philosophical and theoretical lens through which the curriculum decision-making process can be better understood. Cycles of skills and learning assessment, which utilize key constituents to provide feedback loops for error detection and correction, both promote and restrain the tendency to react and over-react in curricular decision-making. In light of this, the 2010 Association for Information Systems/Association for Computing Machinery (AIS/ACM) model curriculum is compared to previous model curricula in order to examine the degree to which the need for basic IT skills has actually changed. Future research directions are discussed which will facilitate inquiry into which IT skills have consistently mattered in the Information Systems discipline over the last 20 years. It is our position that a cycle of reflective learning is needed to undertake appropriate error correction and detection in the process of curricular decision-making. A DISCIPLINE IN CRISIS STILL MATTERS

Nicholas Carr (2003) famously posited that “IT doesn’t matter” just at a time when the wider Information Technology (IT) field was in decline; both the “Dot Com Bust” and Friedman’s (2005) flattening world, describing accelerating global labor arbitrage, was acutely felt amongst many IT


workers. One discipline which has both benefited and chagrined from its association with IT is Information Systems (IS).

Information Systems, often located in schools and colleges of business, has lived in the academic shadow of management and computer sciences in somewhat equal measures (Baskerville & Myers, 2002). At times, IS has uneasily existed in its business school home, depending on what cycle the wider IT industry was in, or what management trend or fad was in vogue (Baskerville & Myers, 2009). Moreover, the Information Systems discipline has led an uneasy co-existence with its parent disciplines for most of its existence (Baskerville & Myers, 2002). As the IS discipline has profited and perished according to the boom/bust inherent to all IT disciplines, undergraduate IS programs are under ever-present pressure to adjust curriculum accordingly (Kroll et al., 2010). This pattern of adjustment to short-term trends and market effects also affects rational and long-term thinking with respect to curriculum development. Add to this various constraints on curriculum placed by accreditation requirements, and it quickly becomes evident that curriculum decision-making is fraught. It is not unique that curriculum development has its challenges, as surely other disciplines have their own struggle, and rather the challenge is to design a compelling curriculum that suits the needs of students, professionals and the industry. A more fundamental question lies in whether Information Systems, as a discipline, still matters. While this is difficult to answer forthrightly, we feel that IS most certainly matters to those in the discipline and profession who rely on the fundamental knowledge and skills we impart in the IS curriculum.

This paper will explore the importance of the IS discipline in the context of decision-making for the IS curriculum in the following manner. First, we continue a discussion on the nature of the IS discipline and concomitant effects on undergraduate enrollments in the last decade. This is followed by a discussion of the role of change as an essential component of the nature of the IS discipline. Next, we focus on the persistent requirement for IT skills in the IS discipline. We follow this with a look at the IS undergraduate curriculum and how faculty learn through the delivery and assessment of this curriculum in the face of environmental changes. Lastly, we look forward towards an iterative, reflective, and unified model of the undergraduate IS curriculum.

What is Information Systems?

Silver et al. (1995) have suggested that IS lives in a duality anchored by (1) skills-and-function-oriented areas of software, hardware, and data (the IT artifacts); and, (2) business processes and the management of data/information processing infrastructure. In-between these two realms is the constancy of people (the human and managerial factor). Thus, by its original nature, IS suffers from a schizoid incoherence (Reihlen et al., 2009) which confounds attempts to a) establish a mature and stable discipline; and b) establish an appropriate undergraduate curriculum which supports industry’s skills requirements in a sustainable manner. Thus, educators are charged with preparing students for successful entry into industry and a career that is sustained by foundational knowledge broad enough to accommodate ephemeral trends. However, debate concerning the fundamental nature of the IS discipline will confound these efforts. Confusion about the nature of IS, both in terms of research and tutelage, is not particularly new (Glass et al., 2004), but it is poignantly compelling at the moment as the discipline has not fully recovered from wide-ranging setbacks and adjustments experienced in the first decade of the 21st Century.

Characteristics of the Information Systems Graduate

Ideally, an Information Systems professional must be versed in the functional and practical aspects of IT artifacts and also be fluent in the aspects of business processes common to the realm of the analyst. However, as the IS discipline reacts to trends in the environment, curricular focus is understandably and consequently influenced – making a perfect balance elusive.

When organizations first leveraged the strategic and competitive advantage of IT in the 1970s and 1980s, the technology-management aspects of the IS discipline gained emphasis. When end-user computing took off in the 1980s and 1990s, IS-trained professionals were poised to write office


automation systems and also understand business process modeling/engineering in their respective functional areas. When the Internet and the World Wide Web took hold of business, and society at large, IS professionals were able to join in the “gold rush” that was the “Dot Com” era.

It is through the successive waves of innovation and upset in the IT industry that Information Systems-trained professionals have adapted along with many others in the computing disciplines. Throughout this period, the need for basic skills in data design and management; application design, development, and management; IT infrastructure design and management; and the overall operational and strategic management of IT have persisted. That is to say that despite fads and fashion that commonly move research and practice, the essential skills have persisted (Baskerville & Meyers, 2009; Woratscheck & Lennox, 2009).

Where Did the Information Systems Students Go?

In light of recent developments in the IT marketplace and industry, it is tempting to pronounce the IS discipline as a dead-end. However, contrary predictions (typically from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), suggest that computing disciplines are only set to evolve and flourish. This raises another question: are our enrollment challenges cyclical or is something else afoot? Furthermore, with respect to curriculum design: are the foundations of the discipline, especially concerning core skills, fundamentally obsolete, or, do we need to revitalize these skills in new contexts? Moreover, if the skills imparted in our curricula are indeed appropriate, then why have they lost attraction for college-aged and college-bound students? Lenox et al. (2008) suggest that the phenomenon of low enrollments is fundamentally structural; moreover, these structural changes should actually favor the multi-disciplinary nature of IS (i.e. technically competent professionals who can also interface between IT systems and organizational systems). What is clear is that, for the IS discipline, IT will certainly continue to matter (Orlikowski & Iacono, 2001) as a fundamental part of its raison d’être. Accordingly, a curriculum design approach would not involve the abandonment of our core IT skills.

It is often said that crisis presents opportunity and undoubtedly some will believe that our present opportunity is to change the shape of the discipline to accommodate the future. Klawe and Shneiderman (2005) have suggested that our collective future relies on ”...winning back student enrollment, public interest in technology, and government research funding,” (p. 27) and this certainly rings true with respect to reigniting interest in what IS has to offer – specifically, a central focus on IT.

As we grapple with issues related to curriculum design and assessment, we must be mindful of our constituents, perhaps most of all, those whom we educate (Woratschek & Lenox, 2009). While the answer to “where did the students go?” may have many possible answers (Granger et al., 2007), the question has acute meaning for IS programs situated in schools in advanced and western economies; our students are, after all, our lifeblood. Accordingly, our curricular decision-making focus in these IS programs should be on learning and feedback cycles which allow the application of our fundamental skills and expertise in new contexts. In this sense we can approach learning as a change management strategy.

The Role of Change in the Discipline

Change is an agent for learning and growth as much as it is a disruptive force; it can be argued that IS, as a discipline, arose from the need to manage and shape information-wrought change in organiza-tions. In this sense, the IS discipline is about facilitating the information services required to make appropriate decisions and appropriate work flow. Regularly, this goes beyond getting “...the right information to the right person at the right time...” and more profoundly extends to improving “...the performance of people in organizations through the application of information technology.” (Sprague and McNurlin, 1997)

As our discipline has and continues to experience a decline in enrollments in our academic programs, it becomes evident that the discipline has a change management problem on its hands. As the IS discipline now has this internal problem, a system of reflective self-evaluation somehow seems harder to come by. In response to this conundrum, the literature on organizational change management would likely recommend that we focus on our patterns of organizational learning (Argyris, 1977; Keen, 1981; Markus


& Robey, 1988; Orlikowski, 1993; Gurbaxani & Whang, 1991). Argyris (1977) reminds us that an important facet of learning is error detection and correction. Thus, with respect to the fundamentals of our discipline, what errors are we susceptible to in the face of our current crisis and how might we detect and correct them?

The Persistence of Basic Skills

Among the gravest of errors we see possible at this juncture is the temptation to cut critical core skills as a means of student retention. We feel this is a grave error from the basic perspective of the value proposition that the discipline holds for its constituents. In this sense, we can comprehend our enrollment and curriculum decision-making problem in light of the value of our core IS skills and knowledge have for society and organizations. We can argue that our perceived value lies within the skills that an IS professional uses to disseminate, shape, and transform information:

One indication of students’ strong interest in new applications is the success of information schools and information systems programs in business schools that emphasize information, Web design, information architecture, social computing, and online communities, especially in health care, education, e-business, and digital government. This success reflects the at-traction of these new topics for students, as well as the strong job market for students with the related skills (Klawe & Shneiderman, 2005).

We see and acknowledge that a linkage among skills, jobs and public perception is fundamental to our decision-making. Students who enter undergraduate programs in IS are shaped by their every-day use of IT and also by societal positions on and opinions of IT. If perception exists that traditional and well-known career opportunities have shifted overseas, then what new opportunities will arise to supplant the old and where can the skills and knowledge driving these new opportunities be acquired? Or, more importantly, are these new opportunities really “new?” One danger is that IS programs will begin to chase the IT trend du jour such that long-standing traditions, knowledge, and skills fundamental to our discipline will be hastily abandoned in favor what may be fickle and short-term trends (Lightfoot, 1999). Again, a system of reflection which allows for the incorporation of new trends into the existing framework of our basic skills and knowledge is an appropriate response to this problem. Thus, we can argue that our attempts to ascertain and describe model curricula for Information Systems undergraduate programs needs continuous feedback mechanisms which allow for error detection and correction with respect to the assimilation of skills that match the job market without compromising the fundamental and essential nature of the discipline.

THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM

The professional societies which surround computing - The Association for Information Systems, the Association for Information Technology Professionals, and the Association for Computing Machinery - have engaged in the task of defining the central tendencies of an undergraduate curriculum in Information Systems for over two decades now. The outcomes of these endeavors, the IS 1995, IS 1997, IS 2002, and IS 2010 model curricula, have each described the learning units fundamental to the knowledge and skills which best serve the industry and our graduates. With the implicit and explicit support of these professional societies, industry and the academy have a common vocabulary from which the discipline can flourish. While these curriculum models typically offer sound guidance, when jobs are disappearing and enrollments are down (or at least appearing so), there is a temptation to quickly mend and retool the discipline as one would do in emergency-room triage. However, we feel that a slowing of the industry and a shift due to geopolitical and market factors should not necessarily constitute the fulcrum for a fundamental change in the skills and knowledge requirements of the discipline. This leaves us with the task of reconciling what is fundamental.

Defining Essential IT Skills

There is no question that IS programs should teach the requisite skills necessary to sustain the industry. To this end, there our studies on trends in skills requirements in industry (Table 1) which call for


balance between our core traditions and the effects of new IT innovation (Landry, et al., 2000, 2003). Our concern is how we can craft appropriate reactions to changes in the environment such that we don’t over-correct and inappropriately eliminate our core knowledge/skills areas.

TABLE 1

COMMON THEMES IN ELEMENTS OF SKILLS

Landry et al., 2003 Landry et al., 2000

Systems development tools and techniques Software/Web Development; Database

Interpersonal skills/communication Business Fundamentals; Individual and Team/Interpersonal skills

Systems implementation and testing strategies Systems Integration

Systems development concepts and methodologies Systems Analysis and Design

Approaches to systems development Project Management

The Relationship between IT Skills and the IS Discipline

It is important to observe that previous efforts at establishing model curricula - IS 1997 (Gorgone et al., 1997) and IS2002 (Davis et al., 2002) occurred during years of relative prosperity with respect to the health of the industry in advanced, western economies. Certainly the ravages of the so-called “Dot Com Bust,” circa 2000, were known by the time IS2002 was released, however, it was too close to the event at the time to know how these events would ultimately unfold. Now, eight years on, the long-term effects are well known: enrollments have not fully recovered, programs have folded, and there is little doubt that many of the traditional avenues and opportunities for our graduates have changed and/or dried up. While other new opportunities have materialized, the landscape seems different to some. As we consider these matters we must still question: will the discipline’s fundamental skills be any different? While the effects of technological change on our curriculum design has been previously examined (Anderson & Tushman, 1990), each change cycle raises questions concerning what the new model will look like and what content is no longer valid. Moreover, we’ve experienced the boom/bust cycle in the past, and throughout these cycles, many core aspects of our dominant design have remained stalwart.

IT skills are an important manifestation of the utility of the IS discipline to match the information processing needs of the organization to appropriate technologies. We have little doubt that when our disciplinary skills and expertise are appropriately utilized, and developed with the appropriate constituencies, that our discipline supports a role for change that defines excellence in the field. Thus, the ultimate objective for the application of our skills is performance improvement – a goal based on outcomes and results rather than process for its own sake. Our skills, as ever, facilitate the achievement of organizational information-processing goals. Moreover, we must possess an intimate knowledge of the skills required to build systems - regardless of where they are built and by whom they are built. The relationship between IT skills and the IS discipline is such that these skills are our cachet and represent our effectiveness.


FIGURE 1 RELATING THE DISCIPLINE TO SKILLS

Figure 1 presents our model of the relationship between IT Skills and the IS discipline which focuses on our curricular goal of developing successful graduates. The industry and profession exist on the basis of the characteristics and qualities of successful graduates. These characteristics are shaped by the skills our graduates learn, the core multi-disciplinary nature of the IS discipline, and our mission to understand and guide organizational use of technology. In this sense, the IS model curriculum is largely unchanged in how these characteristics are defined.

A CYCLE OF LEARNING

As we develop curriculum models in order to chart an appropriate course for the IS curriculum, we are also framing and reframing our discipline (Topi et al., 2007). Thus, given the nascent and changing nature of our discipline (while sentiment is arguable, we feel that ours is a juvenile discipline at this stage with all the attendant metaphoric implications), our judgment, wisdom and maturity is a moving target. In this light, it is clear that “...in the rapidly changing field of Information Systems, educational programs must be continually reevaluated and revised. This can be a daunting task...” (Noll and Wilkins, 2002).

Curriculum Design as a Learning Process

In our reflective processes of reevaluation and revision of the IS curriculum, we undertake parallel processes of decision-making and learning. Argyris (1977) recognized that learning attendant to the outcomes and inputs to decision-making can be thought of as processes of error detection and correction. On this point Argyris asserts: “...Error is a mismatch: a condition of learning, and matching a second condition of learning. The detection and correction of error produces learning and the lack of either or


both inhibits learning.” (p. 365) Decision-making must scan and probe for clues and trends in the environment such that fundamental and underlying assumptions of correctness and truth can be tested.

The problem space in which curricular design decisions are made is complex and evolving; there is an ever-increasing set of stake-holder-driven constraints such as those of the AACSB and ABET. Our need for learning is commensurate with the complexity and ambiguity inherent in the problem (Argyris, 1977). These issues are further confounded by fleeting consensus on curricular matters. This leads to a key impediment to learning: “...the degree to which interpersonal, group, intergroup, and bureaucratic factors produce valid information for the decision makers.” (Argyris, 1977, p. 365). For instance, in the case of the IS discipline, there is evidence that a crisis of identity persists and persistently vexes this community (Orlikowski & Iacono, 2001; Weber, 2003; Benbasat & Zmud, 2003; Hirschheim and Klein, 2003). Thus, the clarity and validity of information for decision-making is certainly changeable, depending on context, within the discipline.

Argyris goes on to suggest that another important barrier to good decision-making and learning is: “...the receptivity to corrective feedback of the decision-making unit that is, individual, group, or organization (1977, p.365).” Presently, our choices for charting the way forward for our curriculum and discipline are no clearer than when Hirschheim and Klein (2003) proposed the following options: (a) let it die; (b) keep it on life-support; (c) take corrective action (learning); (d) rebirth. As our house is not necessarily in order - “...IS as a field needs to address its internal problems first so that it can better perform its external social roles...” (Hirschheim and Klein, 2003) - we are accordingly impeded. Put in another light, the identity crisis in IS, ranging perhaps over the duration of the discipline’s existence, causes a schizoid tendency where the discipline develops theories of action which are in contention: Information Systems is unable to reconcile and resolve contradictions in its multi-/inter-disciplinary nature. This instability threatens our ability to maintain what should be natural leadership among the computing disciplines as IT continues to impact markets, organizations and societies. Viewed through an even simpler lens: are we IT technicians, IT managers, both, or neither?

Argyris and Schön (1974, 1978) have referred to the type of disjunction inherent in the nature of IS in their espoused-theory vs. theory-in-use model of action. In this case, it may very well be that we in the IS discipline espouse a theory of action, specifically theories of action governing the decision-making for IS curricular issues, which highlights the inter/multi-disciplinary aspects of the field. However, given any number of biases, the theory-in-use of our actions often tilts towards some degree of polarization on the question: What is Information Systems? Answering this question is fundamental to the design and modeling of curriculum choices.

Single-Loop and Double-Loop Learning

Argyris and Schön (1974, 1978) have augmented their theories of action by describing two models of learning: Single-Loop Learning and Double-Loop Learning. These learning models are important for identifying and ameliorating discrepancies between an espoused theory and a theory-in-use.

Therefore, when strength of one’s programming and indoctrination is so pervasive in one’s theories-in-use, the tendency exists to override or overcome the logic of the espoused theory. This manifests itself in IS curricular decisions depending on the indoctrinations inherent in the individual. Many IS professionals and scholars came into (and shaped) the IS discipline from a variety of antecedent and reference disciplines: Systems Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science, Management, etc. Each of these disciplines has its own traditions and indoctrinations that can be traced from, to and through those that have built the IS discipline. We now have, in the last 20 years, a cadre of professionals and scholars who have matriculated through “true blue” IS programs, but we are far from unified. A quick read of departments and programs offering an undergraduate education in IS immediately gives the impression of identity crisis: our programs and departments are known by enough name variations to the point that we frequently must explain ourselves, and our monikers, to the lay-person. All of this suggests that creating a shared context for learning may be difficult for the IS discipline.


Single-Loop Learning Our biases serve to influence a phenomenon known as single-loop learning. This form of learning

usually reinforces these biases rather than lead to true learning: “…human behavior, in any situation, represents the most satisfactory solution people can find consistent with their governing values or variables, such as achieving a purpose as others define it, winning, suppressing negative feelings, and emphasizing rationality.” (Argyris, 1977, p. 367) In this sense, fundamental and governing variables are not truly tested in the face of conflicting information and new decision-making strategies operate from a fundamental programming inherent in the theory-in-use. Figure 2 illustrates single-loop learning.

FIGURE 2

SINGLE-LOOP AND DOUBLE-LOOP LEARNING

Double-Loop Learning

Alternatively, there is double-loop learning, which overcomes the limitations of single-loop learning via reflective action. Double-loop learning is very difficult to achieve despite being readily recognizable when it is absent in others (Argyris, 1977; Argyris & Schön, 1974, 1978, 1996). The principle concern with double-loop learning is to examine one’s governing variables (fundamental and programmed beliefs) and compare these to the outcomes of action (both failure and success). The rationality governing Double-Loop learning is not designed to protect a point of view but rather to gather the most perfect information possible.

In this sense, we frame the problem of curriculum modeling based on collective problem- solving where the risky and unpleasant exercise of questioning governing variables is prerequisite. Double-loop learning is illustrated in Figure 2.

The utility in assuming the philosophical and theoretic lens of Argyris and Schön’s theories of action and learning is to characterize the non-trivial and iterative nature of the decision-making and problem-solving task that is curriculum design in Information Systems. That this is a difficult task has hopefully been supported thus far, but it is an imperative as the IS discipline remains in crisis. This crisis is somewhat tempered by the persistent value of IT skills: after all, IS has historically attracted large numbers of students as the match between those skills desired in the marketplace and the skills offered in programs was perceived as a good one. Thus, adding to the confusion is decisions on which skills to emphasize and how to sort fad from fundamentals. This is so as we seek to a) provide the necessary skills to prepare our students for entry-level positions in industry and b) provide students with a fundamental framework and background for ongoing and continuous learning (Lightfoot 1999).


Error Detection: Tracking IS 1997, IS2002, and IS2010 While the history of computing curriculum modeling has a 40-year history, the efforts of the past 20

years are of acute concern as they represent the years since our most recent and fundamental technology change: wide-spread uptake of the use of the Internet and, subsequently, the World-Wide-Web. As we consider the thread of efforts beginning with Longenecker and Feinstein (1991) through the IS2010 guideline (Topi et al. 2010), we can apply Argyris and Schön’s theories on action and learning to understand how we have acted and reacted to change in our curriculum modeling and specification. Specifically, there are elements of the AIS/ACM IS2010 model curriculum which are welcome, but also choices which are questionable. In general, a pattern of error detection can be employed to understand potential disconnect between IT/IS professionals, academics and industry as we move forward.

Computer programming has long been our Achilles heel in Information Systems curriculum planning and development. Computer programming is often what sparks our booms and has also recently been at the heart of our busts as a discipline. We now undertake an exercise where we examine the choice made in the AIS/ACM model curriculum to relegate programming to an elective. We examine the motivations for this and other changes to the model curriculum in the AIS/ACM document by referring to the reasons listed by Topi et al. 2007 as it lays out the plan for what became IS2010 (Table 2 in Appendix).

Our critique of the reasons and rationale for the changes proposed, and subsequently instituted, in the AIS/ACM IS2010 model curriculum are not actually a demonstration of the double-loop learning exercise. Rather, this is an example of the opportunity for a reflective and discursive dialog toward the end of reconciling single-loop and double-loop learning in these particular matters. While options for comment and input have been available, we feel that these may not have been done in the spirit and practice of the double-loop learning. Of course it is imperative that our discipline entertain change and engage in change management, but to do so at the expense of fundamental skills is not to be taken lightly. We feel that this is an opportunity for the constructive process of double-loop learning as an exercise of error detection and correction. Towards this end, there are numerous opportunities for future research and collaboration.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

An approach to realizing double-loop learning for curricular decision-making in support of an appropriate curricular model is to continue prior work in measuring and taking inventory and analysis of skills and competence (Davis, 2002; Landry et al., 2000; Landry et al. 2003; Wagner et al., 2009) using empirical evidence from measurements obtained via our industry contacts (alumni and otherwise).

Towards a Unified Model

The theoretical lens of reflective action and learning can be utilized to support efforts at specifying a family of curricula where each computing discipline may support multiple programs. We support the need for a common core amongst the computing disciplines, but also recognize that programs can and should be different due to electives. Programs are, in practice, variable; there can and will be huge philosophic differences between two programs. We recognize that a given program is unique and provides a unique curricular target for students, faculty, local industry leaders, and other stakeholders to attain.

We advocate for a curricular model where a flexible and tailored ”theme” defines a pro-gram’s content along with a skill hierarchy, a reckoning of which jobs are attainable by a graduate with these skills, and other personal characteristics (Figure 1). A single theme per program is essential so that each faculty member can learn and relay its theme and jobs to anyone asking. Goal-setting leads to goal-seeking, which leads to goal attainment.

Skills must be achieved as the curriculum advances through a series of courses. The time to learn the necessary skills is during the actual course. As evidence of “progress” being made, courses are factored into a set of program outcome statements which are behaviorally expressed. These outcomes, in their development, require considerable application of critical thinking to ensure that the statements express the desired contents. These are the elements of Figure 1.


We feel that such a system lends itself well to utilizing reflective double-loop learning as we are willing to revisit our theme in conjunction with core skills as the environment necessitates. Importantly, we feel that our core skills should be jealously guarded such that we look for ways to add to these core skills rather than allow short-term perturbations to upset our focus on these core skills.

Tracking Skills

In support of our vision for a unified curriculum model, there is a need to continue the work of Landry et al. (2000, 2003) in keeping track of core and fundamental skills as they relate to jobs. It is imperative that we ascertain if the work of Topi et al. (2007, 2010) is fundamentally correct. There is value, at the very least, in triangulating results. We feel that our task is to cultivate and extend our core skills, as expressed in Table 1, as technology progresses. This position is in opposition to weakening our core skills by relegating them to sidelines; to be pursued as a track of interest. If we are not about designing, building, implementing and maintaining information systems, then what are we? Our original core skills, as expressed in IS97 and IS2002, are likely correct and new trends have not been in place long enough to alter them.

Tracking and Mapping Industry Constituents

Another future direction in the area of skills assessment, proposed initially by Abdullat and Babb (2010), is to better track industrial and alumni advisory boards for the purpose of keeping abreast on trends in skills requirements and demands. For curricular decisions related to skills building, leveraging the ex-tended network of industry professionals connected to a given institution’s program, its graduates, and industry constituents is valuable in order to determine a richer picture of the skills-to-jobs matching. This would involve performing a periodic Social Network Analysis on the industrial advisory board and perhaps sharing these in a wider network to achieve (or leverage) the advantages of similar professional social networks, such as LinkedIn. Social Network Analysis can be a strategy for understanding and selecting a sample for further survey measurement of skills. Furthermore, the results of such a survey can be compared with the social network for a mixed-methods analysis. This would allow for a better under-standing of the regional aspects of the jobs/skills relationship. Social Network Analysis is gaining more acceptance as a decision and visualization tool as the idea of social net-works in general is enjoying greater societal uptake (Boyd & Ellison, 2007; Mislove et al., 2007). The utility in this approach is to understand and manage our relationship with our industry partners: both for learning and for focusing and refocusing this relationship on our shared tasks. Embraced in symbiosis, it is imperative that both educators and industry professionals work to clarify goals for skills development in light of each party’s constraints. However, we in the academy have a higher imperative to temper the market-induced vacillations experienced by our partners in industry by taking a longer view on our core and fundamental skills.

CONCLUSION

Our opportunity to engage in double-loop learning in curriculum decision-making lies with our ability to; a) come to grips with knowledge that is fundamental to the discipline and b) recognize which skills are fundamental to our discipline. We should, in equal measures, a) remain sensitive to the needs of industry; b) educate industry regarding our core-competency of knowledge and skills; and c) remain true to our students by instilling a long-standing tradition of core skills and knowledge which stand the test of time. We can only accomplish these goals by engaging regularly in processes of reflective action and learning which promote self-critical double-loop learning. This entails both the courage to change and the wisdom and reflection to fit changes into our wider framework of core knowledge and skills. From this we will all benefit: the industry, our students and the discipline at large.


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Reihlen, M., Albers, S., Kewitz, T. (2009). Internationalization as Strategic Change: The Case of Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft. Management Revue, 20(2), 209-234. Silver, M.S., Markus, M.L., Beath, C.M. (1995). The Information Technology Interaction Model: A Foundation for the MBA Core Course. MIS Quarterly, 19(3), 361-390. Sprague, R.H. and McNurlin, B.C. (2007). Information Systems Management in Practice, 4th edition. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Topi, H., Valacich, J. S., Kaiser, J., Nunnamaker, J. F., Jr., Sipior, J., d.Vreede, G.J., & Wright, R.T. (2007) Revising the IS Model Curriculum: Rethinking the Approach and the Process. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 20(45), pp. 16. Weber, R. (2003). Still Desperately Seeking the IT Artifact, MIS Quarterly, 27(2), pp. iii-xi. Woratscheck, C.R. and Lenox, T.L. (2009). Defining CS, IS, and IT: Are We There Yet? Information Systems Education Journal, 7 (59). APPENDIX

TABLE 2 MOTIVATIONS AND RESPONSES TO CHANGE IN IS2010

Topi et al. 2007 Motivations Error Detection and Correction Response

1. Complex globally distributed information systems development – The full extent of the distributed nature of IT development was not fully visible during the development on the previous curriculum. The skills needed by IS graduates have, consequently, changed significantly. Increasingly, many IS jobs for business school graduates require capabilities in the management of globally distributed development resources.

We feel that there is some validity regarding the full impact of distributed, pervasive and ubiquitous computing. However, we posit that the skills required to understand and manage globally-distributed information systems stills involves a command of development skills. We must take care not to replace “hard” skills and with “soft” skills when our concern is managing systems. A key component of managing these projects to understand their essence.

2. Web technologies and development – Mature modeling and development platforms for the web environment have become a core part of IS development.

We fail to understand the utility in differentiating web technologies and development from the skills and knowledge inherent in software and systems development; for which we have a long and right history. Our goal is to incorporate Web development into our existing framework, not pretend it is a new species. Web development is an evolution of software development/programming. Again, we need to establish the long-standing tradition in our skills.

3. ERP/Packaged software – Information systems and business processes have become closely integrated, and increasingly often, core infrastructure applications are based on large-scale enterprise systems so that the focus is shifted from development to configuration.

We wonder, in practice, how will this be done? An understanding of software and systems development lends itself to the scripting/ programming often required to “glue” these pieces together and integrate them. Again, relegating programming and development will put us further


away, not closer, to this subject area. Often, getting things done with these packaged frameworks involves going a step beyond into development skills. Moreover, what of the SME’s and their computing and systems needs? There are many things we can do with Wizards and similar tools, but the real power opens up with those with development skills. Furthermore, some of our graduates, who have gone on to work with PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and SAP have needed to customize, configure and extend the base packages with their development skills. The list goes on: Sys admins and DBAs (and other sorts of infrastructure people) each need to write scripts and queries requiring programming skill.

4. Ubiquitous mobile computing – Global organizational life using a variety of devices has become dependent on mobile and ubiquitous platforms.

Yes, and we need to learn how to develop for these devices and integrate them into our existing architectures. Ubiquity is also about convergence and integration.


Transformative Community Service Learning: Beyond the “Poor,” the “Rich,” and the Helping Dynamic

Nancy E. Bertaux Xavier University

Kathleen R. Smythe Xavier University

Elaine A. Crable Xavier University

Service-learning in many universities has focused on student learning through “service” to the “poor.” In both domestic and international contexts, many scholars and practitioners of community service learning are redefining what this means to both students and communities, including considering power dynamics between universities and community organizations and focusing more on a partnership relationship than a hierarchical, charity model. This redefinition process promises to yield more effective, transformative programs for students and communities. This article considers service-learning programs in the context of the “helping dynamic;” discusses the case for a partnership, community-engagement approach; and briefly considers how a case of one university’s international service-learning program could be reoriented. INTRODUCTION

Service-learning as it has been historically practiced in many universities has focused on student learning through “service” to the “poor.” Whether the focus of such programs is domestic or international, many scholars and practitioners of community service learning are redefining what service to the poor does and should mean to both students and communities. Such redefinition includes considering power dynamics between universities and community organizations and focusing more on a partnership relationship than a hierarchical, charity model (Worrall, 2007; White, 2009; Crabtree, 2008). This redefining process holds the promise of yielding more effective, transformative programs for both students and communities. In light of Robin Crabtree’s (2008) assessment a few years ago that there was much research and theoretical work to do on international service learning, we examine our university’s programs based on our practical experience with several such semester experiences. We seek to re-frame the experience from one in which the implicit context is the “rich” helping the “poor” through the “helping dynamic” to one in which students learn from those who have demonstrated experience and effectiveness in various aspects of social wealth, such as civic engagement and citizenship. To this end, we will briefly consider how our Jesuit, Catholic university’s international service-learning program could be reoriented in this direction.


SERVICE LEARNING, THE “RICH” AND THE “POOR”

The service-learning programs we are most familiar with have arisen from social justice perspectives, with spiritual or theological origins. At many Jesuit, Catholic universities, service-learning programs talk of “solidarity with the poor,” following the language of Peter-Hans Kolvenbach in his well-known address on “The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Higher Education,” given at Santa Clara University in October 2000 (Kolvenbach, 2000). Indeed, the Jesuit mission as reflected in the preferential option for the “poor” comes out of an intellectual and spiritual appreciation for the suffering that the powerful inflict on the less powerful, a point of view that is important and sorely neglected in discourse and policy-making on world affairs. Indeed, Kolvenbach’s use of the phrase “the promotion of justice” in his address reflects his recognition of imbalances in power that are central to understanding and changing our world. And it comes out of an aspiration that our students and we, as faculty, achieve solidarity with others. But solidarity based on “the poor” and “the rich” is another manifestation of “us” vs. “them” as Albert Nolan, O.P. wrote in the 1980s (Nolan, 1985). Thus, the use of the term “poor” is one that bears examining, and is not merely an exercise in semantics. Its origin is grounded in tremendous political inequality, its use obscures other valuable facets of human existence, and actions following from its use to promote difference and hierarchy as well as charity rather than political engagement or citizenship. Further, its continued use promotes an ethic of production and consumption that is endangering our planet.

