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On-Line Education – Our Future Or A Fad? A Short Case Study.
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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-In-Chief
Dr. David Smith
NABP EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. Nusrate Aziz - MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY, MALAYSIA

Dr. Andy Bertsch - MINOT STATE UNIVERSITY
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Dr. Robert Tian – SHANTOU UNIVERSITY, CHINA
Dr. Calin Valsan - BISHOP'S UNIVERSITY, CANADA
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Volume 18(4)
ISSN 2158-3595
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classification by all recognized business school accrediting bodies.
This Issue
Suggestions to Increase Course Evaluation Response Rates in Online Courses ................................. 10

Denise T. Ogden, James R. Ogden
Different delivery formats of education have increased rapidly over the past decade. With increases in
technology, many higher educational institutions have transitioned from traditional in-class evaluations
delivered in the classroom to the online delivery of course evaluations. While results are mixed on the
effectiveness of online evaluations, the online method of evaluating teaching effectiveness is here to stay.
This paper provides an overview of the conversion to online evaluations and suggestions to increase
response rates for online teacher evaluations.
On Line Education – Our Future or a Fad? A Short Case Study ........................................................ 16

Biff Baker
This case study examines the implementation of a multi-disciplinary course to prepare students for living
overseas. The same instructor taught this course to over 1000 students over a period of four years.
Teaching evaluations and written comments were used discovering that a traditional course was
preferred over an online course. Findings suggest that colleges carefully consider the target markets and
curriculum before deciding whether the curriculum should be Internet-based.
Mobile Learning Application to Facilitate Ubiquitous

Collaborative Learning: An Organizational Behavior Course ............................................................ 25
Amr Swid, Hui-Yin Hsu, Shiang-Kwei Wang
This paper proposed further development of a recently created mobile learning app as a platform to
facilitate graduate business major students’ interaction and collaborative learning. The objectives of this
app are 1) facilitate students’ learning through ubiquitous approach, 2) facilitate social interaction
among students and faculty, and 3) enhance learning motivation and develop cultural competence. The
paper discusses the needs of the app development, describes the implementation and goals to improve the
app design. Targeting students’ learning with an App across global campuses will advance the knowledge
in mobile learning in international organizational behavior course. This paper provides insights on the
prototype based on these discussions and the instructional needs.
Starting Early: The Impact of Experience Based Education

on Entrepreneurial Intentions of High School Students ....................................................................... 30
Rodney R. D’Souza, John E. Clarkin, Abdullah Al-Bahrani
We examine the education-entrepreneurial intentions relationship and the effects of experiential

entrepreneurship education. Relying on the theory of planned behavior and the theory of human
behavior, we develop and test hypotheses to enhance the knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship
education. This study discerns ways in which experiential education in entrepreneurship can positively
affect the attitudes and intentions of students, and to further the base of knowledge in the link between
education programs and intentions. Results suggest that problem based experiential learning does indeed
impact how students think about entrepreneurship as a career and their perceived level of control.
How Written and Oral Reflection in MBA Capstones Enhance
the Ability to Complete a Service-Learning Project .............................................................................. 43
Molly J. Wickam
This study investigated whether reflection enhances the employability skills of graduate business students
who participate in service-learning during a capstone course. Participants were recent MBA alumni from
three U.S.-based universities who participated in team-based, client-focused service-learning. Qualitative
data were analyzed through semi-structured interviews. Findings showed that written and oral reflection
improves the ability to accomplish a team-based client project. This is good news for the workplace
because business needs workers who can accomplish tasks, meet deadlines, and complete projects.
Higher business education must actively prepare students for this workplace need by intentionally
building reflective activities into service-learning projects.
Team Based Learning in Management Accounting: A Comprehensive

Guide to Flipping the Classroom ............................................................................................................. 55
Brittany Cord
This article identifies the essential elements and the advantages and disadvantages of Team Based
Learning and describes how they have been practically implemented in a managerial accounting course.
This article further makes a connection between Team Based Learning and a popular pedagogical
concept of Flipping the Classroom.
Graduate Student Perceptions and Experiences with Connectivity

in an Asynchronous, Online Distance Degree Program ........................................................................ 60
Katherine Terras, Patti Mahar, Kari Chiasson, Shawnda Schroeder, Mary Baker
A challenge within higher education is that student retention is lower in online programs than in
traditional programs partly due to a disconnection between students and the institution. An initial study
conducted by the authors of this study confirmed that students in an online program desired connectivity.
The research team sought participants from the original study to participate in a consensual qualitative
research study. Results indicated that students desired high connectivity with advisors, instructors, and
the program and some connectivity to their peers. The leading factor that contributed to their feelings of
connectedness was ongoing and timely communication.
Updating Graduate Business Curricula: Incorporating Experiential Learning ................................. 74

Harish C. Amar, Richard Johnson, Eric J. McLaughlin
Education for Responsible Future Leaders: International

Experience and Civic Engagement .......................................................................................................... 79
Ru-Shiun Liou, Agnes Tang, Brandon Griggs
Does international experience lead to more positive attitudes towards civic engagement among college
students? We utilized a two-pronged approach to examine the relationships between global education and
civic engagement. The results suggest that empathy and cultural intelligence enhance students’ civic
engagement, including community involvement and career aspirations to work for employers who
demonstrate corporate social responsibilities (CSR) in the local community. In addition, we found that
only when students develop more empathy and cultural intelligence, then they will have higher civic
engagement. These findings suggest the need to carefully designing a curriculum that translates students’
international experience into civic engagement.
Achieving Success or Avoiding Failure?
Motivational Orientations of Entrepreneurship Students .................................................................... 90
Ozlem Ogutveren Gonul, Barrie E. Litzky
Entrepreneurship education received renewed attention in the recent years due to the decline in
entrepreneurial activity in the U.S. In this paper, a supplement to entrepreneurship curriculum is
presented through the classification and study of entrepreneurship students’ motivational orientations.
The typology proposed by the authors will be helpful in understanding the students’ perceptions of
success and failure in relation to their level of intent to create a new venture and provide educators with
insight to develop more effective instructional content and methodologies to meet the needs of
entrepreneurship students.
Analyzing Course Grades in a Converged Classroom

Environment – A Follow-Up Study ....................................................................................................... 102
Robert S. Keyser
Two significant questions in evaluating student course grades in a converged classroom environment
include whether an empirical model can be developed to accurately predict students’ average course
grades and whether course grades differ between on-campus students vs. distance students. The purpose
of this study is to validate the results of a previous study with new data, including course grades for four
different industrial engineering technology courses taught by the same professor during one full
academic year. In sum, the reduced model (with new data) becomes the same two-factor main effects only
regression model that was developed in the initial study.
Developing a Department Profit Center while Enhancing the Student

Learning Experience: Building a Professional Sales Center .............................................................. 114
Mick Jackowski, Scott Sherwood, April Schofield
As an innovative means of creating greater impact on student learning while becoming more self-
sustaining, a university marketing department created a Center for Professional Selling. Corporate
partners paid the Center for the ability to recruit students taking sales courses. In addition to providing
the potential for students to land high-paying entry level positions, partners also shared their own
experience and expertise with students during scheduled class visits and other events. Students
participated in experiential learning activities that increased their marketability and led directly to
employment for many.
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Suggestions to Increase Course Evaluation Response Rates in Online Courses
Denise T. Ogden
Penn State University - Lehigh Valley
James R. Ogden
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Different delivery formats of education have increased rapidly over the past decade. With increases in
technology, many higher educational institutions have transitioned from traditional in-class evaluations
delivered in the classroom to the online delivery of course evaluations. While results are mixed on the
effectiveness of online evaluations, the online method of evaluating teaching effectiveness is here to stay.
This paper provides an overview of the conversion to online evaluations and suggestions to increase
response rates for online teacher evaluations.
INTRODUCTION
Student rating instruments have a variety of names including teaching evaluations, course
evaluations, students’ evaluations of teaching (SETs) and student ratings of instruction (SRIs) (Linse,
2017). Student evaluation of instruction is a key factor in determining instructor effectiveness (Kozub,
2010) and is often used to determine promotion and tenure decisions. In addition, these evaluations are
useful in strategic planning and curriculum improvement (Liu, 2012) and have become an important
indicator of university quality of educational services (Estelami, 2015). Past research indicates that
student ratings can be valid indicators of teaching effectiveness and are congruent with evaluations
gathered through other means such as peer evaluations (Marsh and Roche, 1997; Renaud and Murray,
2005).
With online learning formats, students have more choices available to complete an education. As with
any new pedagogical method, terminology for online instruction is evolving. These terms include some of
the following: distance learning, hybrid courses, accelerated courses, blended courses, web-enhanced,
teleweb and multi-modal learning (Gilroy, 2008). In a 2008 report on online education (Allen and
Seaman), the following definitions are used (p. 4):
 Traditional course – A course where no online technology is used.
 Web facilitated – A course that uses web-based technology to facilitate what is
essentially a face-to-face course. May use a course management system or web pages
to post the syllabus and assignments (1 to 29% of content delivered online).
 Blended/hybrid – A course that blends online and face-to-face delivery. A
substantial proportion of the content is delivered online, typically uses online
10 Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice Vol. 18(4) 2018

discussions and typically has a reduced number of face-to-face interactions (30 –
79% of content delivered online).
 Online – A course where most or all of the content is delivered online. Typically
have no face-to-face meetings (80+% of content delivered online).
As the use of technology increases, the traditional methods of taking advantage of a captive audience
in a classroom setting to administer teaching evaluations has shifted to an online system where students
can complete the evaluation on their own time. The main advantages to the change are faster feedback to
the instructor and cost savings. Unfortunately, with the switch to online evaluations, response rates
plummeted. In the online world students must make a special effort to complete evaluations (Benton,
2008) and often do not complete evaluations for all classes. Non-response bias is a concern (Adams and
Umbach, 2012; Wolbring and Treischt, 2016). While results are mixed on the effectiveness of online
evaluations; it is clear that the online method of instructor evaluation is here to stay. This paper provides
an overview of the conversion to online evaluations and suggestions to increase response rates for online
teacher evaluations.
FACULTY CONCERNS
After implementation of an online system for instructor evaluations, many administrators discovered
that their enthusiasm for online delivery was not shared by many faculty or students (Burton, Civitano
and Steiner-Grossman, 2012). Faculty concerns are related to the quality of data to accurately evaluate
teaching, low response rates, the ability of students who did not attend class to complete the online
evaluations, the inability to determine if the intended student completed the evaluation and an overall
mistrust of the system. Student enthusiasm is gauged by the completion of the evaluations online. The
response rate has, in general, declined significantly with the transition to online evaluations.
At an East Coast university, professors expressed concern over the transition to online evaluations.
The following comments summarize the concerns (edited for brevity):
“I have already lost the opportunity to have evaluations for one of the best classes I ever
taught. The online evaluation was activated the week before the end of class with the
deadline at midnight of the last class. Only one person completed the evaluation. The
inflexibility in the implementation of our online system has deprived my promotion file
of a great course.”
“Response rates are low for most of us on campus, around 30%. Even faculty teaching in
computer labs report low response rates.”
“I was very busy and forgot to remind students to fill out the course evaluation. Only two
out of 50 students completed the evaluation. Because only two competed the evaluation,
they will not be used for my tenure and promotion file. I am placed in a position where I
have to plead with students to fill out the online course evaluation.”
Much of the concern from faculty is due to the perception that there is a difference between
traditional and online ratings of teaching effectiveness. Research has shown minimal or no differences
between the two modes (Dommeyer et al., 2004; Heath et al., 2007; Smither et al., 2004; Thorpe, 2002).
Some research has shown more favorable ratings in the online mode when compared to the traditional
paper-and-pencil method (Burton et al., 2012; Carini et al., 2003; Tomsic et al., 2000). Linse (2016)
states that student ratings are student perception data. These rating are only one factor in faculty
evaluations and are not measures of student learning. Despite calls for administrators not to place such
heavy weight on students’ evaluations of teaching, the use of these instruments often determines, to a
great extent, whether or not faculty are granted promotion, recognition and/or tenure.
ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE RATES
There is not a definite answer to what is an acceptable minimum response rate for students’
evaluations of teaching. According to research by Leamon and Fields (2005), reliability of students’
Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice Vol. 18(4) 2018 11

evaluations of teaching increased with the number of students completing the survey. Gerbase, Germond,
Cerutti, Vu, and Baroffio (2015) compared paper and online evaluation of teaching to determine the
minimum response rate needed to maintain precision in the online format. They concluded that a 50%
response rate is needed. Their study indicated a larger variance in student responses in the online method,
which raises instability and may affect the precision of the measure.
According to Nulty (2008), much depends on what is being done with the data. If the responses are
used to increase teaching effectiveness then any number of responses will suffice. If, however, the
evaluations are used for promotion and tenure decisions then a high response rate is preferred (over 70%)
to improve reliability and validity of online evaluations.
ADMINISTERING STUDENT EVALUATIONS
Sell (1988) suggests the following guidelines for administering student evaluation questionnaires to
improve reliability and validity of results. Although these guidelines were written before the online mode
of delivery became accepted, many are still valid:
 Format should be clear and consistent
 Students should remain anonymous
 Students should be given adequate time to complete the questionnaire
 Students should not be allowed to discuss their ratings while they are being administered
 Questionnaires should be administered during the last 4 weeks of a semester (but not the last
day and not during or after an exam)
 Someone other than the one being evaluated should administer the questionnaire, or at the
very least, the one being evaluated should leave the room
 A student should collect the questionnaires and deliver them to an independent office for
scoring
 80% minimum attendance of the student population in a course is necessary on the day an
evaluation is administered
 Do not use a numeric questionnaire in courses with fewer than 10 students (use open-ended,
written response items instead.)
Online course evaluations violate several of these guidelines. Students may discuss the questionnaire
while they are taking it because a fellow student may be seated next to the student on a different
computer. In addition, after a student has completed an evaluation, he/she may speak to other students to
influence how they fill out the evaluation. While the faculty member does not administer the
questionnaire in an online environment, the faculty member is responsible for increasing the response
rate. The response rate is not dependent on how many students are present on a given day in an online
class. This has both positive and negative repercussions. The positive aspect is that students have a
longer period to complete the evaluations, thus potentially increasing the response rate. The negative
aspect is that unless students complete the evaluation immediately after being prompted they will often
forget. This situation places the instructor in the position of having to send out several reminders
throughout the period the evaluation is active.
SUGGESTIONS
The reality is many universities have invested money in an online evaluation system to assess
teaching effectiveness and will not revert back to paper methods. The focus should be on ensuring
validity and reliability while increasing response rates. If there is no difference between paper based and
online evaluations of effectiveness, faculty need to be convinced of this. A series of studies carried out at
Brigham Young University during a three-year period from 1997 to 2000, showed an increase in response
rates for students' online evaluations of teaching, from an initial rate of 40% to 62% in 2000. The factors
below may result in an increase in response rates for student online teaching evaluations (Johnson, 2003):

 Student access to computers
 Amount and quality of communication to teachers and students regarding the online rating
system
 Communication to students regarding how student ratings are used
 Faculty and student support of the online rating system
Despite the decrease in response rates across the board, some faculty members are still able to achieve
impressive response rates in the online world. The following are ideas from faculty with a 70% or greater
response rate and at least 30 students in their classes (Faculty Strategies, 2012).
 Mention improvements made to the course in response to past evaluations
 Guide students about how to write helpful feedback
 Build rapport with students throughout the semester
 Create a culture of feedback in the course
 Reserve a room and a block of time when students can complete the course evaluations
 Provide reminders when the evaluations are active
 Make clear that you value student feedback
According to Nulty, instructors can increase the response rate in online evaluations if they follow the
guidelines below. Those who use more of the approaches will achieve higher response rates (Nulty, 208
p. 305).
 Provide a demonstration of how to submit an online response in order to reduce any
computer-related questions.
 Push the survey. Make it easy for students to access the survey by providing the survey URL
in an email sent to them.
 Remind students of the deadline date of the evaluation and the importance of results after
each class. Professors can also have the survey web site programmed to automatically email
reminder notices to survey non-respondents on a regular basis.
 Extend the duration of a survey’s availability since there is a higher chance that students will
respond.
 Explain in the course syllabus the importance of student input for course improvement and
that their evaluations are taken seriously and do effect change.
 Provide in-class time for students to fill out the online form using their laptops.
 Reinforce the message that instructors will not have access to individual student. Evaluations,
but would be given summary reports only after the course grades are submitted.
 Persuade students that their response will be used. Students should believe that a professor
will take their feedback seriously and specific actions will be taken to solve the issues raised.
 Help students understand how to give constructive criticism, which will help convince them
that their comments will be heard.
 Create surveys that seek constructive criticism, so students feel engaged with the questions.
 Involve students in the choice of optional questions to make the survey more interesting for
students and support the efforts of persuading students that their responses will be used.
 Keep questionnaires brief to increase the likelihood that students will complete a survey.
 Direct students to a computer laboratory where they could submit their evaluations.
STRATEGIES TO AVOID
In most cases, incentives provided by faculty are discouraged because it may be interpreted as bribery
or another form of pressure. Therefore, making participation a course requirement, offering extra credit
for participation or mentioning importance in faculty salary, promotion, or tenure decisions are
discouraged. In the online course evaluation world, it appears faculty must become involved in emailing,
encouraging, begging, reserving a computer room, etc. Many faculty offer extra credit points or other

forms of frowned-upon incentives to increase response rates. While faculty won’t publicly admit to
offering incentives, the pressure to provide data for tenure and promotion is strong, and on many
campuses, there are not policing systems in place to monitor these practices.
Faculty members wishing to increase the evaluation response rates are creative. For example, a
faculty member offers an extra credit assignment if the class reaches a pre-determined percentage target
of evaluation completeness. Once the class reaches the desired response rate, then an extra credit quiz or
assignment will be offered to everyone. This practice protects student anonymity and doesn’t directly give
extra credit for completing the evaluation.
CONCLUSION
Despite research indicating there are no differences in ratings between traditional and online modes of
evaluation, faculty still have significant concerns about lower response rates and the perception of the
impact of lower response rates on overall faculty teaching effectiveness ratings. Faculty are also
concerned about the validity and reliability of online evaluations, both with respect to non-response bias
and whether responses genuinely reflect the views of students who are in good standing. In the paper-
based delivery of course evaluations, faculty participation and stress was minimal (bring the evaluations
to class and have a student administer it). There was a captive audience so faculty did not have to worry
about low response rates. Since students who stopped attending classes, were, in most cases, not present
when the paper versions were administered, there was not the potential for those students to fill out the
evaluations as there is in the online format.
Even if most students not attending class do not fill out the online evaluation, the perception that
these students are rating the professor low in all categories exists. For students, instead of the evaluation
process being part of the regular class time, the student now must be proactive to fill out the online
evaluation for numerous classes. In the paper format, participation from one student in evaluations for
numerous classes was only dependent on the student being present in class on the day of administration.
Now a student can choose which classes to complete an evaluation; A student taking numerous classes
may not fill them out for all classes. Students can discuss their evaluations with other students prior to
filling out the evaluation and may expect and ask for an incentive to complete the survey.
Regardless of these concerns, instructor evaluations in an online format have become an accepted
administrative practice. It is recommended that university-wide incentives be developed to take the onus
away from faculty. Decisions that impact promotion and tenure must be multi-faceted and based on more
that faculty ratings (Benton and Cashin, 2011). It is also recognized that faculty need to be involved in
increasing response rates because it may impact their careers. Those faculty members who are more
proactive receive higher response rates compared to those that do nothing to encourage student
participation in online evaluations of teaching effectiveness.
REFERENCES
Adams, M. J. D., & Umbach, P.D. (2012). Nonresponse and online student evaluations of teaching:
Understanding the influence of salience, fatigue, and academic environments. Research in Higher
Education, 53(5), 576-591.
Benton, T. (2008). Do students’ online ratings of courses ‘suck’ (or ‘rock’)? The Chronicle of Higher
Education [online]. http://chronicle.com/article/Do-Students-Online-Ratings/45832
Benton, S. L., & Cashin, W. E. (2011). Student ratings of teaching: A summary of research and literature.
Kansas State University: Center for faculty education and development. Retrieved from
https://www.ideaedu.org/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/IDEA%20Papers/
IDEA%20Papers/PaperIDEA_50.pdf
Burton, W. B., Civitano, A., & Steiner-Grossman, P. (2012). Online versus paper evaluations: Differences
in both quantitative and qualitative data. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 24(1), 58-
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Carini, R. M., Hayek, J. C., Kuh, G. D., Kennedy, J. M., & Ouimet, J. A. (2003). College student
responses to web and paper surveys: Does mode matter? Research in Higher Education, 44(1), 1-
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Dommeyer, C. J., Baum, P., Hanna, R. W., & Chapman, K. S. (2004). Gathering faculty teaching
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On Line Education – Our Future or a Fad? A Short Case Study
Biff Baker
This case study examines the implementation of a multi-disciplinary course to prepare students for living
overseas. The same instructor taught this course to over 1000 students over a period of four years.
Teaching evaluations and written comments were used discovering that a traditional course was
preferred over an online course. Findings suggest that colleges carefully consider the target markets and
curriculum before deciding whether the curriculum should be Internet-based.
INTRODUCTION
Several years ago, I was preparing to teach an on-line lecture on management and heard a
conversation among several lecturers that led to a lively exchange of ideas about on-line education in
general and more specifically the value, or lack thereof, in on-line business education. There were a few
disparaging comments about business administration students who earn 100% on-line degrees within 12
to 18 months. In addition, one lecturer humorously postulated a theory whereby George Orwell’s Big
Brother would replace all face-to-face instruction with a talking head emanating from Washington, D.C.
Several lecturers replied that Washington D.C. could never accomplish such an objective since apparently
no one in the nation’s capital knows anything about balance sheets, income statements, or a balanced
budget. Predictably, everyone laughed at the Federal Government’s lack of business acumen!
As lunch progressed, the group discussed with a genuine level of concern that on-line management
and business education might be producing a generation of graduates who knew how to read slides, look
up references and take multiple choice quizzes resulting in graduates who never progress beyond the
knowledge-level of Bloom’s taxonomy. Yet the success of businesses depends on graduates who can
comprehend, apply and analyze based upon changing situations in a complex work place. The consensus
opinion was that business schools should provide the customer with what they want, despite of our own
concerns or possible prejudices about the efficacy of on-line education. This discussion, as well as my on-
line teaching experience, prompted this case study which simply asks, “What does the customer want?”
This longitudinal case study is merely one point in the development on on-line teaching theory.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Prior to commercial development of the internet, traditional correspondence schools were once the
only alternative for students who could not travel to a campus (Gunasekaran et.al., 2002). Today,
Computer-Based Training (CBT), Online Learning Systems (OLS), and Web-Based Education (WBE)
are all variations of asynchronous training that are supported by information and communications

