An Experiential Paradigm for Teaching Business Problem Solving

Authors

  • Bruce M. Saulnier

Abstract

Necessitated by pressures to maintain adequate freshman class sizes in light of declining demographics, business schools are admitting students less prepared than those a generation ago. Demands are placed on the faculty to educate the students not only in the functional disciplines, but also to address student developmental deficiencies. These deficiencies typically include both problem solving skills and effectiveness in working in groups. A cooperative work group experiential format to the introductory information systems course is proposed in which the computer is viewed as one of several components of a business information system. The system is applied to a fivestep problem-solving model. The model is then experienced by the students through the theme of career development in which the students focus on the issues of college selection, major selection, and career options upon graduation. Thus, the traditional systems development process is introduced through a problem-solving model and used as a basis for future classroom exercises. Employing this cooperative experiential approach the course addresses issues involving both (1) effectively working in groups, and (2) decision making in both individual and group settings. Simultaneously, the course covers the content requirements of the discipline. Since students are actively involved in the learning process and, in effect, teach each other, the emphasis of the course has shifted from a “teaching” environment to viewing the classroom as a learning” laboratory.

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Published

1995-03-06