The language of “service to the poor” comes from a worldview that assumes that there are poor people and rich people, and that the rich should help the poor. This certainly implies that poverty is something to be avoided, something that needs to be changed; what it implies about riches is more difficult to parse. If rich is the opposite of poor, and the goal is to eliminate poverty, does this mean the goal is to be rich? Is there some in-between category of moderation between the two that constitutes the real goal, and if so, how is it to be defined, and by whom? In fact, the dichotomy of rich/poor reflects the priorities of Western industrialized peoples more than anything else; if we did not seek riches, we would not define those without them as poor. Some of the reactions that students have in service-learning experiences reflect this, as when they come back to the university community articulating, “I am now so much more thankful for what I have.” Certainly, it is a worthy accomplishment for such programs to allow students to realize the material and economic disparities that exist in their society and their world, yet it could also reflect a failure to learn deeper truths about the costs of their “riches” or the setting in which they studied and “served.” HUMAN WELFARE, HAPPINESS, ECONOMIC RESOURCES

Student observations regarding their material plenty highlight the fact that economic distinctions foreground a country’s (and its’ peoples’) economic status as more informative and important than some other measure, such as replenishment of natural resources, children in homes with multiple caregivers, or a deep cultural knowledge embedded in a local landscape. Both economic measures and the discipline of economics as typically construed are limited in scope and vision. GDP, or even more broadly conceived indicators of human progress that have been recently championed and include measures such as literacy rates and life expectancy, can only tell us so much.1 Gilbert Rist, a Swiss professor of development studies, argues that economics as a field of study suffers from trying to “make reality conform to a simplified model or turns the results of possible observation into the basis of general ‘laws’ which supposedly explain all social problems related to the use of goods” (Rist, 2002, p. 245). In fact, a movement of more than 10,000 economists, launched by economics students in France, called ‘post-autistic economics’ makes the same critique, that the discipline is theoretical and ideological with little foundation in reality. They call for a methodology that is problem led, not method led, knowledge-driven, and pluralistic (Fullbrook , 2007).

Thus, a focus on poverty reinforces the very narrow thinking it is meant to challenge. A successful program would enable our students to engage with others in broadening our global understanding of what


it means to live well with limited resources. Part of an international service-learning experience would allow students to experience the ways in which peoples and cultures work and live beyond what they have come to know as the normal but narrow economic ideology that drives much of North American culture.

Dividing the world into “poor” and “rich” has its roots in the post-World War II era. President Truman’s inaugural address in 1948 is an oft-cited early public statement of such a belief system. In it he identifies the “ancient enemies” of “hunger, misery, and despair” as problems to be overcome. He called upon the international community to aid and develop the less fortunate, decolonizing states to overcome such enemies (McMichael , 2008, p. 274). Sociologist Philip McMichael argues that:

Classifying colonials and ex-colonials in this way conflated three conditions: frugality (subsistence lifestyle), destitution (when frugality is deprived of its foundations in community ties to land, forest, and water), and scarcity (modernized poverty within the cash/commodity economy). Arguably, Western ‘modernized poverty’ was projected on to a largely frugal world (albeit in transition) (McMichael , 2008, p. 276-7).

Thus, poverty or ‘modernized poverty’ is new and constructed by outsiders, not those thus labeled. This is not to say, McMichael continues, that poverty should not have been addressed nor that those in the decolonizing world did not welcome some forms development; but it is crucial to recognize the historical context of such terms and ideas. And, the ways in which systems of power--including those at the university level, where many service-learning programs are based--reproduce them. For, as McMichael argues, the ‘have/have-not’ division has not only been created by Northern power but has been perpetuated by it as well. Thus, the WTO (World Trade Organization) promotes corporate agriculture, driving farmers off their land, while the World Bank seeks to eradicate poverty, a poverty that is most readily apparent in urban slums, where failing farmers flee. “Then its [the WTO’s] success (abundant commercial food) is simultaneously its failure (a billion slum dwellers)” (McMichael , 2008, p. 274). We argue that no matter how well-meaning our service-learning semesters, they are bound up in this history and in this power dynamic and, thus, are perpetuating it more than they should.

There are a variety of ways in which we as people can be “rich” and “poor.” More profound than the service-learning student’s reaction, “I am now thankful for what I have,” are student descriptions of their struggle to understand how the people they met were often so accepting or even happy with their lives, in the context of what appeared to the students to be material deprivation. These students are confronting the idea that happiness is not a direct function of material resources. Economists have recently challenged dominant views on utility and happiness (sometimes referred to as “subjective well-being”); sometimes working on interdisciplinary teams with neurologists and psychologists, economists have begun to corroborate a broader view of human welfare and happiness that has clarified the role of economic and material well-being (Easterlin, 2001; Layard 2006; Frey & Stutzer, 2002; Kahneman & Krueger, 2006; Frank, 2007). British economist Richard Layard notes that surveys of people asking them to rate their happiness levels turn out to correlate highly with objective measures of happiness gathered by neurologists’ monitoring of brain activity. And these surveys show the following as the seven most important factors affecting happiness (listed in order, with most important first): family relationships, financial situation, work, community and friends, health, personal freedom, and personal values (Layard , 2005). It is immediately clear that narrow notions of economic well-being are important for human happiness and welfare, but not more so than family, community, and so on.

Further, Layard explains that the happiness from economic factors is subject to two mitigating factors: habituation and social comparison. Habituation means that while a new material possession might bring short-term pleasure, the owner gets quickly used to it and the pleasure fades, while in comparison, the happiness from family and community does not appear to be short-lived. The social comparison factor is also crucial in understanding the relation between economic status and happiness, for as people gain economic rewards or status past a certain threshold of comfort, much of the happiness gained from these rewards is tied to feeling superior—i.e., I have something most people don’t have, so I feel better-off. But if others gain the same rewards or status, the feeling of welfare is decreased or even eliminated, and this


appears to explain the following well-documented paradox: as western nations’ economic welfare has grown immensely over recent decades, the happiness reported by their populations has appeared to stay fairly constant. In other words, as a society grows richer, individuals who feel their relative status is unchanged do not feel richer. In this view, the whole process of economic growth (beyond the threshold of comfort and well-being) appears as pointless, indeed as a kind of economic arms race.

And if the efforts to achieve economic growth are harmful to other factors affecting happiness, such as family, community, health, personal freedom, or values, then these efforts are actually counter-productive. A focus on what Robert Putnam has called social wealth, a series of interconnections within a community, would simultaneously promote a non-economic approach to service learning as well as meet a gaping need in modern American culture (Putnam, 2000). Acting theorist Anne Bogart tells a story of a fellow theatre professional who was growing disillusioned with her work in the U.S., and who was able to speak with Mother Teresa in person when she visited New York City. Her friend spoke of her decision to go to India where she could be truly useful, but Mother Teresa answered her definitively, “In my country there is a famine of the body. In your country there is a famine of the spirit. And that is what you must feed” (Bogart, 2007, p. 43). This story highlights an important element of our critique. Our global future welfare rests on students in the United States learning about social wealth. SHOULDN’T WE “DO SOMETHING”? THE “HELPING DYNAMIC”

The focus on material wealth is too narrow, but it also assumes superiority on the part of the Northerner that is not necessarily conscious on the student’s part but is a facet of the relationship nonetheless. We have found that, at times, even the most well-meaning and most experienced students believe that they are going to somehow make a difference in the lives of those less well-off (in economic terms) than themselves. Such a belief stems from the same widespread characterization of poverty as described above. It is almost impossible for a well-informed, morally attuned Northerner not to feel a compulsion to “do something” out of a sense of injustice, but also pity.

Our students are not alone in feeling pity. William Easterly writes in The White Man’s Burden that this ‘burden emerged from the West’s self-pleasing fantasy that ‘we’ were the chosen ones to save the Rest” (Easterly , 2006). Gilbert Rist (2002) argues, “the ‘development’/ ‘underdevelopment’ couplet maintained a gap between different parts of the world, but justified the possibility—or the necessity—of intervention on the grounds that one cannot remain passive when one is confronted with extreme need.”2 World leaders demonstrate the same attitude and rhetoric, as Tony Blair declared earlier this decade, “no ‘responsible leader’ can now choose to ‘turn their back’ on Africa” and Gordon Brown (BBC, 2009) recently urged leaders in the G20 to “take action” and to help the world’s poorest countries, because “doing nothing is no longer an option.” Claire Mercer et al claim that such sentiments stem as much from imperial guilt as a desire “to bring order to an apparently chaotic landscape,” a vision similar to that used to justify colonialism (Mercer , 2003, p. 421).

The “helping dynamic” that has come to characterize North/South relationships may have a variety of negative consequences that must be considered. This “helping dynamic” or need to do something manifests itself during the Academic Service Learning Semesters in two ways. First, in the direct service work in countries deemed ‘poor’ and ‘developing’ and, second, in a very full schedule of activities, field trips, speakers, and classes. William Easterly, an economist and aid critic, has argued that it is precisely this ‘white man’s burden’ that has produced so many ill-conceived, poorly executed, and failed development projects. As Crabtree argues (2008, p. 22) our rethinking of service-learning can benefit from scholarship on development and aid, which are effectively "industries" that have been built on the belief that “poor” countries need to be improved by “developed, rich” countries that have the experience, material, and motivation to help. Serious questions need to be raised about both the efficacy and moral probity of such efforts. Indeed, a solid fifty years after the beginning of formal North-South development efforts, few in the South are relatively better off than they were in the mid-twentieth century. Development has not worked overall, as more than two trillion U.S. dollars has been spent over the last five decades with little substantial result (Easterly and Pfutze, 2008). Moyo submits that foreign aid,


instead of enabling constructive economic development in Africa, has actually crippled African economies by enabling large-scale corruption, stifling innovation, and causing inflation that discourages African exports (Moyo, 2009).

We follow more closely than we might like to think in the footsteps of development thinking. Thus, universities such as our own, send students to study abroad in places such as London, Paris, and Rome, but to do service learning in locations like Africa, India, Central and South America, and urban U.S. cities. The message for many is that London and Rome are the nuclei of civilization, while places like Africa and India are in need of help and development. Even though, as most who participate in service learning would recognize, we have much to learn about civilization in all these locations.

With such thinking, the service that is accomplished is often closer to acts of charity than anything else and while some of the effects of such acts may appear helpful, we must squarely face the challenge that the acts or service-learning that follow tend to “disable the civic, silencing the citizen as a political force,” or as an agent for change (Boyle-Baise, 2006, p.17). To the extent this is the case, service-learning may be unwittingly supporting short-term, non-systemic change over more politically-engaged, long-term change and an ethic that acts of charity are sufficient rather than band-aids for larger, systemic problems. Even worse, the semesters might be promoting an ideal of material consumption as well. Thus, we are not doing as much as we might to encourage students to see that their own impulse to help and to experience relative civic disengagement are part and parcel of a larger system that fuels narrow conceptions and economic inequalities and unsustainable use of the planet’s resources.

A need to do something says more about our own culture and its privations than it does about the culture within which the service or aid is performed. In fact, as Bertrand Russell argued over a half century ago, there is tremendous value personally, socially, and nationally in idleness, or leisure, or non-working, unscheduled time. Only having to work four hours a day would enable people, he argued, to devote the rest of the time to leisure and other pursuits, such as those of “some public importance.” Yet, as a nation, we have consistently chosen to work longer and harder than not. The accompanying result is exhaustion, illness, a demand for “passive and vapid” amusements, as well as a market-takeover of the domestic arts (Russell, 2004). In a related fashion, the service-learning semesters tend, also, to move in the direction of providing a rich, sometimes very busy schedule of experiences to students, encouraging them to become consumers of experiences, as one former service-learning semester student described it, rather than reflective and observing students and citizens. To relate to Nicaraguans, Ghanaians, or others on their own terms means not only learning about their privations and their civic aspirations but also about their way of experiencing time and social connection, something that is not possible if we fully export our academic and social models.

To move beyond helping and busy schedules would open up space to promote mutual improvements in citizenship and to experience and build social capital. Such work would acknowledge that the terms “development”, “poverty” and “wealth” are globally applicable, rather than the “exclusive domain of specially demarcated ‘third world’ provinces” (Mercer et. al., 2003 p.420). Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., in his 2000 Santa Clara speech appeared at times to use the terms “the poor” and “those who suffer injustice” interchangeably (Kolvenbach , 2000). Such a conflation must be guarded against, since our global hypercapitalist economy renders injustice, in various forms and degrees, to the vast majority, not just those who are materially deprived (though it certainly renders many materially deprived as well). Specifically, such a conflation may cause students to lose sight of the common ground they share with people they seek to help. SOLIDARITY AND SERVICE LEARNING

Our current economic system, which some have characterized as “disaster capitalism,” “supercapitalism,” and “sociopathic capitalism,” can be critiqued as far too narrow for promoting a humane and sustainable (defined by a recognition of ecological and human capacities) existence for those in the South and the North, but it also tends to render most of those within the system powerless.3 The erosion of the sovereign power of nation-states, the increased might of corporations that are beholden to


the few and to profit-seeking, as well as the predominance of consumer messages and behavior all have combined to create a remarkably disengaged citizenry, locally, nationally, and globally. It can be argued that what we all need is not charity but examples of engagement, of acting in the face of such power and consumer messages to create more just and sustainable circumstances for one’s family, community, and larger society.

Further, this is a need that is felt both in the North and the South. Nolan argues “Real solidarity begins when we recognize together the advantages and disadvantages of our different social backgrounds and present realities and the quite different roles that we shall therefore have to play while we commit ourselves together to the struggle against oppression” (Nolan, 1985, 9). Intellectuals and activists from the South are also increasingly calling for other ways of viewing civic and economic renewal, beyond the narrow paradigms of development and the state, such as focusing on restoring ecosystems, indigenous peoples’ rights, and local institutions (Deb, 2009; Shivakumar, 2005).

A successful program would enable our students to engage with others in broadening our global understanding of what it means to live well with limited resources, over and against an implicit model of sending students out into the world to help fight poverty. It will also result in students who have an attitude of local civic work with a global understanding of civic action. Scholars such as Moyo (2009), Easterly (2008) and Rist (2002) are increasingly inclined to believe that the best way forward for all is to “rely upon their own forces” as much as possible. As Rist (2002) argues, there is much to be gained from mobilization within one’s own community, “Very quickly, self-confidence liberates people’s initiative, restored social ties lead to the revival of solidarity, refusal to obey the old powers opens up new ways not only of opting out but also of acquiring new resources.” Similarly, Nolan argues that the most important form of solidarity worldwide is the solidarity that exists and is created between the marginalized themselves.” (Nolan, 1985, p.9)

Thus, our discussion to this point does not mean the North abandons half the globe but rather that we actively create a new paradigm of engagement, one that allows students from the civically disengaged and hyperconsumptive United States to learn from those for whom these are not dominant cultural descriptions. (Sachs, 2009; Collier, 2007; Rist, 2002, p.245) Some of the historically significant ways in which societies have met challenges and sustained themselves is by emulation and cultural diffusion. The former, as described by economic historian Erik Reinert involves a desire to equal or surpass others (Reinert 2007, p.15). The latter as described by African historian Christopher Ehret involves the spread of ideas from one society to another (Ehret 2002, p.16-17). Engagement would allow for both emulation and cultural diffusion, historically proven means of altering societies for the better as opposed to the ideals embedded in the rich/poor dichotomy. A “rich/poor” polarity assumes that a hoped-for future of shared plenty is in the offing; that the poor and poorer countries will get richer and then many, if not all, of their problems will be solved as a result.4

From the community perspective, service learning opportunities where the hosts have expert roles, knowledge is multidirectional, and there is an opportunity for dialogue about current social issues are far more “on equal ground with their university counterparts (d’Arlach et. al., 2009, p.6). Ideally, this dialogue would be more than one-time or short-term, since longer-term relationships are more fruitful (Tyron, 2008). Crabtree argues that communities with strong problem-solving capacities and self-sustaining organizations make more effective sites for international service learning. Thus, the model that we are building here is substantiated by recent research as being in line with some of the best practices in service-learning. Further, as successful development and institution-building are always local initiatives (Shivakumar 2005), community members from strong communities teaching students how to engage in civic action is one of the best ways we can conceive of promoting service-learning. In turn, the community gains contacts and knowledge that others know and care that they have something to offer, something that turns the colonial, development and rich/poor relationships on their heads (Crabtree 2008, p.30).

Thus, we would like to see our community service learning courses and semesters step back from the dominant poverty/wealth paradigm on which they are based and engage our students in larger questions about our common human plight. A focus on the economic poor obscures other kinds of poverty, such as


social poverty; tends to promote hierarchies rather than horizontal linkages, or commonalities; and tends to make those engaged in service-learning charity-performers and charity-receivers rather than citizens.5 RE-DESIGN OF A SERVICE-LEARNING IN GHANA

In the spirit of thinking anew about our programs, a re-design of the service-learning component of Academic Service Learning Semester in Ghana is being envisioned at Xavier University (in Cincinnati, Ohio), with a goal of promoting citizenship and collective action that explicitly re-focuses the relationship between students involved and the local population with whom students spend their service-learning time during the semester. The following then is but one possible scenario for beginning to re-design our semesters which take about ten students to a foreign country to live with families, do service work, and take classes (including language, Theology, and Service Learning among others). As a class, during the preparation seminar that is held the semester before departure, and during the pre-departure week of activities, we would first decide what are the biggest challenges to creating a humane and sustainable existence for each of us. Then we would identify moments in which we felt potent as well as impotent in the face of such challenges. We would then construct for ourselves some possible paths/plans for collective action upon our return.

But most of the work would not be able to be done until we reached Ghana, for to work equally with Ghanaians, they must be part of the planning process (Boyle-Baise et.al., 2006). Thus what follows is put forward in the spirit of helping us think about these issues in a new way but with a deep recognition that no such program can be conceived or planned from our perspective alone. The first few weeks would be spent with those close to the program designing what might become a mentoring program. Then the following weeks would be spent with the students making contact with an individual (who would become a mentor) who is working in an organizational or informal way to face the challenges of our current economic system. Ghanaians close to the program would identify these mentors. The student would spend approximately five hours a week with a mentor on a schedule and in ways that are agreeable to the host. These hours could mostly involve time shadowing the mentor in his/her work of societal transformation. This experience, ideally, would be something close to the “theology of accompaniment” in that the students would be learning how Ghanaians interpret their own circumstances and priorities.6

During the final four weeks, the student would continue to spend about five hours with his/her mentor but also now begin to engage in reflection and conversation with his/her mentor about the overlap between the students’ concerns and those of his/her mentor, about the overlap between the mentor’s work and that that the student has begun to design for him or herself upon returning home. The aim of these conversations would be to identify for these Ghanaians what feels the most empowering and the most disempowering for them as they seek to create a more humane and sustainable existence for themselves and their families and communities.

In this way, both Ghanaians and North Americans would be thinking together about their cultural and institutional strengths. North Americans would not be trying to change anything or even necessarily to perform tangible work within Ghana or within a Ghanaian agency in the span of a few weeks. They would, instead, seek to learn from a different context the ways in which others have sought to create better situations in the face of narrowly-conceived systems and ideas. And, as they return home, the experiences and stories of their mentor would, of necessity, become part of their thinking about a sustainable and humane future. Just as in accompaniment, in this process, Ghanaians are put in a position of equality with their North American mentees, as they demonstrate from their own experiences and backgrounds how they seek to create social change from the periphery. They also have a chance to reflect on their actions, ideas and successes with an international audience. Ghanaians and U.S. students mutually seek active engagement with those in power not because some of them are materially poor and others materially rich, but because they know that the way forward is through building social capital and reducing our obsession with material capital.


NOTES 1 Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen and others have criticized the excessive focus on GDP growth rates, and their work has led to the United Nations’ Human Development Report, with its broader index of welfare indicators, the Human Development Index. (United Nations Development Programme, 2009). 2 For a cogent analysis of “development” and the historical makings of a Northern belief in growth as the Holy Grail, see Rist, 2002, p.46. For the quotation, see p. 76. 3 The last term comes from Mitroff and Silvers, 2008, p.28. “Supercapitalism” is Robert Reich’s term from Reich, 2007); “Disaster Capitalism” is Naomi Klein’s from Klein, 2007. 4 For examples of this argument, see Friedman, 2005. Both Robert McNamara, former president of the World Bank and Renato Ruggiero, the first Director-General of the WTO have made statements that inequality and poverty are on their way out. For McNamara’s philosophy see Peters, 2008. Ruggerio said in 1998, “the potential for eradicating global poverty in the early part of the next century—a utopian notion even a few decades ago, but a real possibility today” thanks to the new world order, quoted in Chang, 2002, 15. He also noted that the “borderless economy” had the potential to ‘equalize relations between countries and regions,’ quoted in Reinert, 2007, xviii. 5 Benjamin Barber’s most recent book (Barber, 2007) discusses the mechanisms by which our market economy has worked to create consumers of us all rather than citizens, a process that our service-learning work is embedded in. 6 Jim Barnett, O.P., “Accompaniment from El Salvador on ….”, 3, accessed at http://www.domcentral.org/preach/accomp.htm. Boyle-Baise et al note that in one situation in Mexico, students who were asked to serve through accompaniment, not engaging in acts of direct service, after four days asked to “build a school or make some other visible difference in local life,” 23. Clearly, a move away from service will be challenging for some students. REFERENCES BBC News (2009). Brown pushes $100bn global fund, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7964910.stm (accessed March 30, 2009). Barber, B. (2007). Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. Bogart, A. (2007). And Then, You Act. New York: Routledge. Boyle-Baise, M., Brown, R., Hsu, M., Jones, D., Prakash, A., Rausch, M., Vitols, S., & Wahlquist, Z. (2006). Learning Service or Service-learning: Enabling the Civic. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 18, (1), 17-26. Chang, H., (2002). Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective. London: Anthem Press. Collier, P. (2007). The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Crabtree, R. D. (2008). Theoretical Foundations for International Service-Learning, Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. 15, (1), 18-36. D’Arlach, L., Sanchez, B. & Feuer , R. (2009). Voices from the Community: A Case for Reciprocity in Service-Learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning 16, (1), 5-16. Deb, D. (2009). Beyond Developmentality: Constructing Inclusive Freedom and Sustainability. London: Earthscan, 2009.


Easterly, W. (2006). The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, New York: Penguin Press. Easterly, W. & Pfutze, T. (2008). Where Does the Money Go? Best and Worst Practices in Foreign Aid. Journal of Economic Perspectives 22, (2), 29-52. Ehret, C. (2002). The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. Friedman, T. (2005). The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Fullbrook, E. (2007). Introduction, Real World Economics: A Post-Autistic Reader. London: Anthem Press, 1-15. Klein, N. (2007). The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. New York: Metropolitan Books. Kolvenbach, Rev. Peter-Hans, S.J. (2000). The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education. (speech delivered at Santa Clara University on October 5). Layard, R. (2005). Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, New York: Penguin Books. McMichael, P. (2008). Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press. Mercer, C., Mohan, G. & Power, M. (2003). Towards a critical political geography of African development, Geoforum, 34, (4), 419-436. Mitroff, I. & Silvers, A. (2008). Sociopathic Capitalism: Tricked to Solve the Wrong Problem, Fellowship, 74: 28. Moyo, D. (2009). Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Moyo, D. (2009). Why Foreign Aid Is Hurting Africa, Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123758895999200083.html#printMode (accessed March 21, 2009). Nolan, A. (1985). The Service of the Poor and Spiritual Growth, London: Catholic Institute for International Relations. Peters, R.T. (2008). Economic Justice Requires More Than the Kindness of Strangers in Global Neighbors: Christian Faith and Moral Obligations in Today’s Economy, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 89-108. Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, New York: Simon and Schuster. Reich, R. (2007). Supercapitalism: the Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life New York: Alfred A. Knopf.


Reinert, E. (2007). How Rich Countries Got Rich…And Why Poor Countries Stay Poor, New York, Public Affairs. Rist , G. (2002). The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith, trans. by Patrick Camiller , London: Zed Books. Russell, B. (2004). In Praise of Idleness and other essays, London: Routledge. Sachs, J. (2009). Aid Ironies, Huffpost World, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/aid-ironies_b_207181.html, (accessed 4-12-11). Shivakumar, S. (2005). The Constitution of Development: Crafting Capabilities for Self-Governance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Tyron, E. Stoecker, R., Martin, A., Seblonka, K., Hilgendorf, A. & Nellis, M., (2008). The Challenge of Short-Term Service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community service learning 14: 16-26. United Nations Development Programme (2009). “History of the Human Development Report,” http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev/reports/ (accessed March 27, 2009). White, B. (2009). Navigating the Power Dynamics Between Institutions and Their Communities (Kettering Foundation), http://www.kettering.org/media_room/publications/Navigating-the-Power-Dynamics-Between-Institutions-and-Their-Communities (accessed March 26, 2010). Worrall, L. (2007). Asking the Community: A Case Study of Community Partner Perspectives, Michigan Journal of Community service learning 14, (1), 5-17.


Ensuring Student Awareness of Corporate Social Media Usage: An Accounting Information Systems Course Project

Robert C. Zelin II

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Jane E. Baird Minnesota State University, Mankato

This paper describes an Accounting Information Systems course project that required students to research Fortune 500 companies’ presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. The project was designed to address the disparity between what college students think social media technologies are used for and how social media are actually used by businesses. Through the project described in this paper, students learned that corporations are using social media for a variety of purposes, with marketing being the most prevalent. Accounting and financial information was found to be much more prevalent on Wikipedia than on Facebook or Twitter. BACKGROUND

There is no question that social media plays a significant role in the lives of college students. College students are avid users of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia (Peluchette & Karl, 2008; Hargittai & Hsieh, 2011; Head & Eisenberg, 2010). Problems can arise, however, when student perceptions of the purpose and use of these outlets do not match with the reality of how these sites are being used. For example, students view social networking platforms as a means to communicate with friends and family (Lampe et al., 2008) and are comfortable with their friends and family viewing their profiles (Peluchette & Karl, 2008). However, Peluchette & Karl (2008) surveyed 433 undergraduate students and found that 20 percent of the students who used a social networking site had information or photographs on their profiles that they would not want an employer to be able to access. Students seem to view social media such as Facebook as their domain, despite the fact that many employers are now making use of those sites to help them screen potential employees (Cuesta, 2006). In a 2009 survey, Careerbuilder.com found that 45 percent of employers were already using social media to perform background investigations on prospective employees and an additional 11 percent planned to begin to use social media sites for that purpose in the near future (Grasz, 2009). Of the companies that reported using the social networks for finding information about prospective employees, Facebook was used the most (29 percent) followed closely by LinkedIn (26 percent), and MySpace (21 percent). Only 7 percent were using Twitter, and another 11 percent were using blog searches to find information. The survey provided insight into both positive and negative consequences for job seekers, as 35 percent of the companies reported that they denied employment to candidates based on information found on social media sites,


while 18 percent said they hired candidates specifically because of favorable information found on the social media sites.

While Lampe et al. (2008) reported an increase in awareness by students that employers may look at their Facebook profiles and that the medium was not just for students anymore, the majority of students still viewed the medium as just a place for them to communicate with friends and family. As a result, students could face negative consequences, such as finding themselves being denied employment because of something they have posted in an online profile. Students may also miss out on opportunities for networking with potential employers or learning how to utilize social media to their career advantage in the workplace. The more students can learn about how corporations utilize social media, the more they can be poised to both protect their own privacy and yet take advantage of the opportunities that social media can offer in the business world.

Businesses are also using social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to market products to consumers (Lavallee, 2010). In fact, the use of Twitter by companies or company employees to disseminate information about product promotions, sales, or the company in general increased over 250 percent during 2009, while the growth in the use of Facebook for the same purposes was 192 percent (Gaudin, 2009). According to Twitter’s webpage, there were 175 million registered users as of September 2010 and there are approximately 95 million tweets posted on a daily basis. Twitter enables individuals to track topics, groups, companies or individuals they are interested in. Those individuals, companies, or groups post “tweets” to the site to communicate with their followers. A tweet is a short message, limited to 140 characters. The site points out the benefits of Twitter use for business: “Twitter connects businesses to customers in real-time. Businesses use Twitter to quickly share information with people interested in their products and services, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and influential people. From brand lift, to CRM, to direct sales, Twitter offers businesses a chance to reach an engaged audience.” (Twitter.com, 2010). However, companies may not be connecting with the demographic they expect to connect with the most. A recent study suggests that college students are not connecting with businesses online as much as businesses would like (Cooper, 2009). The study found that while 99 percent of students surveyed use social networking sites to some degree, only 15 percent were registered Twitter users and of those, many did not use the site often, if at all. A vast majority of the students (75 percent) said they were not interested in following companies or “brands” on Twitter. As with the previously discussed studies on Facebook usage, students view Twitter as a means to connect with family and friends, not as a business or marketing tool. Students appeared to be unaware that Twitter was a vehicle for business marketing efforts.

Wikipedia differs from Twitter and Facebook in that it is used by students as a source of information about topics, not as a vehicle to connect with friends and family. It is significant, though, as a majority of college students are Wikipedia users (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). Wikipedia is essentially an online, free encyclopedia that is editable by anyone through the Internet. Wikipedia’s policies state that information posted to the site should be “neutral” and, therefore, it is not a vehicle through which businesses can actively advertise and easily control the information posted about them. Even so, there is a substantial amount of information on Wikipedia about businesses, and students should be aware of the types of information available and how to discern what is information provided by the company itself versus what is provided by third parties.

While there is potential for companies to reap great rewards from social media marketing efforts, they also expose themselves to security issues (Gaudin, 2009). Business students should be aware of what companies are doing in this realm so that they are prepared to help their future employers capitalize on these opportunities. Additionally, accounting students should be aware of the potential security issues in regard to internal control evaluations and financial statement audits. In general, it appears that there is a disconnect between student perceptions of the uses of social media and corporate America’s vision for the use of social media. In preparing business students for their careers, educators must meet the challenge of broadening student perspectives on how social media is utilized for business, what the opportunities are and how to avoid the potential pitfalls of social media exposure. In that regard, an assignment was created


for use in an undergraduate Accounting Information Systems course. The purpose of designing a social media assignment for the class was to expose students to new ways in which companies are disseminating information using social media. THE SOCIAL MEDIA ASSIGNMENT

Within the assignment, students examined three different forms of social media: Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia. In conducting the assignment, the instructor learned that, consistent with studies referenced above, students were very familiar with the “friends” portion of Facebook, using it on a daily if not hourly basis, but never knew about or explored becoming a “fan” of a company on Facebook. Students were also very familiar with Wikipedia but did not seem to realize that companies may add information to the wiki or that companies may request that information be removed from the wiki. Twitter was a relatively new phenomenon for the vast majority of the students. Almost all of the students had heard about Twitter but only a handful had a Twitter account. This also is consistent with previously published reports (i.e. Cooper, 2009).

At the beginning of the semester, each student was given a blue card with a number on it. The numbers ranged from 1 to 60. The number on the card indicated a company starting place in the Fortune 500 listing (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/). From each student’s starting point, students were instructed to add 60 until they came up with eight companies. For example, if a student’s starting number was five, his or her companies on the Fortune 500 listing would be 5, 65, 125, 185, 245, 305, 365, and 425. The students used all eight of their companies on a preliminary assignment for which they extracted information from BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal and SEC filings in order to complete an assignment about finding financial and non-financial information on a particular company using Internet resources. The students then used the same companies for the social media project.

An announcement about the social media assignment was posted on the news page of the class course management system, Desire2Learn (D2L). Students were instructed to go to the Content section of D2L and locate the course module for Social Media. Within the module, students were able to access a Word document with details about the assignment, an Excel spreadsheet to be used in the assignment, and three tutorial videos developed by the instructor using Jing. The first video tutorial showed students how to enter data into the spreadsheet from information that they obtained from the Fortune 500 companies that they examined. The second video tutorial showed students how to find companies on Twitter and how to classify tweets into various categories. The final video tutorial explained how to enter into the Excel spreadsheet various categorical information found in Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia. In addition, the students were provided with links to YouTube videos about Twitter, Facebook and Wikis, and links to Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia sites. Figure 1 shows links to available videos that may be helpful in teaching students about social media.

In their instructions students were told that, of the three forms of social media, Twitter might be the most time consuming because almost all of them were new to Twitter. In the instructions and video tutorials they were instructed on how to identify a company from a Twitter search (many different individuals or groups may be using a company’s name) and how to classify tweets if a company was found. Students were provided with examples of companies that did have official Twitter accounts, such as BestBuy, United Airlines, Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines. If one or more of a student’s companies were found in Twitter, they were instructed to count out 50 tweets from the date of the assignment. Once the student located the 50th tweet, he/she was asked to record the date. If a company had less than 50 tweets, the student was asked to record the ending date. Next, the student was asked to classify the tweets found into one of five categories: Marketing, Financial, Employment Recruiting, Personal Experience and Other. Marketing relates to advertising or describing a product. Financial relates to any financial information such as EPS, net income, assets, liabilities, stock offered, bonds offered, stock price, and other financial or accounting information. Employment recruiting relates to employment opportunities. Personal Experiences refer to an individual’s experiences with the company or an


employee’s personal story. If something did not fit into any of the other four categories, the students were told to place the tweet(s) in the “Other” category.