technologies (Hernandez, et.al., 2010). Asynchronous education and training advocates define e-Learning
wherein instructional content is delivered through use of computer networked technology, primarily over
an intranet or internet system, where and when required (Zhang, et.al., 2003; Zhang, et.al, 2004; Welsh
et.al., 2003; Bondarouk, et.al., 2010). Many students have heard and sometimes hum the marketing jingle
from National American University’s radio and television ads that emphasize anyplace, any time: “One
day, one night, Saturday’s all right, On-line is just fine, night time, anytime, Get your degree, set yourself
free!”
One can easily understand the need for flexible space and time. But, what else are practitioners
seeking from business or management educators? Bates (1997), Alexander (2001), Bondarouk, et.al.
(2010) and Gunasekaran et.al. (2002) reported that e-Learning is pursued to improve the quality of
learning, improve access to training, reduce training costs, and improve the cost effectiveness of training.
The e-Learning market covers the academic, corporate and consumer fields (Gunasekaran et.al., 2002);
and each of these entities may have different goals: academic goal may be increasing knowledge or
learning more; a corporate goal may be an employee that can perform better; and the consumer field may
only aim for an informed shopper. All three segments may only use students’ enjoyment as an indicator of
success (Alexander, 2001).
In concert with these goals, competition among business schools for higher enrollment has by default
focused upon student satisfaction (Overbaugh & Lin, 2006). So, at this point a researcher must ask, “Are
our students the product, or are they the customer?” One can easily deduce: both! If a corporation sends
managers to business school, the corporation could be envisioned as the customer, wherein the student
may be envisioned as the end-product. In either instance, student satisfaction is a critical success factor.
Hence, this longitudinal case study is primarily focused upon student satisfaction.
STUDENT SATISFACTION
Alexander and McKenzie (1998) conducted a comprehensive two-year study in Australia that aimed
to determine the outcomes of 104 E-Learning projects. They determined that the use of information
technology does not of itself improve learning! Instead, a range of issues contributed to success or lack
thereof. Alexander (2001) reported on common factors as significant determinants of student satisfaction:
‐ Students rate communication and support from faculty and other students as having the major
influence and more specifically, prompt and informative feedback on their work as well as
clarity of faculty expectations.
‐ Time or lack thereof available to devote to the course
‐ Communication technology and technical support
Alexander also reported that in the evaluation of teacher’s strategies, 43% of E-Learning projects
were based on collections of multiple media or of information; and that most projects have not been
successful. And while there were some projects that were somewhat successful, “some of the projects
failed to deliver an outcome at all, while others failed to achieve any evidence of learning outcomes”
(Alexander, 2001, p.247).
Hernandez, Gorjup, and Cascon (2010) highlighted the importance of an instructor’s role in
improving the students’ learning experience. They found benefits in face-to-face contact due to higher
communication potential of body language, the opportunity to pick up on other people’s feelings and
higher degree of control exerted by the instructor. Although lower rated, the efforts of an instructor were
also appreciated by on-line groups. Bondarouk and Ruel (2010) determined that learners who receive face
to face instruction see the instructor’s role as more relevant than did on-line learners.
Mintu-Wimsatt, Ingram, Milward, & Russ (2006) provided empirical evidence that learning
environments impact student perceptions of their instructor; instructors are rated more favorably in a face-
to-face classroom setting. Chia-Wen Tsai (2010) identified that e-Learning is a solitary process without
on-the-spot assistance, and recommended appropriate channels to interact with students learning, and
correct students’ learning behaviors. Hsiu-Fen Lin (2007) conducted research on system quality,

information quality, and service quality related to online learning systems (OLS); student satisfaction
levels were enhanced by prompt and complete responsiveness to requests.
Hwang and Francesco (2010) explored the potential influence of collectivism and power distance on
use of feedback channels in a blended environment. They determined that students have been shown to
enjoy the richness of the face-to-face environment compared to the online environment; however, the
advantages of a virtual medium have also been well documented. Overbaugh and Shin Yi Lin (2006)
approached customer (student) satisfaction by conducting a type of audience analysis. They looked at the
learning orientation of students for transforming, performing, conforming, and resistant learners:
‐ Transforming learners were motivated, passionate and committed.
‐ Performing learners were self-motivated in situations that interest them.
‐ Conforming learners accept, store and reproduce knowledge.
‐ Resistant learners do not believe academics will help achieve personal goals
Overbaugh and Shin Yi Lin (2006) determined that students’ learning orientation quotient and
determined students do indeed change in reaction to online/hybrid/in-class learning situations (some up
and others down). They determined nearly equivalent instruction can be achieved (face-to face or online);
however, the web-based sections take far more time. Aggarwal, Adlakha & Mersha (2006) also cited
increased workload involved in teaching on the web and potentially higher costs based upon smaller class
sizes compared to face-to-face instruction. They stated that it is well known that teaching online is a more
labor-intensive process.
Yourstone, Kraye, & Albaum, (2010) conducted research for online quantitative-based assignments;
they determined that students who were given two attempts to do assignments outperformed those who
had four attempts. Hence, they recommended use on online grading systems with no more than two
attempts at each quantitative-based assignment. Hamon and Lambrinos (2008) looked at cheating online.
They determined that there is a higher potential for cheating online than in face-to-face courses that were
proctored.
A SHORT CASE STUDY
This case study focused on participants from a Community College that caters to military members
(the school and professor in this study have asked to remain anonymous). The course was designed to
prepare Department of Defense (DOD) civilians and military members for overseas assignments. It is a
multidisciplinary course that focused upon International Business, Business Communication,
Organizational Behavior, Organizational Effectiveness, Negotiations, Intercultural Competencies, as well
as Comparative Religion to increase student proficiency in working with host-populations overseas.
The course was taught for 36 hours for one work-week primarily to members of the DOD, who were
deploying to an overseas location. All classes were taught in a traditional face-to-face environment; then
after each lecture, key learning objectives were reinforced using practical exercises. The capstone event
included a meal with foreign nationals and adaptation to cultural norms of an overseas location. When the
course was taught to senior officials (such as general officers), participants from foreign nations would
have lunch with the students, so that the generals could practice their new skill set. When taught to other
airmen, soldiers, sailors and marines the school faculty was used as role players in an overseas context.
To enhance the feeling of being in an unfamiliar culture, all students received rice dishes for lunch and
were required to eat while sitting on the floor and using their hands, without utensils, while interacting
with the other role players. Student satisfaction was extremely high as shown in the chart below!
Total of 1192 students were taught by the same instructor with data collected over a period of four
years. All students had previous experience with Computer-Based Training (CBT), Online Learning
Systems (OLS), and Web-Based Education (WBE). In addition, half of all students had previously been
deployed to overseas locations. At the end of the instruction, course evaluations were solicited from
students using a standard format. The following data was compiled from the course critiques which used a
5-point Likert scale.

TABLE 1
END OF COURSE STUDENT FEEDBACK
Survey Questions Agree

The content of this course was what I expected or better 99%
The course was well organized and presented 100%
The objectives as indicated on the syllabus were covered adequately 100%
The length of this course was appropriate 95%
Information provided should prove useful to me in my job 100%
I would recommend this course to others 100%
I would take this course as Computer Based Training (CBT) On-line 1.5%
The instructor added the last question: “Should this course be taught as Computer Based Training on-
line?” Surveys revealed that only 16 students agreed, with 98.6% of the 1192 respondents saying the
course should never be considered for online instruction. Several representative students’ quotes follow so
that the reader can better understand the student perspectives:
A senior government executive wrote: “Outstanding course! Every person involved in Building
Partnerships and representing the US Government in the international arena should be required to take
this course. This is not a course that would lend itself to computer-based training (CBT). The class
interaction and case study exercises were invaluable. The professor is an encyclopedia of information in
this arena!! He combines both book knowledge & experience to perfectly present the material. His ability
to adapt to his audience reflects his flexibility & keen insights to education and mission adaptability. This
course is one of the best uses of time and resources directly related to the Building Partnerships mission
that I have seen in my 36 years of government service (military and civilian).”
“I would have to say that the instructor and his personal knowledge of other cultures greatly
enhanced the learning atmosphere. In addition, with the inclusion of the practical exercises this course
was an amazingly informative experience that I could not have received by taking a CBT.”
“Enjoyed course very much. Personal experience of the professor and his ability to draw other class
members to share their experience was important – practical versus textbook. Class results could not be
duplicated in a CBT – keep as a live class.”
“The course was very valuable to me as I am on as an Iraqi program (manager). Doing the scenarios
in class with the interaction of others acting as other culture was very beneficial. I am glad this class was
taught with an instructor as opposed to CBT training (that I) received in the past through the military
when I was active duty!!”
“Outstanding course! Every person involved in Building Partnerships and representing the US
Government in the international arena should be required to take this course. This is not a course that
would lend itself to CBT. The class interaction and case study exercises were invaluable.”
“This was a very useful and informational class. Also, I’m happy that this class was instructor based,
and not computer based.”
“Everything was awesome – could not turn this into CBT. You can’t do hands-on stuff on the
computer.”
“I enjoyed this class – Don’t turn it in to CBT! (It) would lose course value!”
“The interaction between the presenter and the class is essential to the learning environment of the
course. Please do not make this a CBT.”
“I really enjoyed observing the interaction (practical exercises) with other students. CBT would not
give this same experience. The videos and YouTube clips ‘speak a thousand words’ … those are excellent
ways to put the message across.”
“This has been one of the best courses I have ever taken! This class is not only inspiring ... inspiring
in the sense that our younger generation has the chance to take this class. I am grateful to be able to take
this class as an Airman. I feel that they chose the greatest Professor for this because he has experience:

not just the “brains.” This made me want to listen to (the professor), because he actually served in our
military. I have been in many different classes that teach military “stuff” but they didn’t have first-hand
experience and they just taught from what they have read or studied. I have deployed but it was a very
simple deployment to Qatar and I didn’t get any culture training; and now looking back I wished I could
have taken this course. This course isn’t something you can learn from a computer-based training (CBT).
This training is something that they should really focus upon and have more Professors like this. Thank
you!”
None of the 16 students who indicated in the survey that they would like to take an online version of
the course provided any narrative comments.
DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
Based upon the student feedback forms and the student comments above, the course, which focused
upon the impact of political, social and economic systems upon one’s values and beliefs was a real
success (Figure 1).
FIGURE 1
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND CULTURE
Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act model (PDCA) is a continuous improvement model that teaches that
organizations should plan an action, do it, check to see how it conforms to plan and expectations, and act
on what has been learned (Baker, 2004; Scherkenbach, 1986). Empirical analysis also determined that
customer satisfaction should drive the effort to improve quality (Shetty, 1993; Baker, 2004); and
organizations with a quality management focus seek to shift power from the producer to the customer,
who in this case study is the student (Scarbrough, 1998). Per Deming’s PDCA Model (Figure 2), student
feedback was the mechanism used to inform the school administration of students’ satisfaction with the
course; and included the desire to maintain the course in a traditional setting. However, the student
feedback was largely ignored by the school administrators, who pushed forward with new government
contract for an online course. Ironically, they also placed the course design in the hands of a field-grade
officer who had almost no time posted overseas, and therefore could not understand the nuances needed
in international collaboration.

FIGURE 2
DEMING’S PLAN, DO, CHECK, ACT MODEL
Customer (or student) satisfaction is the goal (Anderson et.al., 1994; Black et.al., 1996; Forza et.al.,
1998; Rungthusanatham et.al., 1998; Terziovski et.al., 1999; Dayton, 2001); and use of customer surveys
and feedback process, as well as the tracking of other key measures to assess customer satisfaction
(Thiagarajan et.al., 1998) is essential, because customer surveys and continuous improvement concepts
have a significant effect on organizational performance (Terziovski, Sohal and Moss, 1999). This includes
the comprehensive identification of customers and customer needs and alignment of processes to satisfy
these needs (Thiagarajan et.al., 1998; Baker, 2004).
Although 98.6% of the 1192 students wanted to retain this multi-disciplinary course in a traditional,
face-to-face format, the Dean of this school initiated a government contract to create an online version of
the program of instruction. The Dean’s rationale was that the school could reach more students without
regard to place and time. However, from the students’ perspective, the allure of the course was a face-to-
face format that provided a practical exercise during every 2 to 4 hours of instruction. This is an
international cultural experience that cannot be duplicated on-line.
CONCLUSION: IS E-LEARNING A FAD?
Management fads, or transitory collective beliefs are criticized because of a lack of empirical data to
support the claims of improved productivity (Abrahamson, 1996; Gibson et.al., 2001; Miller and
Hartwick, 2002; Wartenberg, 1996). Does the on-line approach to education have a track record for
performance and measurable outcomes comparable to the traditional face-to-face setting? The answer is
not empirically conclusive, thereby categorizing on-line learning as a fad. Unfortunately, many colleges’
organizational structures for online education have not necessarily supported and promoted their learning
outcomes (Gayton, 2009). After a decade of e-Learning implementation, higher education has not
thoroughly investigated and empirically proven the efficacy of on-line instruction. Despite many
empirical studies on E-Learning praxis and theory, much of the published research does not answer the
most basic questions of the students themselves!
It has been 20 years since completion of the monumental study by Alexander and McKenzie (1998)
in Australia, and today technology is used even more widely. So, future research should continue to focus
on empirical data to validate the efficacy of E-Learning. Intuitively, different disciplines and different
courses may have different results. The major limitation of this case study is the focus upon a single-

course, single-instructor, and single-college findings. Therefore, a meta-analysis of multiple universities’
on-line programs is essential to enhance on-line management education theory development.
Finally, as unpopular as it may seem in today’s cost-conscious learning environment, researchers
should not only ask “How to improve e-Learning?” but based upon the type of course or topic, we must
also ask our students and other stakeholders, “Should we be doing e-Learning at all?”
IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION THEORY AND PRACTICE
In the past 20-years, practitioners and educators have moved forward with e-Learning for both
training and educational goals. However, e-Learning theory has lagged praxis. The first question that
should be resolved jointly by academics and practitioners is whether success can be measured by student
satisfaction alone, or whether different measures should exist. After attending a course, most colleges and
many private training providers will ask students to fill out a survey and student satisfaction with the
course is the measure of success. Yet, other measures may be more relevant, for example, a student who
has attended a university for four years with a business degree focused upon project management, quality
management, human resources management, or accounting should be able to pass the applicable
certification exam(s). Empirical data on the number of students passing a certification exam would be a
more significant measure of success than student surveys. Future researchers must compare students that
attend hybrid, blended, or on-line education for efficacy, using traditional face-to-face education as the
control group.
The difficulty of shifting from ‘success as defined by student surveys’ to success as defined by former
student performance is finding graduates who would be willing to do surveys and self-report before
training or education, after training or education was completed, and then after a year (or more) on the
job. If a corporation is funding the student tuition then this may have potential; however, once students
leave a university, self-reporting is less likely. A meta-analysis of multiple empirical studies would be
needed to unify e-Learning theory and close the current rift between advocates and skeptics. This study
used student satisfaction surveys to investigate different perspectives to on-line education and training –
the students preferred the in-class instruction and practical exercises over e-Learning. However, the true
measure of the course is not scoring 95 to 100% in student satisfaction; it is instead based upon how each
student succeeds in their interactions with host nationals at a foreign destination. Although students were
predominantly military or other government employees in this study, the same concepts and subsequent
measures would apply to ex patriot employees of multi-national corporations.

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Mobile Learning Application to Facilitate Ubiquitous Collaborative Learning:
An Organizational Behavior Course
Amr Swid
New York Institute of Technology
Hui-Yin Hsu
Shiang-Kwei Wang
This paper proposed further development of a recently created mobile learning app as a platform to
facilitate graduate business major students’ interaction and collaborative learning. The objectives of this
app are 1) facilitate students’ learning through ubiquitous approach, 2) facilitate social interaction
among students and faculty, and 3) enhance learning motivation and develop cultural competence. The
paper discusses the needs of the app development, describes the implementation and goals to improve the
app design. Targeting students’ learning with an App across global campuses will advance the knowledge
in mobile learning in international organizational behavior course. This paper provides insights on the
prototype based on these discussions and the instructional needs.
INTRODUCTION
Educators advocating the use of technology, especially mobile learning, articulate that digital natives
who were born in the 21st century have grown up in the technology-saturated environment. Moreover,
they are used to social interaction through mobile devices (Aadone, Dron & Pemberton, 2009; Tpscott,
2009, Duncan, 2013; Elmelegy & Swid, 2013).
There are increasing college courses being offered through a learning management system (LMS),
e.g., Edmodo, SuccessFactors, cornerstone, Moodle, and Blackboard. To respond to the learning interests
of the incoming tech-savvy digital natives, the LMS has migrated to mobile devices.
Take Blackboard Mobile Learn app as an example; the students use their current Blackboard
credentials to access their course materials, post comments and questions to various online forums, and to
interact using communication tools on their mobile devices. However, the design of the Blackboard
Mobile learning app cannot accommodate pedagogical practices needed in a course designed for students
across global context. This article discusses our effort to enhance a newly created mobile app to enable
college students to access learning materials and interact with classmates from global campuses in
anytime, anywhere format. The App was designed for International Organization Behavior course by the

first author. The following section will review the recent literature in this significant and emerging area of
the technology use and the students’ adaptation behavior for such technology.
LITERATURE REVIEW
While mobile phones’ primary use was calling and texting, today almost 50% of students use their
smartphones to access the internet (Donaldson, 2010). Research by Robin Donaldson (2010) investigated
several factors like performance, effort, social influence, and facilitating conditions to understand college
student’s willingness to use mobile learning tools. The study identified facilitating conditions has a
significant impact on the student’s behavioral intentions to accept mobile learning tools (Donaldson,
2010). Facilitating conditions for college students include simple and easy usage of learning tools but also
the fast and hassle-free connection to wireless connections (Caudill, 2007).
One cannot deny the importance of integrating the unique technological strength of mobile
technology into any learning environment (Yu-Lin et al., 2010). Among a large number of features and
advantages of mobile technology for students, mobile technology specifically for learning purposes
provides two main elements: ubiquitous mobility and situated context (Yu-Lin et al., 2010). Ubiquitous
mobility enables students to exercise their learning activities and habits anywhere and everywhere they go
as well as connect to fellow peers globally (Yu-Lin et al., 2010; Sharples Beale, 2003; Joiner et al. 2006;
Fallahkhair, 2007). Situated learning is considered the outcome of mobile learning and its functionality
(Yu-Lin et al., 2010; Hall & Bannon, 2006; Morkon et al., 2007). Situated learning can be explained as
the how students can find the suitable examples for their learning experience and understand it (Yu-Lin et
al., 2010).
For this course, International Organizational Behavior' situated learning treats symbolic cultural
information processing as fundamental to learning, and the view of situated nature of knowledge as
significant because it focuses primarily on behavioral and cognitive aspects of individual learning in a
global environment using mobile technology.
Mobile technology and applications have become the new trend that would enable students to explore
new information at all times while being mobile, as well as finding similar examples online as they go
through the learning experience.
The primary function of Blackboard LMS is to facilitate instructors to organize and present materials,
facilitate discussion and allow students to access content and interact through discussion forums.
Blackboard has its limitations regarding enabling instructors to adopt particular pedagogical practices to
support students’ learning. Kinash, Brand, and Mathew (2012) studied 135 college students to investigate
if using Blackboard Mobile Learn had any impact on their learning. The results revealed that most
students did not find any difference between using Blackboard Mobile Learn or using a PC to access to
Blackboard learning content (Kinash, Brand & Mathew, 2012). These results agree with several other
studies (Blin & Munro, 2008; Cochrane & Bateman, 2010; Wang, Hsu, Reeves & Coster, 2014) which
indicated that the additional use of technology does not alter the nature of learning. To fully utilize the
unique functions of a specific technology, appropriate pedagogies must be adapted to meet students’
learning needs.
THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR THE APP
MGMT 620 or “International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior” is a graduate level course

designed to help students understand the global cultural framework, effective communication and
motivation across cultures, leadership in multicultural environment, managing diversity, conflicts, and
ethics. This course is offered at a four-year institution in the northeastern U.S. which has multiple
campuses, including Abu Dhabi, China, and Canada. The course aims to equip the students with the
knowledge, abilities, and skills to understand organizational behaviors in the global context. The
instructor has been exploring opportunities to engage students to interact with other global campuses
through the deployment of technology. Therefore, a platform is needed to facilitate students’ interaction,

collaboration and situated case study across numerous campuses. While Blackboard Mobile Learn allows
students to access multimedia materials, participate in the discussion, and check their learning progress, it
does not allow the instructor to customize and build a situated learning community and experiential
learning materials that enables ubiquitous learning. For example, it is not supported for feedback by the
grader for individual questions, and do not allow new submission attempts and posts.
To meet the instructional needs, the instructor worked with two education experts to develop the
mobile-based learning activities, and propose a platform to that can support unique learning needs and
facilitate these pedagogical practices:
 Facilitate students’ cultural awareness and competence through real-time interaction with
classmates in another global campus.
 Allow instructors or students to invite a guest speaker who is not a registered user to interact
with the class synchronously and asynchronously.
 Allow instructors to enable discussion and exchange of situated and local cases generated by
groups of students from two or more different campuses worldwide.
 Allow students to create and share multimedia case studies instantly for discussion. For
instance, students could interview a company leader using a mobile device and upload audio
or video files (with permission) for discussion immediately or record their scenario on
organizational decision making for discussion.
 Blackboard app has limited support for the instructor’s needs (too stagnant, not dynamic),
while a mobile App. Could facilitate real-time engagement.
 The app can integrate elements to support social interaction and social learning (e.g., group
discussion board)
 Connect students from multiple sections and campuses.
 Accommodate digital natives’ technology preference.
The purpose of this platform is not to replace the use of Blackboard. It is designed as a supplementary
tool to enable a variety of pedagogical practices and to facilitate students’ interaction and to learn among
global campuses. Any instructors who adopt this platform can design several projects and have students
complete these projects using this app.
App. Structure/Technical Requirement

