Curriculum development ideas - Summary #3

Walter Derzko (wderzko@epas.utoronto.ca)
Sat, 28 Oct 1995 12:50:34 -0400 (EDT)


Installment # 3 on strategies to integrate thinking skills into the
business curriculum.

Walter Derzko
wderzko@epas.utoronto.ca

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From: Walter Derzko <wderzko@EPAS.UTORONTO.CA>
Subject: Concept Maps (was TEACHING-Methods for Assessing Large Classes)

> Thurs, 26 Oct 1995 15:12:44 BST
> Subject: TEACHING - Methods for Assessing Large Classes

Jonathan Freeman <MSMJF@razor.wbs.warwick.ac.uk> asks:

> Colleagues and I would like advice on methods of assessing large
> numbers of undergraduate students, (say 200 or more at one time). We
> are of course aware of the use of simple multiple-choice exams, which
> are efficient to administer.
>
> However, in their simple versions these tend only to assess
> superficial learning, rather than deep learning.

When you talk about deep learning, I'm assuming that you mean: " what
are the underlying concepts in this field, and how are they related.

Multiple-choice exams measure ideas and content rather then concepts.

Try looking at _learning how to learn_ Joseph Novak and Bob Gowan.
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-31926-9

They cover a technique called concept mapping.

After all, when you watch a student in a bus or in the library
reading a textbook with a highlighter pen - what are they doing ?
The are isolating or deconstructing all the higer order concepts
in that field of information.

What do teachers do ? They turn around and take them back down to a
lower level of abstraction and ask for ideas and content.

If you want to ensure ( notice I'm not using the word test) that a
student has a grasp of the big picture, and can transfer concepts
into the real world, ask them to draw a concept map of the area that
they just studied. It's looks easy, but it's quite challenging.

In Canada, a number of high school science teachers require students to
construct concept maps for each unit of study. No tests or exams

College and University courses should require that students use
concept mapping more often.

Text books should include concept maps at the end of each chapter.

A concept map for marketing that shows higher order marketing
concepts might look like:

from Page 170, Learning how to learn:

[ ] is a concept, usually drawn as a bubble,but hard to do in this case



                              [Marketing]
                                  |
                               is the
                                  |
                            [ production]
                              function

                                 / \
                         of adding   of adding
             [appeal]          /      \        [convenience]
                      \ [product    [service /
       [availability] - values]       values]
                      /      \        /      \
           [new use]          \      /         [desire]
                               \    /
                                 or
                                 |
                       [creation of utility]
                                 |
                               added to
                                 |
                        [raw materials] ---for which ----[profit]
                                 |         one makes
                                for
                                 |
                        [differentiation]

Wow ! that was hard to draw !

Now you try it. What are the key overriding broad concepts in your field?
What general concepts emerge from those general ones ? What ideas or
examples come out of those.

Concept maps have one other immediate advantage that any other linear
forms of notation don't have.

Concept maps form your baseline of information in a graphic form. Concept
relationships become immediate.

You can now do concept challenges and escapes ( ala de BONO ) on each bubble.

What do I take for granted about..... ? Can I challenge that concept or idea ?
Where does it get me thinking ? and all that other great lateral
thinking stuff....impossible with multiple choice exams.

Then your students can really get creative.

Walter Derzko
wderzko@epas.utoronto.ca

"You can't dig a different hole by digging the same one deeper"

Edward de Bono

> I am aware that
> Prof. Tulving in the Psychology department at the University of
> Toronto has done some innovative work in this area, having developed
> easily administered multiple choice and other exam questions which
> test deep learning.
>
> I also understand that a number of US schools have developed exam
> systems which are almost completely administered by computer e.g. the
> student completes the exam question on-line and the computer
> calculates the results almost immediately.

In theory, computer could grade concept maps for several elements
such as: relationships between concepts, hierachy of concepts,
examples of concepts (using concept lists by pick and drag all the
concepts that belong to this field), by using click and drag concept
symbols and touchscreens.