FIGURE 1 SOCIAL MEDIA INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS

Twitter in Plain English- YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=fvw Twitter Search in Plain English- YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGbLWQYJ6iM&feature=channel Twitter Means Business- Fortune 500 Video http://money.cnn.com/video/fortune/2009/04/17/fortune.500.twitter.fortune/ Facebook For Business http://www.facebook.com/business What is a Wiki?- YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icUR1A5eCKs&NR=1 Wikis in Plain English- YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?index=0&feature=PlayList&v=-dnL00TdmLY&list=PL140D84C7537A1F34 Get Connected- Web Trends- Wikis- YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtaLyDcgxSY&feature=related

Finally, the students were instructed to complete the Facebook and Wikipedia sections of the Excel spreadsheet. They were once again instructed to use the five categories mentioned above. For Facebook, the students were instructed to only examine what was on the “wall” of the Facebook listing. The students’ task was made easier because they only had to state if a certain type of information could be found, without trying to measure the extent of the information provided. For example, if a student encountered no financial related information on the “wall,” then he or she recorded a “0” under Financial Type, whereas if they did encounter financial information on the “wall,” then they recorded a “1” under Financial Type. They repeated this process for the remaining four categories. The students were then instructed to use the same “0” or “1” classification system for Wikipedia. When the students completed the assignment, they were asked to upload the assignment to their course management system’s dropbox. THE CLASS AND THE INFORMATION FOUND

The social media investigation task was given as an assignment in an Accounting Information Systems class at a medium sized public university in the Midwest. The Accounting Information Systems class is a required class for all accounting majors, an elective for corporate finance majors and an elective for management information systems majors. Approximately 85% of the students in the class were accounting majors. A total of 59 students were enrolled in two sections of the course. Fifty seven students completed the assignment. Of the 57 students, 30 (52.6%) were male and 27 (47.4%) were female. The assignment was worth ten points (1.7% of a student’s grade) out of a total of 593 points. The grades ranged from 5 to 10 with a mean of 9.75 points.

After the students completed the assignment, all of the individual Excel files that were stored in the course management system’s dropbox were combined into one large Excel spreadsheet. As previously stated, each student was assigned eight Fortune 500 companies. Because only 59 students were enrolled in the class, 28 companies were not assigned to any student. Furthermore, two students did not complete the assignment and two students did not report all of their companies or did not use the correct companies. Thus, the number of Fortune 500 companies examined fell to 442. The resulting companies


represent 69 different industries as defined by Fortune magazine’s taxonomy. The top ten industries are featured in Table 1.

TABLE 1 TOP 10 INDUSTRIES EXAMINED

Industry Classification Number of Companies Specialty Retailers 23 Utilities: Gas and Electric 22 Commercial Banks 19 Insurance: Property and Casualty 17 Chemicals 17 Food Consumer Products 14 Motor Vehicles and Parts 14 Insurance: Life, Health 13 Telecommunications 12 Petroleum Refining 12

The data gathered from students indicated that 191 (43.2 percent) of the 442 companies were using Twitter. When the total number of tweets reported by the students for a particular company was reconciled with the sum of the tweets found for the categories of use (marketing, financial, employment, personal experiences and other), the number of useable companies fell to 146 (33 percent). This was either because the students did not record anything in the category blanks or the total number of tweets did not agree with the sum of the categories. Table 2 shows the number of companies that had at least one tweet in a particular category, the total number of tweets that were found for all 146 companies and the range of tweets found for a particular category.

As can be seen from Table 2, more tweets were reported in the Marketing and Other categories. The financial category had the lowest range of tweets and lowest number of tweets. The financial category ranked fourth in the number of companies reporting tweets. One explanation for this phenomenon might be that financial reporting on Twitter might either be in an infancy stage or an experimental stage. Regardless, this data shows that companies are using Twitter to communicate with consumers, investors, and potential employees.

TABLE 2 TWITTER USAGE BY COMPANIES EXAMINED

Marketing Financial Employment Personal

Experiences Other

Number of Companies 133 62 46 94 131

Total Number of Tweets 2298 276 500 931 2119

Range of Tweets 1 to 50 1 to 18 1 to 50 1 to 50 1 to 50

As shown in Table 3, even more companies are using Facebook than are using Twitter. However, the

breakdown by types of information shows that, just like with Twitter, the Facebook usage is primarily for purposes of marketing or other purposes, with much smaller instances related to financial information. However, as can be seen in Table 4, Wikipedia is the one outlet examined for which financial data was a significant component of the companies’ communications.


TABLE 3 FACEBOOK USAGE BY COMPANIES EXAMINED

Companies

Reporting Marketing Financial Employment Personal Experiences Other

Number of Companies 215 171 34 59 133 167

By engaging students in this exercise of examining company usage of social media, this assignment

enabled students to learn first-hand about the breadth of corporate information available through social media outlets. Students became aware of the need to be adept at the use of social media technologies, not just for maintaining relationships with friends, but in order to be effective business professionals. This assignment could be expanded to have students research and brainstorm the potential internal control and security issues that companies should address when embarking into the world of social media.

TABLE 4 WIKIPEDIA USAGE BY COMPANIES EXAMINED

Companies

Reporting Marketing Financial Employment Personal Experiences Other

Number of Companies 423 244 348 37 84 390

LIMITATIONS REGARDING COMPANY DATA

This project was a student assignment that was graded for completeness. The information that the students reported was not audited or verified. Thus, a student who did not take the assignment seriously could have fabricated results. The purpose of this assignment, however, was not to collect data but to familiarize students with how companies use social media outlets to convey information. REFERENCES Allbusiness.com (Producer). (2008, April 24). What is a Wiki? [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icUR1A5eCKs&NR=1. CNNMoney.com (Producer). (2009, April 17). Twitter means business- Fortune 500 video [Video file]. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/video/fortune/2009/04/17/fortune.500.twitter.fortune/. Commoncraft.com (Producer). (2008, March 5). Twitter in plain english [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=fvw. Commoncraft.com (Producer). (2009, June 16). Twitter search in plain English [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGbLWQYJ6iM&feature=channel. Commoncraft.com (Producer). (2007, May 29). Wikis in plain English [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?index=0&feature=PlayList&v=-dnL00TdmLY&list=PL140D84C7537A1F34.


Cooper, W. (2009, April 14). College students are Twitter-less. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://www.livecrunch.com/2009/04/16/college-students-are-twitter-less/. Cuesta, C. (2006, August 31). Students love social-networking sites and so do employers. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208175,00.html. Gaudin, S. (2009, November 9). Business use of Twitter, Facebook exploding. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9140579/Business_use_of_Twitter_Facebook_exploding. Facebook.com (Producer). (2012). Facebook for Business [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/business GetConnectedTVShow.com (Producer). (2007, May 11). Get connected- web trends- Wikis [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtaLyDcgxSY&feature=related. Grasz, J. (2009, August 24). 45% Employers use Facebook-Twitter to screen job candidates. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://oregonbusinessreport.com/2009/08/45-employers-use-facebook-twitter-to-screen-job-candidates/. Hargittai, E. & Hsieh, Y. From dabblers to omnivores: A typology of social network cite usage, in Z Papacharissi (Ed),. A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites, (pp. 146-168). Routledge. Head, A. & Eisenberg., M. (2010). How today’s college students use Wikipedia for course-related research”. First Monday, 15 (3). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2830/2476/. Lampe , N., Ellison, B. & Steinfield,C. (2008). Changes in use and perception of Facebook. Proceedings of the ACM 2008 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, November 08-12, 2008, San Diego, CA, USA, 721-730. Doi:10.1145/1460563.1460675. Lavallee, T.J. (2010, July 14). Use of Twitter, Facebook for brand interaction growing. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://technorati.com/business/article/use-of-twitter-facebook-for-brand/. Peluchette, J. & Karl, K. (2008). Social networking profiles: An examination of student attitudes regarding use and appropriateness of content. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(1), 95-97. doi:10.1089/cpb.2007.9927. Twitter.com. 2010. About Twitter. Retrieved from http://twitter.com/about.


Identification and Analysis of a Tertiary-Education Expectations Gap in Developed Countries

Christopher S. Wright

University of Adelaide, Australia

Samanthala Hettihewa University of Ballarat, Australia

Participation in tertiary education in developed countries has dramatically expanded over the past few decades. The perceptions of academic researchers, policy makers, employers and the general public have contributed to expectations of significant socio-economic and political gains from that expansion. This study, using a descriptive analysis and looking at the trends in historical perspective, found significant indications of a rising gap between the expectations and the perceived performance of higher education in developed countries. It is suggested that the recent expansion in tertiary-education may need refocusing to avoid growing gap between expectations and perceived-performance in tertiary education. INTRODUCTION

Like most production functions, education experiences declining returns to scale (Wright et al, 2003) that will cause mass expansions to have declining marginal gains that are significantly below average gains. Governments in most developed countries (DCs) fail to grasp this economic truth and increasingly see higher-education-participation rates as key elements in their competitive strategy.

Gillard (2009), in her (then) roles as Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, asserted that Australia must match the high-university-participation targets set by other nations (see, also, Bradley et al. 2008; Wilton 2008; Taylor and Pick 2008):

“For Germany the target is 40 percent. For Sweden and the UK it is 50 percent. For the Irish, it’s 72 percent. ... [In response, the ambition of the Australian Government] is that by 2025, 40 percent of all [Australian] 25-34 year olds will have a qualification at bachelor level or above. Not just to have enrolled in higher education, but to have completed an undergraduate degree. Today that figure stands at 32 percent”.

The 40 percent or greater European Countries targets, reflects a common European Union goal “...to

increase the share of 30-34 years old having completed tertiary or equivalent education to at least 40%...” (EC, 2011; Roth and Thum, 2010; Gros and Roth, 2008). In Australia, the “...proportion of the population with bachelor degrees or higher…[rose] from 5.8 percent of the population aged 15 years and over in 1982, to 14.3 percent of 15-64 year olds in 1998. The rate of increase has become more rapid since about 1987” (DEST 1992 and 1997, 2 and 6). In 2008, 21.9 percent of 15-64 year olds had a bachelor degree or higher (ABS 2008, 13).


Funding to raise higher-education-participation rates and outcomes comes with explicit and implicit expectations. Government policies in many DCs suggest that increasing the numbers of any type of Baccalaureate degrees will raise incomes, reduce criminality, and enhance health/wellbeing/longevity. After considering two centuries of education outcomes, this paper raises concern that the expected socio-economic-and-political outcomes of expanding higher education may be well beyond what is deliverable.

While education’s socio-economic benefits are valued, it is often argued that knowledge and learning should be pursued as an exploration of the nature, limits, and potential of self, and one’s place in the world. However, this fine sentiment is unlikely to placate stakeholders (e.g. governments, students, parents, and voters) who feel misled. The term misled is contentious and emotive and, it can be claimed that the cream of today’s education system is every bit as good (if not better) than it has ever been. However, mass expansion of higher education is less likely to affect the cream of graduates than the marginal graduates.

This study uses a descriptive and speculative research methodology that: • Reduces the risks of being: precisely wrong, less than relevant, and/or too-situation

specific that can arise from isolated original research. • Seeks to be approximately right (e.g. developing trends from data and a variety of

public and expert opinions, expressed across wide-ranging sources), and • Uses inductive logic to develop research questions for use in future empirical research.

The subsections of the next section of this study consider how expectations associated with expanding

education have arisen and continue to rise and how job seekers are affected by rising minimum-education requirements. The third section uses multiple public sources to look at the trend of the opinion on quality and content in education and combines that trend with minimum education requirements into an imputed trend of the perceived competency of job seekers. The fourth section uses rising information flows as a proxy for growing complexity in society and considers how rising complexity will interact with the trends in education. The fifth section looks for a solution. The paper concludes with discussions, conclusions, and suggestions for future research. HISTORICAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION Expected deliverables from expanding baccalaureate programs

There is an extensive and often statistically intensive literature claiming that substantial socio-economic benefits will accrue to expanding participation in education. While the received literature (e.g. Berger and Parkin 2009; Allen 1999; Figures 1 and 2) indicates net premiums from all levels of education, Baccalaureate degrees appear to have the highest net return.

As governments in DCs became aware of this potential, they embraced mass-post-secondary education as a simple, low-cost solution to complex-socio-economic issues and an excellent investment for students and the nation. Levin (2009, 3) clearly articulates this notion:

“…more educated people are on average more productive workers and earn higher salaries. Their lifetime earnings are significantly higher than high school graduates, even taking into account the years of foregone income associated with more education, which means they pay more taxes. More than that, though, more education is also associated with just about every other imaginable social benefit, such as better health, greater longevity, and less criminality. These benefits are also intergenerational, being passed on at least in part to children.”

However, as David Hume’s (1742, paragraph I.XIV.7) warned:

“...there is no subject, in which we must proceed with more caution, than in tracing the history of the arts and sciences; lest we assign causes which never existed, and reduce what is merely contingent to [false] stable and universal principles.”


FIGURE 1 ESTIMATES OF COST AND SLARY PREMIUM VS. YEARS OF EDUCATION, IN CANADA

FIGURE 2 US SALARY PREMIUM VS. YEARS OF EDUCATION FOR INDIVIDUALS

35 TO 44 YEARS OF AGE


In modern parlance, correlation neither assures causation nor defines its direction or magnitude. An added caution to the notion that increasing the proportion of the population with Baccalaureate degrees will create enormous socio-economic and political gains, is that such a mass increase changes basic-social dynamics and thus violates the ceteris paribus assumption fundamental to many studies from which that notion was drawn. Other confounding factors include:

1. Over simplification – increased-earning power is not due to the degree but to a combination of skills from the education and the use of the degree by employers as a signal of a high-quality labour input. If the effort required to obtain a qualification is watered-down, that qualification can rapidly lose credibility as a signal of a high-quality labor input (Chan, et al. 2007).

2. Reverse causality – a tertiary qualification in an individual is just as likely to flow from a propensity to earn a higher income and/or lead a better life, as it is to be a significant cause of those propensities.

3. Education is subject to basic economics (Mokyr 2005; Taylor and Pick 2008): - Supply and Demand Axioms – As it becomes relatively more common,

market forces are likely to cause the relative value of a degree to decline. - Returns to Scale – As noted previously, many of the purported gains to an

expansion of tertiary education require constant returns to scale. While diminishing returns to scale is not an axiom, there are only a relatively few exceptional situations of constant or increasing returns to scale.

4. Conservation of misery – a sharp rise in the number of people with Baccalaureate degrees is likely to depress the market value of lesser educational accomplishments (e.g. the completion of grade 12). Thus, the continuation of an income gradation between those with and without higher education is no guarantee that increasing education adds value to society as a whole.

The above factors suggest that many of the benefits measured as accruing to education tend to be

more relative than absolute and (in a variant of Peer’s Law where “…the solution to the problem, changes the problem…”) the gains expected from mass expansions of education may prove more illusory than real (e.g. due to the fallacy of composition which can occur if it is assumed that what is true for a small part of the whole must be true when scaled-up to encompass the whole or even a larger share of it – e.g. it fails to appreciate that the parts of the whole interact and, thus, the whole differs from the sum of its parts).

Many DC governments, expecting that any and all Baccalaureate degrees can raise income, increase competence, improve health/longevity and reduce criminality, have greatly encouraged participation in Baccalaureate programs (e.g. per Figure 3, Canadian participation in tertiary education nearly doubled to 37 percent during the 30 years to 2008; paralleling similar increases in other DCs). The large, post-2005, drop in (two-year) college and trade participation in Canada (in Figure 3), mostly reflects conversion of many colleges and trade institutions into Baccalaureate-degree-granting universities or university-colleges.

The meeting of stakeholder expectations inferred in the policies that expanded education depends on continuation of the relationships inferred in those policies. In evaluating the likelihood of that continuation, this study considers trends in the:

• Education access, over the last 200 years, • Minimum-education hurdles that employers are applying to school leavers, • Perceived quality and content of education over the past few decades, • Perceived competence of school leavers.


FIGURE 3 TERTIARY EDUCATION PARTICIPATION RATES IN CANADA 1976-2008

INCREASED ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND RISING HURDLES TO WORK

Increased access to education is being touted as a rising tide of benefits that raises all boats. However, many benefits attributed to increased education in an individual arise because employers often use educational attainment as a signal to identify high-value labor inputs. As a result, rising average-educational attainments are likely to profoundly affect private returns to education and extrapolations from backward-looking forecasts are likely to significantly over-estimate the private and social benefits to a given level of education. This is evidenced by the education hurdle (for entry into employment) rising in conjunction with increasing access to education. What drives this relationship is unclear; among other things, it may include:

• Increased availability of educated labor (Mason 1996 and 1999; Mokyr 2005), • Society and work becoming more complex (Reedy 2006), or • Increased access to education being accompanied, in part, by declines in the quality and/or

content in the education provided (Pryor and Schaffer 2000). Historical Events and Development in the Demand for Education

The following discussion on the escalation in education attainment demanded by employers over the centuries is intended as a broad guide. While a more detailed study would be interesting, is beyond the scope of this study. In early-medieval England, reading was so scarce and valued that those sentenced to hang would often be pardoned if they could read a passage from the Bible. However, by the late medieval period, reading was sufficiently common that it was no longer a way to escape hanging. In the 15th Century, a modern equivalent of grade-two attainment was considered to be following-edge education. (The education signal is similar to signals in computer technology: leading-edge technology is too exotic,


flaky, and unreliable for general use; following-edge technology is usually sufficiently advanced and reliable to be ideal; and trailing-edge technology is relatively inexpensive, but provides no competitive advantage and can be unreliable and flaky when interfacing with more advanced technologies). It should be noted that, prior to the 19th Century, most education in Europe was not directly comparable to modern education as it included Latin, Greek, and Bible Studies along with the now familiar subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic. Early in the 19th Century, two years of education was still considered good, but roughly four years became common, as Prussian-style compulsory education was adopted by the USA and UK in, respectively, 1853 and 1870 (Rothbard 1975; Know Britain 2010). As discussed in the next subsection, in 1895, an eighth-grade education attainment was considered leading-edge, but in 1944, England shifted that standard to high-school. In the 1970s, high-school completion was desirable; by 2000, the goal shifted to Baccalaureate completion, and as the first decade of the 21st Century came to a close, there was mounting pressure for business-bound students to get a Masters degree and a PhD is the upper limit to education. Table 1 and eqn (1) summarize this discussion into a broad approximately-right pattern of the following-edge education that potential employers required of job seekers, over the past two centuries.

𝐷𝑒𝑑 = 𝑒(𝑏[𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟−𝑐]) − 1 (1)

Ded = following-edge education (in years) Year = time line (1800 to 2100 CE) b = slope parameter c = x-intercept parameter

TABLE 1

FOLLOWING-EDGE EDUCATION ATTAINMENT OVER THE LAST TWO CENTURIES

Time-line Following-Edge Education Attainment Years of Education 1400-1800 Grade two 2.00

1850 Grade four 4.00 1895 Grade six 6.00a 1950 Grade ten 10.00 1975 High-school Completion 12.50b 2000 Baccalaureate completion 15.50 2020 Master’s Completion 18.00

2030-2050 PhD Completion 22.00 Source: Inferred and extrapolated from the discussion, immediately, above. a In 1895, mid-west USA, a grade-eight education was considered leading-edge and a following-edge attainment would be a slightly lesser accomplishment (e.g. six years). b In the 1970s, many but not a majority of DC high-school jurisdictions had grade 13.

TABLE 2

REGRESSION RESULTS FOR EQUATION (1) ON THE DATA IN TABLE 1

Statistical Measures -- Goodness of Fit Parameters T-Statistic R2 = 0.9998 b = 0.0082075 143.47

LM Statistic = 1.0146E-12 c = 1658.0 681.12a Durbin-Watson Statistic = 2.3238

CHI2 test on normality of residuals = 5.7272, with 3 degrees of freedom

a The eqn (1) x-intercept infers a notional year in which education was not demanded by employers – thus, eqn (1) is meaningful from the year “c” to the present.


The regression results in Table 2 are far more precise than what is warranted by the crude nature of the forgoing analysis. However, the analysis is sufficient to provide insight into pattern of the following-edge education that potential employers required of job seekers and when the Table 2 parameter values are substituted into eqn (1), the result is:

𝐷𝑒𝑑 = 𝑒(0.0082075[𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟−1658]) − 1 (1a)

The trend described by eqn (1a) in Figure 4 shows that the effort needed for a person to be defined as

well educated shifted from 2 years of education to over 16 years, during the 210 years from 1800-2010. While that trend appears to be robust (i.e. a high R²), it is unlikely persist beyond a few more decades (per Figure 4, the trend of rising following-edge education is likely to truncate at the PhD limit, sometime around 2030).

FIGURE 4

EDUCATION ATTAINMENT DESIRED BY EMPLOYERS

The use by employers of educational attainment as a signal of job-seeker quality, when combined with increasing participation in higher education, can create competitive pressures that may be value-deducting to those who already have higher degrees. Specifically, unless education content and quality is retained or enhanced and there are matching increases in the demand for educated individuals, continually increasing access to education pushes the gate-keeping education attainment to ever-higher levels and forces potential employees onto an education treadmill-to-oblivion. RISING PARTICIPATION AND QUALITY-AND-CONTENT CONCERNS IN EDUCATION

It is important to note that this paper is not claiming that competency in education has been declining; what this section suggests is that here is a rising perception that competency in education has been


declining. There is a subtle but important distinction between these two points—the first, as discussed later in this section, is difficult if not impossible to prove, whereas, the second can be guestimated by reviewing the literature and specific opinions on education.

As previously noted, over the past 30 years, participation in post-secondary education doubled in many DCs and quadrupled in others. The number of tertiary-education providers also increased. For example, in business:

“…the number of business schools in Britain has risen from 20 in the early 1980s to 120 [and by] the spring of 2001, some 1,292 schools, or 92% of all accredited colleges and universities, offered an undergraduate major in business” (Pfeffer and Fong 2002, 78).

Given the increases in students and schools, a rising concern is: where are all the gains that were and

continue to be promised for increased higher-education participation? Specifically, if that which was and is being promised were actually occurring, GDP per capita in DCs should have risen at a progressively faster rate (i.e. reflecting all the real net-wealth created by ever-higher numbers of better-educated graduates). As this is not occurring (Wolf 2002, 2004; CBC 2009), much of the purported gains from increased higher-education participation may be more private than social; more a wealth-transfer (than new-wealth creation); and more illusory than real. (Canada’s GDP per capita in constant purchasing power parity (PPP) rose at a fairly constant 1.81 percent, over the 33 years from 1976 to 2008 (i.e. inferred from the CBC (2009) observation that Canada’s GDP per capita rose from $17,500 to $31,600 (in constant PPP USD) from 1976 to 2008 [(31600/17500)1/33]). Monteils (2002, 93), after reviewing and reappraising the extensive literature on education and endogenous growth, asserts that “…knowledge produced by education cannot be the engine of self-maintained economic growth.”

The aforementioned concern that increased higher-education participation may not meet its expected deliverables is intensified by a mounting public perception of an ongoing decline in the average quality and content of education. The debate on the existence and degree of decline in educational competence is made enormously difficult by advances, paradigm shifts, drift, and other changes in the cultures in which education occurs. Few things epitomize these issues better than the internet debate on an 1895 final-exam for grade-eight (Maggie's Farm 2006). While many Bloggers use that exam as definitive proof of declining education standards, others counter that the exam was for teacher applicants (not eighth-grade students) or that changing cultural realities make the content of an 1895 exam irrelevant. One astute commentator noted that:

“...most students taking this test will have been those who managed, one way or another, to stay in school as far as Grade 8. This means either that they had money, or aptitude, or both. Others [in 1895] will long since have dropped out, after learning basic writing and arithmetic, to work ....probably the top 20% of our current students could – given ... enough time to memorize the facts it requires ... – pass this test. Does that represent any fewer students than would have [successfully] taken it in 1895?” (Maggie's Farm 2006).

An extensive literature claims that competency in education has been declining for decades (Hirsch

1987; Trout 1997; Shattuck 1997; Bercuson et al. 1997; Reeves 2001; Allit 2005; Roman 2005; Amble 2005; Vedder 2005; Leigh 2005; Reedy 2006; Leef 2006, 2009; Gollin 2009; TPA 2009; Leigh and Ryan 2010). And other researchers argue in counter-point (Reynolds 2002; Ehrenberg 2002; Jamison, et al. 2007). In the literature, difficulties in assessing the true-state of education centre on three themes:

1) Hirsch’s (1987) concept of cultural literacy creates issues because cultures evolve, shift and change over time. Thus, cultural drift makes it difficult to set meaningful measurement standards, over the time-frames needed to fairly evaluate any change in educational standards and content,

2) Academic degradation, like the parable of the frog, is a slow incremental progression that is often little noticed, until conditions have deteriorated to where they are difficult or impossible to reverse (e.g. in the parable of the frog, a frog dropped in scalding water reacts quickly and jumps out, but if it is dropped into a pot of cool water that is


then slowly heated, the fog swims about, dumb, happy, and unconcerned, until it is well-and-truly cooked.), and

3) There is always a difficult-to-quantify range of quality across education providers and across the degrees provided.

The interaction of these themes makes it important but difficult to compare Baccalaureate degree

quality and content across decades. One reasonably-reliable indicator is the time students take to complete a degree. Further, if (as suggested by Carney, et al., 1978, Kolevzon 1981, Millman, et al. 1983, Sabot and Wakeman-Linn 1991, Kuh and Hu 1999, Johnson 2003, Chan, et al. 2007 and many other researchers) grade inflation occurs during the elapsed time, then any declines in the time taken to complete a degree is a doubly-clear indicator of academic degradation; as is any a shift to using non-honors courses.

In the 1970s, a common requirement for a BCom in many DCs was four-to-five years of university courses (much of it at the honors level). Currently, many Baccalaureate-degree-granting institutions, in DCs, offer BCom degrees that require only three-years of education (with little or none at the honors level).

A decline in the quality of UK university graduates is implicit in Tarver’s (2007) comments:

“After seven years of the new regime, I had the opportunity to compare the class of 1999 with the class of 1992. In 1992 I set ... [a] course in Artificial Intelligence requiring students to solve six exercises, including building a Prolog interpreter. In 1999, six exercises had shrunk to one; which was a 12 line Prolog program for which eight weeks were allotted for students to write it. A special class was laid on for students to learn this and many attended, including students who had attended a course incorporating logic programming the previous term.”

Murray (2008), working from the mathematical tautology that half of all students are below average,

asserts that, because the proportion of young people who participate in higher education has been greatly increased (unless the degree content is greatly watered-down):

“...the number of students who want, need, or can profit from four years of residential education at the college level is a fraction of the number of young people who are struggling to get a degree. We have set up a standard known as the BA, stripped it of its traditional content, and made it an artificial job qualification. Then we stigmatize everyone who doesn’t get one. For most of America’s young people, today’s college system is a punishing anachronism.”

Please note, the US college system refers to their higher education system (two year- to four-year university-level courses), whereas, in other countries (e.g. the UK and Australia) college may refer to an institution offering secondary-level education.

One of the striking trends in the mid- to late-20th Century is soaring enrolments in business-degree-granting tertiary-education institutions in developed countries and in their on-shore and off-shore partners and affiliates. Bennis and O’Toole (2005) note there are well-documented expressions of public concern that, as MBA student numbers increase, the quality of their education may deteriorate. Rubin and Dierdorff (2009, 208) investigated the relevancy of MBA curricula, in relation to the managerial competency requirements, with 8,633 managers across 52 occupations, found that the “…behavioral competencies indicated by managers to be most critical are the very competencies least represented in required MBA curricula”. Pfeffer and Fong (2002, 80 and 88) suggest:

“There is little evidence that mastery of the knowledge acquired in business schools enhances people’s careers, or that even attaining the MBA credential itself has much effect on graduates’ salaries or career attainment. … [A] large body of evidence suggests


that the curriculum taught in business schools has only a small relationship to what is important for succeeding in business.”

Ghoshal (2005, 75-76 and 79) asserts that many of:

“…the worst excesses of recent management practices are rooted in ideals that emerged from business school academics over the last 30 years. [Specifically, the propagation of]…ideologically inspired amoral theories [justified via a pretense of scientific knowledge by], business schools have actively freed their students [and others they influenced] from any sense of moral responsibility.”

FIGURE 5

DEGREES CONFERRED BY US BUSINESS SCHOOLS INDEXED TO 1969/70

In contrast to the forgoing negative commentaries, many higher-education institutions are trying to be more relevant by: seeking to improve outcomes, concentrating on more experienced students, adopting more multi-disciplinary-program designs, and encouraging critical thinking on actual business issues. However, Pfeffer and Fong (2002, 84) found these reforms are hindered by on-going-budgetary pressures, faculty shortages, increased teaching loads, and the tendency for faculty to be promoted more for theoretical-and-analytical contribution than for experience and applied knowledge. Healy and Trounson (2010) observed nearly a decade later that the:

“…university sector faces an infrastructure funding gap of $10 billion-$15 bn to meet the Rudd [Australian] government's participation targets in the next 15 years, and there are now calls for an urgent re-examination of how the targets will be properly funded...”

While the forgoing comments from academics are worrying, the most disturbing evidence of issues in

education comes from employers, who complain they increasingly have to resort to:


• Supplementary training to overcome deficiencies in the knowledge, skills, aptitudes, and attitudes of the new graduates they hire (Balch 2004; Amble 2005),

• Raising the education hurdles for job interviews (Amble 2005; Wilton 2008; Figure 4, above; and phone interview with Witt 2010), and

• Bringing back retires, to be exemplars of work ethics, reliability, and personal integrity for younger new staff (Meyer 2006; SeniorMag 2010).

A probable cause of the above problems is well described by Leef (2009):

“Human capital gains occur when an individual improves his mental ability; when his learning enables him to better think through problems, produce value, communicate, evaluate options, and so on. Unfortunately, at many colleges and universities, students can easily pass courses with just the mental toolkit they possessed in high school.... [Thus] passing a college course no more indicates a human capital gain than just going to a gym indicates an improvement in physical fitness.” (Leef , 2009, 1).

A UK forum for a private-business survey (Amble, 2005, 1) notes that standards of literacy,

numeracy and oral skills of school leavers recruited by business was poor or very poor and per one survey respondent:

“...qualifications are so invalidated that many employers now have the additional task of making their own assessment of any applicant, irrespective of their apparent qualifications”.

Leef (2009, 1) asserts that:

“...many [college] students don’t have to become better at reading, at writing, at math, at logic. Sadly, the key consideration at many colleges is not educational excellence or even modest progress, but simply enrolling and collecting tuition from as many students as possible. Therefore, course content has been watered down and expectations lowered so that even the weakest and most disengaged students can pass.”

Bauerlein (2008) suggests the problem arises from the current generation of students:

“... even though Americans now have more formal education than ever – more classroom time, more degrees – the young generation is quite poorly educated. It isn’t just that they don’t know much, but that they’re not much interested in acquiring knowledge and are ill-equipped to comprehend anything that isn’t written in the simplest of modes.”

Sperber (2000) suggests that declining standards in higher education may be due to a faculty/ student

non-aggression pact where students get light assignments and good grades in return for expecting little instructional effort from lecturers, who busy trying to advance their academic careers (via research-focused progression criteria). An article by Hodges and Garner (2009) offers an alternate explanation and gives a horrific example of what can happen when a higher educational institution is caught between a rock (the pressure to recruit and retain students) and a hard place (satisfying requirements of quality assurance). In such cases, eventually, one or the other or both must yield.

Even though allegations of ongoing competency declines in education are not proven, there is a mounting perception of problems. It could be argued that, given the many government programs to verify Quality Assurance in higher education and the need for many programs to gain accreditation from professional bodies (e.g. accounting, engineering, law) how is it that competency in higher education could decline? Harvey (2005, 268) provides part of the answer when he notes that by “…the early 1990s, quality had evolved from a marginal position to being the foremost concern in British higher education alongside funding issues and expansion”—if quality was not becoming an apparent issue in 1990, why was it becoming so important? Harvey (2005, 272) provides another insight when he notes that quality “…evaluations involve game playing to case the evaluated programme or institution in the best possible


light.” It is equally important to note that many quality assessment tools (e.g. ISO 9000) are more about consistency and documentation of processes than the quality of outcomes. Harvey (2005, 263) asserts that government “…quality evaluations [of higher education] were guided as much by political pragmatism as rational evaluation” and also suggests that:

“The more cynical view is that the huge quality superstructure is designed to hide a worsening academic base. Evaluations that rely on fitness for purpose tend to be reductionist, fragmenting the notion of quality rather than exploring the complex interrelationships that ultimately impact on the key stakeholders. They are deliberately disassociated from the politics of quality and are incapable of making any link between the quality monitoring procedures, the resource envelope, the student experience of learning and the range of accomplishments and standards of graduates” (Harvey, 2005, 274).

On the topic of quality assessments of higher education, Laughton concludes that:

“...if academics are not convinced of, or do not actively support, the values and methodologies associated with teaching quality review, then there is little chance that these reviews will either produce accurate or meaningful assessments of teaching quality, or act as a spur to the quality enhancement of this aspect of individual and institutional activity” (Laughton, 2003, 309).