The design blueprint and structure of the App (MGMT620) was developed by the instructor. He used
a self-doing platform for creating content-based native mobile apps for Android and iPhone. It runs inside
a browser on user's devices. Provide instant cross-platform support, no installation required. The App is
available at Google play store at https://play.google.com/store/search?q=Management%20620%20
(NYIT)&c=apps&hl=en
Contents can be downloaded and viewed at http://h.studentsapp.mobi/index.php?app=mgmt620. The
prototype of the app "packaged" the web content and can be distributed through app stores and run
offline. The instructor tested the prototype with groups of students and collected their feedback
informally. The preliminary implication result demonstrated that this app allows the instructor to enable
diversified pedagogical practices to get the students more involved with a global perspective of
organizational behavior topics, e.g., culture. It allows students from multiple campuses to interact and
exchange case studies in a real-time format and facilitate students’ learning outcomes in the following
ways: engagement, attitude, and collaboration of the case studies, feedback and sharing experience from
the students and faculty. Students had provided their feedback on the implementation. They thought that
the learning app is an excellent addition to Blackboard Learn because it helps them “understand concepts
and share additional insights through the app that were beneficial for the practical implications of course.”
They also expressed the challenges of using Blackboard Learn, most of the time it gives them a hard time
to access the app, and it doesn’t always show the updates for the course. This app is customized to meet
the instructor’s needs regarding scope and sequence of learning and facilitate of interaction. The app
breaks each part down, which makes it easier to navigate and understand the content and conduct learning

activities. Therefore, more features can be added in the next version to enhance the function of the app.
New features will include:
 Unique user login name and password for both users – students and faculty
 App has to be web based and download version for offline use
 Cross Platform: user experience has to be seamless with different versions
 For download version, the OS to be supported are iOS & Android
 Language - Support for language localization
 Minimum language interface for global acceptance
 Design to capture data for both quantitative and qualitative inputs:
a. Core responses to direct questions
b. Students give ratings for a specific course/faculty
Implications
This paper is to establish a position to advocate ubiquitous and situated learning in global
organizational behavior and stimulate conversations to advance our knowledge in situated learning in
organizational behavior in global contexts. Further, the paper provides insights on the design and
applications of a prototype designed based on these discussions. This app could be adopted by any faculty
who are interested in having students experience unique pedagogical practices on mobile devices.
Future Research
Students’ use of technology and smartphones for learning and education purposes is still an
underdeveloped subject that needs more time and effort by both faculty and students to experience the
wonderful implications of seamless mobile learning tools. Research proposal to further investigate how
this app could be enhanced to match digital natives learning preference and customized to fit faculty and
students’ learning needs.
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17

Starting Early: The Impact of Experience Based Education on
Entrepreneurial Intentions of High School Students
Rodney R. D’Souza
Northern Kentucky University
John E. Clarkin
Abdullah Al-Bahrani
We examine the education-entrepreneurial intentions relationship and the effects of experiential

entrepreneurship education. Relying on the theory of planned behavior and the theory of human
behavior, we develop and test hypotheses to enhance the knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship
education. This study discerns ways in which experiential education in entrepreneurship can positively
affect the attitudes and intentions of students, and to further the base of knowledge in the link between
education programs and intentions. Results suggest that problem based experiential learning does indeed
impact how students think about entrepreneurship as a career and their perceived level of control.
INTRODUCTION
“All learning is experiential” (Joplin, 1995).
Experiential learning is not a new concept, with its underpinnings in Lewin’s integrated approach to
analyzing, understanding and bringing about changes in thinking developed more than 70 years ago
(Burnes, 2006). Coincident with Lewin’s death in February 1947 in Newtonville, Massachusetts,1 nd
less than six miles away, the first entrepreneurship class in the U.S. was taught by Myles Mace at
Harvard’s Business School (Katz, 2003). It is no coincidence, however, that the evolution of Lewin’s
approach to what is now known as experiential learning has become an integral part of many
entrepreneurship education programs. A closer examination of the impacts of experiential learning
programs on individual attitudes, motivations, and intentions is the primary focus of this study.
The trajectory of entrepreneurship publications and educational programs throughout the world in the
20th Century has been well chronicled (e.g., (Katz, 2003); (Kuratko, 2005)). The promise of
entrepreneurship as an emerging field of academic research (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000), as an
economic engine through the ventures created (Kirchoff, 1991), and as a means of creating wealth for
individuals (Hitt, Ireland, Camp, & Sexton, 2001) captured the attention of academics, policy makers, and

aspiring entrepreneurs. This broad range of interest fueled growth in training and education programs
designed to create more and better entrepreneurs through the development of human capital through
knowledge and skill development (Martin, McNally, & Kay, 2013). The efficacy of entrepreneurship
education programs has been the subject of several studies that support them (e.g., (Gorman, Hanlon, &
King, 1997); (Pittaway & Cope, 2007);(Solomon, 2007)), while others question their impact or reveal
limits on their success (e.g., (D'Intino, Ross, Byrd, & Weaver, 2010); (Peterman & Kennedy, 2003). Of
particular note is a conclusion in the Peterman et. al. (2003) study, in which the authors found evidence to
support the further development of intentions models when examining the effects of entrepreneurship
education programs.
Unlike other traditional academic disciplines, entrepreneurship educators “have the responsibility to
develop the discovery, reasoning, and implementation skills of our students so they may excel in highly
uncertain environments” (p. 55) (Neck & Greene, 2011). The debate of whether or not entrepreneurship
can be taught, one that plagued early efforts to implement entrepreneurship education programs, has been
suppressed as the field gradually gained credibility, but several of the pedagogical issues remain as topics
of interest (DeTienne & Chandler, 2004); (McCaffrey, 2016); (Souitaris, Zerbinati, & Al-Laham, 2007).
Nearly 30 years ago, Vesper & McMullan (Vesper & McMullan, 1988) argued that entrepreneurship
courses should be differentiated from traditional business curriculum by exercises in divergent thinking,
“a mode of thought suppressed in most traditional business courses” (p. 10) (Vesper & McMullan, 1988).
Despite some exceptions, Brush, Neck & Greene (Brush, Neck, & Greene) observed that even though the
discipline of entrepreneurship is known predominantly for characteristics such as experimentation,
uncertainty, and risk; entrepreneurial education has, for the most part, adopted a very linear, process-
based pedagogical approach.
Efforts to better understand the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education programs has often been
limited to small sample sizes and data gathered through cross-sectional surveys. Further, a study by (Bae,
Qian, Miao, & Fiet, 2014) found little or no commonality in the measures or methods among the 79
studies their analysis. The study highlighted several potential paths to enhance the knowledge of
entrepreneurship education, specifically an “education-entrepreneurial intentions relationship” (p. 242)
(ibid.). The importance of entrepreneurship education inspired us to pursue this subject, and Bae et. al.’s
article provided the path for us to more closely examine how teaching entrepreneurship in an experiential
manner impacts an individual’s intentions and behavior.
One of the challenges to changing intentions and behaviors is the traditional teaching mode of faculty
and the passive learning mode of students, a challenge that can be mitigated through a problem-based
learning (PBL) approach. Since it was implemented in the 1950’s, PBL’s student-centered learning
model can now be found throughout education systems at all levels (Hanke, 2009). The active learning
environment created by PBL encourages student learning, encouraging and motivating the learner to
individually determine how and what they need to change in order to successfully develop an
entrepreneurial mind-set (Bae et al., 2014); (Hanke, 2009). The real question we sought to answer
through this study is—Can an entrepreneurship education program using PBL positively affect students’
attitudes, intentions, and behavior?
To examine the education-entrepreneurial intentions relationship and the effects of PBL on that
relationship, we rely on the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1977); (Ajzen, 1991),
recognized as the most widely used theory to link intentions to behavior. We also use the theory of
human capital (Martin et al., 2013); (Volery, Müller, Oser, Naepflin, & del Rey, 2013) to develop
hypotheses and guide the process, and enhance the knowledge gained through the evolution of Lewin’s
work in the context of entrepreneurship education. Vesper & McMullan observed that an
entrepreneurship degree “will not mean that the person is an entrepreneur, just as a degree in journalism
does not make someone a journalist” (p. 8-9) (Vesper & McMullan, 1988). Our goal in this study was not
to discover ways to create entrepreneurs through PBL, but to positively affect the attitudes and intentions
of students enrolled in entrepreneurship education, and to further the base of knowledge in the link
between these education programs and intentions.

A review of the relevant literature and definitions of terms used in this study is presented next,
followed by a section devoted to methods and analysis. We conclude with our analysis, discussion, and
suggestions for further research.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
For nearly 30 years, Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) has been one of the more widely used
psychological theories to explain and predict human behavior (Ajzen, 1991). A central theme of the
theory posits that the stronger the intention to engage in a particular behavior, the more likely a person is
to engage in that behavior. As depicted in Figure 1, behavior is jointly determined by perceived
behavioral control and intentions (Saridakis, Iskandarova, & Blackburn, 2016).
FIGURE 1
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
TPB has been employed in a wide variety of contexts, including recent studies that examined the
socio-cognitive determinants of drivers in France (Lheureux, Auzolt, Charlois, Hardy-Massard, &
Minary, 2016), the perceptions of weight gain among pregnant women in North America (Whitaker,
Wilcox, Liu, Blair, & Pate, 2016), and proved useful in predicting fruit and vegetable consumption in
Australia (Kothe & Mullan, 2015). A central tenet of TBP is that intentions capture “…the motivational
factors that influence a behavior” (p. 181); an indicator of the extent to which an individual will exert the
effort necessary to perform the behavior (Ajzen, 1991). In other words, the stronger the intention to
perform the behavior, the more likely the behavior will be performed providing that the person has some
ability to decide whether or not to do it.
As a theoretical foundation, support for and evidence of the limitations of TPB and the role of
intention as a determinant of behavior may be found in a variety of studies (e.g., (Lukik, Bianchi, Popper,
& Pavol, 2016); (Zhao, Seibert, & Hills, 2005). In their meta-analysis of 49 studies that focused on
behavioral change, Webb & Sheeran (2006) concluded that “…intentions have strong associations with
behavior”, and that “Changes in intention had a larger effect on behavior when participants were rated as
possessing more control over the behavior” Webb & Sheeran (2006). This finding supports the
conclusions of an earlier study by Bagozzi (1981), who revealed that although attitude also affected
behavior, its effect was only through its impact on intention, especially when behavior was volitional.
Given its widespread acceptance as a theoretical foundation applied in a variety of contexts, it is not
surprising to see that TPB has been employed in studies of university students to explain determinants of
their specific behaviors. Several research efforts sought to provide a better understanding of diverse
behaviors among students using TPB, especially where situational contexts involved conscious and
volitional choices by students. An example of how TBP was used to predict student behavior that had
environmental, economic, and social considerations is in students’ use of cars as a mode of transportation

to and from campus. A sample of 312 university students in Indonesia found that the students’ behavioral
intentions explained 42.5% of the variance in their actual car use, and that raising awareness of the
negative aspects of using cars would change student intentions and result in a change in their behavior
(Setiawan, Santosa, & Sjafruddin, 2014). The study found that the link between intentions and behavior
among the students in their sample was significant. TPB’s value in a wide variety of contexts is also
evident in studies where it proved useful in predicting fruit and vegetable consumption in Australia
(Kothe & Mullan, 2015), in forecasting tourist’s use of bicycles in China (Han, Meng, & Kim, 2016), and
in measuring the impact of advertising messages in shoppers’ decisions to use plastic bags in grocery
markets (Muralidharan & Sheehan, 2016). Another recent example is found in Ansare’s (2015) study of
218 U.S. college students, which discovered that students’ behavioral intentions significantly predicted
their actual use of condoms, a finding consistent with that of several previous studies in other countries.
Since intentions have been found to be the best predictor of many planned behaviors, it follows that a
better understanding of the antecedents of intentions will increase our understanding of an intended
behavior.
Examples of efforts to better understand the precursors of intentions are found in a robust stream of
entrepreneurship research. Kolvereid (1996) relied on TPB to predict the employment status choice2
intentions of undergraduate students in Norway. In this study, variables were constructed to differentiate
a variety of exogenous and demographic characteristics (e.g., family background, gender, past
experience) from cognitive or career reasons (e.g., autonomy, economic opportunity). He collected data
from 143 university students who were assumed to be making important vocational choices, deciding
between a career as an employee or self-employment. Kolvereid’s study found that in his sample,
intentions were strong predictors of behavior and were determined by factors that may be altered and not
by exogenous or demographic characteristics. Similarly, Zellweger et. al’s (2011) examination of
students with family business backgrounds revealed that while family background, gender, and
experience indirectly affected intentions, career choices and behavior are largely volitional, and that the
best predictor of actual behavior is intentions. Shortly after researchers turned away from what became a
fruitless search for an entrepreneurial trait, a robust approach that focused on intentions emerged (e.g.,
(Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000) ; (Davidsson, 1991). Although a number of studies found support for
the link between antecedents of intentions and their effect on behavior, criticisms of empirical models
have largely focused on the retrospective or post hoc nature of many studies, or the absence of theoretical
foundations (Krueger et al., 2000).
How university students establish and pursue their career goals and the choices they make in pursuit
of those goals are likely influenced by a wide variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Experiences in
prior classes including grades and testing scores have the potential to affect a student’s perceived aptitude
in subject areas associated with certain careers in either a positive and negative manner. The influence of
parents, teachers, role models and friends also has the potential to affect the perceived attractiveness of
certain careers in the minds of students, and differences between male and female students are likely.
For some, an ability to make a positive impact in the world is a powerful goal providing motivation for
students, while others pursue careers with equal or higher determination based in large part on potential
financial rewards.
The career choices and motivations of students have been examined in a variety of contexts that
served as a backdrop for this study. Zellweger et. al. (2011) examined career choice intentions of students
with family business backgrounds, revealing that students who intend succession differed from founders
and employees in their behavioral control and motives. Arguably, a career as an entrepreneur provides a
career path with virtually limitless earning potential, and entrepreneurs typically enjoy a level of
professional autonomy not possible in a career as an employee.
Gender differences in career choices have been revealed in a study of 2,213 secondary school
students in the US, which found that money to be earned in a career was much more important factor for
men than women, and that attitudes and behaviors of parents, teachers, counselors and friends (labeled as
Socializers by the authors) played a central role in a student’s choice of career (Dick & Rallis, 1991).

A better understanding of the reasons why individuals choose an entrepreneurial career path was
revealed in Carter et. al. (2003). The authors found that differences between males and females revealed
in their sample may also be time dependent and speculated that it “may be a harbinger that career paths
and interests of men and women are converging” (p. 34). Irrespective of gender and other differences and
despite the widely held notion that the perceived improvements in overall life satisfaction might pull
some individuals into and job dissatisfaction might push others out of employment into a career as an
entrepreneur, Schjoedt & Shaver (2007) could not confirm either motivation in a study using the PSED
dataset.3
AIMS OF THE STUDY AND HYPOTHESES
The aim of this study is to close the gap in the entrepreneurship education literature by examining the
role of problem-based experiential learning entrepreneurship education. We continue the stream of
research using the theory of planned behavior (TBP) to examine intentions as a predictor of future
behaviors and use a pre- and post-survey instrument to quantify the changes in students’ intentions based
on a problem-based learning experience. It is widely known that entrepreneurial intentions play a key
role in decisions to embark on an entrepreneurial career (Linan & Chen, 2009), and a closer examination
of how to affect intentions appeared justified. Our approach offers a new perspective on entrepreneurship
education by exploring how these educational efforts can affect attitudes, intentions, and ultimately
nascent entrepreneurship behavior. In other words, the pedagogy of entrepreneurship education may be
as important if not more so than the content of the curriculum when it is able to change attitudes and
increase entrepreneurial intentions of student participants.
We looked for age, gender and other social factors that may influence student attitudes and intentions,
and their perceptions volitional control over their future intentions. Although the sample size is
comparatively small, the findings have the potential to inform entrepreneurship educators who are
considering revamping their traditional, lecture-based education programs to meet the challenges of the
future. Drawing on our review of PBL and entrepreneurial intentions, we tested the following hypotheses:
H1: There is no difference in the attitudes and intentions of male and female students.
H2: Education programs have little effect on the subjective norms of students
H3: A PBL-based education program can increase students’ perceived behavioral control of over
their decision to pursue a career in entrepreneurship.
H4: A PBL-based education program can increase the level of entrepreneurial intentions.
METHOD
Measures
The survey includes 50 indirect measures of perceptions of entrepreneurship activity. These measures
were drawn from the entrepreneurial intention (EI) questionnaire (Linan & Chen, 2009). The EI
construct is operationalized by using three dimensions - personal attitude towards entrepreneurship (PA),
subjective norm (SN) (family, friends and colleague’s perception of starting a business) and perceived
behavioral control (PBC). The construction and validation of the EI questionnaire used can be found in
Liñán and Chen (2009). Further, it has been cross-checked following (Kolvereid, 1996); (Krueger et al.,
2000); (Linan, Rodriguez-Cohard, & Rueda-Cantuche, 2011); and (Veciana, Aponte, & Urbano, 2005).
Participants and Procedure

Use of student samples is common in entrepreneurship education research (e.g., (Gedeon, 2017);
(Linan & Chen, 2009); (Lourenco & Jones, 2006)). Consistent with these and other previous studies, we
chose high school students as the subjects of our empirical test since their entrepreneurial attitudes and
intentions are unlikely to have been influenced by prior business courses that cover related topics. The
context in which this study takes place is an intensive, three-week entrepreneurship education program
conducted at a Midwest US university. This program created a context broader than a university course

because it included a portfolio of entrepreneurship and innovation activities. Participants in this program
had previously lacked structured opportunities to develop their entrepreneurship acumen and their ability
to implement ideas and concepts. This problem-based learning program was designed to introduce
students to concepts of entrepreneurship, help them develop critical life and work skills, problem solving,
and allow them to assume the risks associated with developing and implementing ideas.
Student participants in the program were screened and selected from a statewide pool of applicants
through interviews. This was the fourth year that the program was being offered. The program included
instruction and exercises using the lean startup methodology (Ries, 2011), design thinking (Martin, 2009),
the business model canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). A number of guest speakers, faculty, and
mentors were also involved to help guide students through the program. The culmination of the program
was a demo day where student teams presented to a panel of investors. A major goal of the program was
to help each student determine whether or not entrepreneurship was a feasible career path for him or her,
and students completing the program were expected to be more prepared for a career as entrepreneurs.
To better understand how the program impacted intentions and attitudes, we provided students with
the EI questionnaire before and after the three-week program. By measuring EI pre and post program we
are able to identify whether or not the PBL entrepreneurship program affected our sample of high school
students’ perceptions, motivation, and confidence toward entrepreneurship.
This IRB-approved study required participant anonymity. Due to the anonymity requirements, we
were unable to match individual student level data between the pre- and post-surveys. Table 1 provides
summary of demographic data collected.
TABLE 1
SUMMARY OF RESPONSES
Pre Post
Sex Male 23 23
Female 21 19
Age 13 1 0
14 0 0
15 11 10
16 22 20
17 9 11
18 1 1
Grade Freshmen 0 0
Sophomore 8 7
Junior 25 26
Senior 11 9
Observations 44 42
Of the 46 students registered in the program 44 of them responded to the pre-survey questionnaire,
while the post-survey had 42 respondents. By observing the grade level data, we can determine that three
students (one sophomore and two seniors) did not complete the post-survey, and one junior that had not
completed the pre-survey participated in the post-survey.

FINDINGS
Tables 2 and 3 presents descriptive statistics for the survey responses, grouped into four categories of
variables, with comparisons of the mean values pre- and post-program. We hypothesized (H1) that there
would be no difference in the attitudes and intentions of male and female students. While results from
table 2 would suggest that both men and women were mostly influenced positively in the areas of
behavioral control, what is interesting is that the results suggest that women experienced a shift in
personal attitude that isn’t present for men, suggesting that this entrepreneurial education program played
a role in adjusting personal attitudes for women.
TABLE 2
IMPACT OF EDUCATION FOR EACH GENDER
Males pre and post Female pre and post

T
Personal Attitude
Being an Entrepreneur implies more advantages
2.3359
than disadvantages to me 0.454
A career as entrepreneur is attractive for me 1.5733 3.1553
If I had the opportunity and resources, I'd like to
-0.3288 1.968
start a firm
Being an entrepreneur would entail great
1.6251 1.8845
satisfaction for me
Among various options, I would rather be an
1.375 1.8995
entrepreneur
PA Index 1.1553 1.1553
Subjective Norm
Your close family 0 -0.0124
Your friends 0.1321 1.4075
Your colleagues 2.1976 2.5227
SN index 0.8621 1.6468
Perceived Behavioral Control
To start a firm and keep it working would be
6.4845 5.9028
easy for me
I am prepared to start a viable firm 4.2831 5.174
I can control the creation process of a new firm 6.7747 6.7403
I know the necessary practical details to start a
6.7424 7.302
firm
I know how to develop entrepreneurial project 6.1371 4.6874
If I tried to start a firm, I would have a high
2.9756 3.7115
probability of succeeding
BC Index 6.302 6.1662

Males pre and post Female pre and post
T
Entrepreneurial Intention
I am ready to do anything to be an entrepreneur 2.142 1.9892
My professional goal is to become an
1.907 1.3942
entrepreneur
I will make every effort to start and run my own
1.1902 0.8777
firm
I am determined to create a firm in the future 1.8283 0.9821
I have very seriously thought of starting a firm 1.502 0.9056
I have the firm intention to start a firm some day 0.7596 1.7776
EI index 1.8172 1.5229
Observations 44 38
Next, we hypothesized (H2) that the educational program would not affect the subjective norms of
students. Results suggest that there was a statistically significant difference in how students perceive the
support from colleagues, with most indicating that their colleagues support them. This shows no support
for hypothesis H2.
We then hypothesized (H3) that the educational program would increase students’ perceived
behavioral control of over their decision to pursue a career in entrepreneurship. Results provided support
for this hypothesis, as we found that Perceived Behavioral Control and Personal Attitude toward
entrepreneurship were statistically higher after the educational program.
Lastly, we hypothesized (H4) that this education program would increase the level of entrepreneurial
intentions. While the overall measure of attitude did increase, no statistical difference was observed in the
questions that made up the category. Hence, there was no statistical difference in students’
Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI).
TABLE 3
MEASURES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS QUESTIONNAIRE (EIQ)
Pre Post
Mean Std Mean Std Change T-test
Personal Attitude
Being an Entrepreneur implies
more advantages than
disadvantages to me 5.77 1.48 6.36 1.23 0.58 1.99
A career as entrepreneur is
attractive for me 5.59 1.35 6.40 0.91 0.81 1.31
If I had the opportunity and
resources, I'd like to start a firm 6.32 1.03 6.55 0.80 0.23 1.15
Being an entrepreneur would
entail great satisfaction for me 5.89 1.04 6.40 0.89 0.52 2.49
Among various options, I would
rather be an entrepreneur 5.11 1.43 5.81 1.45 0.70 2.24
PA Index 28.68 5.20 31.52 4.40 2.84 2.73

Pre Post
Mean Std Mean Std Change T-test
Subjective Norm
Your close family 5.95 1.22 5.95 1.56 0.00 -0.01
Your friends 5.82 1.08 6.05 1.01 0.23 1.01
Your colleagues 5.27 1.32 6.10 0.93 0.82 3.33
SN index 17.05 2.93 18.10 2.85 1.05 1.68
Perceived Behavioral Control
To start a firm and keep it working
would be easy for me 3.89 1.32 6.07 0.95 2.19 1.68
I am prepared to start a viable firm 4.36 1.28 5.95 0.88 1.59 8.80
I can control the creation process
of a new firm 3.77 1.52 6.33 0.82 2.56 6.68
I know the necessary practical
details to start a firm 3.64 1.60 6.33 0.72 2.70 9.65
I know how to develop
entrepreneurial project 4.36 1.63 6.43 0.70 2.06 7.57
If I tried to start a firm, I would
have a high probability of
succeeding 4.27 1.45 5.67 1.36 1.39 4.60
BC Index 28.77 8.48 42.14 5.04 13.37 8.84
Entrepreneurial Intention
I am ready to do anything to be an
entrepreneur 4.66 1.49 5.60 1.58 0.94 2.83
My professional goal is to become
an entrepreneur 4.66 1.63 5.48 1.67 0.82 2.30
I will make every effort to start
and run my own firm 5.25 1.54 5.71 1.52 0.46 1.41
I am determined to create a firm in
the future 5.34 1.45 5.95 1.40 0.61 1.99
I have very seriously thought of
starting a firm 5.93 1.15 6.33 0.98 0.40 1.74
I have the firm intention to start a
firm some day 5.36 1.38 5.86 1.41 0.49 1.64
EI index 31.20 7.18 34.93 7.73 3.72 2.32
Observations 44 42
Bold t-test statistics indicate a statistically significant difference in means between the pre and post
measures at the 95% level. The Change column indicates the direction of change. A positive figure
indicates that the mean increased in the post test.
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
It is widely accepted that intentions are strong predictors of human behavior, and that changes in
intentions results in changes in behavior. We used a pre-and post-survey of students who participated in a
problem-based learning (PBL) program to examine what (if any) changes were evident in their attitudes
and intentions.