> We would be interested in learning of the experiences of any readers
> who have taught business courses dealing with large numbers of
> students, and have used efficient methods to assess learning at
> something more than a superficial level.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Jonathan
> Jonathan Freeman
> Marketing & Strategic Management Group
> Warwick Business School
> University of Warwick
> Coventry CV4 7AL
> England
> U.K. Tel: 01203-523915; Fax: 01203-524628
> International: Tel: +44-1203-523915; Fax: +44-1203-524628
>
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From: Vic Ward <vic.ward@METC.STATE.MN.US>
Subject: Summary2-curriculum development ideas wanted (long) -Reply

At Metro State we offer two capstone courses for the MMA and MBA
degree. I teach, if that is the proper term, one of the courses.
The purpose is to foster critical thinking in management.

Each student reads two books from our list which is divided into
subject headings. The student presents the book in the sense that
Mortimer Adler discusses in How to Read a Book. In addition, they
must relate the book to the subject heading and prepare a paper for
the other students.

The subject headings are:
Assumptions about human nature
Concept of culture
Organizations, their nature and purpose
Problem identification
Concepts of Quality
Strategy development

The books assigned vary but some of the core readings are The Prince,
Machiavelli; Toward A Psychology of Being, Mazlow; and Real Power,
Hagberg under the heading assumptions obout human nature. Other
books we require are Habits of the Heart, Bellah; The functions of an
Executive, Bernard; and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
If you are interested in other suggested readings I could send you a
syllabus.

For younger students I would suggest shorter readings or dividing up
the books if you think the idea is very important. I have even
allowed two students to report on the same book. Because of the
different viewpoint the book reports share little. It furnishes a
good illustration of the importance of critical viewpoint.

Last semester I team taught the course. On the last evening we
assigned an article critizing management education. The theme was
that management programs pander too much to the student's desire for
immediately applicable lessons. A valid criticism from a liberal
arts viewpoint.

The students had never thought about the issue. We played off each
other, and off the student's responses, much like tutors do at St.
John's College (Santa Fe or Anapolis). The students operated well
above where we started with them only 13 weeks before.

The still could not compare and constrast ideas from the books but
they were able to participate in a high level discussion. They used
material from the course as well as personal stories and thoughts.
Its an introduction in an otherwise traditional analytical, case book
dominated program.

peace
vic
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From: AIPTLF96@courrier.usherb.ca (Robert Lescarbeau)
Subject: curriculum development

Thanks for the summary about curriculum development in O.D. Your input is
very valuable. I will need days to integrate all this. You've done a
tremendous job.

Best regards.

Robert Lescarbeau
Universite de Sherbrooke
Departement de psychologie
Sherbrooke, J1K 2R1
Telephone : 819-821-7228
Telecopieur : 819-821-7238

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From: Walter Derzko <wderzko@epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Tetrads (was A Thought about Quotes)

Ken looks at the consequences of the motor car and notes:
==============
> It's a little like looking back today to see the motor car exhaust as a
> source of urban pollution. It's true in 1995, but in 1895 horse manure was
> a major source of urban pollution. Even more, the internal combustion
> engine made it possible for 90% of the human race to stop farming and take
> up different kinds of work. That led to the general rise in literacy and
> education as well as to unemployment. The same invention, therefore, is
> responsible for good and bad: depopulating the farms (bad) or freeing 90%
> of our people from the drudgery of agriculture (good), polluting the air
> (bad) or cleaning up the streets and reducing manure-borne disease (good),
> making it possible to achieve general literacy for the large population of
> the OECD nations and college education for many who would never have
> graduated 6th grade a centruy ago (good) and creating an overeducated
> population without enough jobs to go around (bad).
>
> There's a balance to these things.

[snip]
>
> Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor, Leadership and Strategic Design
> Norwegian School of Management
> Box 4676 Sofienberg
> N-0506 Oslo, Norway
>
> __o
> __ \ <._
> (_) / (_)

Jumping from Quotes to consequences:

Marshal McLuhan noticed the same thing 30 years ago and came up with
his Law of Tetrads.

Most creativity or problem solving methods simply ask:

What are the consequences of this idea ?.....too vague

de Bono suggests to do a PMI, Plus Minus or Interesting...better

McLuhan goes (went) a step further.....

McLuhan said that any new media ....or concept or invention (he called
everything a media...from a pen to religion) has four simultaneous
effects or consequences on culture.

Enhancement: What is extended, amplified or enhanced ?
Obsolescence: What is displaced or pushed aside ?
Retrieval: What (earlier displaced form) is retrieved or brought back?
Reversal: Over time what does it reverse or flip to ?