The issues faced by the Professional Accreditation bodies are similar to those of the academic peer

and the government quality assurance bodies and are greatly compounded because their legitimate concerns with practical and professional competencies often conflict with the academic pursuits and perspectives of the academics who teach higher education. Also, many professional accreditations are more of a desk audit that a detail review of processes and outcomes. Even so, several universities have either lost their accreditations with professional bodies or have had the duration between reviews significantly reduced.

While currently, the perceived ongoing decline in educational competency is not a proven fact and may ultimately be proven wrong, the perception represents current forces that should be addressed, by society, to sustain confidence in all levels of education. THE PERCEIVED COMPETENCY OF NEW FOLLOWING-EDGE EMPLOYEES

This analysis portrays the perceived declining competency in higher education by setting parameters in eqn (2) to mirror published assertions of a nonlinear decay pattern that (indexed to 1965) progresses slowly until the mid-1980s, and becomes increasingly apparent by the middle of the first decade in the 21st Century.

𝐸𝑄 = 101 − 𝑒𝑏(𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟−𝑐) (2)

EQ = competencies from education 101 = anchor parameter

b = scaling parameter = 0.05995 c = assumed initiation = 1965

The perceptions that eqn (2) is intended to track are, by nature, fuzzy and the nonlinear nature of the equation makes the choice of scaling parameter highly sensitive.

Figure 6, contrasts the perception of declining quality and content in education (eqn (2)) with the following-edge education demanded by employers (eqn (1)). That contrast required, however, that eqn (1a) be indexed (eqn (3)) by expressing all its results, as a percent of the 1965 level:


𝐼𝐷𝑒 = �𝑒(0.0073203[𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟−1658) − 1�100/(𝑒(0.0073203[1965−1658) − 1) (3) IDe = Indexed following-edge education

FIGURE 6

PERCEIVED COMPETENCY OF FOLLOWING-EDGE NEW EMPLOYEES

The perceived net competency of new employees was illustrated by multiplying eqn (2) by eqn (3). Competence is having the requisite knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors (Brannick et al. 2007; Schippmann et al., 2000). Figure 6, illustrating eqns (2) and (3) and the product of those equations, shows how (after rising for decades) the perceived competency of new following-edge employees is now declining at an accelerating rate. The previously cited acerbic comments by employers and academics, on the perceived competency declines in education, are more consistent with the post-2010 portion of Figure 6. However, those comments refer to (what were then) trailing-edge new employees (i.e. graduates of high-school or two-year-tertiary programs) and following-edge qualification had risen to somewhere between a Baccalaureate and Masters Degree (Table 1). ACCELERATING INFORMATION FLOWS AND PERCEPTIONS OF EDUCATION QUALITY

The forgoing trends in higher education are likely to combine with a third trend (rapidly- accelerating-information flows) to threaten the career prospects of the next generation. The general shapes of the following trends are starting to be revealed:

• Perception of an ongoing debasement of education competency, • Rising entry level of education attainment demanded by industry, and • Accelerating information flows.


Although solid evidence and specifications for the above trends may take over a decade to ripen, ideally, their implications should be considered while there is still time to take corrective action. As with most early warnings, the speculative thought in this paper is derived from preliminary facts and patterns. However, by the time there is incontrovertible evidence, the trends are likely to be so firmly entrenched that they may be difficult to reverse or even deflect to happier outcomes. An Accelerating Need for Increasingly Competent Employees

Double exponential increases in information flows are being driven by a pull-based response to accelerating advances in information-processing technology that cut information costs (Wright and Dawood 2007; Kurzweil 2005) and a push-based response to rapid advances in knowledge (Wright et al. 2008). Equation (4) is adapted from Wright et al. (2008) to estimate managerial information loads after the information flows are filtered by company information systems, divided by an estimate of the information capacity of the human brain, and divided by five. This rule-of-thumb is derived from the well accepted adage that managers should be able to make good decisions with 20 percent of the ideal information).

𝐼 = �𝑒�𝑒�1.9141+0.01111(𝑡−1969)��+ 1,800�(100)5𝐸13(2𝐸6)5

(4) I = information flows per year

The need for high-quality employees has been accelerating since the 1990s (Figure 7). In theory,

newer employees should be better able to handle higher-information loads than older, less-well-educated employees. However, the decline in the perceived competence of higher education (Leigh 2005; Leigh and Ryan 2010) became more apparent during and after the 1990s (Figure 6) and business responded to this perceived decline by increasing their demand for individuals with higher degrees (Wilton 2008). The perceived competence of following-edge new employees (eqn (3)) continued rising (Figure 7) until around 2005, then flattened-out and begin to decline steeply, after 2010. Figure 6 suggests the cause of that decline is likely driven by the perceived decline in educational competence that began in the mid-1960s, accelerated in the mid-1990s, and dominates the employer perceived-competence-of-following-edge new employees after 2005.

Figure 7 suggests the declining perceived-competence-of-new-employees trend is likely to collide with the trend of accelerating information-loads on managers. A massive information bottleneck is likely to result around 2025, as businesses are overwhelmed by double-exponential rises in information. In the early stages of this debacle, those with little or no higher education will have progressively more difficulty finding employment. Governments will respond to that crisis with loans and other means for the chronically unemployed to get more education. As the crisis deepens, confidence in education may falter and fail causing even those with higher degrees to have difficulty finding work, as employers perceive that a rising share of new workers fail to measure-up against older workers. Finally, confidence in business may falter as the fraction of information that managers can reasonably access increasingly becomes too little too late and good management devolves from a science, to a black art, to a lottery (Wright et al. 2008). There is a real risk that educators will be blamed when society chokes on the ever-accelerating flows of information and the reputations of many tertiary-education institutions will reach a tipping point. Kurzweil (2001, 2005) asserts that this crisis is unavoidable and that, around the mid-third of the 21st Century, information speeds/loads be unsustainable by modern humans and a singularity (i.e. a discontinuity) is inevitable. Continuity of the global economy/culture requires that this crisis be averted or resolved (Wright and Dawood, 2007).


FIGURE 7 MANAGERIAL INFORMATION LOADS AND THE PERCEIVED COMPETENCE OF

FOLLOWING-EDGE NEW EMPLOYEES

RISING TO NEW CHALLENGES IN EDUCATION

Universities have, over the last millennia, reinvented themselves many times (Watson, 2005). However, over the last few decades ongoing budgetary constraints imposed by governments, who are promoting expanded participation in Baccalaureate programs as a low-cost simple solution to complex socio-economic problems, seem to be diverting universities from reinventing themselves to help society transcend an ever-rising glut of information.

Accelerating rates of change are creating risks and opportunities for universities; who can only stay relevant to society if they are in the forefront of creating and disseminating the human capital their students need to cope with the coming info-tsunamis (Wright et al. 2008, 7). Human capital is becoming exponentially more durable and valued than mere qualifications or memorized knowledge. Established models and modes of passing extant knowledge from one-generation-to-the-next via rote learning are rapidly becoming less effective. Specifically, accelerating info-tsunamis are making the ability to learn, adapt and think ever more valued than memorized knowledge. The half-life of knowledge is the time that it takes for half of it to become obsolete, forgotten, or incorrect. See Burton and Kebler (1960) and Rousseau (2000) for a detailed discussion of the half-life of information. Universities need to reinvent the delivery of their degrees to involve less memorized knowledge and more of the skills, critical thinking, attributes, aptitudes, and know-what needed to integrate vast and rising flows of information.


CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND FUTURE RESEARCH

Over the last few decades, DC governments have come to believe that increasing the proportion of their population with Baccalaureate degrees is a cost-effective solution to a host of socio-economic problems. These beliefs have translated into policies that encourage, cajole, and demand universities increase Baccalaureate-program participation and completions. However, such policies often ignore the content of those degrees and the competencies of their graduates. Further, estimates of the capacity of universities to evoke social change, may have been greatly exaggerated, because they do not appear to have considered Peer’s Law and/or the Fallacy of Composition. This effect has been exacerbated as many universities have responded to government expectations by self-selecting programs, academics, policies, preferred research and administrative structure so as to facilitate the production of low-cost Baccalaureate degree completions. However, the quality-and-content risks of this self-selection are being perceived and commented on by the public and employers.

The info-tsunami will put overwhelming pressure on the economy at global-, national-, regional-, and local-levels. Universities may have to reassess how they add value to their societies and what value their societies and students will need in future decades. Specifically, universities need to start thinking about how to educate their students to best serve and survive, in the in rapidly-evolving economies of the coming decades.

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The Parable of the Pig Iron: Using Taylor’s Story to Teach the Principles of Scientific Management

Paul L. Govekar

Ohio Northern University

Michele A. Govekar Ohio Northern University

Frederick Winslow Taylor used stories in his writings and during his lectures about Scientific Management. The most famous of these is the story of “Schmidt” and the handling of pig iron. It is clear from Wrege and Perroni’s (1974) historical analysis that this story, as told, cannot be true. Perhaps Taylor was using this as an illustrative story to make a point about Scientific Management. This paper explores the pig iron story as a parable on Scientific Management and discusses how this story can be used to teach the principles of Scientific Management. INTRODUCTION

Frederick Winslow Taylor used stories in his writings and during his lectures. In “The Principles of Scientific Management,” (1911) Taylor tells several stories including stories about inspecting ball bearings in a bicycle plant, the machinist who developed rules-of-thumb for cutting metal, and his most famous story of “Schmidt” and the handling of pig iron. This last example even seemed to take on a life of its own. Taylor, himself, was “puzzled by the fame which his work with pig-iron handlers had achieved” (Wrege & Greenwood, 1991, p. 98).

We know that this story, as presented, is erroneous (Wrege & Hodgetts, 2000). There was no actual pig iron worker named Schmidt. Wrege and Perroni (1974), in their historical analysis of the pig-iron story, went so far as to say “Whether imaginative or impudent, the fact is that Taylor seems to have believed that the end justified the means. This philosophy was not morally acceptable during his period, and it is certainly not part of the standards of morality of our own” (p. 26). This is a strong indictment from the viewpoint of history. Why, then, did Taylor continue to tell it? Was it a matter of self-aggrandizement? Was Taylor merely taking credit for the work done by others? Or perhaps, was Taylor using this as an illustrative story to make a point about Scientific Management?

In this paper we investigate this last of the possible explanations for the story of Schmidt and the pig iron. We explore the story of the pig iron handler as a parable on Scientific Management. First, we explain the elements of a parable as a literary device. Next, we analyze the pig iron story to determine what it might tell us when viewed as a parable. Following this, we present the historical evidence that Taylor and his intended audience would have been familiar with this literary device and, therefore, could have used it. We next explore the implications for management history in general and the history of Taylor, specifically. Finally, we demonstrate how this story can be used in our classrooms to take


teaching the Principles of Scientific Management from an abstract knowledge exercise to application and reflection on these principles as they apply in current organizations. Parable as a Literary Device

According to Harmon and Holman (1996), a parable is “An illustrative story teaching a lesson. A true parable (sic) parallels, detail for detail, the situation that calls forth the parable (sic) for illustration. A parable (sic) is, in this sense an ALLEGORY” (p. 372). This, of course, leads us to the explanation of allegory. Here, we learn that allegory is a form of an extended metaphor “in which objects, persons, and actions in a NARRATIVE are equated with meanings that lie outside the NARRATIVE itself” (Harmon & Holman, 1996, p. 12). In other words, allegory attempts to represent one thing, for example one or more of the principles of Scientific Management, in the guise of another, for example a story about a man named Schmidt. In doing this, allegory attempts to tell a story that has meaning on more than one level. It presents a narrative, which is interesting in itself, and, at the same time, illustrates ideas that have their own significance. The test of a parable, according to Harmon and Holman (1996) “is that these materials be so employed that they represent meanings independent of the action in the surface of the story” (p. 12). An Analysis

If, as we argue, the tale of Schmidt is a parable on Scientific Management, then it must be more than a simple metaphor. A parable is a metaphor, but it is also something more. It is an allegory. As an allegory the people, actions, and objects in the story are symbols which represent a truth or meaning beyond the narrative of the story (Ristow, 2000). This story, then, must somehow illuminate some concept/s of Scientific Management.

Since allegory is dependent on its meaning or referent (Via, 1967), we start by examining the context of the story. The tale of Schmidt appears in the second chapter of Taylor’s book. This chapter is titled “The Principles of Scientific Management.” In this chapter, Taylor carefully differentiates his ‘scientific’ management from ‘ordinary’ management, or, as he calls it, the management of ‘initiative and incentive’. It is here that Taylor lays out the four principles that guide the ‘science’ of management:

1. Managers must develop a science for each element of an individual’s work. 2. Managers must scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop each workman. 3. Managers must heartily cooperate with the workers so as to insure all of the work is done in

accordance with the principles of science. 4. There is an almost equal division of work and responsibility between the management and the

workers.

These principles are laid out only four paragraphs before the start of the Schmidt story. With such clear parallels and direct linkage, we argue that Taylor must have intended this story to directly illustrate these principles.

The story can be separated into four distinct sections, each relating to one of the above principles. The story starts with a three-paragraph exposition on why it is necessary to address the question of handling pig iron. Earlier, Taylor says “this work is chosen because it is typical of perhaps the crudest and most elementary form of labor which is performed by man” (Taylor, 1911, p. 40). In the first two paragraphs of the story, Taylor explains the situation before the introduction of scientific methods of handling pig iron. In the third paragraph, he goes into great detail about the “task which faced us as managers under the modern scientific plan” (p. 42).

We found that this gang were loading on the average about 12 ½ long tons per man per day. We were surprised to find, after studying the matter, that a first-class pig-iron handler ought to handle between 47 and 48 long tons per day, instead of 12 ½ tons. This task seemed to us so very large that we were obliged to go over our work several times before we were absolutely sure that we were right. Once we were sure, however, that 47 tons was a proper day’s work for a first-class pig-iron handler, the task which faced us as managers under the modern scientific plan was clearly before us. It was our duty to see that the 80,000 tons of pig iron was loaded on to the cars


at the rate of 47 tons per man per day, in place of the 12 ½ tons, at which rate the work was then being done. And it was further our duty to see that this work was done without bringing on a strike among the men, without any quarrel with the men, and to see that the men were happier, and better contented when loading at the new rate of 47 tons than they were when loading at the old rate of 12 ½ tons” (Taylor, 1911, pp. 42-43)

This paragraph is clearly meant to be read as an indictment of ‘ordinary’ methods of management and put the responsibility of determining the appropriate rate of work squarely on the management. We must remember that for the day, this was a revolutionary concept. If this concept were broadly applied, it would mean a drastic change in the relationship between managers and workers. Taylor said it was the ‘duty’ of management not only to ensure that the work was done at the appropriate rate, but also to do so without causing a labor action and in a manner that would make the workers more contented and happier than when they determined the rate of work. This paragraph is about more than the proper rate for loading pig iron. It is about a revolution in the relationship between managers and workers.

The next paragraph of the story on the surface explains how Schmidt was selected as the first laborer to be indoctrinated in the ‘science’ of pig iron handling. This clearly relates to the second of the above principles, ‘Managers must scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop each workman.’

Our first step was the scientific selection of the workman. In dealing with workmen under this type of management, it is an inflexible rule to talk to and deal with only one man at a time, since each workman has his own special abilities and limitations, and since we are not dealing with men in masses, but are trying to develop each individual man to his highest state of efficiency and prosperity. Our first step was to find the proper workman to begin with. We therefore carefully watched and studied these 75 men for three or four days, at the end of which time we had picked out four men who appeared to be physically able to handle pig iron at the rate of 47 tons per day. A careful study was then made of each of these men. We looked up their history as far back as practicable and thorough inquiries were made as to the character, habits, and the ambition of each of them. Finally we selected one from among the four as the most likely man to start with. He was a little Pennsylvania Dutchman who had been observed to trot back home for a mile or so after his work in the evening about as fresh as he was when he came trotting down to work in the morning. We found that upon wages of $1.15 a day he had succeeded in buying a small plot of ground, and that he was engaged in putting up the walls of a little house for himself in the morning before starting to work and at night after leaving. He also had the reputation of being exceedingly ‘close,’ that is, of placing a very high value on a dollar. As one man whom we talked to about him said, “A penny looks about the size of a cart-wheel to him.” This man we will call Schmidt (Taylor, 1911, pp. 43-44).

This paragraph demonstrates how the selection of workers moves from an issue of minor importance under a day labor system and ordinary management to a careful process that forms part of the essence of the entire scientific management system. According to the lesson here, management must not simply select the first worker who appears to meet the qualifications of the job. Careful study is required. Management must move beyond the physical attributes of the individual and look into the ‘character, habits, and the ambition’ of each of the workers under consideration. Today we would say that we would be exploring broad human resource issues of what motivates each individual worker. Taylor did not have theories of motivation to turn to. However, it is clear from this explanation that management is expected to learn as much as possible about the individual to ensure the right person is chosen for the assignment. As we learn at the end of the paragraph, Schmidt’s motivation was money. Taylor showed himself to be well ahead of his time.

The third section of the story goes on to relate a ‘conversation’ between Taylor and Schmidt. This section refers to the third principle, above: “Managers must heartily cooperate with the workers so as to insure all of the work is done in accordance with the principles of science.”

The task before us, then, narrowed itself down to getting Schmidt to handle 47 tons of pig iron per day and making him glad to do it. This was done as follows. Schmidt was called out from among the gang of pig iron handlers and talked to somewhat in this way:


“Schmidt, are you a high-priced man?” “Vell, I don’t know vat you mean.” “Oh yes, you do. What I want to know is whether you are a high-priced man or not.” “Vell, I don’t know vat you mean.” “Oh, come now, you answer my questions. What I want to find out is whether you are a high-

priced man or one of these cheap fellows here. What I want to find out is whether you want to earn $1.85 a day or whether you are satisfied with $1.15, just the same as all those cheap fellows are getting.”

“Did I vant $1.85 a day? Vas dot a high-priced man? Vell, yes, I vas a high-priced man.” “Oh, you’re aggravating me. Of course you want $1.85 a day – every one wants it! You know

perfectly well that that has very little to do with your being a high-priced man. For goodness” sake answer my questions, and don’t waste any more of my time. Now come over here. You see that pile of pig iron?”

“Yes.” “You see that car?” “Yes.” “Well, if you are a high-priced man, you will load that pig iron on that car to-morrow for

$1.85. Now do wake up and answer my question. Tell me whether you are a high-priced man or not.”

“Vell – did I got $1.85 for loading dot pig iron on dot car to-morrow?” “Yes, of course you do, and you get $1.85 for loading a pile like that every day right through

the year. That is what a high-priced man does, and you know it just as well as I do.” “Vell, dot’s all right. I could load dot pig iron on the car to-morrow for $1.85, and I get it

every day, don’t I?” “Certainly you do – certainly you do.” “Vell, den, I vas a high-priced man.” “Now, hold on, hold on. You know just as well as I do that a high-priced man has to do

exactly as he’s told from morning till night. You have seen this man here before, haven’t you?” “No, I never saw him.” “Well, if you are a high-priced man, you will do exactly as this man tells you to-morrow,

from morning till night. When he tells you to pick up a pig and walk, you pick it up and you walk and when he tells you to sit down and rest, you sit down. You do that right straight through the day. And what’s more, no back talk. Now a high-priced man does just what he’s told to do, and no back talk. Do you understand that? When this man tells you to walk, you walk; when he tells you to sit down, you sit down, and you don’t talk back at him. Now you come on to work here to-morrow morning and I’ll know before night whether you are really a high-priced man or not.”

This seems to be rather rough talk. And indeed it would be if applied to an educated mechanic, or even an intelligent laborer. With a man of the mentally sluggish type of Schmidt it is appropriate and not unkind, since it is effective in fixing his attention on the high wages which he wants and away from what, if it were called to his attention, he probably would consider impossibly hard work.

What would Schmidt’s answer be if he were talked to in a manner which is usual under the management of “initiative and incentive”? say as follows:

“Now, Schmidt, you are a first-class pig-iron handler and know your business well. You have been handling at the rate of 12 ½ tons per day. I have given considerable study to handling pig iron, and feel sure that you could do a much larger day’s work than you have been doing. Now don’t you think that if you really tried you could handle 47 tons of pig iron per day, instead of 12 ½ tons?”

What do you think Schmidt’s answer would be to this?” (Taylor, 1911, pp. 44-47) This is the section of the narrative that has led some writers to accuse Taylor of having disdain for his

workers. Rather, we posit that read as a parable this section demonstrates the nature of the revolution in


the relationship between management and the workers that Taylor advocated. Recall, that Taylor said it was the duty of management to set the rate of work and to do so without causing a labor action and in a manner that would make the workers more contented and happier than when they determined the rate of work (Taylor, 1911, p. 43). This section illustrates how management should treat workers under scientific management and how this method is an improvement over the way they were handled under ordinary management. To properly understand this ‘conversation,’ we must be familiar with the state of society at the turn of the 20th Century. America of the late 1800s was a far cry from the classless society we believe we have today. Taylor was writing for an audience much different from that which he would encounter and which reads his work today. The period of the pig iron experiments was before the great American experiment with universal education. There was a clear distinction between individuals who managed (the middle class) and individuals who performed manual labor (the lower class) (Jable, 1991). Immigrants, such as the ‘little Pennsylvania Dutchman,’ Schmidt were part of this under class. At the time, individuals like Schmidt were not educated because it was widely believed that they were not capable of being liberally educated (Ravitch, 2000). In fact, children of this lower class were found working in factories rather than attending school up to World War I (Shanahan, Miech, & Elder, 1998). It was not until the early 1900s that even the concept of education beyond the basics of ‘reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmatic’ changed from being the province of the upper classes to the idea of universal education for all that we hold today (Ravitch, 2000).

Taylor was writing for the educated upper class. Individuals of this class would not even have considered talking to an individual like Schmidt in any other way than as Taylor recounts. Taylor even admits that taking a more reasonable approach would be counter-productive. This portion of the story again places the responsibility for keeping the workers content and productive clearly on management. Taylor is saying here that it is management’s responsibility to motivate the workers and keep them satisfied. A job action on the part of the workers becomes the result of faulty management, not the contrariness of the workers.

The final paragraph of the story seems to simply expound on the success of the experiment. Schmidt started to work, and all day long, and at regular intervals, was told by the man who stood over him with a watch, “Now pick up a pig and walk. Now sit down and rest. Now walk – now rest,” etc. He worked when he was told to work, and rested when he was told to rest, and at half-past five in the afternoon had his 47 ½ tons loaded on the car. And he practically never failed to work at this pace and do the task that was set him during the three years that the writer was at Bethlehem. That is, he received 60 per cent. higher wages than were paid to other men who were not working on task work. One man after another was picked out and trained to handle pig iron at the rate of 47 ½ tons per day until all of the pig iron was handled at this rate, and the men were receiving 60 per cent. more wages than other workmen around them. (Taylor, 1911, p. 47)

Again, viewed as a parable, Taylor is presenting lessons on the principles of Scientific Management. Specifically, here Taylor is talking about the fourth principle, above: ‘There is an almost equal division of work and responsibility between the management and the workers.’

The success of the experiment is a result of the selection of the correct workman and, as importantly, the division of the work between the worker and management plus the proper training of the worker to meet the new standard. This part of the story informs us that if the worker is properly selected and if management does its job by determining the proper way for the work to be done to standard plus training and supervising the worker, both management and the worker will benefit (with four times more tonnage loaded and 60 percent more pay). To Taylor, Scientific Management was not only a means of improving productivity; it was also a means of improving the lot of the worker. Again, the concept of class is important here. Management’s duty is not only to the organization, but also to the worker. Here we see a fundamental difference between ordinary management and Scientific Management. Under the former, it is management’s job to make sure the work gets done. Under the latter, management assumes much broader responsibility, including that of improving the income of the individual employee.

Looked at this way, the four sections of the story of Schmidt and the pig iron are clearly a parable illustrating the four Scientific Management principles. Literally translated, the term ‘parable’ refers to


something ‘thrown alongside’ something else. Through this juxtaposition, the story should leave in the mind sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease one into active thought (Black, 2000). The above is certainly only one possible interpretation of the story of Schmidt. If the story is allegorical, its intent is to open the issues to additional interpretation.

However, all of the above is only academic drivel if Taylor might not write a parable. In order to argue that we might interpret this story as a parable, it is necessary to determine if Taylor was sufficiently familiar with this literary form to successfully employ it. This issue is addressed next. HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF TAYLOR AND PARABLES

We know from Copley’s (1923) biography that Taylor’s parents were raised as Quakers. We also know that while Taylor’s father remained a member of the Friends Meeting in Germantown, Taylor’s mother became identified as a regular attendee at the Unitarian Church. We further know from this same source that the elder Taylors had in common a love of literary study and that both were interested in history and languages. Mrs. Taylor also participated at a salon in the home of Mrs. Isaac Pugh for those devoted to plain living and high thinking. And finally, Copley tells us that Taylor identified himself with the church his mother came to attend, the Unitarian Church, and that as long as he attended church as an adult, Taylor attended the Unitarian Church.

Copley (1923) tells us that Emily Taylor attended the local Unitarian Church while the pastor was Samuel Longfellow from 1878 to 1882. Samuel Longfellow, the brother of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, made his place in Unitarian history as a hymnist. Though the Transcendentalist movement influenced him, he retained an interest in the act of corporate worship as well as individual devotions. Additionally, Dr. William H. Furness often took the pulpit there. Furness, on the other hand, was important to Unitarian history for his scholarly and speculative work in biblical criticism. His most famous work was “Remarks on the Four Gospels”, published in 1836. Furness remained devoted to biblical studies and later published works on the life of Jesus (Robinson, 1985).

Given the above information, and the fact that Taylor attended the Phillips Exeter Academy for two years, what can we surmise about his familiarity with the form and essence of the parable?

By the time Taylor began attending school in the 1860s, the Bible was no longer the pivotal text used for the teaching of reading. It had been augmented by various grammars, spellers and textbooks that were then widely available (Gutjahr, 1999). This was a period of change, not only in American religious life, but also in the literary life of the nation. New printing techniques made it possible to publish a variety of books, such as William Holmes McGuffey’s “Readers” (first four published 1836-1879) at an affordable price. People, especially well-to-do families, such as Taylor’s, could afford books other than the Bible.

We know from Copley (1923) that in June 1874, Taylor passed the Harvard entrance examinations ‘with honors.’ In those days, one did not actually graduate from a preparatory school, rather one attended the school until one was able to pass the entrance examinations to college. The family’s intent in sending him to Exeter was that he would eventually become a lawyer. Eye trouble, brought on by the severe academic discipline at Exeter, prevented Taylor from attending Harvard.

At the time, Harvard was the center of ‘liberalism’ and Unitarianism in religious education. In 1805, the liberal Henry Ware was elected to the post of Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard in which he served until 1840 (Robinson, 1985). This election set the direction of the Harvard Divinity School for the foreseeable future. In preparing students to enter Harvard, therefore, Exeter would follow the lead of the senior school. Copley (1923) reports that an important part of Exeter’s curriculum was mandatory chapel attendance.

What, then, was the position of Unitarian thought on the Bible, especially the New Testament, during Taylor’s lifetime? Unitarians saw theirs as a biblical religion well into the nineteenth century. Their essential difference from mainline Christian sects was seen as one of scriptural interpretation (Robinson, 1985). Unitarians rejected a literal interpretation of scripture and looked at the Bible as two separate but related books.


Ephraim Emerton published one noted contemporary explanation of Unitarian thinking in 1911. In the fourth chapter of his work (pp. 110-147) he explains Unitarian thinking about the Bible. The preface of Emerton’s book, dated October 1910, expresses thanks to William Wallace Fenn. The Reverend Fenn was Dean of the Harvard Divinity School from 1906 to 1922 (Robinson, 1985).

According to Emerton (1911), “The Unitarian approaches the Bible with reverent attention. He accepts it as the highest revelation of the past to the present, the clearest expression of that spiritual endowment which is to him an essential part of the very idea of mankind” (p. 146). The revelation here is men unfolding the divine plan through their own powers. This revelation leads to inspiration. For the Unitarian, this inspiration was the agency through which the revelation was received from the Bible works. Unitarians rejected a literal interpretation of the Bible as much as they rejected the right of any one individual to interpret scripture for them. In this view, the Protestant reformation failed by substituting the authority of ‘the book’ for the authority of the Pope to interpret Divine Will (Emerton, 1911).

We have presented reasonable circumstantial evidence that Taylor would have been familiar with the form and essence of the parable. Further, it is not difficult to surmise that Taylor’s audience would also have been familiar with the concept of the parable. Like Taylor, they would have been educated individuals, mostly Christians, who would have been raised in homes in which Biblical study was accepted and attended schools, like Exeter, where chapel attendance was mandatory. Therefore, it is reasonable that Taylor could have used a literary device that was familiar to him and to his audience to help explain his revolutionary concepts and further stimulate thought. IMPLICATIONS

Taylor, to this day, remains a controversial figure. Just two years after Wrege and Perroni (1974) published their indictment, Drucker (1976) claimed that he had as much impact on the modern world as Marx or Freud. Taylor was misquoted and misunderstood in his own time as well as in the time since. Wrege and Perroni (1974) were right to call him a prevaricator if his pig-tale is assumed from our current historical position to be a factual explanation of what happened in loading of pig iron at Bethlehem Steel. If, however, as we have suggested, the story was not meant to be an exact rendition, but a parable expanding on the science of management as Taylor saw it, these objections, while still interesting, are less damaging both to Taylor’s reputation and to his philosophy. And interpretation as a parable (whether strictly true or made up from a composite) supports Taylor’s place in the historical development of the great changes in management-employee relations we benefit from today. USING THE PARABLE

One benefit of interpreting Taylor’s story as a parable is that we can use the story in our classrooms the same way Taylor used it in his lectures, to help teach the four principles of Scientific Management. This story drives home these principles in a more interactive and entertaining manner than just a recitation of the principles and what they should mean. We use the story as a parable in both our traditional and online classes.

In our traditional classes we introduce the four principles of Scientific Management and then recite the parable to our students. We provide the students with a handout that contains the parable, place them in groups of three to five students and assign the groups the task of finding the four principles embedded in the story. We ask them to identify particular statements in the story that illustrate each of the principles. We then ask the groups to identify where they found each of the principles and lead a general discussion of the story as a means of learning the principles of scientific management. For work outside of class, we assign a short paper which requires the students to think about jobs they have had or places they have worked and identify the principles of scientific management in their job or organization. This raises the level of learning from comprehension to application and allows each student to see that these principles are not abstract ideas, but have already had an impact on their lives. In order to allow students to reflect


on this learning we also ask them to answer the questions: Do you think 100-year-old principles of management are valid for today’s working environment? Why or why not?

In our online courses, or in the online portion of a blended course, we use the parable in much the same way. In a ‘mini-lecture’ recorded using Elluminate software, we introduce the four principles and recite the parable. Students have a copy of the parable in their online materials. We then ask the students to find the four principles in the parable and post their individual analysis of where each of the principles is illustrated by the story to a discussion space created for this purpose. Students must also think about the jobs they have had and identify the principles in that job or organization and answer the same two questions as above. To develop a discussion of the student answers, students are required to make a substantive comment about the posting of at least two other students in the class. Students are graded on the substance of their own posting and the value of the comments made about the postings of the two other students.

In this way we achieve an online version of discussion of these principles and the application and reflection embedded in the outside of class paper required of traditional students.

According to Nelson (2010), in her chapter, “Understanding Your Students and How They Learn”, among other things today’s students are accustomed to function as a part of a team, they value structure in their lives, and have little inclination for reflection or self-examination. Thus far, our primarily traditional undergraduate students have responded positively to the structure of these assignments, both in the classroom and online. In both cases, we have endeavored to move the learning from a rote memorization of the Principles of Scientific Management to an application of those principles to the student’s life and a reflection on the value of the principles in modern society. REFERENCES Black, C.C. (2000). Four Stations Enroute to a Parabolic Homiletic. Interpretation, 54, 386-397. Copley, F.B. (1923). Frederick W. Taylor, Father of Scientific Management. New York: Harper and Brothers. Drucker, P.F. (1976). The Coming Rediscovery of Scientific Management. The Conference Board Record, 13, 23-27. Emerton, E. (1911). Unitarian Thought. New York: The Macmillan Company. Gutjahr, P.C. (1999). An American Bible, A History of the Good Book in the United States, 1777-1880. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Harmon, W., & Holman, C.H. (1996). A Handbook to Literature (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Jable, J.T. (1991). Social Class and the Sport of Cricket in Philadelphia, 1850-1880. Journal of Sport History, 18, 205-223. Nilson, L.B. (2010). Teaching at its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Ravitch, D. (2000). Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms. New York: Simon and Schuster. Ristow, K. (2000). Tell Me a Story: Exploring the Parables with Junior High Students. Catechist, 34, 33. Robinson, D. (1985). The Unitarians and the Universalists. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.