Our results suggest that the PBL program affected how students thought about entrepreneurship in
two important ways: first in the legitimacy of entrepreneurship as a career path, and second as the level of
control that they have over that path. The study also revealed that the PBL program had a different
impact on men and women in our sample, in terms of personal attitude. We did not, however, find
support for our hypotheses related to subjective norms and overall entrepreneurial intentions.
While somewhat surprising, the results may (in part) be explained by the students we chose for our
sample. First, the sample size was small, which limited our ability to use more sophisticated analysis.
Second, we used a convenience sample of students in this study. Students actively chose to participate in
this PBL program, completing a written application and were subsequently screened through formal
interviews before admission. Although we can assume that students had not participated in previous
entrepreneurship instruction, we can also assume that they had a higher than average level of curiosity
and interest in entrepreneurship than a representative sample of their peers. Since the design and goal of
the study was to measure change, we expect that a more representative or random sample would reveal a
much larger change. It is likely that the absence of change in the subjective norm is also the result of bias
in our sample, as support for entrepreneurial thinking and behavior provided in the PBL program is likely
to be similar to that provided by family and friends. Mentors and supporters participating in the PBL
program likely reinforced and refined concepts as opposed introducing new ones.
Arguably, an effective entrepreneurship education program, especially one designed to target high
school students, should focus on the broadly defined aspects of the process of entrepreneurship: such as
creativity, innovation, opportunity recognition, and value creation as opposed to the more narrowly
defined approach of venture creation. As such, PBL education programs can (and should) include the
broad contextual aspects of social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial teams in their curriculum.
IMPLICATION FOR ENTREPRENUERSHIP EDUCATION
The debate of whether or not entrepreneurship can be taught, has now given way to the argument of
the best way to teach entrepreneurship. Researchers over the past three decades have studied the various
pedagogical issues related to the field and have observed that even though the discipline of
entrepreneurship is known predominantly for characteristics such as experimentation, uncertainty, and
risk; entrepreneurial education has, save for a few exceptions, adopted a very linear, process-based
pedagogical approach. Inspired by the importance of entrepreneurship education we pursue this subject
and more closely examine how teaching entrepreneurship in an experiential manner impacts an
individual’s intentions and behavior.
ENDNOTES
1. Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kurt-Lewin
2. Kolvereid (1996) defined employment status choice based on an earlier work by Katz (1992, p. 30) as “the
vocational decision process in terms of the individual’s decision to enter an occupation as a wage or
salaried individual or a self-employed one.” (p. 47).
3. The PSED was designed to identify and collect data from a nationally representative sample of 816 nascent
entrepreneurs. Use of the PSED in this research is compelling because the database was designed to focus
on nascent entrepreneurial processes such as opportunity identification while avoiding the common
problem of retrospective bias often associated with entrepreneurship research (Gartner, Shaver, Carter, &
Reynolds, 2004).

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How Written and Oral Reflection in MBA Capstones Enhance the Ability to
Complete a Service-Learning Project
Molly J. Wickam
This study investigated whether reflection enhances the employability skills of graduate business students
who participate in service-learning during a capstone course. Participants were recent MBA alumni from
three U.S.-based universities who participated in team-based, client-focused service-learning. Qualitative
data were analyzed through semi-structured interviews. Findings showed that written and oral reflection
improves the ability to accomplish a team-based client project. This is good news for the workplace
because business needs workers who can accomplish tasks, meet deadlines, and complete projects.
Higher business education must actively prepare students for this workplace need by intentionally
building reflective activities into service-learning projects.
It can be difficult for business education curricula to respond to the demands of the workplace by
creating authentic learning experiences that bridge a perceived gap between theory and practice. While
employers want employees with practical skills, these may be difficult to obtain while in a classroom.
One way some business education programs have responded is by incorporating a business capstone into
curricula. A capstone is an educational experience that intends to synthesize the content learned in a
particular major (Gardner & Van der Veer, 1998b). A goal of capstones is for students to reflect on their
learning, and intentional reflection, defined as “intentional consideration of an experience in light of
particular learning objectives” (Hatcher and Bringle, 1997, p. 153) is one of the ways capstones help
students make meaningful connections between theory and practice.
Literature confirms that critical and deep reflection is important to any learning methodology that
involves experiences (Dewey, 1933; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Hatcher, Bringle, & Muthiah, 2004; Kolb,
1984).Both the amount and quality of reflection have been shown to be predictors of meeting course
learning outcomes (Eyler & Giles, 1999), and meeting learning outcomes is another a major goal of
capstones. At the same time, research has shown that reflection is a proven method for helping to increase
depth of understanding in an experiential course such as a capstone (Lang & McNaught, 2013).
Andreasen and Wu’s (1999) experiential learning model for capstones includes reflection as one of its
five components, and goes so far as to say that reflection distinguishes experiential learning from other
types of learning.
In addition to other experiential pedagogies, service-learning has proven to be a useful experiential
pedagogy that helps students deepen their understanding of course content, provided reflection is part of
the service-learning (Eyler, 2002; Robinson, Sherwood and DePaolo, 2010; Wei, Siow & Burley, 2007;
Wittmer, 2004). In fact, Kendall (1990) stated that service-learning must include reflection, and defines
service-learning programs as educational pedagogies that “combine needed tasks in the community with
internal learning goals and with conscious reflection and critical analysis” (p. 20). Service-learning is

increasingly recognized as a legitimate approach to business education, including sub-disciplines such as
management information systems (Richmond, Banerjee & White, 2008), accounting (Gujarathi, McQuade
and Sarmiento, 2002), business ethics (Wittmer, 2004), management (Aupperle and Sarhan, 1995;
Robinson, Sherwood and DePaolo, 2010) and others. However, although proven outcomes of service-
learning exist, service-learning experiences are used less in the business discipline than other instructional
methods. In a study of over 864 capstone courses taught at 707 American colleges and universities that
offer upper-division courses, when the course was a business management course, the most frequent
instructional component of the capstone (84%) was a major project. These projects, for the most part, did
not involve real-world experiences such as service-learning or internships (Henscheid, 2000). In addition,
research related to how service-learning impacts the employability skills of business students is scarce.
Because experiential learning is a proven way for business students to learn, more needs to be
understood about how service-learning, especially the reflective activities associated with it, may benefit
the employability skills employers who hire business graduates want and need. Because of this, a study
(Wickam, 2015) was conducted to examine the alignment between the employability skills employers
need and the employability skills that graduate business students gain through service-learning in business
capstones. In addition, the study sought to understand whether reflection, a stated requirement of service-
learning, enhances the employability skills of graduate business students who participate in service-
learning during a capstone. While the study included several research questions, the applicable question
for this article is: In what ways did reflection offered through business capstones that included service-
learning enhance, in participating students, their employability skills?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Reflection plays an important role in enhancing student learning from experiential learning. In
service-learning, reflection is considered to be the bridge that connects the service with the learning, and
without reflection, the experience cannot be defined as service-learning (Hatcher & Bringle, 1997;
Jacoby, 1996). For capstones, reflection is considered to provide students with a way to synthesize both
program and course objectives. Critical reflection is rooted in Dewey (1933) who defined it as, “active,
persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the
grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends” (p. 118). Reflection is a
metacognitive skill, requiring students to think about how they think (Krathwhol, 2002; Martinez, 2006),
which helps build higher-order thinking skills that employers need. Reflection is what connects the
service to the learning.
Schon (1987) sees the importance of placing a reflective practicum into a business school, or any
professional school, as a “bridge between the worlds of university and practice” (p. 309). He believes
reflection should not come last in a sequence of curriculum, but should be at the core of the curriculum.
Reflection comes through knowing-in-action, reflection-in-action, and knowing-in-practice.
Knowing-in-action is the knowledge revealed by doing something, such as riding a bike, using a
calculator, or catching a ball. Knowing-in-action is difficult to describe, because we do it without
consciously thinking about how we do it; it is quite spontaneous. While this is one important kind of
knowledge, it has its limitations. More complex processes need reflection-in-action, the ability to reflect
while taking action. This allows us to monitor and adjust our actions in hopes of improving their
outcomes and shaping future actions. Knowing-in-practice is when students are able to practice their
knowledge in settings that are related to their profession. While practice learning can be done on its own,
the best way for a student who hopes to enter a profession such as business to practice learning is to take
part in a practicum, which is a “setting designed for the task of learning a practice” (Schon, 1987, p. 37).
Service-learning, apprenticeships, and internships are examples of practicums.
Literature confirms that reflection is a key part of a successful service-learning experience, and more
broadly, to any successful learning methodology that involves experiences (Dewey, 1933; Eyler & Giles,
1999; Kolb, 1994). For example, a case study was done of a capstone course consisting of 18 students
earning an undergraduate certificate in leadership. The leadership certificate included an experiential

course that focused on either an internship, service-learning, a research project, or another type of
experience. Both semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to understand how students
perceived reflection during the capstone course. Findings showed that students were able to see value in
reflection, but disliked forced reflection in the form of some of the class assignments, and found the time
associated with reflective activities a challenge (White, 2012). As another example, an undergraduate
business strategy capstone course where students work in teams to provide business consultancy to a real-
world client includes a reflection report that is used as one of the course assessments to assess the impact
the service-learning had on the students (Robinson, Sherwood, & dePaolo, 2010).
CHARACTERISTICS AND MODELS OF REFLECTION
An evaluative model called The DEAL Model was developed to quantitatively evaluate student
reflections in courses that include service-learning experience. It is a process-oriented model that has
students (a) Describe the service-learning experience, (b) Examine the service-learning experience from
academic, personal growth and civic engagement lenses, and (c) articulate their learning through
reflection (Ash, Clayton & Atkinson, 2005; Ash, Clayton & Moses, 2007). The model is grounded in
Bloom’s (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives and Paul and Elder’s (2002) work on critical
thinking.
The DEAL Model begins with engaging in the experience. Then, through reflection, students
articulate their learning through the lens of civic engagement, personal growth and academic
enhancement. Reflection surrounding civic engagement asks students to, for example, describe the
objectives they and the community organization are mutually working towards as well as how the
community is working towards those goals. As another example, students might be asked to consider
possible approaches that could be used to foster systemic change in the community organizations.
Reflection surrounding personal growth asks students to consider their service-learning experience in
light of their beliefs, sense of identity, personal characteristics, and assumptions. Reflection surrounding
academic enhancement directly links the course material with the service experience. For example,
students might compare academic theories with their experiences, and explain and analyze concepts
learned in course readings (Ash, Clayton & Atkinson, 2005).
An evaluative case study of the DEAL Model was undertaken at a large U.S. university. Researchers
(Molee et al., 2010) wanted to know what depth of learning and level of critical thinking, if any, students
achieved during a service-learning experience. Respondents were 26 freshmen and 16 upper-level
students from a freshman psychology course and an upper-level communication studies seminar. The
service-learning experiences consisted of 10 weeks of work at a variety of community-based nonprofit
organizations. Students participated in several structured reflections designed to measure their depth of
learning in academic enhancement, personal growth, and civic engagement, and the assigned reflections
were slightly different in the freshman-level course and the upper-level course. Results showed that
students had the most difficulty reflecting on civic engagement, with over a third (36.8%) unable to
achieve any depth of learning. However, about 24 percent achieved depth of learning at the analyze and
synthesize level of learning, and over 34 percent achieved depth of learning at the application level of
learning. In the area of personal growth, results were similar. While only about 7 percent were unable to
achieve any depth of learning, about 28 percent achieved depth of learning at the analyze and synthesize
level, and over 53 percent achieved depth of learning at the application level. In regards to academic
enhancement, most students only achieved depth of learning at the application level of learning (55.6%),
and about 19 percent did not achieve any depth of learning.
Other reflective models exist, such as the Reflective Judgement Model (RJM) (King and Kitchner,
2002). This model formalizes how reflective thinking is developed in adolescence and carried through
into adulthood, and especially informs the work of educational psychologists and others in higher
education about high school, college, graduate and non-student adults. The seven developmental stages of
the Reflective Judgment Model are grouped into three levels. Stages 1-3 indicate pre-reflective reasoning,
meaning a heavy reliance on ones’ beliefs/opinions guides reflection, a single, right or wrong answer

exists for questions, evidence is not needed, and all problems are well-structured. Stages 4-5 indicate
quasi-reflective reasoning, meaning participants recognize that knowledge is constructed and there may
not be a single, right or wrong answer. Still, quasi-reflectors tend to reflect based on evidence that
conforms to their beliefs, instead of Stages 6-7, where reflective thinkers allow their beliefs to be
informed by the evidence and have the ability to recognize several points of view. These individuals care
about knowing about several points of view, because there is recognition that in order to develop their
own judgments, they must understand other perspectives. Reflective thinkers come to conclusions, but
recognize that those conclusions must be continually reevaluated.
Reflection allows business students to understand course material at a deeper level (Huber &
Hutchings, 2004). A study (Economos, 2014) of 3,232 U.S. graduate business and graduate education
students contrasted differences in graduate student perceptions of several variables, including deep
learning. Findings showed that for the variable deep learning, there was positive significance in differing
students’ perceptions between graduate business and graduate education students (p=.011).While business
students somewhat agreed and agreed that they engaged in deep learning, education students reported that
they agreed that they engaged in deep learning. As another example, an Australian business program
incorporated a reflective learning journal in its required master’s-level management accounting course. A
longitudinal case study of the implementation of the learning journal was performed with 37 students in
an online course. The course objectives specified that students should be able to “critically evaluate
theories and research studies and relate thought, theory and the research literature to the practice of
management accounting in the real world” (Bisman, 2011, p. 317). One of the course assignments was a
reflective learning journal, where students kept notes and reflective comments about the management
course content. Findings included student reactions of appreciation for the ability to include their voice
through the learning journals, instead of discipline-specific assignments which were not reflective.
When it comes to reflection, more is not necessarily better. Mabry (1998) studied undergraduate
college students in the areas of education, human resources and the arts and sciences and found that when
students were assigned two types of written reflection, one an ongoing type such as journaling and one a
summative type such as a paper, this was enough to cause significant positive changes in civic attitudes
and personal social values. Discussion also proved to be valuable, as students who discussed their
experiences with more people, such as students, instructors, and service beneficiaries, had higher personal
social values and civic attitudes. Frequency of in-class reflection was also important, as students who
reflected more often in class had higher post-course personal social values and perceived a greater
academic benefit of the service-learning. There was not, however, a significant difference in students’
personal social values based on the amount of in-class reflection.
Experiences should be linked to learning outcomes. Eyler and Giles (1999) studied students from 20
colleges and universities to measure whether there were service-learning program characteristics that
were predictors of meeting course learning outcomes. Surveys of 1,500 students were conducted before
and after a semester of service-learning, and qualitative interviews of 66 students at 6 colleges were also
conducted. Several program characteristics, including reflection, were shown to be predictors of meeting
course learning outcomes. Moreover, reflection was associated with the amount students learned and how
motivated they were to work harder in their service-learning classes when contrasted with other classes.
There is research showing that timing matters in reflective activities. Reflection can be categorized as
reflection before service, reflection during service, and reflection after service. A study focused on how
reflection activities should be designed in order to increase the quality of the service-learning experiences
for undergraduates. Results showed that having students reflect more than once during the semester
increased the quality of the experience (Hatcher, Bringle, & Muthiah, 2004). Students benefit from
reflection before service because it allows reflection on any preconceptions they may have about the
community they will serve and voice any assumptions they have about the project, which can later be
proven or dispelled through more reflection (Eyler, 2002). Reflection during service allows students to
monitor their own learning, which is a key aspect of adult learning theory (Mezirow, 1994). Students
should be able to discuss experiences with classmates, connect experiences to academic content,
continually test assumptions, and possibly engage in reflective activities with community partners.

Reflection after service can include presentations to community partners, reflection papers, and journal
entries (Eyler, 2002). Reflection has also been integrated into written end-of-course exams, such as a
business communication course which used an essay exam as a reflective tool (Dubinsky, 2006).
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The research design was a non-experimental, comparative, descriptive study. The study’s
methodology was mixed-methods, and incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to
offer various forms of data to address the research questions (Creswell, 2009). For the quantitative part of
the study, an existing instrument (Tanyel, 1999) was modified and used to test which, if any, of the
essential employability skills that were identified by employers through a literature review, were
enhanced by service-learning experiences. Once those results were obtained (Wickam, 2015), the
qualitative data collection began. Qualitative research, in a mixed-methods study, is often included when
quantitative results alone are not adequate to explain the outcomes. Qualitative data also provide an
opportunity to enhance the inclusion of participants’ voices, which can enrich and help explain the
quantitative results (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2007). Two groups were compared: Group A consisted of
alumni or students who completed a capstone in an MBA program that included a service-learning
experience, and Group B consisted of alumni or students who completed a capstone in an MBA program
that did not include a service-learning experience (Wickam, 2017). For the qualitative portion of the
study, only respondents from Group A were used as survey participants, because they were the ones who
completed a capstone that included a service-learning experience.
Sample
The population of interest was graduate business students who completed a capstone experience as
part of their MBA program. The sample was purposeful, and the specific type of purposeful sample was
criterion sampling (Patton, 1990). Because the existing data on the number of U.S.-based MBA programs
that include capstone courses is limited, and no data about the number of MBA capstone courses that
include a service-learning component could be found, it was estimated that about 20 percent of MBA
capstone courses include a service-learning component.
Recruitment for semi-structured interviews came from survey participants in the quantitative portion
of the study. Participants for the survey were sought through professional electronic mailing lists, Google
Groups that focus on service-learning in higher education or MBA alumni, and LinkedIn groups that
focus on service-learning in higher education or MBA alumni. Additionally, three universities gave
explicit permission to research their students, and IRB approval was obtained from all three institutions.
Survey respondents were invited to answer a question agreeing to be contacted after the survey for a
possible face-to-face or telephone interview. In making decisions about which participants to select for
interviews, one survey question was chosen: Reflection means intentionally considering an experience in
light of particular learning objectives. Keeping that definition in mind, what was the frequency of the
reflection in your MBA capstone course? There were 79 useable surveys, and all participants in Group A,
if their frequency of reflection was at least some reflection, were contacted for an interview, which
resulted in 10 interview participants out of a possible 17.
The 10 participants represented three U.S.-based MBA programs: two from a faith-based East coast
college; two from an MBA program at a faith-based Midwestern university; and six from an MBA
program in a public, research-based university on the West coast. Four participants were male and six
were female. The racial mix was 60% White (non-Hispanic), 20% Hispanic or Latino, 10% Black or
African American, and 10% Multiracial. Age of participants ranged from 18-49 (80%), and 90 percent of
participants were employed full-time.
Data Collection and Analysis

Table 1 shows the Interview Protocol related to reflection. Semi-structured, recorded telephone
interviews lasted between 35 and 55 minutes. The key to determining how many participants to interview

was to come to the point of saturation, when no new themes emerged from the interviews (Morse et al.,
2002). Once data obtained started replicating itself, that was considered the point of saturation, and this
came after the seventh interview. No new codes were added to the codebook for the eighth, ninth, or tenth
interviews. All interviews were professionally transcribed, and the researcher reviewed each transcript
against the recording to look for errors, but found none.
TABLE 1
INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
Q: How did discussing your service-learning experiences in class contribute, if it did contribute, to your
understanding of the skills necessary to do service-learning? Can you give me some examples?
Q: What assignments in the course were valuable to your learning and why?
Q: Do you think that reflecting on your service-learning experiences enhanced any skills that you use
in your workplace? Can you give me some examples?
Q: Thinking back to the course, in what ways do you remember being asked to reflect on the service-
learning experience? Please describe those reflection activities.
Q: What else would you like to share with me about your service-learning experience in this course?
In keeping with measures of validity and reliability for qualitative research, Lincoln and Guba’s
(1985) criteria for rigor was used: credibility and dependability, confirmability, transferability,
authenticity, and auditability. Credibility was ensured by using thick descriptions of the text to give the
experiences of participants, and to make sure the results of the research reflected those experiences.
Transferability was met by writing thick descriptions of the data so readers could use and evaluate that
data for their own contexts. Writing thick descriptions increased the validity of the study. Confirmability
happened because the researcher’s advisor reviewed the data analysis. Authenticity was met by making
sure the findings were written in a way that gave readers enough details to see for themselves that the
experiences and meanings of the participants were captured, without overwhelming the reader with too
much detail (Sandelowski, 1986). Auditability was met by keeping confidential audio recordings of each
interview, memoing throughout the data collection and analysis period, using a systematic coding process
and keeping records of it, and describing and defending to a dissertation committee how and why
decisions were made throughout the study (Wickam, 2015).
Both constant comparative and content analysis methods of data analysis were performed. After three
interviews had been conducted and transcribed, content analysis began by starting a master codebook and
doing line-by-line open coding. Tentative categories began to emerge, so codes were clustered into
categories. Once a preliminary set of codes and categories was created and organized, analysis of
documents continued, using the results of the analysis to determine whether any new categories should be
established or if any existing categories could be reduced to themes (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Peden-
McAlpine, n.d.).Categories were expanded and collapsed between the fourth and seventh interview, and
the eighth, ninth and tenth interviews fit into the existing categories. Categories were organized into
themes, which were isolated, and named, and quotations were used to explain the voice of the
participants. The themes were all related both to each other, to the data, and to the research questions
(Whittemore, Chase, & Mandle, 2001).
FINDINGS
Results of 10 interviews revealed one theme for the research question, and that was that Reflection
Enhanced the Ability to Complete a Project. Two categories offered evidence to support how reflection
enhanced the ability to complete a project: reflecting through a summative paper and reflecting through
class discussions.

