Deck 1: On Being a Business Student

Question 1

How do you think learning in a tertiary institution is different from learning at school? Why do you think it is different?

Answer 1

At a tertiary institution, learning is the responsibility of the student, and teachers have little individual contact with students; at school, teachers get to know the students in their classes and often spend a great deal of time with them. At school, students can assume that if they fall behind in their learning the teacher will notice and actively seek to help and encourage a student to get him or her back on track. This is seldom true at a tertiary institution; a teacher will help if asked but otherwise is unlikely to do more than point out a need to improve performance.
The lesser degree of direct involvement at a tertiary institution is likely to arise for two main reasons: tertiary classes are often much larger than at schools and there are less contact hours. Moreover, while tertiary teachers are keen to see their students do well, they generally consider the tertiary environment as a situation where students learn not just specific course skills, but the transferable skills associated with independent learning.

Question 2

Look at the list of attitudes which are required of business students. Which attitudes do you already have? Which ones are more difficult for you? What might you do to develop those attitudes?

Answer 2

Responses to this are likely to vary greatly, but many will be associated with an all-too-common tendency among students (and teachers!), namely,
procrastination (ask for a show of hands from those who consider themselves procrastinators). This is a problem for a great many students and can lead to a litany of failures not just during tertiary study but throughout a subsequent career. The literature on procrastination is vast (possibly because writing about it is an excellent way of putting off more important things), but time spent discussing this problem is time well spent. Perhaps the most important point to stress is that even chronic procrastinators can improve their ability to work steadily.
Some suggestions:
-Encourage students to think of themselves not as procrastinators but as people who get things done. For example, suggest that when they notice themselves thinking 'I'm always procrastinating', they should replace this with a positive statement like, 'I'm getting better at getting things done'. However, for this to work, it must be at least a little believable, so some of the following need to be employed...
-Set small, easy daily goals. For example, aim to work on an assignment for ten
minutes a day. This won't be enough, but most days you'll work longer once you start. Procrastination is a consequence of not starting; an hour's work is daunting, ten minutes no big deal, so you're far more likely to start.
-Break the task into small chunks. Again, small tasks are less daunting and therefore less likely to be put off; being easily achieved, they reinforce the student's self-perception as someone who gets things done.
-If you're having trouble starting, spend time remembering how good you felt when you completed a task you'd been delaying.
-Use self-imposed rewards and punishments and make them contingent on meeting your study commitments. For example, make checking Facebook contingent on having completed your daily work on an assignment. This works best if you make yourself answerable to a friend. An extremely powerful (and potentially scary) approach suggested by psychologist and writing consultant Robert Boice uses punishment as an incentive: Give a sum of money to a trusted friend with instructions that if you fail to meet your commitment, your friend will donate the money to an organisation you despise (Boice, 1990).

Question 3

What are you hoping to achieve through studying?

Answer 3

Two vocationally-focused answers are likely to be common - to gain a qualification and to develop a skill set. For both, encourage the students to think about reasons for their responses, in particular, ask them to explain the long-term advantages. This discussion might focus not just on personal success but on their ability to participate in wider society, and in turn might lead to discussion about the advantages of understanding how our strongly business-focused economic, political, and social systems function. Whatever the direction of this discussion, try to get students thinking critically about their reasons for studying; this could potentially reinforce their commitment to their goals.

Question 4

How are summative and formative assessment different? Why might formative assessment be so important?