Shanahan, M.J., Miech, R.A., & Elder, Jr., G.H. (1998). Changing Pathways to Attainment in Men’s Lives: Historical Patterns of School, Work, and Social Class. Social Forces, 77, 231-256. Taylor, F.W. (1911). The Principles of Scientific Management. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Via, Jr., D.O. (1967). The Parables: Their Literary and Existential Dimension. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press. Wrege, C.D., & Greenwood, R.G. (1991). Frederick W. Taylor the Father of Scientific Management, Myth and Reality. New York: Irwin. Wrege, C.D., & Hodgetts, R.M. (2000). Frederick W. Taylor’s 1899 Pig Iron Observations: Examining Fact, Fiction, and Lessons for the New Millennium. Academy of Management Journal, 43, 1283-1291. Wrege, C.D., & Perroni, A.G. (1974). Taylor’s Pig-tale: A Historical Analysis of Frederick W. Taylor”s Pig-Iron Experiments. Academy of Management Journal, 17, 6-27. APPENDIX

THE ‘PARABLE OF THE PIG IRON’ As related in “The Principles of Scientific Management” (Taylor, 1911, pp. 43-47)

The Bethlehem Steel Company had five blast furnaces, the product of which had been handled by a

pig-iron gang for many years. This gang, at this time, consisted of about 75 men. They were good, average pig-iron handlers, were under an excellent foreman who himself had been a pig-iron handler, and the work was done, on the whole, about as fast and as cheaply as it was anywhere else at that time.

A railroad switch was run out into the field, right along the edge of the piles of pig iron. An inclined plank was placed against the side of a car, and each man picked up from his pile a pig of iron weighing about 92 pounds, walked up the inclined plank and dropped it on the end of the car.

We found that this gang were loading on the average about 12 ½ long tons per man per day. We were surprised to find, after studying the matter, that a first-class pig-iron handler ought to handle between 47 and 48 long tons per day, instead of 12 ½ tons. This task seemed to us so very large that we were obliged to go over our work several times before we were absolutely sure that we were right. Once we were sure, however, that 47 tons was a proper day’s work for a first-class pig-iron handler, the task which faced us as managers under the modern scientific plan was clearly before us. It was our duty to see that the 80,000 tons of pig iron was loaded on to the cars at the rate of 47 tons per man per day, in place of the 12 ½ tons, at which rate the work was then being done. And it was further our duty to see that this work was done without bringing on a strike among the men, without any quarrel with the men, and to see that the men were happier, and better contented when loading at the new rate of 47 tons than they were when loading at the old rate of 12 ½ tons.

Our first step was the scientific selection of the workman. In dealing with workmen under this type of management, it is an inflexible rule to talk to and deal with only one man at a time, since each workman has his own special abilities and limitations, and since we are not dealing with men in masses, but are trying to develop each individual man to his highest state of efficiency and prosperity. Our first step was to find the proper workman to begin with. We therefore carefully watched and studied these 75 men for three or four days, at the end of which time we had picked out four men who appeared to be physically able to handle pig iron at the rate of 47 tons per day. A careful study was then made of each of these men. We looked up their history as far back as practicable and thorough inquiries were made as to the character, habits, and the ambition of each of them. Finally we selected one from among the four as the most likely man to start with. He was a little Pennsylvania Dutchman who had been observed to trot back


home for a mile or so after his work in the evening about as fresh as he was when he came trotting down to work in the morning. We found that upon wages of $1.15 a day he had succeeded in buying a small plot of ground, and that he was engaged in putting up the walls of a little house for himself in the morning before starting to work and at night after leaving. He also had the reputation of being exceedingly “close,” that is, of placing a very high value on a dollar. As one man whom we talked to about him said, “A penny looks about the size of a cart-wheel to him.” This man we will call Schmidt.

The task before us, then, narrowed itself down to getting Schmidt to handle 47 tons of pig iron per day and making him glad to do it. This was done as follows. Schmidt was called out from among the gang of pig-iron handlers and talked to somewhat in this way:

“Schmidt, are you a high-priced man?” “Vell, I don”t know vat you mean.” “Oh yes, you do. What I want to know is whether you are a high-priced man or not.” “Vell, I don”t know vat you mean.” “Oh, come now, you answer my questions. What I want to find out is whether you are a high-

priced man or one of these cheap fellows here. What I want to find out is whether you want to earn $1.85 a day or whether you are satisfied with $1.15, just the same as all those cheap fellows are getting.”

“Did I vant $1.85 a day? Vas dot a high-priced man? Vell, yes, I vas a high-priced man.” “Oh, you’re aggravating me. Of course you want $1.85 a day – every one wants it! You know

perfectly well that that has very little to do with your being a high-priced man. For goodness’ sake answer my questions, and don’t waste any more of my time. Now come over here. You see that pile of pig iron?”

“Yes.” “You see that car?” “Yes.” “Well, if you are a high-priced man, you will load that pig iron on that car to-morrow for

$1.85. Now do wake up and answer my question. Tell me whether you are a high-priced man or not.”

“Vell – did I got $1.85 for loading dot pig iron on dot car to-morrow?” “Yes, of course you do, and you get $1.85 for loading a pile like that every day right through

the year. That is what a high-priced man does, and you know it just as well as I do.” “Vell, dot’s all right. I could load dot pig iron on the car to-morrow for $1.85, and I get it

every day, don”t I?” “Certainly you do – certainly you do.” “Vell, den, I vas a high-priced man.” “Now, hold on, hold on. You know just as well as I do that a high-priced man has to do

exactly as he’s told from morning till night. You have seen this man here before, haven’t you?” “No, I never saw him.” “Well, if you are a high-priced man, you will do exactly as this man tells you to-morrow,

from morning till night. When he tells you to pick up a pig and walk, you pick it up and you walk and when he tells you to sit down and rest, you sit down. You do that right straight through the day. And what’s more, no back talk. Now a high-priced man does just what he’s told to do, and no back talk. Do you understand that? When this man tells you to walk, you walk; when he tells you to sit down, you sit down, and you don’t talk back at him. Now you come on to work here to-morrow morning and I’ll know before night whether you are really a high-priced man or not.”

This seems to be rather rough talk. And indeed it would be if applied to an educated mechanic, or even an intelligent laborer. With a man of the mentally sluggish type of Schmidt it is appropriate and not unkind, since it is effective in fixing his attention on the high wages which he wants and away from what, if it were called to his attention, he probably would consider impossibly hard work.

What would Schmidt”s answer be if he were talked to in a manner which is usual under the management of “initiative and incentive”? say as follows:


“Now, Schmidt, you are a first-class pig-iron handler and know your business well. You have been handling at the rate of 12 ½ tons per day. I have given considerable study to handling pig iron, and feel sure that you could do a much larger day’s work than you have been doing. Now don’t you think that if you really tried you could handle 47 tons of pig iron per day, instead of 12 ½ tons?”

What do you think Schmidt’s answer would be to this? Schmidt started to work, and all day long, and at regular intervals, was told by the man who stood

over him with a watch, “Now pick up a pig and walk. Not sit down and rest. Now walk – now rest,” etc. He worked when he was told to work, and rested when he was told to rest, and at half-past five in the afternoon had his 47 ½ tons loaded on the car. And he practically never failed to work at this pace and do the task that was set him during the three years that the writer was at Bethlehem. That is, he received 60 per cent. higher wages than were paid to other men who were not working on task work. One man after another was picked out and trained to handle pig iron at the rate of 47 ½ tons per day until all of the pig iron was handled at this rate, and the men were receiving 60 per cent. more wages than other workmen around them.


Dimensions of Quality in Online Business Course Offerings: Content, Format and Feedback

Kenneth A. Heischmidt

Southeast Missouri State University

Yves Damoiseau Goldman Sachs

In this study, the authors identify relevant dimension of quality in business online course offerings. Taking a customer orientation, this study examined the dimensions of students’ expectations and their satisfaction with the fulfillment of those expectations. In a two step process, relevant service dimensions have been identified and their importance explored. From the original fifteen dimensions of perceived quality, six dimensions were identified to have a statistically significant influence on the overall satisfaction with the quality of a business online course. The delivery of online courses needs to consider the important dimensions of content, format and feedback in order to increase the chances for overall satisfaction with the online course experience. Ratings of students with relatively higher grade expectations at the start of the online experience correlated positively with a higher overall satisfaction in the respective online courses. The implications of the findings for online course instructors and college administrators are discussed. INTRODUCTION

The state of information technology and the ongoing technological evolution constitute a force that has significant influence on the development of higher education (JISC, 1995). Information technology has, above all, influenced the face of distance education within the last decade. Today numerous technologies enhance distance education provisions and have given this form of learning a very different character as compared to the mail format that was prevalent a few years ago. The potential of Internet-based learning has even triggered a vast number of traditional higher education providers to incorporate online course offerings into their curriculum. While in 1995 twenty-two percent of institutions of higher education offered internet-based courses, this number grew to 60 percent in 1998 (U.S. G.P.O. [USGPO], 2003). In 2003, 81 percent of American 4-year colleges and universities offer online courses, and 34 percent offered one or more complete online degree programs (Conhaim, 2003). The supply of online programs by universities is mirrored on the student demand site: According to the U.S. Department of Education the enrollment in online courses nationally has more than doubled from 1997 to 2001 (Bowler, 2003). More than three million students were enrolled in online classes in 2001, a number that is projected to increase to six million by the year 2006 (Conhaim, 2003).

The described development is to a great extent motivated by a tremendous shift in the attitude university administrators and academics have towards this form of delivering higher education. While


some vocal individuals may view distance education as the extreme commercialization of higher education (Slabbert & Saks, 2004), a broad basis of scholars obviously have come to accept online education as a legitimate and (cost-) effective way to deliver higher education. A study by the Sloan consortium indicates that 70 percent of university administrators view online education as a critical long-term strategy for their schools (Rudavsky, 2004). The field of online education has even expanded to include standards for online instruction in countries like Canada and France (Perkins, 2011).

Incorporating online courses into higher education curricula poses new challenges beyond the rather obvious technological ones. Delivering education via online course offerings has significant different characteristics that the respective administrators and scholars must consider. First, universities have to revise their concept about the relevant market when offering online courses. Since the market reach of online courses is not geographically restricted, the competitive environment is likely to differ. Moreover, means of differentiating educational offerings (e.g. brand/reputation of the school) might not have the same effect as in the realms of offline course offerings. Additionally, the audience of online courses and/or their expectations regarding the characteristics of the delivered education is likely to differ from those in a traditional educational setting.

A major factor contributing to the value and the marketability of online course offerings is going to be the quality of the respective online course offerings. This is the focus of the study at hand which identifies relevant parameters affecting students’ perception of quality in online course offerings. BACKGROUND

Quality in distance education, especially the subset of distance education employing online delivery, is a widely addressed topic (e.g. see Clark, 1994; Russell, 1999; Ryan, 2000; Johnson, 2001; Dziuban & Moskal, 2001). However, most of the research done in the area focuses on the question whether or not distance education differs from traditional classroom education with regard to the learning outcome of the involved students (Dell, Low & Wilker, 2010; Stachar & Newman, 2010)). In a comprehensive review of studies on distance education Russell (1999) concludes that there is no significant difference between learning outcomes in conjunction with distance education as compared to traditional classroom settings. While Russell’s (1999) review included only a few studies specifically looking at online class delivery, other studies focusing exclusively on the web-based versus in-person delivery models report similar evidence for a lack of significant difference in learning outcomes under the two models (e.g. see Davies & Mendenhall, 1998; Dominguez & Ridley, 1999; Gagne & Shepherd, 2001; Tucker, S. 2001).

Work by Stachar and Neuman (2010) on a meta-analysis of the comparison between distance learning and traditional learning suggested that students in distance learning outperformed their comparison group completing traditional format courses. In contrast with the previous mentioned analysis Dell, Low & Wilker (2010) found there was not difference in performance between online student performance and face to face student performance and that instructional methods were more important than delivery platform.

The present study differs from this line of research in that it assumes that both delivery models (web-based and in-person) potentially result in virtually the same learning outcomes. Based on this assumption, this study investigates another important line of inquiry which is concerned with factors other than the mode of delivery which potentially influence student learning. Some of the studies aforementioned have indicated that student satisfaction may be one of these factors. Work by Eom, Wen and Ashill (2006) found that timely and and meaningful instructional feedback along with visual and read/write learning styles were tied to learning outcomes for online course delivery. Other studies have identified factors that lead to students perceptions of online course quality (Yang & Durrington, 2010). They indicated the key factors to online course quality were: peer-interactions, feedback from instructors, and online course structure. Indeed, the potential relationship between student satisfaction and learning outcomes is certainly a very interesting topic for research. However, in order to better understand the potential relationship between student satisfaction and learning outcomes, the authors argue it is necessary to better understand the antecedents of students’ satisfaction. Besides yielding a better theoretical framework for


exploring the potential relationship between satisfaction and learning, an inquiry into the antecedents of students’ satisfaction with the online learning environment offers added benefits for university instructors and administrators. It provides them with a better understanding of how to manage the online learning environment in a time when competition in the online learning segment is increasing and when the notion, of the student as the customer of the learning institution, gains ground.

With regard to the objectives of this research project, it is necessary to initially clarify what the concept “quality” represents. In a rather general formulation Juran (Juran, Godfrey, & Hoogstoel, 1999) defined quality as meaning freedom of deficiencies – freedom from errors that require rework, customer dissatisfaction, customer claims, etc. This “zero deficiency” view is rather product oriented and is based on the notion that respective deficiencies are attributes that can be determined objectively. However, it would be rather difficult to measure deficiencies objectively in the context of higher education. In this context it is deemed logical that only the recipient can really assess the quality of the received education, thereby making its measurement more subjective than exact (Lim & Tang, 2000). Since this paper is ultimately concerned with the concept of quality in the context of higher education, an inquisition into how this term found its way into the realms of higher education should help to identify a more appropriate definition of quality.

Evaluating quality of course offerings in higher education is a relatively new development. In fact it is a perspective that is significantly influenced by the likewise relatively new notion of higher education as a service that is offered to the student, who in turn may be viewed as the educational customer. Higher education indeed possesses all the characteristics of a service industry: “educational services are intangible, heterogeneous, and inseparable from the person delivering it, variable, perishable and the customer (student) participates in the process” (Shank, Matthew, Walker, & Hayes, 1995; Cuthbert, 1996).

Even with regard to service, the literature offers a variety of definitions for the concept of quality. In the context of education Whitaker and Moses (Whitaker & Moses, 1994) assert that being quality minded means “caring about the goals, needs, desires and interests of customers and making sure they are met” (1994). This notion corresponds to the underlying idea that is put forward in the majority of definitions of service quality presented in the literature. Bergman and Klefsjo, (1994) defined quality as the ability to satisfy the needs and expectations of the customer. The various definitions of service quality generally revolve around the way in which the specific service is delivered meets, exceeds or falls short of the expectations of customers (Babakus & Boiler, 1992; Bolton & Drew, 1991; Boulding, Williams, Kalra, Staelin, & Zeithaml, 1993; Brown & Swartz, 1989; Lewis & Mitchell, 1990). Thus, it is legitimate to conclude that customer expectations are the foundation of perceived service quality.

In measuring customer satisfaction, a multitude of approaches have been used. A research instrument that has received wide recognition in the literature is called SERVQUAL. This instrument, developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, (1985), asks respondents to complete a series of questions which measure their expectations of a particular service provider on a wide array of specific service issues. Subsequently they are asked to record perception of that service provider on the same issues. When the rating for perceived service quality is lower than the indicated expectation for the respective criteria, this is interpreted as an indicator of low quality.

Long, Rangecroft and Tricker, (1999) have applied the concept underlying the SERVQUAL instrument in the context of higher education, more precisely with regard to distance education provisions in higher education. They based their approach on a variation of the service template developed by Staughton and Williams (Staughton & Williams, 1994). The authors modified the generic approach by Staughton and Williams to meet the requirements of measuring perceived service quality with regard to distance education courses. The instrument is designed to visualize any gaps between the student’s requirements regarding a particular feature of the distance education course and their perception of the course quality. The extent of existing gaps can subsequently be used to identify and prioritize the actions required to improve the match between what students are looking for in a course offering and what they receive resulting in improvements of the perceived quality of the course offering (Long, Rangecroft and


Tricker, 2000). Long, Rangecroft and Tricker (2000) also identified criteria that are relevant with regard to the evaluation of quality in the context of distance education offerings. Their study was very distinct.

Due to the distinctness of this previous study an exploratory study was devised in order to solicit relevant parameter and then compare those with those criteria identified by Long, Rangecroft and Tricker (2000). EXPLORATORY STUDY

The purpose of this study of students completing online classes was to identify the relevant criteria related to the perceived quality of online courses at an AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accredited College of Business, located at a medium sized Midwestern University. An adoption of the criteria identified in other research studies did not seem adequate mainly for two reasons. First, other studies described in the literature had a broader and/or different focus than the study at hand. For example, the original template project of Long, Rangecroft and Tricker (2000) was concerned with the requirements of distance education students in general, while this study focuses on the needs of students studying in online classes. Secondly, it was deemed appropriate to assume that the expectations and the need structure of students at the College of Business vary significantly from those students examined in other studies.

The Nominal Group Technique developed by Delbecq and Van den Ven (Delbecq, Van den Ven & Gustafson 1975) was used for this study. The Nominal Group Technique has many advantages, including independent idea generation, increased attendance to each idea and the increased opportunity for each individual to assure that his or her ideas are part of the group’s frame of reference and finally the independent mathematical judgment (Delbecq, Van den Ven & Gustafson 1975). This last aspect was of special interest for this exploratory study since it was necessary to narrow down the list of important criteria to a manageable number.

The group of participants in the exploratory study consisted of ten people, six male and four female participants. In order to ensure that the results of the nominal group technique are of high relevance to both undergraduate and graduate students and to facilitate the generation of a variety of pertinent aspects, five graduate and five undergraduate students were included in the session. Prerequisite of all participating students was that they had completed at least one online course at the College of Business prior to the time of the exploratory study. Most of the participants, however, had previously completed two or more online courses at the College of Business.

The result of the Nominal Group session was a list of 27 aspects that the students involved in the session deemed important for their satisfaction with the quality of an online course (please see Table 1 for the list). This list of aspects subsequently was compared to the findings documented in the literature and constituted the basis for the creation of the questionnaire.

The mathematical judgment at the end of the Nominal Group Technique was especially helpful in identifying a list of the overall most important criteria. Since the number of criteria that can be queried in the actual survey was deemed to be limited to a total number of about fifteen, the results from the Nominal Group Technique helped to narrow the list to those of most relevance. The criteria in Table 1 above are listed in the order ranked most important to least important by students participating in the nominal group technique session (the phrasing is based on the students’ suggestions).

Some of the cited criteria are virtually indistinguishable from those that one would expect to solicit with regard to a regular in class course (e.g. comprehensive/timely feedback, applicability to the outside reality, or not so much busy work), whereas others are specific to the delivery medium (e.g. ease of navigation, account for time differences, or standard technology). In general, issues specific to the mode of delivery (ease of navigation, clear assignments/instructions) and those regarding the communication link to the instructor (accessibility of instructor, timely feedback, instructor notes to supplement) seem to be of particular interest. Interestingly, it was noted that the students felt a class should qualify for delivery via the online medium based on class content. Informal conversation during and after the nominal group


technique session underlined the widely shared notion in the group that the content of some courses lends itself better to the delivery via the online medium than the content of other courses.

TABLE 3 LIST OF ASPECTS DEEMED RELEVANT FOR THE QUALITY OF AN ONLINE COURSE;

LISTED IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE

■ Easy to navigate/well organized site ■ Clear assignments/instructions ■ Accessibility of instructor ■ Class should qualify for online course ■ Timely feedback ■ Instructor notes to supplement ■ Not so much busy work/ worthwhile assignments ■ Calendar with everything mapped out ■ 24/7 accessibility ■ Up-front information ■ Up-to-date grade book ■ Flexibility/adaptability ■ Comprehensive feedback ■ Learn more than if I just read the textbook ■ Same requirements as in-class course ■ Picture of Professor ■ No campus presence required ■ No group work ■ Applicable to outside reality ■ Account for time differences ■ Interaction ■ Clear evaluation criteria ■ Realistic expectations about group work ■ Variety of media ■ Familiarity with classmates ■ Standard technology ■ Knowing beforehand who is the professor

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESIS

The primary objective of this research project was to examine the expectations and satisfaction of online classes at the College of Business, thereby piloting an assessment instrument that measures the quality of service offering based on a gap analysis of students stated expectations and their experienced satisfaction. In addition to identifying potential gaps in the quality of online course offerings at the College of Business, it was furthermore the aim to pilot a way of prioritizing how shortcomings should be addressed.

A secondary objective of the research was to verify and validate the criteria identified in the nominal group technique session, by participating students, as important determinants of perceived quality of an online course. The research hypothesis centers on the fifteen dimensions surveyed in the questionnaire that correspond to the identified criteria. These dimensions are the independent variables whose combined effect determines the value of the overall satisfaction (dependent variable). The corresponding hypotheses for the study were formulated as follows:


H1: The criteria queried in the online quality questionnaire are strong indicators of students’ overall satisfaction with an online course

Furthermore this research project investigated the effect of grade expectation on the overall

satisfaction with the online course. The assumption is these two factors are positively correlated; meaning that a high grade expectation results in a relatively higher overall satisfaction with the online course, all other factors being constant, and vice-versa. If this hypothesis holds true, the effect of the grade expectation must be considered when examining hypothesis H1. A corresponding hypothesis may be stated as follows:

H2: The level of overall satisfaction with the quality of an online course differs among students with different grade expectations

SAMPLE

The final version of the questionnaire was made available to the participants of eight online courses taught in the College of Business during the spring semester. Table 2 below contains the list of online classes in which the invitation to participate in the survey was disseminated. The online courses that were surveyed were eight medium and upper level business online courses.

TABLE 4 LIST OF THE TYPE OF ONLINE COURSE SURVEYED

Course Title Economic Problems & Policy Financial Management Principles of Marketing Advertising & Promotion Internet Marketing Law & Economics Business Ethics

Course instructors disseminated the URL of the online survey to their students who accessed the

survey online. Integrity of results was encouraged by posting the survey website on the College of Business server along with selective dissemination of information about the survey by the instructors of the respective courses. Students completed the survey anonymously.

Of the 260 students studying in the online courses, 96 students responded to the survey, which constitutes a response rate of 37 percent. Since convenience sampling was employed, resulting in a non-probability sample, generalizations have to be made with caution.

Due to the size limitations of the survey instrument, the authors selected the fifteen most relevant criteria for the quality of an online experience from the results of the exploratory study and the findings of the Rangecroft et al. study. Table 3 illustrates the choice of criteria used as independent variables. The overall satisfaction with the online course offering serves as the dependent variable. In addition to these items, the survey included items probing the academic class classification of the course in which the students were enrolled at the time of the survey, their experience with online classes, their academic standing, and their grade expectation for the course they evaluated. For each of the dependent and independent variables, the students were able to indicate a score ranging from 1 (least satisfactory) to 10 (most satisfactory). Grade expectations were recorded on a conventional scale ranging from A to F.


RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software program. The results are described in the ensuing section. Demographic Data

The majority of the respondents to the survey were in a later stage of their college career. Sixty three percent were seniors and another 31 percent were juniors. Other students who provided a response were sophomores. A small percentage of students did not provide their grade level. These results were certainly not unexpected, since the majority of the online courses in which the information about the survey was disseminated were three- and four-hundred-level classes which are typically taken by students in more advanced stage of their university education.

With regard to the students’ previous experience with online classes, a more diverse picture emerged. Almost 45 percent of the respondents indicated they had experience with either one or two online courses in their university education including the course they were enrolled in at the time of the study (about 19 percent had experience with one online course at the time of the survey and about 26 percent had experience with two online courses). While none of the respondents of the survey indicated they had experience with three online classes, about 35 percent said they had experience with four or more online courses (twelve percent had four online courses at the time of the survey and about 22 percent even had five online courses).

The responses with regard to the students’ grade expectations for the online course that they were enrolled in at the time of the survey convey a clear picture: About 95 percent of the students indicated that they expect either an A or a B in the respective online course (about 54 percent of the students expected an A, while about 41 percent expected a B in the online course). Only about five percent of the respondents indicated that they expect either a C or a D in the online courses they were currently undertaking. This strong trend towards positive grade expectations posed severe limitations towards the analysis of a correlation between grade expectation and overall evaluation of the course quality. Descriptive Statistics

The results of the first half of the survey indicate the level of expectations the students have with regard to each of the dimensions surveyed. Table 3 below shows the mean score on a scale from one to

TABLE 5

MEAN SCORES OF THE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL DIMENSIONS

1. The course (website) is 24/7 available 8.6250 2. Understandability of the instructions/assignments 8.4167 3. Ease of navigation on the (course) website 8.1354 4. The agenda of the course clearly mapped out 8.1042 5. Relevance of assignments 7.7500 6. Timeliness of the grade book 7.6947 7. The course content is up-to-date 7.5000 8. No presence is required 7.4688 9. Instructor’s notes supplement the other course content 7.4479 10. Timeliness of the feedback 7.3750 11. Instructor accessibility 7.3125 12. Comprehensiveness of the feedback 7.2604 13. No group work requirement 7.2292 14. In the class I can learn more than from the textbook 6.6458 15. The instructor facilitates student interaction 5.2917


nine. A value of nine represents an item that students view most relevant, while a value of one indicates an item that has very little or no relevance for the students for all dimensions ranked according to the level of expectations associated with them.

For all dimensions but the last two, a mean score of greater than seven on a nine-point scale was derived. The high expectations for the majority of the dimensions surveyed in the study indicate that these dimensions indeed are highly relevant for students’ satisfaction with the quality of an online class. Test of the Hypotheses

H1: The criteria queried in the online quality questionnaire are strong indicators of students’ overall satisfaction with an online course

To test the relationship of the criteria included in the questionnaire with the stated overall satisfaction

with the online course quality, a multivariate regression analysis was performed. The multivariate analysis allows for the simultaneous analysis of the effect of two or more independent variables on a single dependent variable. The fifteen dimensions questioned in the survey constituted the regressors in this analysis. They constituted the independent variables which are believed to have an effect on the students’ overall satisfaction with the quality of the online course offering as the dependent variable. The regression was a rather good fit (R2

adj = 67.7%), and the overall relationship was significant (F15,79 = 14.145, p< 0.05). The output of the regression analysis is available in Appendix A.

Appendix A

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square

Std. Error of the Estimate

1 .854(a) .729 .677 .99262

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 209.047 15 13.936 14.145 .000(a) Residual 77.838 79 .985 Total 286.884 94

Results of the analysis confirm the hypothesis that the fifteen independent variables have a significant

effect on the students’ overall satisfaction with the quality of the online course.

H2: The level of overall satisfaction with the quality of an online course differs among students with different grade expectations

The second hypothesis stated that students’ grade expectations have an effect on the perceived overall

satisfaction level. This hypothesis was tested using ANOVA analysis which compared the mean scores for overall satisfaction with the respective online course among those students that expect to receive an A, B or C (none of the respondents indicated that they expect a letter grade lower than C in their respective online course) in the course. The ANOVA computation of SPSS presented an F-value of 13.071. (For further details of the analysis pleases see appendix B.


APPENDIX B COMPARISONS OF GRADE EXPECTATIONS

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 62.935 2 31.468 13.071 .000 Within Groups 221.486 92 2.407 Total 284.421 94

Tukey HSD (I) Grade

expected in the online

course.

(J) Grade expected in the online

course.

Mean Difference

(I-J) Std.

Error Sig. 95% Confidence

Interval

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

1 2 .26241 .32946 .706 -.5224 1.0473 3 3.42908(*) .67266 .000 1.8267 5.0315 2 1 -.26241 .32946 .706 -1.0473 .5224 3 3.16667(*) .67717 .000 1.5535 4.7798 3 1 -3.42908(*) .67266 .000 -5.0315 -1.8267 2 -3.16667(*) .67717 .000 -4.7798 -1.5535

Grade expected in the online course. N Subset for alpha = .05

1 2 Tukey HSD(a,b)

3 6 4.1667

2 42 7.3333 1 47 7.5957 Sig. 1.000 .894

As the critical F-value at an α-level of 0.05 for the given degrees of freedom (two for the numerator

and 92 for the denominator) the F-value would fall between 3.15 (for 2 degrees of freedom in the numerator and 60 degrees of freedom in the denominator) and 3.07 (for 2 degrees of freedom in the numerator and 120 degrees of freedom in the denominator). Thus, the results support H2 and we conclude that grade expectation indeed influences students’ overall satisfaction with the online course offering.

A subsequent post hoc test of the means provides a clearer picture. The result of this analysis indicate that the mean for stated overall satisfaction level of those students with a grade expectation lower than B differ significantly from the overall satisfaction level of those students expecting an A or B in their respective online course. However, no significant difference means for the overall satisfaction of students that expect an A or a B can be observed. Thus, the data suggest that the expectation of a grade below a certain threshold (presumably a B) has an effect on the experienced overall satisfaction with an online course.


CONCLUSION

The research study has shown that the identified aspects deemed relevant for the quality of an online course are strong indicators of student satisfaction with online course offerings, thus the need to focus on the quality of such teaching delivery. Abstracting from these individual criteria, we conclude that three dimensions of an online course determine its perceived quality as indicated by the students. Students appear to judge the quality of an online course based on how user-friendly the format is, how well organized and adequate the content is and how well the feedback mechanism meets their personal information/feedback requirements. Figure 1 below illustrates this graphically and the subsequent figure (figure 2) clarifies which individual criteria have been subsumed under the three dimensions.

FIGURE 1 THREE DIMENSIONS OF QUALITY IN ONLINE COURSES

FIGURE 2

FORMATION OF THREE DIMENSIONS OF QUALITY


IMPLICATIONS

The presented research provides the administrators and instructors of online courses with insights about the dimensions of online courses most relevant to the satisfaction of students. In order to serve their virtual customer well, it has to be ensured that online courses offerings are geared to meet students’ requirements with regard to Content, Format and Feedback. Results of this study provide online instructors specific criteria in each of these dimensions that can be useful in designing online courses that will meet student expectations.

The initial dimension identified in this study was content, which consists of (1) assignments are clearly laid out, (2) instructor’s notes supplement other course content, (3) the agenda of the course is clearly laid out, (4) relevance of the assignments is clear, (5) the student can learn more from taking this course than they could just from reading the textbook, and (6) the course content is up to date.

Related to the dimension of format, the following are relevant, (1) ease of navigating course website, (2) no physical presence is ever required of the student, (3) no group work is required for the course, and (4) the instructor facilitates interaction.

Related to feedback, instructors need to focus on (1) their accessibility (making sure they facilitate ease of communication between faculty and student), (2) timeliness of feedback to students (students expect quick feedback on evaluation of assignments and tests), (3) comprehensiveness of the feedback, (4) the course is available any time of the day or week, and (5) timeliness of the grade book.

Faculty may conclude that many of the dimensions of evaluated quality of online courses are just an extension of quality dimensions of any course. That is likely true, yet it is more relevant to online courses because of the delivery methods of online courses verses face to face courses. The online course does not provide the course participant with the opportunity to interact with the faculty before, during or after a traditional face to face delivery of a course. Many times the personality of the faculty, as seen by the student, may translate into a favorable evaluation of a course by a student. The evaluation of the course may be synonymous with the evaluation of the instructor. This close personal interaction is more difficult to achieve with online delivered courses. The evaluation of the courses stands alone, with no benefit of face to face interaction between faculty and student. Instructors of online courses need to pay very close attention to the dimensions of content, format, and feedback. LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

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Lessons Learned From Creating Significant Learning Experiences: Re-Designing an Accounting Course with Broader

Educational Implications

Rama R. Guttikonda Tuskegee University

Charles M. Coco

Tuskegee University

Creating significant learning experiences requires a completely new focus on course design and student learning. This paper highlighted the insight gained from Fink’s twelve steps to integrated course design. The result was a cost accounting course that was more active, relevant, and meaningful to students. The course objectives were drastically altered to reflect increasingly varied goals. A new teaching strategy was adopted along with a new set of learning activities to make the course a team-oriented learning process. Course evaluation systems became participative, continuous, and relevant. INTRODUCTION

Any attempt to read the book Creating Significant Learning Experiences written by L. Dee Fink in one session proves to be futile. There is so much to learn from the book that it needs to be absorbed gradually and methodically, and needs substantial rereading. As one begins the book, he/she may be skeptical that it is only one of many books on how to become a better teacher. After further reading the overall objective of the book becomes clearer—its focus is not really about making better teachers, rather it is about creating better learning environments for students. Teaching is the delivery mechanism; learning is the desired end product. The former does not guarantee the latter; more is required.