Reflecting Through a Summative Paper
One of the two major deliverables in participants’ capstones, which were team-based, was a written
report. Most, but not all, of the time, this report was a business plan for each team’s client. The reflection
did not occur in this report. Reflection occurred for the participants whose professors assigned some kind
of summative written paper that was intended to help the students reflect. Participant 8 described how the
paper was reflective by saying, “the paper that we had to write as well, summarizing how we went about
everything - how we started, what the goal was, what processes we took, working with the group, were
there any issues…” Participant 1 said the final paper was a way to allow reflection about the whole
project by saying,
…it did force you to kind of go back through the project and think about . . . was this
a good idea, this didn't work out the way that we had planned . . . would I change
anything in the future? And even though some things maybe hadn't gone how we had
expected them to go - that doesn't necessarily mean that we would have changed
everything.
Participant 9 did not see it as reflective as much as evaluative, and described the summative
paper this way:
But, the final project that [the professor] had us do for the end paper was the whole
evaluating your group, evaluating the project, and evaluating how you felt throughout the
whole process. So, you actually had to, as our final, within two hours, you had to write,
as neatly as possible, your whole entire experience that you had. And [the professor] had
like key questions that [the professor] wanted you to touch upon, and that's what you had
to make sure that you put in this essay format report to hand in to [the professor].
Reflecting Through Class Discussions

Reflection also occurred for most participants during class sessions where they gave oral
presentations to their classmates and professor about their capstone project. Following the presentations,
there was time for class discussions and feedback. Participant 1 called this real-time learning, by saying,
Part of reflection was actually learning taking place real-time, because we got to say,
this is what we wanted to do with our project, these are mistakes - or maybe things we've
learned on the way, this is how we dealt with it, and then that allowed us to bring it back
to our classroom and get feedback from the students, but also teach them, um, kind of
another way of looking at things.
While reflection can take place before, during, and after service-learning experiences, Participant 1
described reflection during service. Participant 8 described how they were able to make changes to
training sessions given to their client because of the reflection during class discussions by saying,
It [class discussion] helped us out a lot, because what we did after each presentation,
is, we didn't just say, OK, good job team- we immediately discussed what went right,
what went wrong, how we can improve, and so, you know, when we - when we went
back and discussed it and gave these pros and cons to our instructor, he had some
feedback for us and asked for different things, if we had thought about doing differently
as well - so - um - and it was interesting.
Reflection has been shown to be a metacognitive skill which requires students to think about how to
think (Krathwohl, 2002; Martinez, 2006). Participant 2 described this metacognitive ability when talking
about how class discussions helped their team through the process of completing a client project:
We also reflected with our classmates about the challenges we were facing with our
client. And as a team, there was one point where, in a class, with other, you know, others,
we realized that we were not alone in our struggles - that other people were having the
same, you know, issues - similar issues with clients. So, it was a real - it's a reflection of,
you know - how are we going to pull through this as a team together? And we talked
about challenges, and then we talked about, OK, how did you go through it, what did you

do? How did you talk to your client? So we talked to each other - not just with the
professors.
While class discussion was reflective for most participants, two participants did not feel their
capstone courses included class discussion. Participant 5 said there was not time to talk to classmates
about each others’ service-learning projects, and when asked to provide examples of how she reflected on
the capstone project, could not think of any. Participant 6 had a similar experience, and described the lack
of formal reflection with classmates by saying,
I don't remember having any long conversations or any method for it or any sort of
discussion, um, with the other teams. We informally connected. We knew the other team
members - we knew the other teams. So we heard a little bit about them. We had a little
bit of a chance of discussion. I don't feel like it was - I don't remember it being formal. I
don't remember it being part of the, um, this week we're gonna give an update on how
your project is going, or post, you know, one page on what's going on with your project. I
don't remember that particularly happening.
These results are interesting because these two participants, on the survey, answered that they had at
least some reflection in their capstone course, but when prompted through interviews, had difficulties
coming up with specific examples of reflective activities. One possibility is that the course instructors
focused on a written reflective component for these respective courses and de-emphasized oral discussion
as a vehicle for reflection.
DISCUSSION
Using a written assignment such as a paper or journal is found in literature on reflection in business
education. For example, a five-year, longitudinal case study of a management accounting course asked
students to keep a reflective learning journal (Bisman, 2011). Researchers analyzed the journals and
classified them as either having surface or deep reflection. Researchers discovered that scores for the
journals were higher when they were classified as having deep reflection and during subsequent years of
use of the reflective journals, the researchers made them an even more integral part of the course,
removing other writing assignments and putting more focus on the journals. Research confirms that real-
time reflection, as Participant 1 described, is important. Eyler (2002) stated that reflection during service
helps students reflect on possible preconceptions they may be having about their service, voice
assumptions, and connect their experiences to academic content. Eyler also suggested having students
engage in reflective activities with their community partners, but it does not appear that the participants in
this study did that.
Some participants had difficulty describing specific examples of reflective activities. Literature is not
conclusive as to how much and what types of reflection are required in order to make an impact on
student learning. Mabry (1998) found that students assigned two types of written reflection caused
significant positive changes in civic attitudes and personal social values. Using oral discussion as a
vehicle for discussion is also found in literature. Mabry found that when students discussed their
experiences with instructors, service beneficiaries and other students, personal social values and civic
attitudes increased. Frequency of in-class reflection was also important, as students who reflected more
often in class had higher post-course personal social values and perceived a greater academic benefit of
the service-learning. Eyler & Giles (1999) found that one of the predictors of meeting course learning
outcomes was the amount and quality of reflection, and that reflection was associated with how much
students learned. Ash & Clayton (2009) recommended designing an overall reflection strategy containing
the types of reflection that would occur, such as online chat sessions, oral exams, or in-class discussion
sessions. A strategic marketing capstone course used an e-portfolio to allow students to reflect on their
learning (Mummalaneni, 2014). Davis and Comeau (2004) used reflection logs to evaluate students’
learning in a capstone business management course.
Reflection’s ability to help students complete a service-learning project is good news for the
workplace because industries associated with business need workers who can accomplish tasks, meet

deadlines, finish jobs, and complete projects. Therefore, business education must actively prepare
students for this workplace need by intentionally building reflective activities into team projects. This
study shows that reflection through written papers and oral class discussion are effective ways to promote
reflection. The importance of oral discussion as a vehicle for reflection should not be minimized, as
Stanton (1990) found that when reflection on experiences was weak, learning might be “superficial” (p.
185).
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
Limitations of this research exist which provide opportunities for future research. The ten interview
participants came from only three MBA programs, and since there are hundreds of U.S.-based MBA
programs, results may not be generalizable. In addition, it is possible that students who enroll in an MBA
program that includes a service-learning experience may have some pre-conceived ideas that they will
benefit from service-learning, and this could limit generalizability to all capstone courses. Moreover, two
of the three MBA programs represented by the participants are religious institutions, which may or may
not mean those students could hold different views about service-learning than students from non-
religious institutions. Future studies comparing these two groups might be interesting. Finally, this study
did not seek to distinguish between part-time and full-time MBA students, and the two groups may have
some different characteristics. In general, part-time MBA students are employed during their graduate
studies, and are balancing both work and school (Rafferty, 2012). In this study, 90 percent of participants
worked full-time while earning their MBA. It may be interesting to study full-time MBA students in
capstone courses that include a service-learning experience to see if results would be different.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of the study was to understand whether reflection, a stated requirement of service-
learning, enhances the employability skills of graduate business students who participate in service-
learning during a capstone. Findings showed that graduate business students used written and oral
reflection to improve their ability to accomplish their team-based client projects. Written reflection was
mostly found in the form of a summative report, report written for the professor. Oral discussion was
mainly found in class discussion.
This finding should be welcome news to employers of MBAs, as service-learning allows students
opportunities to practice these written and oral skills in preparation for employment. Colleges and
universities have been blamed for failing to educate the future workforce with the skills most needed by
employers. The Secretary of Education Commission on the Future of Higher Education wrote,
“employers reported repeatedly that many new graduates they hire are not prepared to work, lacking the
critical thinking, writing, and problem-solving skills needed in today’s workplaces” (U.S. Department of
Education, 2006, p. 3). Engaging students in reflective practice is an important component to high-impact
educational practices such as capstones and service-learning (Kuh, 2008). Employers want graduates who
can accomplish tasks, finish jobs, and complete projects, and service-learning helps build these skills.
Faculty and administrators in charge of MBA programs should integrate written and oral reflection into
service-learning team projects, because reflection enhances the ability to complete a project.

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Team Based Learning in Management Accounting: A Comprehensive Guide
to Flipping the Classroom
Brittany Cord
Luther College
This article identifies the essential elements and the advantages and disadvantages of Team Based
Learning and describes how they have been practically implemented in a managerial accounting course.
This article further makes a connection between Team Based Learning and a popular pedagogical
concept of Flipping the Classroom.
INTRODUCTION
Flipping the classroom has become a highly used catch phrase in higher education in recent years. A
flipped learning as defined by the Flipped Learning Network is “a pedagogical approach in which direct
instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group
space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students
as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter” (Flipped Learning Network, 2014).
This technique focuses on giving students hands on experience with the materials they are learning rather
than simply having them memorize material. There are many ways to implement a flipped classroom,
which may make it overwhelming for faculty to attempt this format. I have implemented a modified
flipped classroom by using the Team Based Learning principles set forth by Larry K. Michaelson,
Michael Sweet, and Dean X. Parmelee in their edited book Team Based Learning: Small-Group
Learning’s Next Big Step. Michaelson, Sweet, and Parmelee give very specific guidelines on how to
implement Team Based Learning in the classroom. Team based learning uses group work to both expose
students to and improve their ability to apply course content (Michaelsen & Sweet, 2008). The team based
learning method of using groups not only improves the students’ ability to apply course concepts, it
makes the student more accountable for their work as well as helps develop their interpersonal and
teamwork skills (Michaelsen & Sweet, 2008).Team Based Learning was initially designed and tested in
large management classrooms, but has since become widely used in health professions education as well
as in professional schools (Michaelsen, Knight, & Fink, 2002). If implemented correctly, Team Based
Learning can be effective in classrooms of all sizes and subject matters (Michaelsen et. al, 2002). I have
implemented Team Based Learning in my Managerial Cost Accounting courses here at Luther College
with class sizes from 16 – 25 students with great success. Not only have I seen students develop
interpersonal and teamwork skills, increase their class preparation, and improve their attendance, by
following the steps outlined by Michaelson, I have been able to successfully flip my classroom without
feeling intimidated or overwhelmed.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
There are four essential elements to Team Based Learning: Groups, Accountability, Feedback, and
Assignment Design (Michaelsen & Sweet, 2008). You are not implementing Team Based Learning if you
do not consider all four of these elements. One of the most noticeable advantages of Team Based
Learning is helping your students to develop interpersonal, communication, and teamwork skills. The
importance of these soft skills was highlighted in a 2012 study published in Business Communication
Quarterly. Top executives were asked the importance of 10 soft skills. 91% of respondents indicated
communication (including listening) as extremely important, 61% indicated interpersonal skills as
extremely important, and 70% indicated teamwork skills as either very important or extremely important
(Robels, 2012). In order for students to have time to develop these skills, they have to be in the same
group for the entire term of the class. It may take some students an entire semester to become comfortable
with their group. Each student needs time to figure out their role in the group and how best to contribute.
In addition, groups should be as heterogeneous as possible. As Michaelson and Sweet suggest, “The goal
here is to equip groups to succeed by populating them with members who will bring different perspectives
to the task” (Michaelsen & Sweet, 2008). Forming groups that include students with previous
relationships (such as best friends, teammates, international students of the same background, etc.) may
cause cliques within the group or cause students to not feel equally as heard in their group and therefore
less willing to participate.
To help facilitate the forming of groups I use an information sheet that I have the students fill out on
the first day of class. I am most interested in knowing things like, year in school, hometown,
extracurricular activities, excel experience, and dream job. All of my students are accounting majors, but
if you were using Team Based Learning in another setting, you most likely would want to know the
student’s intended major. After collecting this information, I form groups of four to five students each
that will remain the same throughout the semester. I try to form these groups with students that are as
different as possible. Initially the students are not very happy about the groups, but as the semester goes
on the students become more comfortable in their groups and start to form relationships with their group
members. Creating heterogeneous groups is really the key to developing your students interpersonal and
teamwork skills. I personally have witnessed several quieter and introverted students really take
leadership roles and shine in their groups, something they may not have been able to do in the larger
classroom. I teach at a college that has the luxury of smaller classrooms (20 – 30 students max) but this
technique is applicable to large lecture halls as well where it may provide an even greater opportunity for
students to be heard and become leaders. The second essential element of Team Based Learning is
accountability. The entire Team Based Learning concept is built on the idea that working in teams makes
students more accountable (Sweet & Pelton-Sweet, 2008). Each chapter or unit begins with an Individual
Readiness Assessment Test (I-RAT) in class. My I-RATs consist of five multiple-choice questions on the
broad concepts of the assigned reading for the chapter. By administering an I-RAT at the beginning of
each chapter, the students are held accountable for their reading assignments and are more likely to be
prepared for class. Right after the I-RAT is completed, the same test will be completed by the groups.
This is called a Team Readiness Assessment Test (T-RAT). In my classroom, the I-RAT is administered
on paper while the T-RAT is online using Luther College’s classroom management system. With the
addition of the T-RAT, the students are not only accountable to the instructor, but now they are
accountable to their group members as the T-RAT is a group effort. The T-RAT also provides a platform
for students to discuss ideas and teach each other. In addition to the I-RAT and T-RAT, students are held
accountable by their groups through peer assessments.
Peer assessments and evaluations are essential to developing your students’ teamwork skills. Benefits
from peer assessments and evaluations include motivation from peers, acquiring a more thoughtful
understanding of the process involved, increased confidence in one’s performance, development of
critical analysis of work of others, and increased quality in the learning output (Cestone, Levine, & Lane,
2008). Peer assessments can be done for each group assignment or at intervals throughout the semester. I
have my students complete a peer assessment midway through the semester and then again at the end of

the semester. There is much debate on what kind of peer assessment is most effective (ranking members
in your group, dividing points among group members, etc.) and faculty members will need to choose a
format that they are comfortable with, but using an assessment that requires students to give constructive
criticism is crucial (Cestone et al, 2008). In order for students to change their behavior, they have to know
what the problem behaviors are. After the students have completed their assessments of each other, I
compile the scores and comments and add my own comments on the individual as well as on how the
group is working together based on my classroom observations. The comments and scores from their
peers remain anonymous when they are compiled and returned to each student. In order for some student
to really engage in this process the instructor must attach a significant grade value to these peer
assessments. In my course, 10% of the students’ grade is made up of their peers and my assessment of
their group work, which adds another layer of accountability to the Team Based Learning process.
Feedback is the third essential element of Team Based Learning. Feedback should be frequent and
immediate when possible (Michaelsen & Sweet, 2008). As instructors, we are not only trying to teach
concepts to our students, but we are also trying to give them tools to be successful professionals. Giving
frequent feedback really helps students to understand where they are in the course and where they need to
be. It can also guide students to make changes in their learning, studying, and participation before it is too
late to make a difference. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing reported a study that found the
type of feedback, as well as the information provided to students about their assignments, can positively
impact student learning (Black & William, 2007). Students in my courses receive feedback (in the form of
a grade) after every assignment and test. Here is a place where you can really leverage your technology to
make your load as an instructor lighter. I use the online homework module that comes with the textbook
for all homework assignments. Not only is the homework graded automatically, but also it provides
feedback in the form of grades and explanations to the students immediately. Students are able to see
exactly where they went wrong in solving the problems while it is still fresh in their minds. As described
earlier, I use my online classroom management system to administer the T-RATs. By using this online
system, students are again able to see feedback and their grade immediately while the concepts are still
fresh. Since the T-RATs and the I-RATs are the same questions, they also then have feedback on how
they did on the I-RAT. In class group activities are all done in excel and submitted for grading through
the classroom management system. After all of the groups have submitted their assignment we engage in
class discussion and walk through the problem and answer until everyone understands. This is another
way to provide immediate feedback to students. Frequent and immediate feedback is the key to content
retention and to promote long-term learning.
The fourth essential element of Team Based Learning is assignment design (Michaelsen & Sweet,
2008). One of the major criticisms of group assignments, by both students and instructors alike, is how
they promote the “divide and conquer” mentality (Michaelsen et. al, 2002). In traditional group
assignments (such as writing a large paper or giving a group presentation) students become stressed about
meeting deadlines and therefore to make the project more manageable they divide up the work and each
student goes to their respective spaces and completes their portion and then they put it all together and
turn it in (Michaelsen et. al, 2002). While this method may accomplish some learning goals, it does not
accomplish the goal of developing student’s ability to work in teams effectively. To promote this goal,
assignments should be short enough to be completed in class and the emphasis should be on making a
decision (Michaelson & Sweet, 2008). If the assignments can be completed in class, then the students are
not stressed about meeting a deadline and are less likely to “divide and conquer”. Requiring students to
make a decision promotes team interaction and discussion. Students can exchange ideas and argue their
points to each other. A key skill for accountants is to be able to explain accounting concepts to non-
accountants. Giving students a non-threatening environment to practice explaining themselves and discuss
ideas is very beneficial to them. Some of my brightest students have not had the skills to express
themselves and have been unable to convince their team of the correct answer because of it. Designing
assignments so students have to make a decision also helps them apply the concepts they learn in the
textbook to real-life scenarios. In addition to having to know how to calculate certain ratios, costs,

breakeven points, etc., students need to understand how those calculations would affect certain business
decisions.
Each of the four elements mentioned above promote specific behaviors and skills in their own right,
but Team Based Learning is most effective when they are used together. Implementing a flipped
classroom and Team Based Learning may seem overwhelming, but Michaelson and Sweet provide a
sequence to follow which will make the implementation easier (Michaelson & Sweet, 2008). I use the
same sequence adapted for Managerial Cost Accounting for each chapter as follows: (1) Preparation, (2)
Readiness Assurance Tests with feedback, and (3) In-class application activities with feedback. Before
each chapter or unit, I assign a reading from the textbook and an online homework assignment. The
students use the reading and the homework assignment to help prepare for the readiness assurance tests.
The first class day of each chapter or unit starts with administering the I-RAT. When the students have
completed the I-RAT, they get into their groups and complete the online T-RAT. While students are
completing the T-RAT I look through the I-RATs I have collected to see if there is a concept that the
students need more emphasis on. Students receive immediate feedback once they have completed their T-
RAT. After the T-RAT is complete, I usually give a very brief lecture over the more important points
from the chapter. Once the lecture is finished, the students get into their groups and complete application
activities. Application activities can be anything from textbook problems to cases to simulations. Once all
the groups have submitted their application activity online for grading, we have a class discussion about
the activity whereby students receive their feedback. Additional class periods repeat the sequence of
online homework assignment before class, short lecture, application activity, discussion as needed. I
typically spend approximately three 60-minute classes on each chapter. Tests and other small writing
assignments are sprinkled in throughout the semester. Following this format has made it easier for me to
implement a flipped classroom and also helps students to know what to expect each class day.
IMPLEMENTATION
Students can be very critical of group work assignments. That is why it is crucial to get student buy in
at the beginning of the semester. Make sure to explain what Team Based Learning is and why you think it
is beneficial to the students. I have found that students are typically more receptive to new methods of
delivery if they understand why it is being done. It also sets them up to think about the expected outcomes
before the class starts. There are many advantages of Team Based Learning; class attendance has
improved, students are more prepared when they come to class, and students are developing teamwork
skills. Team Based Learning also requires much less lecture time for the instructor. In exchange for less
lecture time in class, instructors do have to spend more time preparing for class. I-RATs will have to be
written and T-RATs entered into an online system. In addition, application activities will need to be set up
for the groups. One significant disadvantage of using Team Based Learning is that it has the tendency to
minimize grade distribution (Michaelsen et. al, 2002). Since many of the assignments are completed in
the team setting and all members of the team get the same grade, there tends to be a smaller grade
differential within the class. I explain this to my classes on the first day and let them know that the tests
will be used to help differentiate their grades.
Following the guidelines of team based learning has really made flipping my Managerial Cost
Accounting courses much easier. Based on conversations with my students as well as their course
evaluations it is evident that they too have come to appreciate team based learning in a flipped classroom.
Every semester students express their fear of group work but by the end of the semester, most students
have not only embraced the team based learning environment, but some have thrived in it. By applying
the concepts as described above, you too can flip your classroom with ease and create a learning
environment where students are learning and communicating and truly using teamwork to solve problems.

