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More ideas on strategies to teach thinking skills in business
Walter Derzko
wderzko@epas.utoronto.ca
=========================================================================
From: "Mark A. Thayer" <mathayer@cs.unm.edu>
Subject: Re: Curriculum development ideas LO3414
Walter:
Several years ago I was peripherally involved in a similar problem: how
to teach management and business concepts to undergraduate engineers. It
was an enlightening experience. I'll try to drag some things up out
of memory and share a bit of what we learned.
First: the majority of these extremely intelligent students had no
really firm concept of what a corporation is. They knew *of* them --
they had a pretty good idea of the *names* of companies that they
would probably go to work for -- but didn't understand the function
and purpose that must be in place for a corporation to exist.
Second: most of the education process up through the undergraduate
level is deterministic (especially for engineers) -- there's a "right
answer" out there, and their see it as their job to find it. This is
their model of the educational process.
So, here's what we did:
* No lectures, no textbooks. Everything was done on a case-study
basis. Many of the cases came right out of Harvard's MBA program,
so they weren't just the easy ones. Supplemental notes were
distributed with the cases to provide technical background. Cases
were selected to provide an overview of finance, manufacturing,
marketing and general strategy and policy development.
* Class participation counted for 50% of the grade.
* We *told* them right up front that if they didn't form study
groups and share ideas, they wouldn't survive.
The bad news: about 15% - 20% couldn't handle the change, and
dropped out. These figures may be wrong; but I do remember the drop
rate being a bit higher than average.
The (really) good news: once they got past the shock, they had *fun*.
They learned very directly that once outside academia they will have
to make decisions with incomplete, ambiguous and often contradictory
information. They learned to respect management skills -- easier to
learn in the classroom than, say, chemical kinetics, but *a lot*
harder to apply in the real world. They began to understand that
there was a lot more to a technical company than just technical
skills.
The bottom line: I'd do it again. The most satisfying part was that
in the class, during the case discussions, you really could hear the
gears turning in their heads. They were *actively thinking*, not just
sitting there like passive sponges.
Good luck.
Best regards,
Mark A. Thayer e-mail: mathayer@cs.unm.edu
The University of New Mexico phone: (505) 899-4339
Center for Manufacturing Engineering fax: (505) 899-4351
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
USA
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From: cmjohnsn@ix.netcom.com (C. M. Johnson )
Subject: Re: Curriculum development ideas wanted (fwd)
My gut level reaction is to include a course in Problem Solving and
Decision Making. Sub-topics should include risk taking,
innovation/creativity, quantitative vs. qualitative analysis,
planning/organizing the data, and prioritizing the decision criteria.
In other words, teach them the same things that we teach our first
level management employees. It would be great to see a college student
with some common sense business ideas, rather than waiting until their
first job to acquire these skills. Good luck! CJ
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From: Nancy Firestone <nancyf@umich.edu>
Subject: thanks and ideas
I subscribed to CREA-CPS yesterday, just in time to read your
information about how to combine messages into a digest, which is so
much more efficient. Thanks.
In return, here are my off-the-top-of-my-head ideas about helping your
students acquire cognitive-thinking skills.
--You mention both critical and creative, which is ideal -- neither one
works nearly as well without the other.
--Although many consider it the antithesis of creativity, discipline, in
the best sense of the word, frees one up and is central to helping
your students hone their thinking skills. Teaching the value of
self-discipline would be an appropriate early lesson topic.
--Consider the importance of practice and example and conduct your class
as an apprenticeship.
o Rather than you always taking the role of instructor, have sessions
where the leader role passes from one class member to another
(including you when necessary to focus) depending on the direction
the discussion takes.
o Have various students assume the leadership responsibility for 15-30
minutes of a class period. Spend a class period giving them some tools
for preparing and set aside office hours to coach them or let them
go through a dry run.
I hope that you and the students enjoy the class.
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From: "Donald W. Cole" <aa563@CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU>
Subject: Re: Curriculum development ideas wanted (fwd)
Dear Walter,
In THE INTERNATIONAL REGISTRY OF O.D. PROFESSIONALS AND THE O.D.