Fink, an educational innovator, quickly points out that significant learning occurs only when students are engaged and the class has high energy. The result is a significant and lasting change in student learning as well as creating long-term implications for their lives. Significant learning creates change in the learner. Learners do not only just know more information, but also know more about what it means, how to use the information, and how it affects themselves and others. It is a holistic view of learning that involves six separate, but interrelated aspects: foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring and learning how to learn (Fink, 2003, 2007; Robinson, 2009). A traditional content-centered approach of teaching focuses on the breadth of mastering foundational knowledge and perhaps limited application of it. A learning-centered view expands the learning process to include the deeper types of learning including integration, human aspects, and understanding more about making one a more effective and efficient life-long learner.

Much of the discussion among faculty in higher education revolves around, creating the ideal classroom. This is where students are engaged in the learning process, passionate about the subject matter,


and are eager to learn more. In reality, this would not happen to most instructors during their careers because that “dream course” is unattainable. Fink (2003) proposed that, by incorporating these deeper forms of learning into the classrooms, instructors will come closer than ever to teaching their dream course. This paper is an attempt to describe experiences in trying to apply Fink’s design to a cost accounting course. Learning new pedagogical techniques often helps in improving course structure and assessment. Integrated Course Design

One of the major contributors to unfulfilled course dreams is the way that many educators design their classes. For many of those in higher education, the traditional course design is one that is easy to apply and replicate semester after semester. It is generally some variation of listing the topics or chapters to be covered. Planning the lectures and scheduling the homework, quiz and exam dates. Extra projects or papers may be added for cosmetic reasons and variety, but with little thought as to how the projects or papers truly influence the learning process. More often than not, the extras are added only to break up the routine for the teacher; not to make the learning more meaningful for the students. This approach is primarily targeted at the lower level learning goals, summative assessment processes, and passive class activities.

Fink’s integrated course design assures that all six significant learning objectives are included throughout the course. The design process is organized around three key phases with twelve individual steps: Phase One: Building Strong Component Parts - identify important situational factors, formulate significant learning goals, formulate feedback and assessment procedures, generate teaching and learning activities, evaluate integration of the component parts; Phase Two: Assemble Components Into A Coherent Whole - creating a course structure, selecting an effective teaching strategy, creating the overall scheme of learning activities; Phase Three: Addressing Important Details - assemble the grading system, identify what might go wrong, write the syllabus, plan the course and teaching evaluation system (Fink, 2003). Identify Important Situational Factors

The first step in the integrated design system asks educators to identify the key situational factors affecting the environment. This includes the course content (e.g., divergent vs. convergent material), context (e.g., regular vs. online course; day or night class), expectations of external groups (e.g., AICPA, IMA), specific and unusual characteristics of both the students and the teacher (e.g., demographics, experiences, learning styles), and any pedagogical challenge of the subject matter (e.g., cost accounting is the transitional course). A good analysis here will help the instructor anticipate and avoid later problems or inconsistencies. For the cost accounting learning environment at the authors’ college, the key factors include: first, an upper level accounting course for majors other than financial accounting; second, the IMA exam performance expectations by the profession and the school; third, on-the-job expectations by recruiters and/or employers. As the rest of the course is developed, these factors will serve as background in designing learning activities and teaching strategies. Formulate Significant Learning Goals

Some professors may think that their course objectives are already “significant” and do not need much improvement. After all, they have spent many semesters perfecting and rewriting them so the objectives must certainly be good by now. When teaching a course for the first time faculty members often use the syllabus and objectives of an experienced instructor and add a few personal touches as the semesters unfold. Many professors know about writing course objectives. They make sure that the goals are measurable; they have some connection to the topics in the textbook and are related to broader institutional goals (Fink makes no distinction between goals and objectives in his discussions, so no distinction is attempted here). Actually, writing significant learning objectives is difficult, Fink (2003) suggested that an instructor write no more than seven or eight significant learning goals and try to have at least one in each of six dimensions of significant learning. Moreover, one should approach the goals by


asking questions about what positive student outcomes are desirable a year or more after the course has been taken. This is not limited by just what one wants them to know, but also wants them to understand, appreciate, and value. Foundational Knowledge

Since students are not likely to remember all, or even fifty percent of the details of a specific course, one must decide which of the content areas are the most vital, overall concepts and details that students need to learn long-term. What overreaching knowledge should the students remember, understand and explain and/or identify after the course is over? It was with some difficulty that these two foundational knowledge goals were condensed into the cost accounting course (see Table 1). After taking the cost accounting course, students will be expected to understand the key terms related to cost objects, direct costs, product costs, period costs, discretionary costs, committed costs, relevant costs, and cost-benefit analysis. In addition, the students will be expected to understand how cost accounting provides key data to managers for planning and controlling, as well as costing products, services, and customers.

TABLE 1 COST ACCOUNTING (RE-DESIGN) SIGNIFICANT LEARNING

GOALS AND ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES

Course Objectives Assessment

Foundational Knowledge 1. Understand the meaning of key terms related to costs and

their purposes

Chapter quizzes

2. Understand the accountant’s role in the organization Class Presentation

Application and Integration 3. Use the cost information for making managerial decisions.

a. Product-Pricing decisions b. Capital Budgeting decisions c. Make-Buy decisions d. Acceptance of special order decisions

Homework problems

4. Compare and Contrast the difference between relevant costs and irrelevant costs

Case Studies

5. Demonstrate competence in written and oral communications Demonstrate Competence in the use of electronic spread sheets

Writing assignments,

Class presentations

Homework problems using Excel Human Dimension

6. Attain confidence in mastering difficult material Questionnaire

Caring Dimension 7. Better understand career opportunities in Management

Accounting

Class discussion, Student papers, and presentations

Lifelong Learning 8. Identify sources of information for future accounting

research

Writing assignments, class presentations


Application In moving up to the next higher level of learning, instructors should ask themselves what students

need to be able to do successfully in later courses and their careers. What items should they be able to use, manage, solve, assess, calculate, analyze, and/or make decisions about? These were the most challenging goals to write since it had been common to think in terms of individual calculations rather than overall concepts and relationships. After much thought, the application goals were condensed for the cost accounting course into, ideally, what students should be able to achieve. Integration

At the next higher level of learning, one must decide what will be the most important connections that students need to be able to make from the course. The connections can be between this course and other major or business core courses or issues with their personal lives. Fink casts his integration net very widely and incorporates some areas that most instructors may have not considered before. Instructors have different goals and visions as to what they want to accomplish with their students. This is the time to incorporate those aspirations into their course.

It was concluded that the cost accounting course will be considered a success if students are able to isolate between relevant costs and non-relevant costs in making managerial/cost-accounting decisions. This is a broad concept, but it reaches the heart of decision-making. Although this concept had been seen as important for a long time, this was the first time using it as a specific course goal for cost accounting. Applying Fink’s design method allowed for explicitly incorporating this key concept into the course—one that had been only implicitly addressed in the past. Human Dimension

This was a difficult dimension to incorporate into the course, since it seemed unnatural viewing cost accounting from this perspective. Fink (2003) challenged teachers to think about how their courses might change, how students view themselves and others, how students interact with others, and how course theories and content affect their lives. After much analysis, it was discovered that one of the situational factors affecting cost accounting creates a perfect opportunity for students to grow in this regard. Thus, the following goal was added: students will be more confident about mastering difficult material after taking this course. Caring

Implicitly at least, most instructors want their students to have a better appreciation after taking an upper level course. However, many instructors like this one, have never thought to include it as a specific course objective. Based on the adage that “you get what your measure”, including this in the stated course goals assures that it will be explicitly evaluated. What do you want your students to get excited about, value or be more interested in after having taken your course? The following goal was included: students will better understand career opportunities in the accounting profession. Learning How to Learn

The term metacognition describes the concept of thinking about how to think. Part of an education should involve students becoming more effective and more efficient learners as they progress through a program of study. Lifelong learning will occur only if students understand the need for and the way to accomplish it. This means instructors should help learners become better students by helping them learn how to learn and become more self-directed. An instructor may implicitly do these things, but never include it as a separate learning goal. At a practical level, a key goal for the cost accounting students was to be able to identify sources of information for future research in cost/managerial accounting. Formulate Feedback and Assessment Procedures

Over the years, the authors have learned the culture of what Fink calls “backward-looking” assessment. This involves testing whether students have learned the material covered during the last few


class sessions. Homework, quizzes and exams are very good ways of looking back for the foundational knowledge goals, backward looking assessment is appropriate. Without the requisite understanding of basic terms and concepts, student experiences in the application and integration levels of learning will likely have little benefit. However, this is not a good way to evaluate the higher-order learning goals. For higher-order goals, the focus should be forward rather than backward. Forward looking assessment is realistic, requires judgment and innovation, and stimulates real-life context. In short, try to place the student in a professional situation that they might face in their future careers. In cost accounting this might include a buy or lease recommendation on a company’s equipment, sell or process further decision, in-source or outsource decisions. Some ideas on assessment techniques that incorporate these features include: (1) Students help develop the evaluation criteria for an assignment, (2) Students do peer evaluations of assignments such as papers or homework problems, (3) Students assign themselves a preliminary grade that is later verified by the instructor, (4) Members of student teams compare answers and resolve any differences, (5) Giving quizzes with both individual and group grade components.

As the lead author reviewed his cost accounting course, he realized that assessment was the weakest part of the class. Fink’s assessment discussion is primarily based on Wiggins educative assessment model (Wiggins, 1998). Assessment is not educative unless it provides useful information about what the student did. It is not advice or evaluation (e.g., grades) but descriptive feedback on a complicated task in relation to preset standards. It is a value-neutral guidance on what happened and why and what students should modify as a result. Fink adds that high-quality feedback is frequent, immediate, discriminating, and delivered supportively. For many classes, a realistic assessment technique would be experimental learning where students operate in the professional realm. Some business classes have students act as consultants and make suggestions for small businesses; co-ops and internships can accomplish the same objective. For the examined cost accounting class, the logistics of experimental learning for a class of 15 students precluded that option. Instead, an attempt was made to design projects that required teamwork, multiple skills, knowledge sets, and some professional research. Course Structure

In laying out the sequence of topics for the course, there should be an ordered, thematic approach. First, identify the main themes of the course (four to seven) and then arrange them in their most logical order (Fern, 2008). Many course schedules are dictated by the order of topics in the textbook. For example, in the covered cost accounting course the chapters that are arranged as follows: the accountant’s role in the organization, cost-volume, profit analysis, product costing methods, tools for planning and control, flexible budgets, variances, and management control, cost information for decisions, decision making and relevant information, pricing decisions and cost-management. Putting these topics into broader themes and ignoring the chapter sequence, one might identify these topics: cost accounting fundamentals, tools for planning and control, decision making and relevant information, and pricing decisions and cost management (Horngren, Datar, Foster, Rajan, & Ittner, 2009).

The following sequence represents one way to structure this course thematically:

Week 1 The Accountants Role in the Organization: An Introduction to Cost Terms and Purposes.

Week 2 Cost-Volume- Profit Analysis Weeks 3 - 6 Job Costing System Process Costing Systems Activity-Based Costing and Activity- Based Management Weeks 7 - 9 Master Budget and Responsibility Accounting Flexible Budgets, Variances, and Management Control I Flexible Budgets, Variances, and Management Control II Weeks 10 - 14 Determining How Costs Behave Decision Making and Relevant Information Pricing Decisions and Cost Management


Teaching Strategy At this point in the backward design process, Fink recommended that instructors formulate a teaching

strategy. A common strategy was to cover the material, assign and grade homework, conduct somewhat interesting class sessions, and give exams. What other strategy could there be? Fink defined a teaching strategy as a particular combination of learning activities in a particular sequence. In other words, combine and sequence the learning activities in a synergistic way to promote increased learning. Fink suggested three teaching strategies: team-based learning problem-based learning, and accelerated learning (Fink, 2003). After exploring the team-based learning concept, a decision was made to adopt this teaching strategy for the cost accounting course.

Team learning is an important educational concept that surpasses routine group activities. For each learning unit in the course, the team initially takes individual and team quizzes on the basic material. To allow more time for learning how to use the course material, the initial quizzes encourage students to spend more out of class time learning the basic concepts. The quizzes are scored in class (immediate feedback), grade appeals are heard and resolved, and instruction is then focused on the weakest areas (as revealed by the quizzes). The remaining class time is spent on learning activities focused on using the material. These activities should ideally be of increasing complexity. At the end of the learning unit, individual and or team exams are given within the overall strategy of team-based learning (or any other type of teaching strategy) the instructor can use a variety of teaching and learning techniques as deemed appropriate (Michaelsen, Knight, & Fink, 2004). Overall Set of Learning Activities

Finally, the instructor is ready to schedule the daily activities for the course. In scheduling the learning activities for each block of material, it is important to remember three concepts: (1) Use of a variety of learning activities, (2) Make the activities increasingly more complex as students move through each topic and as they move through the course, and (3) integrate the topics throughout the course for each learning unit. By adopting the team-based learning strategy, the overall structure of the course had already been determined (quizzes, in-class team activities, out-of-class activities). Specific class activities now needed to be identified. SUMMARY

Once the course re-design was established the result was a cost accounting course that was more active, relevant, and meaningful to students. The course objectives were drastically altered to reflect increasingly varied goals. A new teaching strategy was adopted along with a new set of learning activities to make the course a team-oriented learning process. Course evaluation systems became participative, continuous, and relevant. Students were challenged more than ever to work outside the classroom, be better prepared, and contribute to their team’s success. Finally, assessment turned out to be more forward-looking and less backward-looking. REFERENCES Fern, R. H. (2008, Spring). Re-designing Your Accounting Course—Lessons Learned From Creating Significant Learning Experiences by L. Dee Fink. Abstract Presented at The Regional Meeting of The American Accounting Association, Houston, TX. Fink, L. D. (2007). The Power of Course Design to Increase Student Engagement and Learning. Peer Review 9(1), 13-17. Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


Horngren, C. T., Datar, S. M., Foster, G., Rajan, M. V., & Ittner, C. (2009). Cost Accounting: A Managerial Perspective (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Michaelsen, L. K., Knight, A. B., & Fink, L. D. (Eds.). (2004). Team-based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups in College Teaching. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing. Robinson, C. (2009). Lessons on Learning. Journal for Quality & Participation, 32(1), 25-27. Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


Use of Social Media by U.S. Colleges: Potential and Pitfalls

Kaushik Ghosh Lamar University

Sudhir Chawla

Gulf University of Science & Technology

Karen Mallott Angelo State University

Several institutions of higher learning in the US are using social media (SM) technology. The focus of the paper is on how a university’s governance and administrative functions use SM technology as well as the utilization of SM to facilitate interaction with its faculty, staff, and students. In addition, current research attempts to understand the application of SM technologies to the student college choice model proposed by Chapman. This study proposes a model to examine implementation of SM applications throughout an institution and includes recommendations to expand the scope of SM technology usage in universities and directions for future research. INTRODUCTION

Social networking sites (SNSs) are interactive Web-based applications that facilitate social interaction in a virtual environment. Users can create their own online content, such as a public or semi-public profile, and upload pictures, videos etc, which they can then share with their friends. These sites also allow users to interact with one another through online messages. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Bebo are some of the widely popular SNS (Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2009).

SNSs fall under the umbrella of social media (SM) technology, which as Wikipedia defines is the media“…for social interaction…” SM uses Web-based internet technologies to transform “…communica-tion into interactive dialogues” (Wikipedia, 2010). Facebook is the most popular of all SNSs and currently has about 500 million active users across the globe of which 103 million are in United States (US) (“Social Media Usage Statistics,” 2010).

College students today are the most “wired” generation in history using a broad range of technology tools to interact and communicate (Junco & Cole-Avent, 2008). Research suggests that SNSs such as Facebook and MySpace are the most favored among college students. According to a 2008 Pew internet survey of people living in the United States, 61% of 14-17 year olds use SNSs. Also, college students participating in this study stated that they spend on an average, 10-30 minutes daily on Facebook (Wandel, 2008). In another study involving 92 undergraduate students at a private university in a large metropolitan area in the US, 85% of the students used Facebook to interact with friends. On an average,


each student participating in the study had 358 Facebook friends (Pempek et al., 2009). Junco and Cole-Avent (2008) suggest that present-day young adults in United States and more specifically, college students are enthusiastic users of SM technologies. Consequently, a way to “grab” their attention is to exchange information with them via SM. Purpose

Review of the literature on usage of SM technologies in US universities reveals that they are moving in the right direction concerning use of SM technologies. However, further analysis suggests that complete utilization of SM technologies is far from being realized.

The current study looks at how universities are applying SM technologies to facilitate their governance and administrative functions. Additionally, the paper attempts to understand the application of SM technologies to the student college choice model proposed by Chapman in 1981.

The specific focus of this study is to examine how SM is being employed by universities to efficiently conduct day-to-day activities, develop strategic initiatives, market themselves to prospective students, and improve student recruiting and retention efforts. The paper explores how institutions supplement conventional methods of communication with faculty, staff and students using SM technologies. The research also looks at how universities can form realistic expectations about college-life among students and counter online negative feedback posted by students and employees on SNSs, an important aspect for an academic institution to manage its public image in today’s internet driven world (Tripp & Gregoire, 2011). Further, the current study proposes a model to understand implementation of SM applications throughout an institution of higher education in the US. The paper concludes with recommendations for expanding the scope of SM technology usage in university settings and directions for future research. SOCIAL MEDIA IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

SM technologies and tools are transforming the way institutions of higher education interact with potential and current students; how they manage student affairs; how they market themselves; how they engage their alumni and manage relationships with them; and how their faculty facilitate student learning (Li & Pitts, 2009). There is a common perception among many university administrators, faculty, and even college students that academic institutions that use SM tools are benefiting significantly due to the ubiquitous user base of SNSs.

A report based on a study conducted between the years 2007 and 2009 by Nora Barnes from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and Eric Mattson suggests that institutions of higher education in the US have increased their use of SM tools and technologies significantly. The report mentions that in 2007, admission departments of 39% of the colleges in the sample did not use SM, while in 2009, only 5% did not use any form of SM for student recruiting (“Using social media: Colleges and universities vs. businesses,” 2010). The sample in this study included 4-year accredited institutions in the University of Texas’s list.

Another study conducted by Pearson, New Marketing Labs, and Babson Survey Research group states that more than 52% of college professors use tools like video, blogs, podcasts, and wikis in their classes and over 80% of them believe that SM adds value to teaching practices (Aspey, 2010). The use of SM tools was found to be consistent across the board, that is, professors with more than 20 years of teaching experience used SM tools only slightly less than their younger peers. Across disciplines, faculty members working in the humanities and social sciences reported greater SM usage than their counterparts in mathematics, science, and business (Parry, 2010). The sample in this study included 939 professors from Pearson’s database list of 10,000 professors. Framework of Social Media Usage

Universities are using SM technologies in several ways, most of which includes applying these technologies to augment key functions and operations. It is believed that ease of information


dissemination may be the common denominator on why SM technologies can enhance the standards of performance at institutions of higher education.

Figure 1 shows the framework of SM usage. Part A of this proposed framework highlights the key functional areas of the four major branches (Finance and Administration, Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, and Strategic Planning and Policy Building) of an institution of higher education utilizing SM tools to manage operations. For example, the enrollment services function included in the student affairs and enrollment management division uses SM for recruiting students. Similarly, college faculties extensively use SM technologies in their classrooms.

Part B of the framework conceptualizes how SM can be applied to the student’s college choice model proposed by Chapman in 1981. Chapman introduced the college choice model to propose ideas that could enable a university to improve its ability to recruit college-bound students. For example, it was suggested that universities need to find ways to effectively communicate with college-bound students and market their strengths to influence a prospective student’s choice of college. The current study suggests universities can use SM technologies to facilitate existing methods and further enhance recruiting efforts, among other things.

The next few sections of the paper will explain in detail, how and in what ways SM technologies and tools are being applied to manage some key operations of a university.


FIGURE 1 FRAMEWORK OF SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AT A UNIVERSITY

Student Expectations

University

Finance & Administration

Academic Affairs Student Affairs & Enrollment Management

Strategic Planning & Policy Building

-Budget Office -HR -Payroll -Facilities Management -Special Events Management -Accounts -Environment, and Safety -Risk Management -Health Services

-Colleges -Center for International Programs -Tutoring Center -Center for Institutional Research -Library Services -Business Development Center

-Admissions Office -Enrollment Services -Student Support Services -Counseling Services -Student Involvement Services -Career Development Services -Financial Aid Services -Student Organizations -Residential Programs

-Information Tech. Services -Public Relations -Accreditation Services -Business Management

Part A

Utilization of SM

College Efforts to Communicate

Student College Choice

Negative/Positive student or employee feedback about University

University coping strategies (countering negative feedback)

Part B


E-Recruiting (Student Affairs and Enrollment Management- Enrollment Services and Admissions Office)

Recognizing that there is great potential to complement existing student-recruitment processes by leveraging communication tools offered by SM technologies, university enrollment services are increasingly using these technologies to complement their recruiting process. This strategy of recruiting is now being popularly referred to as e-recruiting (Wandel, 2008).

The fact that a very large percentage of high-school students and young adults are active users of SNSs such as Facebook is helping the universitys’ e-recruiting efforts (Wandel, 2008). In a 2007 survey of 1000 college-bound high-school juniors from across the US revealed that 72% preferred exchanging messages online on real-time basis with an admissions counselor. About 63% students liked reading profiles of college students currently enrolled at a university, enjoyed reading a blog written by a current student, and would appreciate the opportunity to get a virtual tour of the university campus. Many (64% college-bound students) also said that they would enjoy reading a blog written by a faculty. (“E-Expectations Class of 2007 Report”, 2007).

SNSs such as Facebook is a popular forum for college-bound young adults to interact with college students to find information about a university, its facilities, courses offered, student experiences, campus life, faculty, and all other information that they need before making an informed decision about the college/university they would like to join. In addition, Facebook users can become “fans” of an organization, such as a university. Therefore, when a friend of a fan of the university sees this status, they are more likely to become fans themselves (Rueben, 2008). This is similar to the “network effect” which increases the spread and flow of information in a way that traditional recruiting techniques never could.

YouTube can also be a useful tool in aiding recruitment efforts. Video clips about student life, activities and the atmosphere of the campus can be uploaded for people to view. Flickr provides a similar platform and enables a university to show off its campus and activities through pictures and videos. Twitter is an effective tool to supplement recruiting efforts. Potential students can follow a university’s posts on Twitter and decide if the mission and goals of the university matches their educational objectives.

In the recently conducted longitudinal study by Nora Barnes and Eric Mattson, a telephone survey asked 536 admission officers of 4-year accredited institutions about the importance of SM tools and applications in attracting potential college students. The survey revealed that as of January 2008, more than 400 universities had created an official Facebook page. Further, 41% of the college admission departments had blogs (Barn and Mattson, 2009).

Some universities that have started using SM capabilities to attract college-bound students are, Texas A&M, UCLA, NC State, University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, SUNY New Platz, and Arizona State University (Zanders, 2010). Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida uses SM tool to publicize its orientation program (Wandel, 2008). Agnes Scott College, a liberal arts institution in Georgia reaches out to high schoolers to join their Facebook admissions page even before they have started applying. SM allows the college a chance to have open discussions with prospective students about the challenges and myths associated with attending a women’s liberal arts college (Schoepf, 2010). MiraCosta College in Oceanside, California uses Web pages on SM sites such as MySpace to provide information and communicate with current and prospective students about course offerings, important deadlines for tuition fee payments, deadlines to add/drop courses, important college-wide events, and other information (Wandel, 2008). John Hopkins University and SUNY Plattsburg have integrated SM into every phase of their admissions process, starting from initial recruitment to following up with students who have not confirmed their admission. Both these universities post video blogs on YouTube and maintain a presence on blogging sites such as Twitter (Schoepf, 2010). Twitter is being used extensively by University of Illinois as well as Oregon State University to follow up on student admissions. Universities are also using Twitter to inform potential applicants about new developments, such as changes in tuition fees, new academic programs, or new course offerings (Schoepf, 2010).

A number of universities are using SM tools to conduct background checks and verify information about students who are candidates for scholarships or have chance to be admitted into high-demand


programs. The objective of doing so is to avoid embarrassment and maintain the brand-image of the university (Barn & Mattson, 2009). Freshmen Transition (Student Affairs and Enrollment Management-Student Support Services)

Universities can facilitate a high-school graduate’s transition to college-life by using SM tools. They can create a ‘group’ on a SNS like Facebook, and incoming freshmen can join the group and interact with others entering the institution. This provides a platform upon which they can learn more about each other and reduce the anxiety associated with the change (Wandel, 2008).

Universities can use SM for new student orientation programs, academic advising, and career planning. For example, Indiana University has a page on Facebook and incoming students can join to exchange information with other incoming freshmen, allowing prospective students to build a sense of community even before arriving on campus (Schoepf, 2010). In 2007, the new-student orientation group at South Dakota State University created a Facebook profile to facilitate interaction among incoming freshmen. Students exchanged information, which allowed them to learn about each other even before they arrived on campus. Incoming students could share experiences, which helped them to deal with the initial feelings of “anxiety” and “apprehension” that are associated with initial phases of college life (Heiberger & Harper, 2008).

Another example is the “Swift Kick’s Red Rover” program that deals with connecting new student orientation, student activities, and the college transition process by creating a communication channel between the students and the university using SNSs. Students can choose their interests from lists of options: activism, athletics, community service, culture, and business, among others. The Red Rover program examines students’ interest and matches students with college organizations, majors, minors, careers, and others. This program demonstrates the immense potential SM technology has in its ability to engage students throughout the university and provide them with the best possible college-life experience (“E-Expectations Class of 2007 Report”, 2007). Student Retention (Student Affairs and Enrollment Management-Student Support Services)

SM technologies are being used to improve retention and graduation rates (Wandel, 2008). In a study conducted at Abilene Christian University located in Abilene, Texas, survey responses from 375 randomly selected students revealed that students who were active on SNSs are more likely to return to college after their first year. Junco and Loken (2011) conducted a semester-long experimental study to examine the extent to which using Twitter for various types of academic discussions affects student engagement. One-hundred and twenty-five students participated in the study (70 in the experimental group and 55 in the control group). Student engagement was measured using a 19-item scale obtained from national survey of student engagement (NSSE). NSSE is often used by administrators at academic institutions to improve the college experiences of undergraduate students. Analysis of the data collected clearly indicated that the group of students using Twitter was more engaged in learning.

A rationale for the connection between a college student being an active member in a SNS and continuing to pursue in his/her academic program is the student tends to become more embedded with activities going on in his/her college campus. Another reason is that these students are likely to be well “integrated” with life at their institution since they can share similar experiences with their peers.

There are times during college-life when students could find themselves in situations where they need to “cope” with grief or high-stress. In such circumstances, students can easily lose focus, or in extreme cases, even drop out of college. Universities can uplift the morale of students bereaved by a personal loss or tragedy, or under high stress, by creating a page on Facebook dedicated to posts and messages from friends, family, and others who are willing to share their grief and help cope with stress (Wandel, 2008).

Approximately, 95% of college students are Facebook users. If an institution interacts with students at the place where they are most available and provide them with a comfortable environment to get involved, it could strengthen the student “community” spirit and increase student satisfaction concerning college experience. Subsequently this could lead to higher student retention (Klingensmith, 2009).


Engaging Alumni (Student Affairs and Enrollment Management-Student Involvement Services) Universities are starting to use SM to involve and build a network of graduates with a shared likeness

for the institution (Lavrusik, 2009). Princeton and MIT use SNS such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as a central hub for their alumni to connect. SM is also used to facilitate the transition from being a student to alumni by helping the two groups connect and collaborate. Stanford University’s Law School is an example of university using this strategy. The school has its own Facebook-like SNS for its students and alumni to network (Lavrusik, 2009). Helping Alumni with their Career (Student Affairs and Enrollment Management-Career Development Services)

LinkedIn, a SNS for professionals is a tool that can be used to provide alumni with career resources. DePaul University has 5,500 alumni all networked through LinkedIn. More than 100 new members join this alumni network every week and help each other look for job opportunities (Lavrusik, 2009). Michigan State University uses both LinkedIn and Twitter to share job leads with alumni. The university’s career services also use YouTube to offer students and recent graduates advice on their job search (Lavrusik, 2009). Marketing the Institution (Strategic Planning and Policy Building-Business Management)

Many universities are exploiting SM’s omnipresence. They are posting information about the university, the resources and facilities available, information regarding their expertise, information about reputed faculty, and information regarding high-ranked academic programs on SNS to highlight strengths and market their programs.

University of Minnesota has a following of 2900 individuals on Twitter and 1700 YouTube subscribers (Lavrusik, 2009). It leverages this “fan” base to promote its expertise to those interested in pursuing higher education. Georgia Tech has feeds posted on Twitter and a user can track events taking place in many of the University’s academic departments, as well as activities related to sports, and updates on general campus news (Schoepf, 2010). Universities post videos on YouTube to deliver virtual campus tours, virtual visit to dorms, recreational facilities, and sample lectures from the faculty (Barn & Mattson, 2009). Stanford University uses SM to display work done by their faculty and students (Lavrusik, 2009). Facebook “office hours” is a concept based on idea of utilizing the capabilities of SM, which the University uses to attract people from across the globe. A note is posted on Facebook with the information relevant to a professor of the university who is hosting virtual office hours. Subsequently, a video is posted in which the faculty member talks about his/her research and its applications in the real world. Next, people who are members of the Facebook office hour’s page have a chance to interact online with that professor and ask questions or comment about what they understood from watching the video footage. The faculty member answers questions through a second video, often addressing those commenting by name (Lavrusik, 2009). Fundraising Activities (Strategic Planning and Policy Building-Business Management)

A few university alumni associations are attempting to send messages in the form of ‘tweets’ to their alumni asking for a gift to the university. The challenges universities face is to personalize these messages so that they are more acceptable to the intended recipients. Brown University uses Facebook to involve its alumni as part of its annual fund drive. Similarly, Emory University initiated a campaign to motivate its undergraduate students to donate to the school using Facebook and Twitter. The strategy seems to have worked since contributions from undergraduate students increased by 157% (Lavrusik, 2009). Teaching in the Classroom (Academic Affairs-Colleges)

Faculties are using SM tools and technologies to engage students in classroom, facilitate learning, and improve the student-teacher relationship (Harris, 2008).

A professor at the City University of New York in New York is teaching journalism majors how to use SM for newsgathering. Students in this class are learning ways to use Twitter, FriendFeed, Scoopler,


and SearchMerge to do real-time searches to find breaking news (“13 Enlightening Case Studies of Social Media in the Classroom,” 2009). A faculty member at Georgia Southern University teaches a course titled ‘Making Connections: Facebook & Beyond.’ The major theme of this course is to train students to improve communication and networking skills. The course requires students to use Facebook and Twitter to communicate and network, as well as, create and maintain their own blog. At the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a professor has her students use an SM tool called CoveritLive. This tool can be embedded into a blog or Web site to provide distance learning education to students (“13 Enlightening Case Studies of Social Media in the Classroom,” 2009). A history professor at the University of Texas, Dallas uses Twitter to allow each individual in her class of 90 students to communicate ideas or talk during the lecture (Roth & McCully, 2010). Facebook’s instant messaging feature is being used by some university professors at Columbus State University in Georgia to conduct ‘virtual’ office hours. Students have expressed their satisfaction to professors who follow this practice (Li & Pitts, 2009). Miami University is using SM in the classroom by allowing journalism majors use tweets and blogs to get information regarding current events or class experiences (Claire, 2010).

Many faculties believe that use of SM in classrooms promotes active collaboration, engagement, and learning among students. SM can be used by an instructor to update students on class assignments, topics, and relevant information. SM can also be utilized in a variety of ways such as, facilitating classroom activities, generating conversations, and providing feedback (Minocha, 2009). SNS provides a platform on which students can share and discuss their ideas and thoughts with their teachers or other students, as well as individuals across the globe. Additionally, SM exposes students to new perspectives and resources they possibly could never have generated on their own. Furthermore, it allows students to learn about things they care about, in a way most relevant to them (Minocha, 2009). Beyond the Classroom (Academic Affairs-Colleges)

SM can mitigate the ‘lonely’ experience associated with being in a distance-learning course or academic program. SM technologies allow distance learners to network with others and feel more engaged in learning. Interaction via SM facilitates collaborative learning while at the same time allowing its users the freedom and flexibility of maintaining their own space and schedule. Consequently, the traditional appeal of independence in distance learning can now be combined with the appeal of interaction and engagement in the classroom. According to a report, more than 4.6 million college students (about one in four) were taking at least one online course in 2008, a 17 percent increase over 2007 (“College Degrees Without Going to Class.”, 2010). These numbers clearly reflect the popularity of using SM in distance learning.