These four laws are appositionally related so they are often written
out as:

|
|
|
Enhancement | Reversal or Flip
___________________________
|
Retrieval | Obsolescence
|
|

and the effects are put in each box in point form.

or in short form it's mapped out as: E | F
--------
R | O

example: Tetrad for Money: (could be several)
==============================================

Enhancement: What is extended, amplified or enhanced ?
- speed of transaction, uniform pricing

Obsolescence: What is dispaced or pushed aside ?
- barter system, haggling

Retrieval: What (earlier displaced form) is retrieved or brought back?
- conspicuous consumption (potlatch...from the Canadian
West coast Indian tradition)

Reversal: Over time what does it reverse or flip to ?
- credit (lack of money)

Try it, works with everything.

Walter Derzko
wderzko@epas.utoronto.ca

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From: Peter Pflaum <pflaump@INTERNETMCI.COM>
Subject: Re: Curriculum development ideas wanted

Excellent idea - I was thinking if we could find some place that does
Hot-Java and have a creative reality center - I have been trying to set up
interactive groups and thought the network systems in windows 95 (WINS) with
peer to peer connections. T thought it would be a good idea. It has been too
diffucult and many people don't have the program or the hardware to support
it. Then GNA (Global Network Acadamy) has some work on MOO/MUD but I don't.
Now Suns Hot-Java with direct .exe files hopes to do motion, sound, and
could be interactive ? The program is a free down load - but pushes the edge
of my 486 (80) with 10 mb RAM. Maybe Sun and Netscape would help (us)explore
the creative edges of visual and interactive thinking (in work groups)

At 04:50 PM 10/26/95 -0400, Walter Derzko wrote:
>Charlie,
>
>Thanks for all your ideas.
>
>Maybe the next step might be to post sample lesson plans or concepts challenges
>and novel ideas on a creative solutions web site ?
>
>Keep in touch
>
>Walter Derzko
>wderzko@epas.utoronto.ca

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From: "Mark A. Thayer" <mathayer@cs.unm.edu>
Subject: Re: Curriculum development ideas LO3414

Walter:

On Thu, 26 Oct 1995, Walter Derzko wrote:

> Mark,
>
> Thanks for your reply. It looks like you've had some success as well.
>
Unfortunately, not as much as I'd like. Academe, at least here in the
States, is locked into the lecture model for higher education.
Colloborative approaches, which is the essence of the case study
approach, look too threatening (heaven forbid a student should come up
with a novel insight that the professor hadn't thought of -- and this
does happen), too much work (I'm here to do research, dammit!), and
teaching isn't going to be considered in the tenure decision.

Success, such as it is, has come by "sneaking" case
study/collaborative approaches into individual courses whenever
possible. The students love 'em (once they get over the shock) and
the faculty hates 'em...go figure.

> Maybe the next step might be to post sample lesson plans or concepts
> challenges and novel ideas on a creative solutions web site ?

Happy to -- merely point the way... ;-)

Good luck with your project -- let me know what you finally come up
with.

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: "Bob Bergman, HR L&D, ATL, 404-552-3481" <BOB_B3@sfov1.verifone.com>
Subject: Additional thoughts about management courses
To: Wderzko@epas.utoronto.ca

Walter, I've attached two ideas for your upcoming management and
organizational development courses. Let me know if you want more
details. I'm intrigued by this process of collaborative design.
In addition to a summary of design ideas, do you plan to send an
initial course design to this list?

Management
~~~~~~~~~~
I'd suggest the ISPI (formerly NSPI) framework of Performance
Technology as a model to drive the course. Modules would then
include: systems thinking, performance analysis, interventions
(tools, incentives, feedback, etc) evaluation of results. ISPI
has an introductory text; The Advantage Group has a game format
"Symphony" which may be applicable.

I've also applied this P T Model at the graduate level where I
was the manager seeking to improve the learning performance of
the MBA students. As I applied interventions such as: setting
expectations, providing feedback, employing learning tools, and
providing incentives, the students had an immediate experience
(two-fold) to transfer into their work worlds.

Organizational Development
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rather than looking at how organizations _have been organized_
let's look at how they _could be_ organized as we venture into
new work worlds. Use Handy's "Age of Paradox", Bridge's "Job
Shift", and/or Workforce 2000 as the texts. Then the students
have to develop (and defend) organizational structures that they
themselves will eventually be part of / or contracted to. Sort
of a SIM ORG.

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