REFERENCES
Cestone, C. M., Levine, R. E., Lane, D. R. (2008). Peer assessment and evaluation in team-based
learning. In L. K. Michaelson, M. Sweet, D. X. Parmelee (Eds.), Team-based learning: small-
group learning’s next big step. (pp. 69-78). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Flipped Learning Network (2014). Definition of flipped learning. Retrieved from
https://flippedlearning.org/definition-of-flipped-learning/
Michaelsen, L. K., Knight, A. B., Fink, L.D. (Eds.). (2002). Team-based learning a transformative use of
small groups. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Michaelsen, L. K., & Sweet, M. (2008). The essential elements of team-based learning. In L. K.
Michaelson, M. Sweet, D. X. Parmelee (Eds.), Team-based learning: small-group learning’s next
big step. (pp. 7-27). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Robles, M. M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace.
Business Communication Quarterly, 75 (4). Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/
doi/abs/10.1177/1080569912460400
Sweet, M. & Pelton-Sweet, L. M. (2008). The social foundation of team-based learning: students
accountable to students. In L. K. Michaelson, M. Sweet, D. X. Parmelee (Eds.), Team-based
learning: small-group learning’s next big step. (pp. 29-40). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
The National Center for Fair and Open Testing. (2007). The value of formative assessment. Retrieved
online http://www.fairtest.org/value-formative-assessment-pdf

Graduate Student Perceptions and Experiences with Connectivity in an
Asynchronous, Online Distance Degree Program
Katherine Terras
University of North Dakota
Patti Mahar
Kari Chiasson
Shawnda Schroeder
Mary Baker
A challenge within higher education is that student retention is lower in online programs than in
traditional programs partly due to a disconnection between students and the institution. An initial study
conducted by the authors of this study confirmed that students in an online program desired
connectivity. The research team sought participants from the original study to participate in a consensual
qualitative research study. Results indicated that students desired high connectivity with advisors,
instructors, and the program and some connectivity to their peers. The leading factor that contributed to
their feelings of connectedness was ongoing and timely communication.
INTRODUCTION
The number of students enrolled in online, distance degree programs continues to rise in colleges and
universities in the United States. This national trend is inclusive of special education teacher certification
programs in order to increase accessibility for qualified candidates, especially in rural areas. This growth
is largely in response to the shortage of special education teachers in this country. However, retaining
students enrolled in these online, distance degree programs is challenging. In an effort to retain students,
connectivity must be explored.

Teacher Shortage and Distance Degree Programs
The national shortage of highly qualified special education teachers has persisted for decades.
Nationwide, 98% of school districts are reporting a shortage, and it is expected to get worse. By 2020, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the gap will have increased by 17% (National Coalition on Personnel
Shortages in Special Education and Related Services, 2016). In response to teacher shortages around the
country, the number of virtual personnel preparation programs has grown dramatically over the past few
years (Allen & Seaman, 2008), especially in the area of special education (Johnson, Humphrey, & Allred,
2009). According to Canter, Voytecki, and Rodriquez (2007), providing online special education teacher
certification programs offers effective instruction and increases the ability for rural schools to offer
special education services to their students.
Retention and Connectivity

Despite the continual growth of distance education programs, a significant challenge for higher
education institutions is that student retention in online programs is lower than in traditional ones
(DiRamio & Wolverton, 2006; Hoyer, 2006; Stanford-Bowers, 2008; Terry, 2007). This dropout rate is
one of the greatest challenges facing online educators and administrators (Lee & Choi, 2011). Literature
suggests there are a number of reasons for low retention among students taking coursework online. These
include, but are not limited to, lack of institutional support, lack of connection between the student and
the institution, quality of interaction between the student and faculty, sense of isolation, disconnection,
issues with technology, and student self-discipline (Heyman, 2010; Stanford-Bowers, 2008; Veenstra,
2009).
While there are barriers to online student retention, there are students who persist in distance degree
programs. Studies have suggested that faculty-student interaction is correlated with dropout rates. To
illustrate, Ivoankova and Stick (2007) found that students were more likely to persist if faculty gave
timely feedback, involved students in interactivity activities, and promptly provided supports to
struggling students. When Thompson, Miller, and Franz (2013) examined the learning experiences of
undergraduate students who failed the online version of a course, then passed when completed it face-to-
face, their findings confirmed the importance of establishing a teaching presence and cultivating social
presence among students to support success. Lastly, Carr (2000) and Rovai (2002) suggested that students
who take online courses experience a lack of connectivity with their instructors, peers, and the program
because they do not have a physical presence.
Schwartz and Holloway (2012) reported that one might assume student-faculty relationships are not
valued in graduate education due to the short length of a master’s program and the increased focus on
careers. However, they investigated the relationship between faculty and master’s seeking students and
found these connections were forces for growth and forward movement. Students felt energized by their
connections, had boosts in self-esteem, increased their knowledge, improved their ability to take action,
and desired more connection.
Schroeder, Baker, Terras, Mahar, and Chiasson (2016), conducted initial research to ascertain
connectivity students desired and actually experienced within their asynchronous, online Master’s of
Science in special education program. For the 100 students who participated in the study, researchers
investigated their connectivity with other students, their instructors, their advisors, and the online
program. Results suggested students desired high connectivity overall but wanted the highest connectivity
with their advisors and the least connectivity with other students. There was a variation between
participants’ ages and those who wanted connectivity with peers, advisors, instructors, and the program.
Students between 26 and 30 years of age desired high connectivity with other students and their
instructors. Conversely, students between 46 and 50 years of age desired the least amount of connectivity
with students and instructors. All students experienced high or very high connectivity with other students,
their instructors, advisors, and program. The greatest level of experienced connectivity was between the
student and his or her advisor.
Research on the effectiveness of online learning has largely focused on the instructional process
relative to meeting course objectives, which typically is measured through the acquisition of knowledge

and skills. Yet, the online learning experience is more expansive and includes relational elements, such as
connectivity. To date, there is limited empirical evidence on the degree of connectivity learners feel
toward others in their learning communities, especially in distance degree programs.
In the initial quantitative study described above, students desired and experienced high connectivity
to the program, their advisors, and their instructors, while at the same time, they reported experiencing
and wanting less connectivity to fellow students. In turn, this current study further investigated the
concrete perceptions and experiences of connectivity for these graduate students enrolled in this distance
degree program using asynchronous, online instruction. Specifically, the perceptions and experiences
were focused on connectivity with advisors, instructors, students, and with the online program as a whole.
METHOD
An applied, qualitative design provided a vivid and full description in the natural language of the
phenomenon under study. Hill, Thompson, and William’s (1997) A Guide to Conducting Consensual
Qualitative Research (CQR) provided the framework. CQR uses open-ended questions to collect data,
utilizes an inductive analytic process, uses teams to make decisions by consensus, and verifies the
stability of results.
In the initial, quantitative study described above, students desired and experienced high connectivity
to the program, their advisors, and their instructors, while at the same time, they reported experiencing
and wanting less connectivity to fellow students. In turn, this study further investigated the concrete
perceptions and experiences of connectivity for these graduate students enrolled in this distance degree
program using asynchronous, online instruction. Specifically, the perceptions and experiences were
focused on connectivity with advisors, instructors, students, and with the online program as a whole.
Recommendations for increasing connectivity were also ascertained.
Setting
The study took place at a university of almost 15,000 students located in a rural state. Within the
university's nine schools and colleges, 225 fields of study were offered at the undergraduate and graduate
levels. The University had been offering online courses for 15 years, and as of Fall 2016 offered 16 online
degrees (10 graduate and 6 undergraduate) and nine online, graduate certificate programs that were fully
online with no on-campus requirements.
The study was situated in a college of education and human development’s Department of Teaching
Learning. This department is comprised of seven programs, one of them being special education. The
special education program was selected for this study because it offered a fully online Master’s of Science
degree using asynchronous instruction, with no on-campus residency requirement. Enrollment was
approximately 325 graduate students. Since the program began offering online learning in 2007, students
have resided across 42 states and eight countries.
Participants
During the initial study, participants were asked to provide their name and primary mode of contact if
they were willing to participate in an interview for a follow-up, qualitative study. A total of 42
participants provided contact information.
After the project’s approval by the Institutional Review Board, participants were contacted via email.
Those who responded were electronically sent the consent form detailing the study. After written consent
was received, participants were assigned to members of the research team for an interview to be
scheduled. Twelve students participated in the study. CQR recommends 8 to 15 participants, which is
small enough to study intensively, yet large enough to determine if findings apply to several participants
or are just representative of one or two.
As can be seen in Table 1, the 12 participants ranged in age from 25 to 61 with a mean of 35.9 and
median of 32. Most participants chose this distance degree program for its convenience and flexibility. At
the time of the study, four participants had just completed their master’s degree, while the remaining eight

had a range of 24 to 45 earned graduate credits. A minimum of 32 credits was needed to graduate. The
average GPA was 3.9. Over half (n = 8) of the participants had physically been on-campus at least once
for varying reasons.
TABLE 1
PARTICIPANT INFORMATION
Age Range: 25 to 61
Mean: 35.9
Median: 32
Why Selected Distance Degree Convenience (n = 5)

Flexibility (n = 5)
Recommendation (n = 2)
Nationally Ranked (n = 1)
Undergraduate Studies (n = 1)
Graduate Credits Earned Completed Degree (n = 4)

24 to 45 credits
Distance from University Range: 5 to 1515 miles

Mean: 343 miles
Physically Been On-Campus 8 Participants
GPA Mean: 3.9

Mode: 4.0
Data Collection
Data were collected across one semester by conducting one semi-structured interview with each of
the 12 participants. Interviews were divided amongst researchers resulting in a one-on-one pairing. Each
interview was approximately one hour and was conducted by phone or video conferencing. Interviews
were audio recorded for transcription, and member checking was used for validation. Each participant
was mailed a $25 Visa gift card following member checking. Individual interview transcripts were
assigned a code number (e.g., P1) to protect participants’ confidentiality.
Because interviews were conducted across the five member research team, a semi-structured
interview guide was developed for consistency. Findings from the authors’ initial study on the degree of
connectivity in online courses was the framework for developing the interview guide. This guide
consisted of 22 open-ended questions in order to not constrain the responses of the participants. The
questions were categorized into five sections: (1) participant information; (2) connectivity with advisors;
(3) connectivity with instructors; (4) connectivity with students; and (5) connectivity with the program.
The Appendix contains the questions for each section.
To assist with usefulness, clarity, and sensitivity of the interview questions, the guide was audited by
one participant-consultant prior to conducting the interviews. All recommendations made by this
individual were accepted.
Data Analysis
At the outset of the study, potential researcher bias was discussed to help researchers set aside any
preconceived experiences about connectivity and distance degree programs. Each researcher was asked to

respond to the following statement in writing: In order to produce a valid body of research, please identify
any values, biases, or experiences about this topic that could influence how you collect, analyze, or report
data. Responses were shared and discussed amongst researchers. In the consensual discussions that
ensued, researchers held each other accountable for potential bias.
To understand this natural phenomenon, data were inductively analyzed using consensual qualitative
research (CQR) designed by Hill, Thompson, and Williams (1997). This process relies on two teams, the
core team and the audit team. This method permits the core team to rigorously and systematically analyze
data in an effort to reach consensus, then relies on the audit team to check all analyses. The core team was
specifically charged with identifying core ideas for participants’ experiences through analysis of each
participant’s statement, then for discovering patterns within these core ideas that accurately represent the
sample. The audit team’s role was to audit these ideas and patterns for stability. In CQR, the core team
initially analyzes the majority of the transcripts, while the audit team analyzes a small sample to
determine stability of findings. In this study, the core team initially analyzed 10 transcripts and the audit
team the remaining two. Four themes emerged from the data and three conclusions were drawn; an
analytic schema is presented in Table 2.
TABLE 2
ANALYTIC SCHEMA
Themes
Desired Connectivity
 Theme 1: A majority of participants did not experience any change in their desired connectivity
to advisors, instructors, students, and program, but for those who did, they experienced greater
connectivity than desired, especially with advisors.
 Theme 2: Participants desired high to very high connectivity to their advisors, instructors, and the
program; whereas no participant desired this degree of connectivity with other students.
Connecting Experiences
 Theme 3: The central experience that made most participants feel connected was quality
communication; consequently, they felt part of the distance degree program.
Disconnecting Experiences
 Theme 4: Most participants did not have a disconnecting experience with advisors nor the
program. However, slightly less than half of the participants had delayed feedback from
instructors, and half experienced limited interaction from other students, which impacted their
connectivity.
Conclusions
1. Participants enrolled in this distance degree program desired high to very high connectivity with
advisors, instructors, and to the program as a whole.
2. Participant wanted some connectivity with other students.
3. Quality communication was the leading factor in participants feeling connected or disconnected in
this distance degree program. Communication must be ongoing, timely, and utilize a variety of
modes.
RESULTS
Upon completion of data analysis, four themes emerged. Below, each theme is presented along with
supporting evidence.
Theme 1
A majority of participants did not experience any change in their desired connectivity to advisors
(58%), instructors (83%), students (58%), and program (83%), but for those who did, they experienced

greater connectivity than initially desired, especially with advisors. Participants were asked to rate their
desired connectivity, with advisors, instructors, students, and the special education program as a whole.
They rated the desired connectivity on a scale of 1 to 5: no connectivity (1); limited connectivity (2);
some connectivity (3); high connectivity (4); very high connectivity (5). Connectivity ratings were given
for students’ desired connectivity when first starting graduate school and how it may or may not have
changed over time. When participants began their fully online program, many revealed being “nervous,”
or not sure what they were “getting into.” One admitted to wanting some “hand holding” and another
wanted to “really get to know” the people teaching her. Consequently, they initially desired high to very
high connectivity with advisors and instructors, yet as they progressed through the program and became
more “comfortable and confident,” this desire for connectivity did not change for most participants. This
may have been a result of participants (n = 10) feeling well supported, especially by their advisors. One
participant shared how she “likes talking” to her advisor and felt they had a “pretty good relationship.”
Another came to understand the importance of being connected to her advisor in order to get things
accomplished. Most participants found the majority of instructors to be communicable and understanding,
with one sharing, “…I found that I did feel more connected to them I guess whether I wanted to or not.”
Most participants (n = 10) desired connectivity to the special education program did not change over
time. Seven of these participants wanted high to very high connectivity, and the remaining three wanted
some. One participant asserted how she “never felt like I was just another student with the professors.”
Another shared:
Because I hadn’t taken any special ed coursework at all. I just had like my teaching
license and so special ed was a bit of a deep end for me to jump into. I’m going to stick
with a 5. This is a hard job and there are people out there who have been doing it for 15
years and if they can help me with something and if they have any advice that they can
spread some of that wisdom around. I think that is good so I’m sticking with 5.
Theme 2
Participants desired high to very high connectivity to their advisors, instructors, and the program;
whereas no participant desired this degree of connectivity with other students. When participants first
began graduate school, none of the 12 wanted high to very high connectivity with other students. This is a
stark contrast to the connectivity they wanted with advisors, instructors, and the online program. Nine
participants wanted some connectivity, and three wanted low to very low. One participant explained, “I
was expecting fully online. Hey great, I won’t have to interact with a room full of strange people. That
was just fine with me.” Another explained how she was more focused on having a connection with
colleagues at work than with peers in class. Working full-time and having children did not leave time for
connectivity with peers for another participant. Over time, only three wanted more connectivity.
The connectivity participants did desire from other students was more for learning purposes rather
than for socialization. The connecting experiences participants had with other students were driven by
course-based activities such as completing discussion boards, blogs, wikis, and group work. These
activities helped participants learn about their peers’ experiences and their perspectives, which enhanced
learning. Conversely, participants also experienced disconnection from peers. This was primarily due to
disengagement from other students during the course-based activities and from courses that had limited
opportunities for interaction.
Theme 3
The central experience that made most participants feel connected was quality communication;
consequently, they felt part of the distance degree program. Quality communication was defined by
participants as the following: variety of modes (not just email), prompt, and ongoing. The preferred mode
of communication was a phone call.
Specific to advisors, eight participants experienced quality communication. The impact was that they
felt calm and comforted about the special education program because they were able to understand it. One

participant shared, “I just knew I could trust her and she would have my back.” Participants noted how
having “somebody” to whom they could direct their questions was essential for connectivity:
I should be able to figure this out. I shouldn’t need all this handholding. But she evidently
understands that students don’t always know exactly how the program works and how
things flow and she was very good at initiating emails and making sure that we
understood that we could contact her and had a nice way of emailing that made me feel
like I could talk to her about whatever. I never felt like I was bothering her or that she
would think that I was an idiot I guess.
Beyond this, four participants highlighted how influential that initial contact with the advisor was to them,
especially when it was initiated by the advisor and was positive. Two participants even felt cared about,
stating: “I really felt like she cared even though she had never met me….” In addition:
It makes me feel like she really cares about the students and about the graduate program.
I think if other than me feeling like I’m a part of the school even though I’m not
physically there, it does make me feel like a student even though I’m just an online
student.
Unfortunately, two participants had no experiences with their advisors, which manifested as no
connection.
As for participants experiencing connectivity with instructors, no pattern emerged; however,
participants experienced diverse interactions that made them feel connected. The leading pattern that
emerged was that participants experienced connectivity when instructors shared personal information.
This was operationalized as sharing personal experiences about the field and providing their professional
backgrounds. Connectivity was expanded because this type of sharing let participants know instructors
had “been in my shoes.” This opened the door for participants to share personal experiences, too. They
also appreciated when instructors participated in discussion boards and hosted live chats. Lastly, the use
of audio and video were welcomed practices. Participants liked seeing and hearing instructors for lectures,
demonstrations, and virtual office hours, as they “felt part of the class.” One participant noted, “They
have those office hours which was fabulous. It was really nice, like I could actually see who my teacher is
and we could actually talk. This was kind of cool.”
When analyzing connecting experiences to the program as a whole, no patterns emerged. This does
not, however, imply that students were not connected; they just had differentiated experiences. Three
participants asserted how they felt connected to the program simply because it was set-up well. Friendly
and helpful office staff were denoted, as were the classes and instructors.
Theme 4
Most participants did not have a disconnecting experience with advisors nor the program. However,
slightly less than half of the participants had delayed feedback from instructors, and half experienced
limited interaction from other students, which impacted their connectivity.
Eight participants did not have a disconnecting experience with their advisors. Interestingly, a few of
these participants suggested that simply being an online student can be disconnecting, stating, “It’s just a
natural disconnect from face-to-face.”
Nine participants had disconnecting experiences with instructors. Six of these experienced delayed
feedback. This is the negative correlate to the quality communication participants must experience to feel
connected. Delayed feedback was operationalized as delays in grading and questions not answered in a
timely manner. Here is one participant’s illustration:
I had one class where there was no interaction with the professor whatsoever. The whole
piece was really frustrating. I found myself asking, ‘Is there even an instructor behind this
or is it just put out?’ Assignments weren’t graded. About every 3 weeks it was like oh,
she logged in and graded. So there was no feedback throughout the course at all. It really
didn’t encourage me to do much of anything in the class. It was really like a free pass to
kind of skate through. Which in turn frustrated me because I paid a lot of money for the
classes and I want to get the most out of it, but it just was disheartening and it made the

content seem unimportant when it could have been a really, really important class….even
how the course was laid out, it felt like there wasn’t much thought put behind the weekly
assignments and there wasn’t much meat to it and there was no interaction from the
professor.
One of these students felt instructors should be “communicating with students if a delay in grading, so I
know instructors are working equally hard.” Besides delayed feedback, other participants encountered
instructors who lacked the personal effect. No “face time” only email [no video or audio was used], no
personal information was shared, and little contact overall were the central experiences for this.
Participants described the impact of this as: “kind of weird,” “a little cold,” and not feeling “part of the
community.”
Six participants encountered disconnecting experiences with other students. Two participants
commented on how there was no opportunity for interaction in some courses:
A couple of classes where there just really was no message board interactions. It really
was just read this chapter, write this paper, alright on to next week. Read this, watch this
video, turn this paper in. I don’t know if there was anybody else in the class actually.
Comparatively, in courses that had interactive activities embedded, two different participants noted a
negative impact when students did not participate, citing “feeling disconnected” and “did not get to know
those students.”
Eight participants did not have a disconnecting experience with the special education program as a
whole. One participant summarized, “I never really felt disconnected from the program. Even being
online, I just never did. That was my program and that was what I was going to do, and I was good with
it.” Amongst the four who had disconnecting experiences there was no pattern. However, two participants
were concerned with the amount of required courses compared to elective ones.
Summary
Participants enrolled in this distance degree program desired connectivity. They mostly desired it with
their advisors, instructors, and online program. Connectivity with other students was least desired, yet
participants still wanted to have some. Also notable was the impact that quality communication had on
participants feeling connected or disconnected when enrolled in a program that is entirely online.
Communication most be ongoing, prompt, and utilize a variety of modes.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
This follow-up study investigated the concrete perceptions and experiences of connectivity for
graduate students enrolled in a distance degree program using asynchronous, online instruction.
Specifically, their perceptions and experiences focused on connectivity with advisors, instructors,
students, and with the online program as a whole. Three conclusions were drawn.
Conclusion 1
Participants enrolled in this distance degree program desired high to very high connectivity with
advisors, instructors, and to the program as a whole, whereas none desired this degree of connectivity
with other students. Participants revealed that the greatest level of connectivity was experienced between
them and their advisors. Other research corroborates this finding as one study found that academic
advising was vital to a student’s success within any program of study, affecting both student retention and
student satisfaction (Corts et al., 2000). A more recent study stated adult graduate learners needed their
advisors to provide good programmatic guidance they could trust, to care about them as individuals, and
to remain readily available with timely responses (Schroeder & Terras, 2015). The participants in the
current study identified similar essential characteristics, such as timely communicative responses and
guidance.
While previous research supports the notion that students desire connectivity with advisors, and have
better retention when there is high connectivity, studies validate that students also need an involved

instructor. Woods and Baker (2004) found that a “sufficient level of interaction with faculty generally
creates a sense of personalization and customization of learning and helps students overcome feelings of
remoteness; perhaps the greatest obstacle to fostering a student’s sense of community in online distance
learning” (p. 6). In another study, Reupert, Mayberry, Patrick, and Chittleborough (2009), stated that
students needed online instructors to provide a personal presence by being engaging, approachable,
understanding, patient, and passionate about the subject. Accordingly, they purported these qualities were
enacted through specific teaching strategies including self-disclosure, relationship building, humor,
provisions of individualized and timely feedback, and organization. Comparatively, findings from this
current study support these assertions. Participants felt connected when advisors and instructors initiated
and responded through a variety of modes of communication, because being able to talk to somebody
made students feel faculty’s presence. Participants also felt cared about through personal information
shared during formal and informal dialogue.
Much like research on traditional, face-to-face teaching, participants in this online program also
implied that it is the connective experiences with their advisors and instructors that link students to their
institution of higher education and their academic programs. In an effort to retain students in online
special education programs, the advisors and instructors must form relationships with their students in an
effort to create levels of connectivity that have traditionally been desired among on-campus learners.
Conclusion 2
Participants desired some connectivity with other students. Although participants wanted connectivity
with their peers, having an increased connection with their advisors and instructors was more important
for the aforementioned reasons. Findings from the initial, quantitative study revealed that only 12% of
students wanted high to very high connectivity with their peers. Similar to the initial study, students were
more concerned with establishing and maintaining a sense of connection to their academic advisors first,
their instructors second, their online program third, and their fellow students last.
Many students desired lower connectivity with peers. This phenomenon can be explained by a study
conducted by Capdeferro and Romero (2012) who investigated online master’s students’ perceptions of
collaborative learning activities. Students identified these activities as the most important source of
frustration in online learning due to the following: group disorganization, lack of shared goals amongst
team members, imbalance in level of commitment and quality of individual contributions, excess time
spent on these tasks, and difficulties in communication. Empirically supported, not all students want a
social connection with their instructors and classmates (Drouin & Vartanian, 2010), rather the flexibility
of online learning is paramount (Reupert et al., 2009). Reupert et al.’s finding is corroborated with the
current study as the majority of participants selected the online, distance degree program because of its
flexibility and convenience. However, this cannot be generalized to all students. Mṻller’s (2008) study
found that students ranked high in importance the relations they built with online classmates because
building social relationships with peers provided a key support system for them. Mṻller’s findings are
reinforced by Mykota and Duncan (2007) which found students are able to develop a sense of connection
to others if they experience belonging and a sense of being part of the online experience.
Participants’ pursuit for a graduate degree, in order to advance their professional careers, would
explain their reduced connectivity with other students, but increased connectivity with advisors,
instructors, and the program. Participants enrolled in this online program to attain a graduate degree for
career advancement; advisors and instructors were their primary pathways for meeting this goal.
Similarly, Ivankova and Stick (2007) postulated that graduate students are motivated for goal attainment
and valued the career and financial outcomes of their education. This current study should not imply that
participants do not want a connection with their peers, rather connectivity with peers may be pursued
more in the workplace than in the college classroom, as all participants in this study were practicing
professionals.