College students are using SM to virtually connect to university resources resulting in enhanced peer learning. For example, Stanford University uploads faculty and student projects on its Facebook page so that other students can see and learn from them. Duke University and Georgia Tech allow their students to register for classes, check email and access class notes posted by professors using a mobile Web client and SM network. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers a number of helpful videos posted on YouTube relating to health and medicine, business and information technology which can be used to supplement classroom learning (“13 Enlightening Case Studies of Social Media in the Classroom,” 2009). Journalism students at Northwestern University have created “newsmixer”, a tool that pulls news from variety of sources and when integrated with Facebook can be used for real-time sharing of news (Claire, 2010). Students majoring in business communications believe that nowadays, SM technologies play a very vital role in the communication industry. To have the knowledge and expertise on how to effectively use SM tools for information gathering, sharing, and maintaining good public relations, provides a competitive edge to them. SM technologies are also being employed to conduct online academic discussions. City University of New York is using SM tools to facilitate academic discussion across its 23 campuses. This network helps faculty, staff, and students to share information on blogs, discussion forums etc), and participate actively in discussions (Kaya, 2010).


Courses in SM (Academic Affairs-Colleges) SM has become so relevant that several universities are now offering classes specifically on the topic.

DePaul University offers a class called ‘Digital Editing from Breaking News to Tweets’ which focuses on educating students about Twitter and its applications. There is a Web site called ‘breaking Tweets’ which is used to maintain posts from global ‘hotpots’ and students help write news for this site in addition to bookmarking tweets (Kurutz, 2009). Georgetown University offers a course called ‘Global Communica-tions in the Age of SM’ in which students collaborate on a Wiki to help clients develop SM strategies. Their clients are located in different parts of the world (Garcia, 2009). Extended Library Services (Academic Affairs-Library Services)

State University of New York at Buffalo’s library uses Facebook to reach out to their students, staff, and faculty and to market the services offered by the library. The library page linked to Facebook has information for students, faculty, and staff about library resources, events, services, and workshops. It also has followers that comment and provide feedback on the library services. Librarians use the library page linked to Facebook as an outreach tool (Ganster & Schumacher, 2009). The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s undergraduate library has a feed that enables students to connect to library resources like journal articles, etc. (“The Web 2.0 College Olympics,” 2010). Emergency Alerts and Messages (Finance and Administration-Risk Management)

Capabilities of SM are being used to spread news during emergency by integrating applications such as Twitter and Facebook with a university’s email and text alert systems. A case in example is University of Texas at Austin. The university used Twitter to inform students, faculty, and staff during the H1N1 flu epidemic. The University of Minnesota uses Twitter and Facebook to alert students about bomb or other security related threats (Lavrusik, 2009). University of Denver uses Twitter to provide faculty, staff, students, and visitors, traffic updates on a real-time basis. Akron University in Ohio is trying to introduce the idea of using Twitter to inform students about the wait time to gain access to campus lab facilities (“The Web 2.0 College Olympics,” 2010).

The part B in the proposed framework (Figure 1) focuses on SM technology application and impact on student college choice model. This model first proposed by Chapman in 1981 is a conceptual framework that identifies the important factors (and their interrelationships) that drive a student’s decision of the college s/he is most likely to attend. The model helps to predict a prospective traditional student’s (those between the age of 18 and 21) choice of college based on several factors, including, but not limited to, recruiting efforts undertaken by the college. SM and Student College Choice Model-Moderating Expectations

According to Chapman’s (1981) college choice model, general expectation about college life affects a student’s college choice. “Freshman myth”, a term suggested by Stern (1970) refers to the unrealistic and ‘idealized’ expectations of the college environment that majority of college freshmen have and which are not a representative of any actual academic institution. Stern explains the reasons. He mentions that college-bound students are ‘misinformed’ about the extent to which their college is organized to serve their goals and pursuits. Current generation of traditional students’ online activities revolve mostly around using SNSs such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace etc. In general, they gain or acquire information while interacting with others in SM platforms. SM technologies can serve as efficient tools to develop communication channels with students to moderate their expectations about college life and increase alignment of goals of the academic institution with that of the student’s. SM and College Choice Model-Augmenting Communication Efforts

Chapman’s (1981) model suggests that if an institution communicates effectively with a prospective college student, it can greatly influence the student who might be otherwise not considering joining that institution. The justification is that students who anticipate pursuing a college education actively seek out information. Colleges that are able to successfully reach out and provide pertinent information are ‘ahead’


in the recruiting ‘game’. Traditional communication channels such as printed material in newspapers, magazines etc, can be augmented via SM technologies enabling academic institutions of higher learning to connect with internet ‘savvy’ generation of college-bound students. SM and Strategies for Coping with ‘Bad’ Publicity

Online public complaints are becoming a cause for major concern for organizations that use SM technologies for communication, promotion, and interaction (Tripp & Gregoire, 2011). In the case of an academic institution, a disgruntled, frustrated, or unhappy employee or student could post online comments that might damage or hurt the public image of that institution. Universities need to formulate strategies to cope and respond effectively to such negative online propaganda. Tripp and Gregoire have suggested some methods. Firstly, universities should react ‘swiftly’ by identifying the source of the complaints and resolve issues with the complainants directly. Secondly, universities should acknowledge if there have been mistakes committed on their part, and post an apology online. Thirdly, institutions should have employees who are dedicated to the task of continually monitoring online postings, so that things do not go ‘out-of-hand’ or control. POTENTIAL CONCERNS AND DISADVANTAGES

The benefits of SM technologies are obvious. However, there are several concerns and potential disadvantages of using SM. Concern is often about the quality and accuracy of the voluntary contributions in SM because of the lack in standard of verification. Of course, most blogs, tweets, posts, etc. are subject to some form of peer review. However, a few argue that the review process is not of the highest quality (Minocha, 2009). Similar concerns can carry over into projects, blogs, and papers when students are utilizing SM tools to develop them. With so many students working together and accessing a wide variety of information, how does one verify the source credibility?

Many university professors perceive that using SM tools in the classroom environment may endanger academic integrity. At the same time, they recognize that college students must be trained and properly guided on how to find appropriate and reliable content available on SM platforms to maintain the high standards of quality and correctness of content that they submit as a part of their coursework. SM is a very useful tool for teaching. However, college instructors should emphasize ethical standards of writing and publishing to their students. They should also outline policies and guidelines to discourage plagiarism and inaccurate reporting of factual content.

Another concern includes misuse of SM in classrooms. Some professors are not in favor of using SM tools as they believe these can be potentially distracting, time-consuming or overwhelming in light of all the other information students are given. However, SM is becoming a way of life for a college student. Therefore, instead of excluding the use of SM technologies in the classroom, a better option for professors is to innovate ways to educate their students on when it is appropriate to use SM in the classroom.

Additionally, universities have expressed concern over the loss of control. This is due to the ability of others to leave comments on university Facebook pages or student blogs. Critical comments posted might hurt a university’s reputation or credibility. University authorities must realize that constructive feedback posted on SNSs can often be resourceful and bring to light the areas that need improvement. Filtering or restricting honest feedback posted on SNS forums may be viewed by many, including prospective students, as unfair or obstructive. This practice might even damage a university’s reputation even more than leaving the content alone.

University officials monitoring the content on their Facebook pages, blogs, YouTube videos etc. must be wary of incorrect or erroneous statements about the university being posted or projected to the public. It is a good idea for universities to perform consistent checks on the Web for content that may have been posted about the university. A further issue universities have to deal with is who should be held responsible if a student, faculty, or staff posts something online (via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc) that results in litigation against the university.


An obvious disadvantage of using SM is the financial barrier that must be overcome for its implementation. First, monetary resources will be required up front for a university to implement the technical infrastructure to support SM applications. The costs of implementation may vary depending on how ‘seamlessly’ SM tools can be integrated with technologies being currently used by the university. Also, some universities may not have the budget, or they may have to cut costs in other areas to integrate and implement SM technologies. Moreover, institutions must make sure they have the personnel and expertise to support these systems and promote their efficient utilization.

Finally, and most importantly, any cultural “legacies” must be overcome. Many faculty, administrative officials, or staff may prefer the status quo. They might not understand or agree with the reason for making significant changes, such as using SM tools for marketing or e-recruiting. Training and information should be provided specifically to these individuals to enlighten them about the benefits of using SM tools. Operating procedures and ethical code must be developed and distributed before going live. RECOMMENDATIONS

In recent years, there is a growing trend in the utilization of SM technologies in university settings. Just like any evolving technology that has tremendous potential, it is very likely that SM technology application is going to become more pervasive. Institutions of higher education will continue to capitalize on the ubiquity of SM. We are likely to see increased enrollment in online classes. Similarly, professors will increase their use of SM to facilitate classroom activities and learning and SM will be used increasingly to deliver important information and relevant content. We are also likely to see the use of SM increased in universities for student recruiting and retention.

However, to make the most out of SM technology use, a university must find out new ways to apply them. For example, universities should devise ways to make use of SM to enhance their stature in countries outside the United States. This will help them to attract international students to their programs.

Research suggests that there is disparity in use of SM for teaching among faculty, based on their academic discipline. Professors from social sciences and humanities use SM more extensively than their counterparts belonging to streams such as engineering and business. Therefore, universities should propagate a ‘college-wide’ approach and support their entire faculty irrespective of the discipline they belong, to use SM tools for teaching. They should reward instructors who implement effective techniques to use SM in and outside the classroom with the underlying objective of improving student learning and interaction. Institutional research centers should support and fund professors whose research has the potential to inform about the inventive ways to utilize SM technology in academic settings. Serious consideration must be given to funding and endorsing projects that focus on creating ways to integrate SM into the overall university information technology environment.

‘Social’ learning emphasizes the importance of shared interaction in the learning process. University professors should be encouraged to incorporate use of SM tools to propagate social learning. In addition, instructors should develop pedagogical models centered on the use of SM applications so that students are ‘co-producers’, rather than passive consumers of content.

Universities might also need to think about establishing a dedicated SM team of professionals to communicate and manage student online communities and to find novel ways to engage students. Further, a university’s SM team must develop policies and strategies to manage online communities to lessen negative consequences and engender positive engagement. The primary responsibilities should include monitoring online communities that exist outside and inside the university, engaging those communities when necessary, and serving as first responders in the event of social media crisis (which refers to online public complaints or rumors posted in SM websites about the university).

Mere presence in SM, such as creating an official account on Facebook or Twitter, is adequate, but not enough. Institutions need to view SM as a critical medium for communicating and connecting with the world outside the college-campus boundaries and leverage its popularity and ubiquity to build and establish the university’s brand. In addition, institutions of higher learning should use SM tools more


expansively to broadcast messages to their students, faculty, and staff, to provide access to university resources, and for outreach activities. The ‘thrust’ should be on continuing to use SM technologies to support key operations, such as enrollment and student retention activities, marketing, and public relations.

SM is here to stay and many people predict that the applications of SM technologies are endless. Academic institutions need to keep inventing ways to incorporate SM tool usage in functions that are not currently applying it. This approach will help them to remain relevant and competitive in today’s ‘virtually’ networked environment. Universities that have not started using SM tools must certainly start to do so before it is too late. FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

In current academic literature, the extensive and wide-range use of SM technologies by universities is well documented. Nonetheless, a very apparent gap that exists is to find methods of measuring effectiveness of SM using cost-benefit analysis models. Empirical research about likes and dislikes of SM and how to overcome the challenges of SM and seamlessly integrate it with all functions of an academic institution needs to be conducted. Also, academic scholars need to develop theories about learning via SM.

SM technologies’ impact on student college choice model should to be empirically tested. Research needs to focus on understanding of the effectiveness of the proposed strategies undertaken by academic institutions to cope with negative online comments. Studies should investigate the extent to which SM technologies such as blogs and YouTube can project and propagate positive image about a university. Finally, research on how to produce alignment of goals of potential students from multiple segments such as academic, athletes, and social-life seekers must be pursued. REFERENCES Aspey, S. (2010). Sociable Professors. Retrieved from http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/05/prweb3960844.htm Barn, N. G. & Mattson, E. (2009). Social media and college admissions: The first longitudinal study. Retrieved from http://www1.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesresearch/mediaandadmissions.cfm Chapman, D. W. (1981). A model of student college choice. The Journal of Higher Education, 52(5), 490-505. Claire, M. (2010). Social media in the classroom: Who’s doing it and how. Retrieved from http://gradegurublog.com/2010/04/15/social-media-in-the-classroom-whos-doing-it-and-how/ College Degrees Without Going to Class. (2010). Retrieved from http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/college-degrees-without-going-to-class/ Edu-tastic (2009). 13 enlightening case studies of social media in the classroom. Retrieved from http://bestonlineuniversities.com/2009/13-enlightening-case-studies-of-social-media-in-the-classroom/ E-Expectations Class of 2007 Report (2007). Engaging the "social networking" generation. E-Expectations class of 2007 report sponsored by Noel-Levitz, James Tower, and national research center for college and university admissions. Retrieved from https://www.noellevitz.com/NR/rdonlyres/ 425D56C3-9ACD-4A90-9782-F70ED7AC3CF2/0/EExpectationsClassof2007.pdf


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Financial Literacy Education for College Students: A Course Assessment

Vicki J. Jobst Benedictine University

Due to college students’ need for financial education, there have been a variety of efforts to transform them into money-savvy adults (Chandler, 2009; Supiano, 2009; Kibbe, 2008; Lorenzetti, 2007; Lyons, Palmer, Jayaratne & Scherpf, 2006; NH Briefs, 2006; Cox Matthews Associates, Inc, 2005). The undergraduate Financial Literacy course at a private Midwestern university was established in 2008 to improve its students’ personal financial behavior. The content, delivery and pedagogy of the course are compared to recommendations from financial literacy education experts and to financial literacy programs at other institutions of higher education. The results are promising. INTRODUCTION

The goal of financial literacy educational programs is to “provide individuals with the knowledge, aptitude and skills base necessary to become questioning and informed consumers of financial services and manage their finances effectively” (Mason and Wilson, 2000, p.5). Financial literacy programs have been established for people of all ages, beginning from kindergarten through adulthood. Proponents of early financial literacy education, including Lewis Mandell, senior fellow of Aspen Institute’s Initiative on Financial Security, believe that positive financial habits need to be established at a young age. However, he cites research by Piaget and others who found that children can understand complicated relationships (such as the difference between the value of a penny and a nickel) only after they have reached a certain age. Therefore, Mandell advises the establishment of a financial literacy curriculum that is age-appropriate (Mandell, 2009).

Young adults in the U.S. are ill-prepared for the significant financial challenges they encounter. Therefore, one of the key stages of life in which financial literacy education is needed is at the college level, for people aged 18-25. Students in this age group have the intellectual ability needed to become financially literate. College is the last chance for this age group to gain the necessary knowledge before becoming adults. Unfortunately, studies have found that students entering college are not financially savvy. Many of them are from families with “helicopter parents” and have never made their own financial decisions or have been rescued by their parents after making bad ones (Hoffman, McKenzie & Paris, 2008). Many college students have never been taught about financial literacy at home. According to Nan Mead from the National Endowment for Financial Education, 94 percent of teens say they are likely to seek advice about money matters, but many parents are not willing to answer them due to their own less than perfect money management habits (Prah, 2006).

As students enter their freshman year, many begin to make financial decisions on their own and are inundated with credit card offers as they arrive on campus (Hoffman, et al., 2008). According to the United College Marketing Services, a large credit card marketer, college students receive 25-50 credit


card applications each semester (ucms.com/college-credit-card-statistics.htm). 84% of them hold credit cards and average balances have increased from $1,879 in 1998 to $3,173 in 2008. This is an increase of 46% (Sallie Mae, 2009). Students entering college may not know how to handle their credit card debt. A study from Ohio State University indicated that 45 percent of college freshmen thought that their parents would be responsible for paying their credit balances until they turned 21 years old. Many did not realize that if they were late in making a payment, they might experience a higher interest rate on a car loan or a mortgage (Johnson, 2005).

There are other financial challenges encountered by college students. They are offered access to debit cards. Debit cards are as easy to use as credit cards and payments are immediately deducted from students’ checking account balance. In order to use them wisely, they require proper tracking. Many college students rely on banks to provide them with daily balances, which may not be timely enough to avoid overdrafts (National Student Loan Program, 2010).

School loans become an issue as college students complete their studies. Students at four year institutions graduate with an average debt of more than $20,092. Those who complete a graduate degree end up with an average of $61,000. As college tuitions keep rising, students will face an increasing amount of debt (National Student Loan Program, 2010). Even non-traditional students have financial issues. 45% of students at four-year universities and 60% of students at community colleges work more than 20 hours a week and have no one to help them in case of financial emergency (Hoffman, et al., 2008).

College students’ lack of knowledge of financial literacy topics has been documented. The 2008 Jump$tart Coalition survey of 1,030 college students, which consisted of a 31 question financial literacy exam, indicated that college students scored an average of 62%, which is equivalent to a “D” in college level assessment (Hartley, 2008). The consequences of financial illiteracy can be serious for this group. One study indicates that more than half of those who have left college did so because they needed to work and make money (Johnson, 2009). If young people do not acquire the education needed to obtain the type of job that will provide an adequate living, they will not be able to support themselves (National Student Loan Program, 2010).

In 2008, a new model for financial literacy education was established at a private university in the Midwest. The Financial Literacy course that was created utilizes a combination of experiential learning methods to improve not only the financial literacy of its students, but also their financial behavior. It is modeled on action-based learning to improve students’ money management behaviors. The course includes budgeting and tracking of personal spending, student reflections about their course experiences, and course participants sharing their new-found literacy knowledge with younger students.

The purpose of this study is to examine the university’s Financial Literacy course using a model adapted by Fox, Bartholomae and Lee in 2005 called the Five-Tiered Approach to Financial Education Program Evaluation. The goal of the study is to evaluate the course in terms of the Fox, et al. financial education standard and compare the course to financial literacy programs at other universities.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Financial literacy research has focused on discovering the types of financial education that can help change poor money management habits into good ones. A symposium sponsored by the National Endowment for Financial Education in 2005 entitled “Closing the Gap between Knowledge and Behavior: Turning Education into Action” brought together experts from neuroscience, change theory, behavioral economics and psychology to share their recommendations for changing financial behavior. Their thoughts have developed the groundwork for improvements in financial literacy education. David Laibson, professor of economics at Harvard University, noted that both education and a “mechanism for action” are needed in order for financial education to change financial behavior. An example of such a mechanism might be distribution of a sign-up sheet to 401(k) participants and a request to fill it out before participants complete a retirement seminar (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006).


According to James Prochaska, professor of clinical and health psychology at the University of Rhode Island’s Transtheoretical Model of Change, people must go through five stages before their behavior can be changed (pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action maintenance and termination). He advocated designing a program which matches the participant’s stage of behavior change to specific change processes. His ten change processes include consciousness raising (education and information about the prospective change), dramatic relief (stories of dramatic life changes which convey the pros and cons of changing ones behavior), environmental reevaluation,(becoming aware of the social benefit of the change to others), self-reevaluation (visualizing positive self-change), self-liberation (developing self-control and commitment to the goal), reinforcement management (learning how to self-reinforce), helping relationships (using social support to help change), counter-conditioning (substitution of healthy alternatives for unhealthy ones), stimulus control (ridding oneself of unhealthy cues and behaviors), and social liberation (social changes which reinforce positive behaviors) (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006).

Colin Camerer, professor of business economics at California Institute of Technology, cited important ideas that can be adapted by financial educators. He mentioned the concept of the “hedonic treadmill,” which explains why people begin to classify luxury items as “needs” instead of “wants”. He stated that reinforcement of the true meaning of “needs” and “wants” may be a valuable part of financial education. A consumer tip offered by Camerer is for people to think of dollar amounts instead of percentages when making financial decisions. He gave the example of the decision of whether to drive across town to save $10 on a $35 portable CD versus driving across town to save $10 on a $200 suit. If the decision is stated in terms of dollars, as in “is it worth the time and gas expense to drive across town to save $10?” people can make a more sensible decision (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006).

A study by Camerer found that “social learning”, a concept developed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2003, was effective in promoting learning in his subjects. Social learning is defined as hearing examples of people’s financial results from a person who did well, a person who did poorly, and from a person chosen at random who may have done either well or poorly. In his study, over-spending by the subjects was reduced after hearing these stories (Caltech, 2003). Lastly, Camerer recommended the use of computer simulations in order to give people an idea about the consequences of poor financial behavior (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006).

Kathleen Gurney, President and CEO of Financial Psychology Corporation, advocated that people first identify their individual feelings about money and their spending and saving styles. After identifying their style, they may decide to make adjustments to it. One might decide to change their style to become a saver or to spend less on “wants” versus “needs” (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006).

In order to incorporate the recommendations for changing financial behavior into an educational program, it is first necessary to make decisions on how to structure the course. An online survey conducted by Lyons, Palmer, Jayaratne and Scherpf (2006) of 170 university-affiliated providers of financial education found that the main topics covered were budgeting and cash flow management (92.6%), credit/debit management (91.4%), savings and investment (90.8%) and consumer protection (70.5%). Most educators used workshops/seminars (44.3%), multi-session courses (31.2%), and printed material (11.3%) to deliver the information.

Pedagogical methods used for financial literacy education are varied. Kezar and Yang (2010) stated that financial education experts are in favor of using active, experiential and problem-based learning techniques. When students are able to relate their personal financial experiences to the course material; apply what they have learned to real-life financial situations; and share their learning experiences with others, they can learn more effectively.

Fox, et al. (2005) proposed the adoption of a general framework to aid in the development and delivery of financial educational programs. Even though they admitted that these programs may be very different, they advocated “an overarching framework” for program evaluation which could “provide a guide or road map for collection information about program development, delivery, effectiveness, and accountability” (p. 204). Fox, et al. believed this framework would standardize the way that data is


collected and allow programs to be more easily compared. They modified Jacobs’ (1988) model of evaluation so that it could be used for financial literacy programs. Excerpts from their model are located in Table A.

The Financial Literacy course created by the Midwest university referred to in this paper will be discussed by using the evaluation tiers in Fox, et al.’s model. The first tier, Pre-implementation, involves providing information justifying the need for the program. The second tier is Accountability, which is the information used to prove that the program can and will be used. The third tier is Program Clarification, information used to make adjustments to the program. The fourth is Progress towards Objectives, information demonstrating program effectiveness. The fifth and final tier is Program Impact, information relating the program to its environment (Fox, et al., 2005).

RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY Pre-Implementation

The financial literacy course at the university was created as a result of the Dean of the College of Business’ interest in financial literacy programs and a connection with Alice Wood, President and Founder of Wealth Watchers® International and author of “Wealth Watchers”. Ms. Wood’s firm produces the Wealth Watchers® journal, which is used to track daily personal spending. Users of the journal compare daily purchases with a pre-established Daily Disposable Income (DDI) based on the amount of funds available to be spent after budgeting for basic needs and an amount for savings. Wealth Watchers® International also provides financial counseling based on the Weight Watchers® model which emphasizes group support for those who are trying to reach their goals. The main driver for the development of the Financial Literacy course at the university was the high level of overdrafts and overdraft fees paid by college students and their lack of knowledge on how to manage credit and debit cards. The dean of the College of Business in conjunction with the Associate Dean of the Student Success Center and the Associate Vice-President of Student Life and the instructor determined that a financial literacy course which included Wealth Watchers® and other components would be of benefit to their undergraduate students in all majors.

The two hour course (named Financial Literacy) starts mid-semester and meets once a week in the evenings. The university emphasizes service learning throughout the campus and it was decided to partner with the local chapter of Junior Achievement® in order for students to share what they have learned with younger students. The course is open to all students on campus and contains the following objectives:

• Using college-level computation skills, develop future personal goals and a plan to fund them • Using college-level computational skills, create a personal budget • Keep track of spending and learn how to better manage credit card debt as preparation for

active participation in society • Learn ways to save regularly and wisely • Share knowledge by working with members of the community in a financial literacy service

learning project Accountability

Students are given grades for attendance at class sessions, tracking their spending in Wealth Watchers® journals; participating two times a week in online discussions; listing their financial goals and determining how to fund them; summarizing chapters from Goodmoneyhabits.com® (an online financial literacy education program); participating in Junior Achievement® presentations; preparing written reflections of what they learned in the course, and creating financial literacy presentations.

Program Clarification

The Financial Literacy course was offered for the first time in October 2008. Enrollment was 34 students. It was offered again in March 2009, October 2009 and March 2010. Total enrollment for all


four semesters was 101 students. The average age of the students was 21. 60% were male and 40% female. 42% were of Asian ethnicity, 26% were White (origins in Europe, Middle East or North Africa), 17% were Black, and the remaining 15% were American Indian or Alaskan, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino.

RESULTS Progress towards Objectives

The Financial Literacy course topics are compared to the online survey results by Lyons, et al. (2006) to discover the similarities between this course and 387 college-affiliated financial education programs. The Financial Literacy course includes the four most common topics and five out of the eight topics in the Lyons survey. The course focuses on improving students’ spending and savings habits and requires students to create a personal budget. 92.6% of programs in the Lyons survey contain budgeting and cash flow management topics. The course also includes management of credit and debit cards as compared to 91.4% of the college-affiliated programs. This university’s students learn about savings and investment as do 90.8% of the students in the programs surveyed by Lyons. The Financial Literacy course also includes coverage of insurance and taxes, compared to 46.4% and 50.9%, respectively, of programs in the survey.

This course is delivered as a multi-session, eight-week course, corresponding to 31.2% of the programs covered in the Lyons survey. The Financial Literacy course is composed of a combination of online and onsite meetings. The course contains several interactive and experiential learning components. A survey of selected universities’ financial education programs indicates that most of the financial education programs were offered in the form of workshops or one-on-one sessions with students. They did not last an entire semester, and their programs were directed to specific audiences such as freshmen or financial aid recipients, instead of being open to all students. Programs were either online or onsite (not a combination) and most of them did not require students to engage in interactive or experiential learning (Chandler, 2009; Supiano, 2009; Kibbe, 2008; Lorenzetti, 2007; Lyons, Palmer, Jayaratne & Scherpf, 2006; NH Briefs, 2006; Cox Matthews Associates, Inc, 2005).

To evaluate the Financial Literacy course in more detail, it is helpful to look at each individual course component. A major component of the course is the requirement for students to post their spending on a daily basis. Students prepare an annual personal budget and from this budget, they compute their daily disposable income (DDI), which is defined as the money they have left after their bills are paid and an amount is put aside for savings. Students record their spending in a Wealth Watchers® journal and monitor it to make sure that it is does not exceed their DDI. In terms of Prochaska’s ten change processes, posting spending raises the student’s consciousness of what they are spending their money on and strengthens their personal willpower and commitment (self-liberation). One student commented, “By using the Wealth Watchers® journal I finally took thought into a decision to buy something before I bought the item. I usually thought about buying items before but never as how will this affect me down the road and how does this fit into my budget? After using DDI and seeing at the end of each month I achieved my goal, I learned that I can live on a budget…” The course also avoids Camerer’s “isolation of decisions” phenomena in which individuals favor short-term financial decision making over long-term. Students start with their annual budget in order to calculate their daily disposable income. Tracking spending in the Wealth Watchers® journal also makes students aware of their “wants” versus their “needs” and prevents them from hopping on the “hedonistic treadmill” cited by Camerer (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006). Students spend time analyzing each purchase-“is it something I really need or is it something I can do without?”

The Wealth Watchers® journal provides a way for students to think in terms of dollar amounts instead of percentages, as recommended by Camerer. Alice Wood, President and Founder of Wealth Watchers® International, advises students to multiply the dollar amount of each considered purchase by 365 in order to realize the magnitude of this purchase on an annual basis. Many students decide not to spend the money after they make the calculation. The Wealth Watchers® journal also serves as a “mechanism for action” which David Laibson noted is necessary in order to change financial behavior.


Upon receiving the Wealth Watchers® Journal, students in the course have a tool which can immediately help them change their spending habits. Also, the journal allows them to relate their personal financial experiences to the course material. This was cited as one of the best practices in financial education per Kezar and Yang (2010).

A second component of the course is presentations by experts on proper savings and investment, managing credit, debit and credit card spending, and insurance and tax issues. This component of the course is delivered in the same manner as the financial education programs of the university affiliated organizations in the Lyons survey. Students are educated on financial topics pertinent to their stage in life and ask questions related to their own situations. This part of the course serves to raise students’ consciousness of the value of financial literacy information, which was the first step in Prochaska’s ten change processes (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006).

Other course components include on-site and online discussions. In class, Alice Wood from Wealth Watchers® tells her personal story of the dramatic change in her personal finances and how she handled it. She also asks each student to share their own stories about bad spending habits and explain why they are spending money on unnecessary items. She discusses more cost effective ways to satisfy their needs and wants. This discussion fulfills the counter-conditioning and stimulus control steps in Prochaska’s ten change processes. At the end of the course, Alice asks each student to share their spending and savings success stories, which reinforces their positive behaviors. This is the social liberation step in Prochaska’s ten change processes (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006).

Financial Literacy students are required to post twice weekly to an online student-led discussion related to their experiences in the course. They discuss their money handling style (are they spenders or savers?) and what they have learned from listening to presentations, posting in their spending journals and from other components of the course. They are asked to respond to each others’ posts to create a genuine discussion. Sharing learning experiences is suggested as a best practice by Kezar and Yang (2010) and is an example of the dramatic relief and helping relationship change processes suggested by Prochaska. The 2003 Caltech study cited by Camerer found that social learning (hearing stories of people’s financial results) reduced over-spending by the study participants (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006).

By completing the lessons contained in Goodmoneyhabits.com® interactive financial education software, students apply their personal financial situation to the material in the course. They produce a personal budget, a statement of net worth, a prioritized list of financial goals and select ways to finance them. This is another example of the active learning methods and real-life applications in the course, part of the best practices for financial education recommended by Kezar and Yang (2010). Student comments about Goodmoneyhabits.com® demonstrated their appreciation of the software as a course component. One said:

The site offers in depth knowledge on factors to consider in achieving short and long term goals…Features such as the goal funding exercise, personal budget exercise and credit card payment exercise provide real world scenarios where saving money becomes just as important as earning income.

A final component of the course is student presentations. Students present Junior Achievement®

lessons to middle school and elementary school children and also create presentations and deliver them to their peers. Students in the Financial Literacy course researched online money management resources and used what they had learned in the course to create their presentations. The topics of their presentations included budgeting, credit and credit card management, and managing spending and savings.

The Junior Achievement® presentation topics included career choices, the role of business, taxes, decision making and the flow of money in the economy. Students in the middle schools were also introduced to budgeting, credit and financial risk. The presentation component in the Financial Literacy course is another example of active learning on the part of the students. It is one of the ten change processes (environmental reevaluation) cited by Prochaska (Association for Financial counseling and Planning Education, 2006). It also reinforces the learning that is being accomplished in the classroom. By


extending their learning outside the Financial Literacy class, students became aware of the importance of financial literacy to other people. One student commented on the value of educating others by saying, “Another thing that I think helped me was the JA presentation. Not only did it give me an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, but it also helped me cement in my own head what I had been learning in class all along.”

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

In this study, this university’s Financial Literacy course was evaluated using the Five-Tiered Approach to Financial Education (Fox, et al., 2005). Development of the course has progressed from Pre-implementation (realization of the need for a financial literacy course on campus) to joint planning of the course by all university stakeholders to the Accountability tier. In this tier, the university decided to offer the course to all undergraduate students and gathered course attendance details and demographics. In the Program Clarification and Progress toward Objectives tiers, the topics and course components were determined. Also under the Progress towards Objectives tier, all participants in the course since it began were surveyed and the results will be shared in a forthcoming paper. Under the Program Impact tier, the University is beginning to evaluate the course by surveying control groups consisting of students in other courses and comparing their results to our Financial Literacy students. More work can be done in this tier. The University can also begin to compare their course to Financial Literacy courses at other universities.

This study indicates that the topics in Financial Literacy course offered by the university match most of the topics and evaluation methods of the 170 university-affiliated financial education programs studied by Lyons, et al. (2006). It differs from other university-based financial education in the type of learning and variety of course components and delivery methods. There are more than ten different course components and many of them involve experiential learning methods. The course contains both online and onsite components. Students in the course are required to relate their personal experiences to the course materials, which was also cited as a best practice in financial education by Kezar and Yan (2010). The course follows many of the recommendations by experts who participated in the “Closing the Gap between Knowledge and Behavior: Turning Education into Action” seminar in 2006. Prochaska’s ten change processes are addressed, as well as suggestions by Camerer and Laibson (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2006).

The effectiveness of the university’s Financial Literacy course to help students improve their money management knowledge, skills and behaviors will not be established until more work is done in the Progress toward Objectives and Program Impact tiers of the Fox et al. model. However, this course follows all of the recommendations from the financial experts cited in this paper. It includes a mechanism for action and material addressing Prochaska’s ten change processes. The course includes a focus on determining the students’ wants versus needs and stresses the impact of daily spending on an annual budget. It is unique from other universities’ financial literacy programs because of its experiential (service learning) component, a mix of onsite and online learning, and the opportunity it provides for all students at the university to obtain financial literacy skills during an entire semester.