HANDBOOK, we publish a statement developed for us by Ron Sullivan, RODP
and his committee on The Knowledge and Skill Necessary for Competence
in O.D. (300 pages, price $25). Pfeiffer & Company (Tel: 1-800-274-4434)
has just published their book PRACTICING O.D. on this subject (over
600 pages, price $49.95).
You might want to include some of this in your class.
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From: John W Boudreau <jwb6@cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: Summary-Curriculum development ideas wanted (long)
Dear Walter:
Thanks for posting the summary of replies to your HRNET question. I am
sure many HRNET'ers will use the information. Such summaries are a big
reason for the growth and vitality of HRNET.
I also know that preparing such summaries takes time, and I wanted to be
sure you got at least one note thanking you for your conscientiousness.
Cheers,
Professor John Boudreau, HRNET coordinator, jwb6@cornell.edu
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From: roussea@server.uwindsor.ca (Rousseau Paul)
Subject: Re: Curriculum development ideas wanted
[snip]
I had a chance to work with deBono a couple of weeks ago. I'll tell
you about it when we talk on the phone.
When and where (phone number) can I call you?
> BTW, some thoughts
> Mandate: Include thinking skills as one of the course outcomes
>
Yes, but I like integrating it with other content. You have to think
about something, unless you want to do a "thinking about thinking" course.
> Is combining both critical and creative into one coure too much ?
> Is it better to separate the two or teach in parallel ?
After a lot of experience with this I think that the both shoud be
taught at the same time. I like D.N. Perkins idea in his bood
"The Mind's Best Work" where he says that creative thinking and
critical thinking are really not that extraordinary.
I've just begun to talk to Kate Parr at the University of Windsor
about this. We meet over coffee on Tuesdays before my course ( I
teach one course in political science at the University) and
talk informally about thinking.
[snip]
I would like to develop some
skill-based material (now there a community college teacher talking :-) )
with her combining critical and creative thinking.
> One strategy (assuming that it's creativity only) that I'm looking at is:
> a total hands on course at the expense of not covering all the
> theory, history and various approaches.
I would not even consider history and theory in a course at a community
college. More to the point, I only theory to help the students build
a useful framework that will help them do a task.
>
> week 1-5 Basic Creative thinking skills and text book examples
> week 6- Invite business execs, entrepreneurs, NFP's to contribute
> issues, opportunities or problems which need a fresh approach
> Divide students into teams. Each team prepares a strategy to
> tackle the issue, (final version floated past instructor) and
> conducts an in-class idea generation session with the rest of
> the class.
Try inviting the execs for the first class. Then bring them back at the
end. Make sure that the student's get recognized for their effors (e.g.
some gift offered by the exexs as a token of appreciation>
> A final report with recommendations is presented to the guest client
>
> Marks are assigned by class peers on the presentation, the
> client and by the lecturer based on the report.
You may also want to contact Jeff deGraff in Ann Arbor for his ideas.
> >
-- Paul Rousseau University of Windsor "Whether you believe you can, Windsor, Ontario, Canada or whether you belive you can't, roussea@server.uwindsor.ca you're absolutely right" -H. Ford--------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Art Clarke <ACLARKE@flemingc.on.ca> Organization: Sir Sandford Fleming College Subject: Re: Curriculum development ideas LO3414
Good morning Walter: I read your request on the learning-org. list shortly after filing the posting below. It made be of help. The folks at the college can, if they haven't yet, provide you with the Ministry's generic skill outcomes regarding critical thinking skills. In the late'80's, there were several groups in Toronto - At Upper Canada College, or U. of T. schools - using De Bono's lateral thinking material. Regards, Art Date sent: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 04:00:50 -0400 Send reply to: "COMMCOLL - a discussion list for community and/or junior colleges." <COMMCOLL@UKCC.uky.edu> From: LitLucy@aol.com Subject: Re: Problem Solving Course To: Multiple recipients of list COMMCOLL <COMMCOLL@UKCC.uky.edu>
I have used Whimbey's Problem Solving and Thinking Skills I and II. I have also used John Chaffee's Critical Thinking Skills.
Lucy MacDonald Chemeketa Community College litlucy@aol.com
--Art Clarke E-Mail: aclarke@Flemingc.on.ca Sir Sandford Fleming College Phone: (705) 749-5530 Peterborough ON K9J 7B1 Fax: (705) 749-5540 AgCan Zone: 5b So many messages, so little time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The end....laterally