Conclusion 3
Quality communication was the leading factor in participants feeling connected or disconnected in
this distance degree program. Quality communication was operationalized as ongoing, timely, and
utilizing a variety of modes. Without these variables, disconnection ensued, especially when feedback to
participants was delayed. Mṻller (2008) found that instructors’ [and advisors’] availability (through email,
telephone, or online chat), timeliness of their replies, and words of encouragement were viewed as critical
to students’ academic success.
The impact of quality communication is that participants in this current study understood the
program, resulting in feelings of calmness and comfort. Numerous studies have suggested a positive
correlation between relationally supportive online environments and cognitive learning (e.g., Baker, 2010;
Gunawardena, 1995; Rovai, 2002). Another impact was that most participants in this study had
connecting experiences, which were provocations for desiring high to very high connectivity with
advisors, instructors, and the program. This supports a major finding from the initial, quantitative study
that concluded all participants experienced high to very high connectivity. Pigliapoco and Boglio (2008)
found that students’ perceived sense of community in online courses was relevant to student satisfaction,
performance, and persistence. Fundamentally, it was theorized that if students feel involved and develop
relationships with other members of the learning community their levels of satisfaction and persistence
increase (Tinto, 1993; Rovai, 2002). When examining these supportive and relational elements, they may
have contributed to participants’ average GPA of 3.9, especially when considering how GPA is
significantly predictive of student persistence (Harrell & Bower, 2011). Woods and Baker (2004)
postulated that failure to fully consider the relational dynamic in the online setting may produce greater
feelings of isolation among distance learners, reduced levels of student satisfaction, poor academic
performance, and increased attrition.
Findings from this current study provide evidence that quality communication with students is
paramount for connectivity, which can have a direct effect on retention. Although online learning is
expanding in availability and popularity, the high dropout rate remains one of the greatest challenges
facing online educators and administrators (Lee & Choi, 2010). Ivankova and Stick (2007) had a parallel
finding in that if faculty gave timely and appropriate feedback, involved students in interactive activities,
and promptly provided supports to struggling students, then students are more likely to persist in online
courses, whereas ineffective communication is a barrier to persistence (Aragon & Johnson, 2008).
Because this study was situated in a graduate, special education program, retention of students is vital in
order to help reduce the national shortage of qualified special education teachers.
Implications for Practice

Graduate students enrolled in an asynchronous, online distance degree program desire a strong
connection with advisors and instructors throughout their entire program. The findings from this study
provide guidance for how faculty in these special education programs can build connectivity with their
students, while increasing retention rates, as an increasing number of students are relying on online
programs to complete degrees. Retention of students in these special education programs is imperative
due to the pervasive shortage of special education teachers. If we are to successfully address these critical
shortages with qualified personnel, faculty must create relationships with their students in an effort to
create levels of connectivity that have traditionally been desired among on-campus learners.
There is a clear indication from these findings that it is more valuable to focus primarily on students'
connectivity with advisors and instructors over connectivity with their peers. Findings illuminated how
the high level of connectivity students desire with their advisors and instructors ultimately connects them
to their online program and institution. However, this should not imply that efforts should not be made to
establish connectivity amongst peers, it is just secondary to instructors and advisors.
Establishing and maintaining quality communication is paramount. As discussed previously,
communication that is timely, ongoing, and varied are how this can be achieved. Timeliness is attained
when faculty respond to students within 24 hours. Students want ongoing communication that is
reciprocal; meaning, they want faculty to initiate communication (not only respond) by sending a

“checking-in” email and sending a whole group email that updates students on course developments and
professional activities (e.g., conferences attended). Additionally, diversify the mode of communication.
Email is efficient, yet not always effective. Students want faculty to initiate phone calls, especially at the
beginning of their programs. Lastly, students want to “see” faculty through video. Specifically, they
appreciate lectures that allow them to see instructors talking and virtual office hours when faculty are live
via the webcam. Effectually, students find these aforementioned practices relational, which makes them
feel part of something bigger and makes them try harder. Both of these are essential for retention.
It was recommended by participants in this study that students need to also be accountable for
connecting with faculty and other students. It was suggested that students need to reach out to discuss
things if they feel disconnected. Beyond this, students need to work harder to connect personally than
they had to in face-to-face classes due to not having that initial, visual attraction.
It is recommended that instructors and advisors in asynchronous, online distance degree programs be
purposeful in mentoring each other on connectivity with students, especially new faculty. It may be
helpful to develop guidelines with specific suggestions about connecting with students.
Future research from other disciplines might provide varying views regarding connectivity with
instructors, advisors, students, and their programs. Research should explore students' connectivity to
determine if these findings are true between and among disciplines, universities, departments and/or
online and face-to-face environments.
In closing, here is a quote from a participant that captures the essence of connectivity and the study as
a whole:
I had great instructors. Every one of them. I did not have any instructors that I felt didn't
care and wasn't there to make my learning experience a good one. I felt connected to
them through e-mails and video chatting. I'm an older student where I kind of like to put
a little bit of personal stuff in with my learning and then I think that my instructors gave
that back, too. They felt like they could share anything with me and so it connected us
that way on personal experiences and I think that is important to be able to connect on a
personal level.

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APPENDIX
Interview Guide
Section 1. Participant Information
1. Age
2. Why did you choose the online special education program for your graduate degree?
3. How many credits have you completed in your graduate program?
4. What is your geographic distance from the university?
5. Have you ever been on campus? Reason? How Long?
6. What is your GPA?
Section 2. Connectivity with Advisors

1. On a scale of 1-5 (1 very low, 3 some, 5 very high) how much connectivity did you want to have
with your advisor when you first started graduate school? Has it changed?
2. If any, what experiences made you feel connected to your advisor?
a. What impact have they had on you?
3. If any, what experiences made you feel disconnected?
4. What recommendations do you give to develop strong connectivity between students and
advisors?
Section 3. Connectivity with Instructors

with your instructors when you first started graduate school? Has it changed?
2. If any, what experiences made you feel connected to your instructors?
4. What recommendations do you give to develop strong connectivity between students and
instructors?
Section 4. Connectivity with Students

with other students when you first started graduate school? Has it changed?
2. If any, what experiences made you feel connected to other students?
4. What recommendations do you give to develop strong connectivity with other students?
Section 5. Connectivity with the Special Education Program

with the special education program when you first started graduate school? Has it changed?
2. If any, what experiences made you feel connected to the program?
4. What recommendations do you give to develop strong connectivity between students and the
program?

Updating Graduate Business Curricula: Incorporating Experiential Learning
Harish C. Amar
California Institute of Advanced Management
Richard Johnson
Eric J. McLaughlin
INTRODUCTION
Business Schools across the United States have evolved slowly from “Chalk and Talk” pedagogical
designs to that of the incorporation of cases to bring the “real world” examples into the graduate business
classroom. Unfortunately, cases are typically unidimensional and they often focus specifically on one
academic topic. Thus, if the course is a class in Marketing, students can be assured that the case assigned
to them for this class is about Marketing and not about any other business topic! Graduates of business
colleges today enter the work force with the misconception that managers will face only one challenge at
a time and it will be singular in nature. The concept of a multi-dimensional problem is a complete
anathema and their skills learned in graduate school do not adequately prepare them for the “real world”
of business.
While cases do have merit in some academic situations, experiential learning techniques have
provided a new avenue for reflection and incorporation into the business curriculum. Experiential
exercises range from warm-ups, to field trips, and even in-class puzzles. These approaches convert the
lecture format class to that of the flipped classroom where students study prior to class and enter the
classroom ready to “experience” a relevant learning exercise. The most realistic modality for experiential
learning is to incorporate an actual consulting project within each course of a graduate MBA program.
This paper addresses the successes by one academic institution incorporating team-based real
consulting projects into the MBA curriculum. The first section addresses the history and evolution of
experiential learning as a pedagogical entity; the second section describes the mechanics of the consulting
project as it is incorporated into the MBA program; and the third section is a reporting of the success of
the program as perceived by the recent graduates of the program.

Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Experiential Learning Theory
There are many well-documented theories that show that experiential learning in higher education can
develop better learning, than passive and rote approaches. To date, much research has been conducted on
experiential learning as well as its application to university curriculum. Kosnik’s research (2013, p 613),
states,
“The traditional academic model that removed business students from the real world, into the
“safe” classroom environment of theory-driven lectures without real world experience, no longer offers
adequate preparation for decision-making and competitive performance in a global marketplace.”
The theoretical foundation of this study will examine the roots of experiential learning theory itself, in
order to make the case for the use of experiential learning techniques by faculty within the context of fully
employed MBA programs across universities. The foundational theories of Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky,
Knowles and Kolb are presented, in order to examine the value of the experiential application by faculty
members teaching in the MBA programs in the selected universities.
Dewey is considered one of most influential educational thinkers of the twentieth century and has
been rightly given credit for his theoretical concepts “justifying a shift from prevailing authoritarian
teaching methods to more progressive education and pedagogical methods that involve a “learning by
doing” experiential approach to education” (Dewey, 1938). He further explained that the educators must
make distinctions between experiences as some experiences are educationally worthwhile and others are
not. In other words, there should be discrimination between a good experience and a bad experience. In
addition, education is a social process and the development of experience comes about through interaction
with others. Piaget developed a stage theory of cognitive development. His four stages, the sensorimotor
stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage, try to
explain how children try to understand the world. He came to the conclusion that learning is an active
process (Lavatelli, 1973) and understanding a new experience grows out of a previous learning
experience. Vygotsky developed a theory that was somewhat different from Piaget’s theory in the sense
that it described the contribution of the society and culture in the development of mental processes. He
argued that learning precedes development and not vice versa. He also developed an important concept
called “zone of proximal development.” This concept explains how an instructor can help a student
reaching the next level of learning experience. Kolb & Kolb (2005) based their theory of experiential
learning on the above theories by Dewey, and Piaget, and emphasized the role of experience as a source
of learning. They explained how knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. D.A.
Kolb’s cyclical model of learning includes concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract
conceptualization, and active experimentation and is very well respected. This theory of learning starts
with the learner actively experiencing an activity and ends with trying to test the model in a forthcoming
experience.

FIGURE 1
KOLB’S MODEL OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Knowles’s work (1980) developed the adult learning theory that he termed andragogy. He explained
that adults are self-directed and explained the importance of creating a positive environment in the
classroom. Knowles also explained why previous experiences of adults should be taken into consideration
and how these should be used as a resource in the new learning process.
Implementation and Integration of a Consulting Client Project into an MBA Degree Program
The initial concept of a consulting project was a component of the original pedagogical design of a
new MBA degree program that emphasized the work of management guru Dr. Peter Drucker. Applying
management theory directly into a real-world setting provided benefits for both graduate students and
society as the consulting projects would be pro bono. The Director of the Consulting Institute solicits
clients from contacts with numerous Chambers of Commerce, personal networking contacts, local
businesses, and word-of-mouth from past clients. The potential client is vetted with a personal interview
and the goal of the process it to match a particular client’s needs with one of the academic courses
upcoming within the twelve courses of the MBA program. The requirement of the client is that they must
be available to the student team throughout the seven-week term and that at least one representative of the
company be available to attend the final team presentation either live or via telecommunication. The
client receives a verbal and visual presentation (using PowerPoint) from the four-to-five team members as
well as a written report of their research and recommendations. Faculty grade the presentations, the
reports and the leadership abilities of the team leader. The client is asked to evaluate the team
presentation and value of their product as it applies to their company using a standardized grading rubric
for this purpose.
Perceived Value of the Consulting Experience by Students

Quantification of “value” is challenging but first-hand primary data in the form of interviews can
serve as valuable qualified feedback for student learning outcome purposes. Below are direct quotes from
students who experienced the opportunity to participate in consulting client projects throughout the MBA
program. The data is divided into two categories: a convenience sampling of current students and a
sampling of recent graduates of the program. Direct quotes are designated as such. In some cases, the
interviewee’s comments were paraphrased by the interviewer.

Summary of Interviews—Current Students
‐ “Through the consulting projects, I have learned about how to engage with other types of
businesses, and people outside my industry. I learned a lot about research.”
‐ When asked which element of the program had the greatest value, the student replied: “In a weird
way, it has less to do with the subject matter than my having to be inventive in the projects. The
consulting things have taken me far afield from what I usually do. I have had to deal with erratic
team members. I have learned to embrace uncertainty, I am not fearful of failure. I have had to
learn new industries and had to focus on marketing. I have become better at research.” He
continued, “I have gotten a broader view of the world; I have learned to read very intensely. I
have learned to do research. I have had to think very hard. I have had to build mental muscle. I
had to learn social media before I even had a Facebook account.” The main benefit is the
consulting work; it stands business education on its head. “It just doesn’t exist anywhere
else. You’re doing a full-on sprint for 7 weeks. You are dealing with real-life business persons,
who have W-2s to worry about, and they are relying on you.”
‐ “One of the things I love is that I am learning through my consulting experience. When I
graduate I want to be able to show my experience and hope to have a management position one
day.”
‐ One of this student’s favorite elements of the courses is the consulting, in which she learns about
other industries than the one in which she is currently employed.
‐ “The concept of consulting for every class is brilliant. Here is an interesting anecdote: I
conducted a call with a client in Northridge. A couple of MBA students were listening to his
conversation (he was in a Starbuck’s) and were amazed that students at our institution were doing
these kinds of projects. They were not just impressed, they were flabbergasted.”
Summary of Interviews--Alums
“The most value was not from the course materials. For me, they were a refresher, since my
undergrad degree was Bus Ad/Mktg. The best value came from the consulting projects, especially when
playing a team leader role. The fact that our projects dealt with “real” people as opposed to case studies
mattered.”
[In response to question, “What had the highest value to you in our program?”]: “The leadership
skills learned while doing the consulting…I think I apply it every day, now. If I had them before, I
wasn’t aware of them. A lot of the clients come in with their own expectations of what their problems
are. When we address the problems, they get a new and broader perspective.”
“The consulting was of the most value to me. [This was repeated multiple times throughout the
interview.] The experience that I gained helped me.”
“The consulting was key.” She mentioned that every course had a consulting client, ranging from
mom-and-pops to big firms, and that she developed her presentation skills, and to be fast on her feet. She
pointed out that these were not “mock” exercises; they were “real.” In an interview for a position she
subsequently landed with Google, she asked the interviewer, who questioned her credentials, “Does it
make sense for me to spend six figures on doing mock exercises, or spend $20K doing real ones?”
“I had opportunity to lead teams through the projects.”
The consulting projects had great value, but were diminished by a slacker, for whom she and others
frequently had to cover.
“The most valuable element of the program was the consulting.”
CONCLUSIONS
Graduate business education in the United States is progressing rapidly from pure lecture classrooms
to those that engage students into an active learning environment. While case studies have served as
proxies for the “real world” they suffer from uni-dimensionality and predictability as to the topic for each
of their respective courses. Replacing cases with real consulting projects with real clients involves a

complex management of the curriculum requiring the selection of appropriate clients, matching the
client’s needs with the abilities and capabilities of the students at their curriculum mastery level, and
obtaining faculty that have not only academic capabilities to teach a course but also consulting experience
to serve as a guide and mentor to the students as they progress through the consulting project.
Student perceptions of the value of the consulting project as a graded component of each graduate
MBA course provides a uniform and powerful acclaim to the pedagogical value of each project
undertaken. Graduates of the program can add to their resumes the names of the twelve consulting clients
from which they have actually contributed in a work setting to assist the firm. This distinguishes these
graduates from most other MBA programs in the United States and sets them apart with their real-world
experiences.
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Education for Responsible Future Leaders: International Experience and
Civic Engagement
Ru-Shiun Liou
The University of Tampa
Agnes Tang
Texas A& M University-Central Texas
Brandon Griggs
Texas A&M University-Central Texas
Does international experience lead to more positive attitudes towards civic engagement among college
students? We utilized a two-pronged approach to examine the relationships between global education and
civic engagement. The results suggest that empathy and cultural intelligence enhance students’ civic
engagement, including community involvement and career aspirations to work for employers who
demonstrate corporate social responsibilities (CSR) in the local community. In addition, we found that
only when students develop more empathy and cultural intelligence, then they will have higher civic
engagement. These findings suggest the need to carefully designing a curriculum that translates students’
international experience into civic engagement.
INTRODUCTION
Traditional educational goals of short-term study abroad programs generally are to improve students'
knowledge of the subject taught in the course, enhance students' understanding of the host country culture
as well as build students' confidence in international travels (Sachau, Brasher & Fee, 2010). Recently, the
service learning component has been added to study abroad programs. These international service-
learning programs have gained popularity as more and more higher education institutions are recognizing
the importance of developing students into future leaders with a global mindset who are also civically
engaged (Le & Raven, 2015). Responsible global leadership competency encompasses the cognitive,
affective, and behavioral components of service learning that can increase students' ethical literacy, self-
development, community building, and global mindset (Lee, 2017; Pless, Maak, & Stahl, 2011). A few
pioneering studies suggest that by incorporating community-service learning activities in an international
setting, the study-abroad programs may encourage students to develop a sense of global citizenship and
hopefully demonstrate greater willingness to participate in community services (Drnarch, Ruby,
Kluender, Palomba, & Ursick, 2016; Larsen and Searle, 2017).

The trend of globalization has shaped the strong focus in international education in recent decades.
However, the recent political climate suggests a reverse trend of globalization due to the rising concerns
of how rapid globalization has taken away the public interests in domestic affairs (Witt, 2016). Similarly,
it is intriguing how international experience, such as one attained through a study-abroad program,
enhances students’ willingness to participate in community affairs. One may argue that the experience
gained outside one’s home country can enhance students’ awareness of global issues, but does not
necessarily foster their interests in the local community.
The current study examined the seemingly incompatible focus of interests between global education
and civic engagement in the local community. A two-pronged approach is utilized. First, a service-
learning component was incorporated in a study-abroad program to China. Prior to the trip, the students
were given a cultural orientation and information on the prevalent societal problem of migration in China.
The influx of migrant rural workers to China’s coastal cities is a relatively recent phenomenon which
resulted from the rapid economic development in the last three decades (Chen & Feng, 2012; Zheng,
2005). The presence of migrant workers satisfied the need for cheap labor, but also presented much
greater social issues due to the traditional household registry (hu-kou) system which excludes these
migrant workers and their children from social and educational benefits in the urbanized cities (Chen &
Feng, 2012; Zheng, 2005). Learning about the needs of migrant children in a city, the study-abroad
participants took the initiative and solicited donations from student organizations in addition to preparing
a two-hour English lesson to be taught in an elementary school which mainly serves low-income migrant
workers’ children. Through the literature review and students’ reflection, we developed a set of
hypotheses for probing the association between students’ international experience and their attitude
towards responsible leadership and civic engagement in a local community.
Second, we administered a campus-wide survey on students’ international experience and attitudinal
measures to test the hypotheses. The regression analyses of the moderating effects of empathy and
cultural intelligence support that not all international experience can lead to higher civic engagement.
Only when students develop more empathy and cultural intelligence, then they will have higher civic
engagement. These findings suggest the need to carefully design a curriculum that translates students’
international experience into desirable outcomes, including empathy and cultural intelligence, which in
turn will help develop students into responsible future leaders.
This paper unfolds as follows. First, we review relevant literature and discuss students’ reflection on
the international service learning program. Second, the methodology is introduced to test the hypotheses.
Third, we discuss results and offer suggestions for the curriculum development in management education.
International Service-learning Projects and Civic Engagement Service-learning Projects and

Learning Outcomes
“Service-learning or community-based learning” and “diversity/global learning” are two of the ten
high-impact educational practices supported by the Association of American Colleges and Universities
(Kuh, 2008). Service-learning encompasses a field-based experience where students apply what they learn
in the classroom into real life situations through reflective practices. The goal is to prepare citizens who
are engaged with the community in which the university serves. Service learning programs increase civic
engagement, foster critical thinking, and enhance civic and social responsibility among college students
(Nokes et al., 2005). Furthermore, service-learning experiences transform students, especially in civic
engagement-oriented programs, and foster their understanding of inequality within communities (Enfield
& Collins, 2008). Service-learning experiences help develop students’ sense of empathy and nurture
students’ psychosocial development, which includes developing mature interpersonal relationships
(Armstrong, 2005). While much has been reported about the learning outcomes of domestic service-
learning projects, more research is needed about the impact of international service-learning and study
abroad programs (Mayhew et al., 2016).