TABLE A

Five-Tiered Approach to Financial Education Program Evaluation Application to a Financial Evaluation Tier Purpose of the evaluation Education Program Pre-implementation- Collect information that -Collect community-based financial statistics Information justifying documents need within -Interview community leaders regarding causes need for program community and effects of financial literacy -Locate local press coverage on financial topics -Write a description of financial education program Accountability- Collect information about -Provide descriptive profile of individuals using program Information justifying about program users and -Be able to report over certain time frame (year) the program viability and program utilization number of individuals participating in program and utilization at what cost Program clarification Collect information used by -Survey program participants about satisfaction with Information to fine-tune program developers and program the program and personnel to improve -Staff feedback (from participants regarding future the program financial topics) -Describe program operation (topics, instructor, students, components used by students) Progress toward objectives Collect information that -Design and collect objective measures of program information demonstrating documents the effective- success (Pre-, post-test of knowledge) effectiveness ness of the program and -Several simple and advanced behavioral indicators to provide information should also measure program outcome program staff and (participant reports activities to reduce debt over administration can use three-month period) to make program -Collect other types of data related to financial improvements behavior (decision making, feelings of efficacy) -Analyze indicators of success relative to participant

characteristics (age, gender) -Publish findings

Program impact- Provide information that -Engage in advanced methodological data collection program information contributes to an area of (random assignment of ‘treatment” of financial relative to the big knowledge and/or eval- education program; construct a control group of picture uation and to document individuals who don’t participate in program program effectiveness -Evidence regarding the financial education program in comparison to other should be: programs (1) Tailored to specific audiences

(2) Evaluated relative to other programs (3) Critiqued in terms of strengths and weaknesses

of study design and methodological design

Note: From Fox, J., Bartholomae, S., and Lee, J. (2005). Building the case for financial education. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 39(1), 213-214 (excerpts). Adapted from Jacobs, F.H. (1988). The five-tiered approach to evaluation: Context and implementation. In Evaluating Family Programs, edited by Heather B. Weiss and Francine H. Jacobs (37-68). New York: Aldine DeGruyter.


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System and Effects: Breakthrough the Bottlenecks of Educational Reform in China

Li Wei

Central University of Finance and Economics

The education system in China is typically government controlled, or an administration-monopolized type of system. Instructed by such an education system and the educational philosophy behind this system, China’s education presents two major effects in recent years. Primarily, the distributions of China’s limited educational resources are imbalanced and not equally allocated. In addition, large amounts of Chinese higher education graduates failed to gain employment, suggesting that graduation means to be unemployed, which causes relative social and ideological issues. Therefore, a concensus has formed across various groups of the Chinese society that there is an emergency need for reforms of China’s education system and the philosophy. INTRODUCTION

Within the thirty years’ of reform and opening-up, China’s economic sector benefits most from breaking restrictions. By introducing liberalization, marketization, privatization reform into China’s economic systems, it stimulates and releases inside potentials of all types for the Chinese economy to unite: state-owned, collaborative, and private-hold, although conflicts are remaining, for instance shortage of innovation, shortage of commercial creditability and market order,.

Opposite to China’s in-depth economic system reform, the education system reform presents reversed effect. It has been submerged into the traditional government autocratic culture and the administrative monopoly from the old planning economic system, and seriously excludes market, private investments and internationalization outside of the sector. Students trained to study like machines. These issues are pressing the open and reform China’s education system, and passions of faculties on academic creation and innovation. Indeed, slowly developed education has become the obstacle and bar for China’s further economic transformation. Therefore, the whole society blames the serious problem inside China’s education system that has been lacking good education effects.

The current situation requests China’s education system to reform turning to the direction of truly meaningful, in-depth open and transformation activities, but not external changes, changes on some details, or perfunctory moves. Apparently, this transformation, which will bring enormous interest into the education system reform, will evoke people’s potential capabilities of creation and innovation. It is much more meaningful than motivation and indemnification for China’s further economic transformation and promotion, thus represents Chinese peoples’ expectation of humanity revolution and demands to increase their culture cultivation.

This article tends to share the opinions on process of China’s education system reform, which bears great responsibility of China’s future. However, by reviewing the current situation, it is clear that China’s


education system has become the hindrance to restrict further development of China’s education. This report regards traditionally autocratic education philosophy, and vested privileged interest group structure is solid and fundamental issues to drag the education reform back. However, reform on autocratic education systems has become a global tendency. In China’s great long history there are successful reforms can be discovered. In addition, the country’s leadership has been aware of the need of education system reform. Thus, China’s education system reform and the promotion of China’s existing education faith should irrevocable but not be distortion. However, crucial breakings of China’s education system reform highly depend on the success of China’s political restructure, namely the reform of the leadership system of government and China’s Community Party. Hence, it is foreseeable that China’s education system reform has a long and rough journey ahead. In the following, it will discuss the major conflicts and issues during the reform progress, and discover practical solutions. CHINA'S EDUCATION SYSTEM AND EDUCATION EFFECTS China’s Education System

Education system refers to institutional system and organizational system regarding to a nation’s education section, conducted and executed by the national government, and determined by certain political environments, economic development level and cultural factors. In other words, it is the nation’s commitment to the education objects, education administration and education activities. Therefore, the education system is the result of comprehensive actions by factors of a nation’s political system, economic system, and cultural system, in certain historical period.

China is a historical glorious country, and the influences of feudal autocracy profoundly accumulated in many aspects of Chinese society, for instance political, economy and culture, which seriously affect the development and regulations of China’s modern educational system. In other words, the national government presents straight and centralized control, and administration on each individual section and path of the country’s education. In China, the government controls education system, which is not a social autonomy type, and the substance, is autarchy.

By reviewing the development process of China’s education system since the establishment of Peoples Republic of China, Mr. Yuan Xucheng (2009), educator, the Head of “China Reform” Journal, recapitulates it as “administrative, monopolized, and formalized”. Primarily, the government is usually the principle part of education actives and investments. The administration and control degree on local private enterprises and foreign investment is relatively high. It has been clearly stated by China’s “Regulation on The Running of Educational Institutions with Social Resources” that “Chinese government strictly controls the higher educational institutions running by non-government resources.”

In addition, the national government is the principle of education administration. The three tiers of China’s education administration are nation, province and county. The minister of China’s National Education Ministry is appointed by the Organization Department of the China Party Centre Central Committee. Countrywide principals and enrolled teachers are reserved civil servants paid by the local government. Basically, the national Education Ministry directly manages each aspect and tier of national education, which covers the education planning, human resources management, outlay and teaching activities(for example textbook, curriculum, and methods ) in education institutes from colleges to primary schools, and geographically. However, it is ironically, the public summed up the object of China’s education in one sentence: all for the National College Entry Examination. China’s Education Effect Imbalance of Educational Resources

In China’s education system, the social educational resources supply presents generally imbalance, whether in colleges, middle schools or pre-k tiers. Reputable schools are directly related to two groups of students: whose parents hold privileges, and who have outstanding academic performances. Survey China’s large and small cities, indubitably, better education resources closely related to higher-level authoritative institutions and social groups. Since 1990s, fewer and fewer top national universities have


accepted students from rural areas, and its ratio to total students dropped from around 30% to approximately 10%, it became even less in recent years (Weng Heng, 2011). Education Lacks of Practical Purpose

Lacking of practical purpose is an unique character of China’s higher education institutes. Han Xue and Jiang Weiwu (2009) state the colleges in China have formed strict ranking system. They point out that the competitions in higher education all concerns disputing on front-end outlay, tract, teaching faculties, and students, thus cause ignorance on true object of education and frequent academic corruption. Curriculums designed far from actual social demand, and graduates even failed during internship.

Only 10% of Chinese graduates with bachelor degree in engineering are qualified for multinational companies in China. Mr. John Deere, the Chief Executive of China Office of the world’s largest agricultural machinery producer shares the same opinion unreservedly that Chinese engineers are short of capabilities of decision-making, communication, practicing and English expression during their work.

Xu Jing’an refers the investigation made by world leading global administration consulting company, Mckinsey& Company regarding conflicts between the human resource demands of foreign companies in China and the local supply. In five years, there are 280 thousand foreign companies with the need of 750 thousand college graduates annually. However, million of Chinese graduates (including Master and Doctoral graduates) become unemployed for unqualified. Eighty-nine multinational companies in 3 years would need 75 thousand senior managers every year, but local labor market is just able to provide 3 to 5 thousands qualified candidates. The need on software talents in China is 500 thousand a year, but the total amount of qualified employee provided by Chinese colleges is only 200 thousand (Xu Jing’an, 2009).

The education system determines that China can only take the role of world factory in global economy development, but the world’s research and development center. Furthermore, these conflicts mentioned above hardly support the expansion of China’s education. Overseas education are widely accepted by Chinese parents (including households depends on salaries), who are eager to send their children to receive high school and college education in developed countries, such as the UK and the U.S. Oppositely, the debt level of each Chinese college is significant. Among them, Jilin University ranks as the top with 3 billion RMB debts. According to the Education Ministry’s assessment, Chinese colleges’ total amount of bank debts is around 20 to 25 billion RMB, but professionals believe it having reached 40-50 billion RMB (Chen Hanci, 2010). CHINA EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND SYSTEM REFORM Program of China Educational Planning

In last three decades of China’s economic system restructuring, there are two hallmark events during the educational reform. One is the enrollment expansion in higher education section since the end of 1990s. The other is the issuing “National Long and Middle Term Education Reform and Development Planning Program (2010-2020)” Since 1999, the expansion of enrollment in higher education, the total annual enrollment amount approximates 30 million from 7 million students. The scale of China’s higher education has exceeded that of the USA’s around year 2005, and became the largest one in the world. Yue Yinyin (2009) states that the total annual enrollment rate of China’s colleges has reached 24.2% from less than 10%, and has stepped in to the ordinary level recognized by international. According to China’s education planning, the total annual enrollment shall reach 40% by the year of 2020. While the higher education experiencing rapid scale expansion, conflicts of education quality decline and unemployment raised as well.

Due to the promote the further development in education area, July 2010, China’s Educaiton Ministry issued the first middle and long term education planning program “National Long and Middle Term Education Reform and Development Planning Program (2010-2020)”. According to actual issues, it claims the working guideline that states education must be “developed in advance, people oriented, innovated, fairness and justices and high quality.” Educational professionals criticized specifically on its essentials, especially content regarding educational system and philosophy reform, although it is highly


recognized by the Chinese government. Yang Ziyun and Du Ke (2009) argue that it is hardly to recognize the fundamental value, principles

and criteria of the “Planning Program”. They criticize it failed to discover crises, and regarded it reflected conservative, narrow, and complacent of technocracy. Other professionals warned this so called ‘Democratic Centralism’, in which the democracy represents soliciting social opinions and collective indicates the administrative authority of governmental education departments, would hardly truly present social views and demands.

Professor Li Baoyuan (2009), the Director of Human Development and Research Center of Beijing Normal University indicates “I have noticed that this Bulletin listed 36 issues, which covered all the respects of China’s education, but education system reform (ranked 26) listed as one of the less important issues submerged among the others. Therefore, this detail serious reflected the actual situation of education system reform to authorities who drafted and edited this plan.

Ding Dong, researcher of Chinese Academic of Social Science indicates that the greatest objection of this “Planning Program” is the ignorance of citizen education, which affects the ultimate target of education. The ultimate target must not be cultivate successors or social constructors, but to educate qualified citizens. Professor Cai Dingjian (2009) from China University of Political Science and Law emphasizes during the process of education reform, has not set the college self-rule as a target of reformation, which is disappointed. From the angel of constitution and politics construction, the system of college self-rule will deeply influent a nation’s, degree of liberty, democracy and legal system. Opinions to Education System Reform

China must carry out a truly meaningful reform on education system. Educational professionals has reached consensus on the content of a truly meaningful education system reform, and widely accepted by the public. Generally, it contains following points: The General Target of China Education System Reform

The general target of China’s education system reform shall shift to the establishment of social autonomy model or unrestricted education system，from current national administration monopoly mode, or in other words, government controlled mode. Head of China Reform Journal, Mr. Yuan Xucheng (2009) pointed it out straightly and sharply that the target of China’s education reform is utterly specific “ The Administration Framework of China's Education System Reform

Advice regarding to the administration of education system reform focus on the shift of government’s functions, from managerial to serving oriented. Government shall give more authority to local education administration institutes and establish competitive system of education object. professor Yang Dongping from Beijing Institute of Technology, College of Arts, is reputable educator and cultural scholar, the headmaster of 21 Century Education Research Institute, his opinions represent the general understanding of publics: first of all, to establish the service oriented government and innovational education managerial structure. The major task of country is supposed to serve the education but not control, thus authority to local and schools are the primary principle and common tendency for countries around the world. Secondly, it means tremendously for Chinese education system reform, authorizing to local government and educational institutes. Moreover, China’s higher education has suffered from existed conflicts for long time. It has become urgent to build a competitive system inside the higher education tie. The Principals of Education Investment

Professor Yang Dongping (2009) stressed the significant meaning to open the extension of education investment principal. First of all, inland it is necessary to open the education sector to private investors. The ratio of private holding education institutes in the entire education system, as for developed countries Southeastern countries and region, Korea is 80.5 per cent, Japan 71 per cent, India 59 per cent and Hong Kong is relatively low 55 per cent, but the private holding educations just occupied 13 per cent in China. Secondly, education internationalization, it stresses the importance to open education sector to foreign


education society. As the article “Ten Criticism of Education Reform” (2009) stated in China Reform that while Chinese government “blocks the path of inland private holding education institutes”, it also rejects the investment of abundant foreign capital and intelligence to China’s education. However, in fact, foreign capital and intelligent investment is valued for China’s education system development, financially and practically. For instance, the International Finance Company subsidiary to World Bank, has already provide $4,400 USD for 11 private holding education institutes in developing countries, but not include those in China. UNDERSTANDING OF CHINA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM REFORM

It is clearly to see from discussions above that China’s education development and reform and education system reform is suffering in bottleneck period, and maintaining the sticky situation, just similar to the nation’s political system reform and economic system reform. It is in a key period. Predictably, if China’s education system reform moves to next phase smoothly, there will be enormous space for China’s education expansion. China is going to benefit from people’s creative capability release. The most of all, it will accelerate China’s economic growth extremely.

However, if the education system reform stops its steps to move forward, as China’s political reform, China’s education will harm the benefit of public and its country. In additional, it will cause unpredictable faith crisis and social unrests. In following content, this paper is going to briefly explain the reasons of China’s education system reform encounters, and the future directions of China’s education system reform. The Bottleneck of China’s Education System Reform Traditional Chinese Culture and Education Faith

Currently, caused by the inertia of China’s government belief on education, the bottleneck of China’s education system reform becomes apparent. However, China government’s faith of education roots deeply in traditional cultures. China has never experienced profoundly sustaining and social universal humanism renaissance to compare the Renaissance in Europe, and humanism culture has only short-term glory in China’s history. On the contrary, autocracy dictatorship culture under feudalization found its way to grow deeply, profoundly, and universally in China.

In China’s traditional culture, no matter the education faith or education system, the most outstanding nature of them is struggles and efforts to achieve privileges from the autocracy dictatorship. There are Chinese traditional sayings, such as: “study hard to achieve official position”, “men who uses his brain will govern, and men who use his force will be governed”, “study hard, you will find golden houses, and fair maids in books”. Traditional educators were proud to cultivate few elite who would mast the most of social force, and students aimed to achieve privileges by educations. Meanwhile, education administrators mean to define their own range of gains to master, from autocracy dictatorship, surrounding specific education activities.

Since the establishment of People’s Republic of China, the education faith and education system construction have much more beyond the old time, but the general character and essentials are close connected to the old ones. Premier Wen Jiabo (2012) mentioned by answering journalists, during the sessions of China’s National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference , in March 2012, that ” Chinese Communist Party has carried out the open-up and reformation policies, but influence from mistakes of cultural revolution and autocracy dictatorship under feudalization culture are not eliminated yet”. These words reflect China’s government rather focus on the guidance function on education faith, but not the promotion of civilian’s cultural cultivation, and its major task is to realize and maintain government’s interests.

The guideline of China’s education is “education must serve the construction of social democracy modernization, serve its peoples, and combine with production activities and social practice, to educate social democracy constructors and successors comprehensively developed on morals, intelligence, physical quality and aesthetics”. The researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Science, Ding Dong


(2009) pointed out “but the ultimate education’s target shall not be cultivating successors or constructors, it must be to educate qualified civilian to this society”.

According to China’s education laws and regulations, colleges must implement ‘the Party Committee Instructed Principal Responsibility’ system. China’s famous education innovator, former Principal of Wuhan University, Liu Daoyu (2009) wrote in correspondingly, “the government almost monopolized all educational resources, and the force on decision making and administration to education, which seriously harms colleges’ enthusiasm of academic development and investment, and the atmosphere of academic innovation that colleges supposed to have.”

China’s most important scientist, Mr. Qian Xuesen stated in 2005 there is no single college or university in China operated by the form that focus on cultivating talents and professionals for science and technology invention and innovation, and short of characters. He showed his disappointment after that. Mr. Qian said to discuss the reasons that Chinese colleges and universities could not educate masters was total misunderstanding on China’s college education’s talents cultivate model, which shall be the answer to this question. Privileged Vested Interest

By the education administration which follows the education faith mentioned above, the core of the pattern of education administration must serve the autarchies and privilege. From one side, the government monopolizes education resources, which brings especially tremendous interests to the governmental administration institutions. On the other side, non-governmental education resources struggle for survival while rejected.

Ding Dong (2009) explains the gradually increased administrative level inside China’s universities and colleges. The reason is the ordinary operation funds of universities and colleges are relatively low, and most of their daily expense highly depends on the project capital, and government decides the usages of these funds. Under this circumstance, naturally, administration becomes extremely important within the operation of universities. Mr. Ding indicates that the consequent of over estimated value of administra-tional function inside education system can be corruptions. Higher administration institutes clutch colleges’ financial inflow, which will cause the over-concentration of powers and corruptions. Public mass disclosed a scandal of corruption of a secretary of China’s Education Ministry, which triggered reflections on China’s education system.

Professor Yang Dongping (2009) investigated the financial difficulty and current situation of China’s private holding education institutes, and pointed out “if private holding education institutes do not rely on national financial support, it must obey the market rules”. He argues, however, in China, education are defined as public benefit affair, not an industry, thus bank loans are not available. It is tough for private holding schools to finance in China.

That being the case, the truly meaningful reform on China’s education system will bring two consequences to China. Firstly, it will bring non-government education institutes, educators, and students out of the corner. In additional, it is evitable to regulate current educational administrators’ power, and for sure it will harm their interests. Therefore, though the essential of education system reform are clear and important, it is impossible to be drafted in the “Planning Program”. The Future of China Education Reform

It is necessary to clarify that the educational system reform is an irreversible historical trend, which is not going to be stopped by anyone or any organizations. For centuries, men’s understanding on the essentials of education gets deeply. The scientific miracles surprise the world, which root in American’s scientific educational faith. The consensus on humanist education across global education societies developed rapidly with the globalization of science and technology. The tendency of integration inside global education system has become an irresistible force. The core idea of this tendency is social self-determinations, the democracy of education administration and scientific planning, especially for these nation controlled education system.

Historically, China has successfully promoted the humanist education. In the early period of last


century, Chinese government of that time and its education system had accepted civilian education that imported from Western Civilization. 1913, Shanghai Qunyi Publishing House imported and translated “American Public School”. In the education system of that time, civilian education was integrated and systemized. However, the moral education replaced civilian education after the establishment of Peoples Republic of China. However, since the 1990s, China’s education sector has been working hard on it. Professor Yang Dongping published his work of “New Civilian Chrestomathy”, and Professor Xiazhong’s work of “College Humanist Chrestomathy”.

In fact, the higher level of China’s leadership has clear understanding on the current situation of China’s education. President Hu Jintao claimed that China’s education construction requires the spontaneously activities of the Party and the whole nation. The crucial of education is civilian, and it is the fundamental motivation of social reform and innovation. Justices and fair are the importance of education, and actually promote the quality of education is the core idea. Accelerate the development of China’s education development in a new historical start, especially focus on the requirements of China’s transformation of building a large country to a strong country, from a human labor resource rich country to a professional resource rich country. The construction of education sector should contribute to the great rebound of China and human’s civilization’s progress. Premier Wen Jiabao hosted the conduction of Education Program, and stressed (2012) that China needs not only economic system reform, but the political system reform, especially on the nation’s leadership framework reform. Otherwise, it will be hard to maintain the current results of reform, or it may retrogress. CONCLUSION

The importance of China’s education system reform has been widely agreed, and it must happen towards the sited direction by right methods. However, the actual breaks of China’s education system strongly rely on the success of China’s political system reform, especially the reform of the leadership framework of China’s Party of Communist and government. Therefore, the education system reform is stringent. Though the progress of China’s education system reform is irreversible, it has a long and rough journey to go.

As Premier Wen Jiabao (2012) admits that, he is clearly and deeply aware of the difficulty of reform. Any reform strictly relies on peoples’ disillusion, support, and enthusiasm and spirit of innovation. In a country with such a great population as China, it must proceed from its national conditions, gradually, construct the social democracy politics in proper process. It never has been easy, but it needs a push and promotion. Stagnation and retrogress are intolerable, let alone are the solution to current problems. REFERENCES Chen, H.C. (2010), The Actual Debt Level of China’s Colleges Approximate500 Billion RMB-Raising Funds from Land Sale Shall Not be Followed, First Financial Daily, March 26. Chen, X. F& Shen, W. Q. (2012), Background and Condition Analysis to Construct Grea-Power National Higher Education, Xinhua Wenzhai, 2012 Vol. 6: 110-113. Han, X & Jiang, W.W. (2009). Education system must be reformed, China Reform, 2009(7): 5-6. Hu, J.T. (2010). President Hu Jintao’s Speech at National Education Work Conference, www.People.com.cn Liu, D.Y. (2009). 10 Opinions on Higher Education Entire Adjustment, Southern Weekend, 2009 (12):10-11. Wen, J.B. (2012). “Premier Wen Answers to Chinese and Foreign Journalist on The Fifth Session of the


Eleventh National People's Congress”, www.China.com.cn Weng, H. (2011). Only 10 per cent Rural Students Enrollment in Peking University and Tsinghua University, Where Do Pool Students Go, Southern Weekend, Vol. 8(5):8-9. Yang, Z. Y & Du, K. (2009). 10 Criticisms of Education Reform, China Reform, 2009(4):7-8. Yang, Z.W. (2010). Review The First Decade of 21 Century: the Reform is Suffering Great Pain, Southern People Weekly Magazine, Vol. 1(24): 22-24. Yuan, X. C. (2009). Strategic Thoughts of Education System Reform, Inside References of Reform, Vol. 2009 (17): 11-14. Yue, Y.Y. (2009). China’s Higher Education Scale Rank Top, http://info.edu.hc360.com/2009/09/150900186185.shtml Zhou, M & Ding S.C. (2012) . Internationalization Strategy of Collegs: Investigation on Framework and Path, Xinhua Wenzhai, Vol. 2012 (2), :113-116.


Defining and Assessing Written Communication Skills of MIS Students

Nabil Alghalith

Truman State University

The paper focuses on the development of a rubric for the assessment of written communication skills, which is mainly used for assurance of learning. The objectives are (1) to defined skill set formed a basis for common expectations related to written communication skills. (2) to use the Written Communication Rubric to measure student progress toward achieving these skills, (3) to help refine the instrument and the assessment process, (4) to identify areas of concern in written communication, and (5) to enhance the culture of assessment in the School of Business. INTRODUCTION School of Business Mission

We graduate prospective leaders who are ethical, broadly educated problem-solvers, effective team players, clear writers and articulate speakers. We cultivate a community of learners by emphasizing

• A rigorous, broad academic experience • Effective communication skills • Highly selective admission of students primarily from the Midwest • Teaching, while valuing applied and instructional scholarship and service

School of Business Objectives

In support of the School of Business's mission, the objectives of the business programs naturally involve students, curriculum, faculty and resources. Assessing the outcomes of objectives is necessary for accountability and continuous improvement.

Students are the focus of our educational institution. The student objectives of the business degree programs are:

• to attract and retain students with superior academic qualifications and demographic diversity comparable to the university's student population;

• to prepare students for business and professional positions in the public and private sectors; • to graduate students qualified for admission to select professional or graduate programs; • to prepare students for future leadership and service opportunities; and • to assist in making career and educational decisions.


A curriculum provides the framework for educating young women and men to contribute to a global society in which diversity, changing technology and difficult ethical decisions are prevalent. The curriculum objectives of the business degree programs are:

• to offer business degrees that build upon a liberal arts and sciences foundation including calculus, statistics and foreign language. Specifically, the business programs will further develop written and oral communication, computer, quantitative, and critical thinking skills;

• to develop fundamental business knowledge in the areas of accounting, legal environment of business, organizational behavior, finance, marketing, production, information systems, economics and statistics which are integrated with the completion of a senior capstone course;

• to provide opportunities for students to study in the specialized areas of accounting, finance, management and marketing; and

• to increase study abroad and other institutional opportunities for business and accounting students.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives of the project are:

1. To defined skill set formed a basis for common expectations related to written communication skills.

2. To use The Written Communication Rubric to measure student progress toward achieving these skills.

3. To help refine the instrument and the assessment process. 4. To identify areas of concern in written communications. 5. To enhance the culture of assessment in the School of Business.

Writing Competencies

Quite often, a program’s mission and learning objectives are so broad and lack precision that they are difficult to assess. For example, our school of business adopted a mission statement that included graduating clear writers as one of its goals. To make the goal assessable, the competencies that clear writers demonstrate had to be identified and described in measurable levels of performance. We identified three broad writing competencies:

1. Uses an organization pattern appropriate to the assignment, 2. Provides content and use of language appropriate to the audience and assignment, and; 3. Enhances readability by mechanical correctness, clarity, and use of language.

Descriptions of three levels of performance for each competency were developed. The levels were

identified as novice/needs improvement, proficient, and advanced (See Appendix 1). Using the organization competency as an example, novice-level performance exhibits a lack of skill.

The purpose of the writing is not well defined; transitions and logical flow are weak or absent; and the conclusion is missing or incomplete. Proficient performance is characterized by a clear statement of purpose, seamless transitions and logic, and a satisfying conclusion. An advanced organizational pattern exhibits insightful or creative purpose, strong connections among ideas, and an enlightening, memorable conclusion. The two other written communication competencies have descriptive traits with similar hallmarks. In summary, novice performance is marked by an absence of skill, proficient performance is denoted by terms like adequate or proficient, and advanced performance is characterized by adjectives like creative, enlightening, innovative, original, and professional.


Limitations of Course-Embedded Assessments If the course-embedded assessments come from courses taught by a small number of faculty

members, these instructors may perceive that their teaching effectiveness is being evaluated. Such a perception may lead to resistance to the use of course-embedded methods. Recall that the literature suggests that direct assessment of writing should occur in a context specific situation like a class assignment. However, it is also possible that the assignments used for the course-embedded assessments may not prompt students to demonstrate each of the writing competencies. This has certainly been an issue with the research competency at the authors’ institution.

The results from the course-embedded writing assessment can certainly provide a broad-brush perspective about the achievement of learning goals related to writing. For those faculty members who like “crunching” numbers, the lack of statistical analyses may lessen the credibility of the results. Qualitative assessments may be viewed as less precise or informative. Although the assessment results may signal the need for curricular or pedagogical changes, the information does not explicitly tell the faculty which changes to make or how to make needed changes to the curriculum. While responding to the signals from the assessment outcomes, faculty members draw upon professional experiences, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and other sources to develop and revise the curriculum and pedagogical approaches RECOMMENDATIONS

Business graduates must possess and demonstrate proficient written communication skills, therefore, it is important that business schools take student learning seriously and be held accountable for developing of skills assessment plan.

The rubric should be fully explained and expectations should be communicated with students before the assignment of projects. Identify assessable learning objectives. Close the loop, collecting data from a course-embedded assessment method is not sufficient. The data must be converted to information that can guide decision-making and lead to action. Prior to using the course-embedded assessment rubrics, faculty members must be trained to appropriately rate student writing. Select assessment points. Many factors play into the decision about where and when to assess student writing. REFERENCES Alghalith, N., Blum, M., & Weber, S, (2004), Defining and Assessing Team Skills of Business and Accountancy Students. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 1(11). Arter, J. & McTighe, J. (2001). Scoring rubrics in the classroom: Using performance criteria for assessing and improving student performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc. English, D., Manton, E., & Walker, J. (2007). Human resource manager’s perception of selected communication competencies. Education, 127(3), 410-418. Swanson, J. & Swanson, N. (1990). The value of business communications as perceived by business administration graduates. Journal of Education for Business, 65, 168-171.


APPENDIX 1: WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS RUBRIC

Audience Awareness. 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Uses content, language, tone, or style that is inappropriate for intended readers.

Uses content, language, tone, and style that are appropriate for intended readers.

Conveys a strong sense of the intended readers through the use of appropriate content, disciplinary language, tone, and style.

For Research Papers and Reports

Comments:___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Writer uses organization pattern appropriate to the assignment. 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Provides ill-defined purpose, illogical organization, inadequate transitions, and a conclusion that leaves readers hanging.

Expresses clear purpose, logical organization, appropriate transitions, and a conclusion that satisfies readers.

Conveys insightful purpose, organization that captures and maintains readers’ interest, and an enlightening conclusion.

Depth of content. 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Makes no connections between main points, demonstrating only superficial understanding of topic. Readers gain little from paper.

Moves beyond surface understanding and makes connections among ideas. Appropriately applies course concepts.

Makes interdisciplinary or cross-functional connections or otherwise demonstrates original thought. Readers gain new insights.

Citation and/or plagiarism 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Does not cite sources; plagiarizes the work of others

Appropriately cites sources. Evaluates sources for bias and reliability.

Evidence of Research. 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Arguments are unsupported by current research.

Objectively advances arguments, providing both sides of issues, and supports arguments with sound, current evidence.

Discusses future implications or extends research findings.

Clarity, Conciseness, and Style.

1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Uses overly-long sentences, redundant or vague words, or wordy phrases, making content difficult to understand. Demonstrates little or no editing and revising.

Presents information clearly and concisely. If appropriate, uses graphs and charts to help readers understand. Demonstrates editing and revising.

Enhances readability by use of language, and sentence structure and /or creative visual aids, resulting in heightening readers’ interest and understanding.

Mechanical correctness. 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Displays many distracting errors in grammar, sentence structure, and/or spelling. Demonstrates little or no proofreading.

Displays a few minor errors in grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and/or spelling. Demonstrates proofreading.

Displays a virtually error-free paper, with an overall professional, polished appearance. Demonstrates careful proofreading.

APPENDIX 1 cont. WRITING COMPENTENCY DESCRIPTORS

Level

Uses an organization pattern appropriate to the assignment.

1 (Novice/Needs Improvement)

Purpose is ill-defined. Organization is illogical or inconsistent and/or lacks adequate transitions among ideas. Conclusion does not summarize purpose and main points/reader left hanging

2 (Proficient) Expresses a clear, coherent statement of purpose, and how objective(s) will be achieved. Organized in a coherent, logical manner and provides adequate transitions among ideas. Contains a conclusion appropriate to the assignment. Writing is seamless and well integrated

3 (Advanced) Insightful, creatively presented purpose captures and maintains reader’s interest. Organization contributes to full development of purpose. Provides an enlightening conclusion that exceeds requirements of the assignment

Provides content and use of language appropriate to audience and assignment.


Writer’s sense of audience is unfocused, wavers or uses language or writing style inappropriate for intended audience. Inconsistent development of important issues and main points. Writer demonstrates superficial understanding of topic. Writing does not make connections among ideas. Appropriate citation of sources, content is free of plagiarism

2 (Proficient)

Content, tone and language appropriate to audience and assignment. Moves beyond surface understanding and makes connections among ideas. Supports arguments with sound, current evidence and appropriately cites references. Demonstrates understanding of course concepts and appropriately applies them. Objectively advances arguments, providing both sides of the issues as appropriate to the assignment

3 (Advanced)

Writer conveys a strong sense of audience through use of disciplinary language. Innovatively or expertly advances arguments with evidence of research findings and discusses future implications. Makes interdisciplinary or cross-functional connections that suggest the discovery of new information or new ways of understanding existing information. Writer demonstrates creativity and original thought.

Enhances readability by mechanical correctness, clarity, conciseness, and use of language


Writing contains errors in grammar, sentence structure, punctuation or spelling. Writer uses redundant words, vague words, or wordy phrases. Sentence structure makes reading difficult to understand.

2 (Proficient) Writer uses correct grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling. Overall, writing is clear and concise. Writer uses a format appropriate to the assignment. Content is appropriately supported by use of graphs and charts.

3 (Advanced) Readability is enhanced by choice of language and varying sentence structure. The overall document is polished and professional.

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