Study Abroad Programs and Learning Outcomes
Diversity and global learning, the other high-impact educational practice relevant to this study,
emphasizes the investigation and exploration of differences and inequalities that challenge humanities
around the globe through programs such as a study abroad trip (Kuh, 2008). Study abroad has been found
to enhance intercultural awareness and competence, tolerance, and interest in political and cross cultural
issues, promote positive attitudes towards cultural pluralism and open-mindedness (Pascarella &
Terenzini, 2005; Salisbury, An, & Pascarella, 2013), as well as positively influence civic values and
community participation (Lott, 2013). Students who participate in study abroad programs develop a
deeper understanding of diverse cultures. This cultural intelligence becomes an essential skill sought by
companies and organizations as they compete in global markets. More and more employers seek
individuals who have the ability to develop and maintain reciprocal relationships within communities, are
empathetic, and can interact with others across cultural, racial, or social class boundaries (Enfield &
Collins, 2008).
Although international learning experiences have been found to positively impact cultural intelligence
among individuals (Pless, Maak, & Stahl, 2011), this study addressed the gap in the literature on
international service-learning projects. Specifically, the study explored the effects of combining
international experience with service learning on students’ civic engagement within the community of
their home country.
Empathy and Civic Engagement

It is the goal of many higher education institutions that through civic engagement programs, students
will develop a heightened sense of responsibility on and off campus. Enfield and Collins (2008)
postulated that “responsible, moral, and productive citizens are committed to fostering social justice
through civic engagement”. Active civic engagement should be the channel for following democratic
principles, which include justice and equality, in a multicultural society (Hurtado, 2007), and higher
education should create these responsible, moral, and productive citizens (Enfield & Collins, 2008) who
become involved and active in their local communities, ultimately enriching the development of societal
good.
Although the number of students participating in service-learning programs has increased steadily in
the last two decades (Einfeld & Collins, 2008); however, there has been little focus on students’
motivation for participating in these community-involvement programs. Batson (1994) described the
motivations for community involvement which include egoism, altruism, collectivism, and principlism.
Of these four motivations, altruism or collectivism is the most promising traits in student learning and
development (Batson, Ahmad, & Tsang, 2002). Altruism builds upon empathy, which is “other-oriented
feelings congruent with the perceived welfare of another person” (Batson, 1991). Developing empathy
within community engagement programs may increase one’s altruism, or that “other-oriented” feeling
that propels one to action.
A Case in Point: A study Abroad Program to China with a Service Learning Project in a School for
Children of Migrant Workers
In the current study, we aimed to assess the various learning outcomes attained through a 2-week
study abroad program with a service-learning project in China. Beside fulfilling their academic
requirement of visiting Chinese companies and attending lectures at a local Chinese university, the group
of study-abroad participants was involved in an effort to help migrant workers’ children in Suzhou,
China. Prior to the trip, student organized and conducted fund-raising events, such as placing bins on
campus to collect children books donation. Students also solicited donations from local restaurants.
Overall, students collected over 400 children books, numerous crayons and coloring pages, and other
small trinkets to be distributed in China.
In addition to academic activities such as attending lectures and visiting local organizations, the
study-abroad participants taught a two-hour block of English class at an elementary school that serves
migrant workers’ children in one district, and visited a non-government organization that was recently

established to serve migrant children and their families in another district. As one participant reflected,
“The most exciting part of the day was going to the migrant school. The students were excited to see us
from the second they saw us. They had no idea what we would be teaching them, but I don’t think it
would have mattered because they were just excited to see new and different people. We taught the
students about Texas and some of the things we have in Texas, such as the Space Center and the Alamo.
The children were so excited for us to be there, most of them stayed in the class for recess. We also taught
them a song (itsy-bitsy spider). It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.” Several students
had similar sentiment about the transforming experience.
The empathy developed through an international service program is also evident. One student
commented, “I was able to see a variety of people, such as the farmers, retirees, students, and working
class. To sum it up, the East and West are similar in that everyone just wants to do what is best for them
and their family.” The first-hand experience in China has greatly enhanced students’ ability to see
through the differences and find the similarity that is relevant to his or her own circumstances, which
empower students’ capacity for empathy.
Students’ career aspiration is another area postulated to be impacted by their heightened sense of
empathy. Consequently, students who developed greater empathy are more likely to be attracted to future
employers who demonstrated CSR in the local community. As indicated in one student’s reflection,
“Companies that use migrant workers are taking advantage of the cheap but efficient labor that is
available. These same companies can improve the educational level of the future labor pool by helping to
fund education. By spending a small amount now companies can increase the future benefits for the
regions they operate in and themselves… It is my hope that children with academic talents will be given
chances to progress and not marginalized as a result of their place of origin.”
Hypothesis 1: Greater empathy leads to higher community involvement (1a) and greater career
aspirations to work for employers who have demonstrated CSR in the local community (1b).
Cultural Intelligence and Civic Engagement

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is the capability of individuals to interact appropriately across cultural
situations with diverse individuals (Earley, 2002). Earley’s construct of cultural intelligence includes
three facets: cognitive, motivational, and behavioral. The cognitive element can be explained using the
concept of self which is formed by negotiating one’s interpersonal and intrapersonal experiences (Gecas,
1982; Markus & Wurf, 1987; Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Markus, Kitayama & Heiman, 1997 as cited in
Earley, 2002). Having cultural intelligence means not only being cognitively aware of oneself, but rather
being flexible as one constantly reshapes and adapts the self in new cultural settings (Earley, 2002).
Having high CQ also means having high inductive reasoning skills and meta-cognitive strategies to
negotiate knowledge that help understand cultural nuances. In addition to this cognitive knowledge, one
must also be motivated to use the new knowledge to construct culturally appropriate responses, and be
capable of adapting and behaving in ways that are consistent with the new culture.
On student reflected, “By participating in the study abroad I was able to use all my senses to see,
touch, smell, taste, and hear at every location we were at. You cannot get this experience from a book. I
love traveling internationally. It makes you more aware of other ways to do something and ultimately
makes you a better person.” Individuals who have a high level of CQ, it seems, possess the advantage to
exercise the meta-cognitive capacity to be sensitive to others’ needs and expectations as well as the
adaptive capacity to act on the initiatives to build a greater community where the desire for self-
realization aligns with the best interests of the community. Hence, the students who have a high level of
CQ will aspire to work for employers who value the social responsibilities in the local community.
Hypothesis 2: Greater cultural intelligence leads to higher community involvement (2a) and greater
career aspirations to work for employers who have demonstrated CSR in the local community (2b).

The Moderating Role of Empathy and Cultural Intelligence
International study abroad programs often provide students spaces to interact with cultures and
environments which are very different than their own. Empathy was one skill noted by Enfield and
Collins (2008) that was needed to successfully interact in these multicultural environments. Ferranto
(2014) found that students who participated in a short-term international cultural experience, like study
abroad, gain in cultural empathy, self-awareness, and leadership skills. Therefore, it is plausible that
international experiences enhance students’ civic engagement through their enhanced empathy and
cultural intelligence.
Hypothesis 3: With higher empathy, international experience leads to higher community involvement
(3a) and greater career aspirations to work for employers who have demonstrated CSR in the local
community (3b).
Hypothesis 4: With higher cultural intelligence, international experience leads to higher community
involvement (4a) and greater career aspirations to work for employers who have demonstrated CSR
in the local community (4b).
METHODOLOGY
Sample
A survey was created using Qualtrics and distributed by the student affairs office in one university
located in a southern state of the U.S. This regional university serves a majority of students who are
retired from military and are seeking degrees to start a second chapter of life. Student participation was
voluntary and confidential and there were no compensations for those who participated. Emails with the
link to the survey were distributed to a total of 2,658 students. After two rounds of reminders in a month,
a sample of 265 usable surveys was collected. The respondents had an average age of 36.7 with 30%
males and 70% females. This pattern closely mirrored the student population at this university with an
average age of 34, 40% male and 60% female.
Dependent Variable
Community involvement is measured by a 10-item scale adapted from Pless et al. (2011). Sample item
includes “It is important to me to gain an increased sense of responsibility from participating in
community service”. All items are listed in Appendix A. The Cronbach’s alpha is 0.88, which achieves an
acceptable level of scale reliability.
Independent Variables
International experience is measured by having respondents report the length of time spent outside
the U.S. To help respondents recall the length of time, we ask respondents to list the foreign countries as
well as the years and months that they have stayed in each foreign country. The total length of time is
calculated by summing the total of months spent in countries outside the U.S.
Cultural intelligence is defined as “a person’s capability to adapt effectively to a new cultural
context” (Earley, 2002). In this study, we used the recently updated shortened 10-item scale (Thomas et
al., 2015). Sample item includes “I can change my behavior to suit different cultural situations and
people”. The Cronbach’s alpha achieves 0.90.
Empathy is measured by an 8-item scale (van der Zee, van Oudenhoven, Ponterotto, & Fietzer, 2013)
with a Cronbach alpha of 0.93. This scale taps into the dimensions of empathy including empathizing
with the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of culturally diverse individuals (van der Zee et al., 2013).
Sample item includes “I sympathize with others“. All items for both Cultural intelligence and Empathy
scales are listed in Appendix A.

Control Variables
In addition to gender and age, we also controlled for the respondents’ military affiliations. It has been
argued that the international experience gained through military oversea assignments serve a unique
purpose that prevents interactions with civilians in the foreign countries, so the international experience
gained through military affiliations is arguably less likely to enhance students’ cultural intelligence (Tsai
& Liou, 2016). Therefore, we asked students to report whether they are active in duties (3.4% of the
sample), have retired from military (31.5%), are a military spouse (16.2%), or grew up in a military
family (23.4%). When students reported any of the above affiliations, the student’s military status is
coded as “1” and otherwise “0”.
RESULTS
The descriptive statistics and pair-wise correlations of all variables are reported in Table 1. The
highest correlation occurs between community involvement and cultural intelligence with a coefficient of
0.49, which indicates 24% of variance is shared between two variables. The multivariate OLS regressions
are utilized for hypotheses testing. In all regression models reported in Table 2, the VIF values are below
5 which indicate that multicollinearity is not a concern for us to interpret the results (O’brien, 2007). In
addition, the independent variables are centered before creating the interaction terms to test the
moderation hypotheses (Aiken & West, 1991).
TABLE 1
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND CORRELATIONS FOR ALL VARIABLES
Interna-
Standard Community tional
Mean Gender Age Military Empathy
deviation involvement Experi-
ence
Gender 1.71 0.456 -0.374**
Age 35.82 10.61 -0.052 0.153*
Military 0.74 0.437 -0.148* 0.149* 0.203**
International
Experience 12004.6 144726 -0.115 0.259** 0.336** 0.364
Empathy 5.8702 0.94446 0.397** -0.225** 0.03 0.001 -0.007
Cultural
Intelligence 5.7936 0.79092 0.491** -0.015 -0.074 -0.075 0.107 0.436**
*p-value < 0.05; **p-value < 0.01
In Hypotheses 1 and 2, we tested the main effects of empathy and cultural intelligence on two
outcome variables, including community involvement and career aspirations to work for an employer who
demonstrated local CSR. Hypothesis 1a and Hypothesis 2a state that the empathy and cultural intelligence
enhance students’ community involvement. In Table 1, both main effects are supported with positive
coefficients for empathy (β = 0.42, p-value < 0.01) and for cultural intelligence (β = 0.32, p-value < 0.01).
As for the career aspirations for CSR employers, only cultural intelligence (β = 0.21, p-value < 0.01) has
a positive significant main effect as shown in Model 2 in Table 3. Empathy is not significantly related to
students’ career aspirations for future employers’ CSR. Therefore, H2 is fully supported for both
outcomes, while only H1b is supported.
Further, we tested the moderation effects of empathy and cultural intelligence on the relationship
between international experience and two outcome variables. Table 2 suggests that the moderation effects

exist for the community involvement. However, in Table 3, we did not find the moderation effects for
students’ concerns for future employers’ CSR.
TABLE 2
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE, CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE, AND COMMUNITY
INVOLVEMENT
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Control variables
Gender -0.363 ** -0.319 ** -0.283 **
Age 0.023 0.063 0.047
Military -0.098 -0.051 -0.046
Independent variables
International experience (IE) -0.081 -0.07
Cultural Intelligence 0.131 * 0.42 **
Empathy 0.439 ** 0.324 **
IExCultural Intelligence 0.351 **
IExEmpathy 0.121 *
Adjusted R2 0.136 0.381 0.444
Change in R2 0.251 ** 0.067 **
Standardized coefficients are reported for variables *p-value < 0.05; **p-value < 0.01
TABLE 3
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE, CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE, AND FUTURE
EMPLOYER’S CSR
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Control variables
Gender -0.311 ** -0.287 ** -0.273 **
Age 0.031 0.042 0.037
Military 0.055 0.071 0.071
Independent variables
International experience (IE) -0.015 <0.001
Empathy 0.095 0.217
Cultural Intelligence 0.212 ** 0.155
IExEmpathy 0.135
IExCultural Intelligence -0.045
Adjusted R2 0.079 0.136 0.137
2
Change in R 0.07 ** 0.01
Standardized coefficients are reported for variables *p-value < 0.05; **p-value < 0.01

DISCUSSION
Study abroad programs have been found to positively affect intercultural competence, tolerance, and
promote positive attitudes towards cultural pluralism and open-mindedness (Pascarella & Terenzini,
2005; Salisbury et al., 2013). The current study examined the relationship between the predictors, cultural
intelligence (CQ), empathy, and community engagement. The results point to a stronger correlation
between CQ and community engagement than the relationship between empathy and community
engagement. From this finding one may infer that CQ is a stronger indicator of community involvement
because it encompasses the ability to interact with those who are different (Thomas, et al., 2015). So
while empathy propels one to do good, these good deeds may be directed to only those who are “alike”.
Given that today’s political climate and as communities become more diverse, it is crucial to cultivate
cultural intelligence in students. The findings in this study support that cultural intelligence and empathy
indeed are associated with the heightened sense of civic engagement among college students.
Another area being examined in the current study is the relationships between empathy and CQ and
students’ aspiration to work in a company that has demonstrated corporate social responsibility (CSR) in
a local community. The analyses indicate that empathy is not significantly related to students’ career
aspiration, while CQ is positively correlated to students’ aspiration to work in a company with
demonstrated CSR. This finding further implies that CQ seems to have a more profound impact on
student actions than empathy in their career aspirations.
The study further explored the moderating effects of empathy and cultural intelligence on the
relationship between international experience and community involvement, and between international
experience and future career aspirations. The results indicate that there is a moderate effect between
international experience and community involvement, but not aspirations to work in a company involved
with CSR. We find that with higher empathy and higher cultural intelligence, international experiences
lead to higher students’ community involvement. On the other hand, when students do not develop
empathy or CQ, international experience tends to have an opposite effect on their community
involvement.
The current study suggested that empathy and cultural intelligence have a positive effect on students’
community engagement. Batson et al. (2008) suggested altruism as one of the four possible motives for
civic engagement. Altruism is the ability to identify and empathize with the situation of others, and this
empathy propels individuals into action. While the current study provides a glimpse as to what motivates
students to be civically engaged, it does not point to a cause and effect relationship. Does higher empathy
lead to higher civic engagement, or does civic engagement foster empathy? If higher empathy leads to
higher levels of civic engagement, then how can students who are less empathetic be motivated to be
involved? A longitudinal study will be at a better position to study how empathy is developed among
students in higher education. While there is ample research on study abroad experiences, and just as much
on service learning projects, studies on projects that combine the two are still scant. The current study
attempted to provide insights into the relationship between empathy, community engagement, and cultural
intelligence, but it barely scratched the surface in the understanding of the potential benefits of infusing
service learning component into study abroad experiences. Further studies may look into the benefits of
international service-learning experience for students with various level of international experience. For
instance, what are the justifications for creating a more costly version of service learning that is carried
out overseas when we already have a body of research supporting local service learning projects that are
much more economical? In other words, does international service learning project provide above and
beyond what students can learn from a local service-learning project?
Implications for Practice

Cultural intelligence (CQ) as constructed by Earley in 2002, is considered one of the global
leadership competencies (Pless, Maak, & Stahl, 2001) highly valued in both academia and the corporate
world, thus a logical learning outcome for higher education institutions in the preparation of their
graduates for global effectiveness. In fact, global learning is no longer “an option, but a priority”

(AAC&U, 2017). Higher education institutions are urged not only to subscribe an international stance on
their mission statement, but to provide intentional, high-quality global experiences so students can be
equipped with the multiple perspectives necessary for engagement in meaningful conversations
surrounding global issues. In other words, it is imperative for higher education institutions to develop
students’ CQ. Developing students’ CQ takes many forms and through many avenues, one of which is
study abroad programs. In this study, CQ is found to be positively correlated to community engagement,
another high-impact practice in the teaching and learning of higher education. What that implies is that
colleges and universities can develop students’ CQ through community engagement at the local level, at a
much lower cost than study abroad programs. While it is ideal for all students to participate in
international learning opportunities, financial or time obligations may render them unattainable for many.
Especially for public institutions with budget constraints, it may mean a compromise shifting resources
from global learning opportunities to local civic engagement opportunities. As this study implies,
opportunities for civic engagement are also effective in nurturing CQ in responsible leaders.
Another implication can be drawn from our results showing a correlation between students with
higher CQ and higher empathy and their international experiences leading to higher community
involvement. What that may mean is that institutions should set clear selection criteria using students’
CQ, or be intentional to include curricular activities geared towards developing students CQ prior to and
during the program so that the emotional benefits of international experiences be capitalized and
maximized. Institutions may also consider setting clear selection criteria to recruit students who may
benefit the most from these experiences.
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APPENDIX A
SCALE ITEMS
Scale Items
Cultural 1. I know the ways in which cultures around the world are different.
Intelligence 2. I can give examples of cultural differences from my personal experience, reading,
and so on.
3. I enjoy talking with people from difference cultures.
4. I have the ability to accurately understand the feelings of people from other
cultures.
5. I sometimes try to understand people from another culture by imagining how
something looks from their perspective.
6. I can change my behavior to suit different cultural situations and people.
7. I accept delays without becoming upset when in different cultural situations and
with culturally different people.
8. I am aware of the cultural knowledge I use when interacting with someone from
another culture.
9. I think a lot about the influence that culture has on my behavior and that of others
who are culturally different.
10. I am aware that I need to plan my course of action when in different cultural
situations and with culturally different people.
Empathy 1. I pay attention to the emotions of others.
2. I am a good listener.
3. I sense when others get irritated
4. I get to know others profoundly.
5. I enjoy other people’s stories.
6. I notice when someone is in trouble.
7. I sympathise with others.
8. I set others at ease.
Civic 1. Our community needs good volunteers.
Engagement/ 2. All communities need good volunteers.
Community 3. When I meet people who are having a difficult time, I wonder how I would feel if
Involvement I were in their shoes.
4. I feel bad that some community members are suffering from a lack of resources.
5. Volunteering in community projects can greatly enhance the community’s
resources.
6. Contributing my skills will make the community a better place.
7. My contribution to the community will make a real difference.
8. It is important to me to gain an increased sense of responsibility from
participating in community service.
9. Lack of participation in community service will cause severe damage to our
society.
10. I will participate in a community service project in the next year.

Achieving Success or Avoiding Failure?
Motivational Orientations of Entrepreneurship Students
Ozlem Ogutveren Gonul

Drexel University
Barrie E. Litzky
Drexel University
Entrepreneurship education received renewed attention in the recent years due to the decline in
entrepreneurial activity in the U.S. In this paper, a supplement to entrepreneurship curriculum is
presented through the classification and study of entrepreneurship students’ motivational orientations.
The typology proposed by the authors will be helpful in understanding the students’ perceptions of
success and failure in relation to their level of intent to create a new venture and provide educators with
insight to develop more effective instructional content and methodologies to meet the needs of
entrepreneurship students.
INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurial activity and new venture creation are important for a nation’s economic growth.
Entrepreneurship increases the employment rate by generating new jobs, thereby raising the overall
standard of living. It also contributes to knowledge creation, advances across multiple sectors and
industries, and new technology development. The importance of entrepreneurship to national economic
health cannot be understated. The 2008 recession prompted a dramatic decline in business dynamism and
entrepreneurial activities in United States. As a response, entrepreneurship, as a means to new venture
creation, has gained renewed attention in higher education (Dobson, Jacobs, & Dobson, 2017) as a major
and as a discipline. In recent years, universities expanded their efforts to create new programs in
entrepreneurship in many forms –such as “cross-campus initiatives” in which students and faculty from
different colleges and disciplines come and work together or “experiential initiatives” in which students
are provided with opportunities to engage in entrepreneurial activity as opposed to theoretical education
(Forbes, 2017).
While entrepreneurship encompasses more than new ventures (e.g. new models, processes, products,
etc.) new venture creation is often the primary focus of university entrepreneurial initiatives, and requires
curricula that supports this focus. In order to evaluate the impact that entrepreneurship education has on
student new venture creation, it is incumbent to understand what personal motivations, skills and
competencies students bring with them into the program.
Research suggests that economic, social, and psychological factors may each contribute to
individuals’ decisions to start a new venture (Mitchell et al., 2002). Specifically, personality traits

(Carland, Carland, Hoy & Carland, 2002), cognition (Mitchell et al., 2002), motivational needs including
the need for achievement (McClelland, 1961; McClelland & Winter, 1969), self-efficacy (Chen, Green, &
Crick, 1998), self-determination (Ryan & Deci, 2000), cognitive biases (De Carolis & Saparito, 2006) and
risk taking perception and propensity (Carland, Carland, Carland & Pearce, 1995) are all found to be
related to new venture creation. Additional studies have determined that even demographic
characteristics such as age, gender, race, marital status, socioeconomic status, previous work experience,
education level of the individual and parents, family background and previous entrepreneurial experiences
(Robinson, Stimpson, Huefner & Hunt, 1991; Robinson & Sexton, 1994; Gartner, 2004; Sajilan, Hadi &
Tehseen, 2015; Startiene & Remeikiene, 2015) of the individual entrepreneurs explain some part of their
drive to create new ventures. While demographic characteristics and personality traits tend to be stable
over time, motivational needs (e.g. need for achievement, need to avoid failure), and individual
perceptions about how and whether those needs have been met remain fluid and are more likely to be
enhanced or constrained by entrepreneurship education.
The broad purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to (a) classify and (b) study the
motivational traits associated with perceptions of success and failure among entrepreneurship students.
Classification can help us design curriculum that is responsive to different student motivational needs
with respect to new venture creation. Accordingly, we examine the ways in which approach and
avoidance motivation orientations may explain students’ decisions to create a new venture. We offer a
typology of motivation orientation and a discussion about the effect those orientations may have on the
intention to start a new venture. Finally, we offer suggestions for potential adjustments to
entrepreneurship curriculum.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Entrepreneurship Education in the U.S.

A 50% decline in entrepreneurial activity since 1978 prompted a surge in entrepreneurship education
in support of the development of new entrepreneurs who will contribute to economic growth and
employment creation in the United States (Dobson et al., 2017). A 2014 study on youth entrepreneurship
reported findings that are generally supportive of entrepreneurship education:
“…, 81% of non-self-employed individuals believe they will be a business owner or
self-employed at some point because of the new economy. 87% of young people
want to pursue entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, 62% weren’t offered any
entrepreneurship classes in college at all- and of those that were, 62% deemed them
inadequate” (Gerber, 2014, para.4).
Failure in entrepreneurship education is due in part to pedagogical methods that are ill suited for the
needs of today’s students (Dobson et al., 2017). Further, generational differences and career goals may
have an effect on entrepreneurial intentions. An inflated sense of efficacy, inability to cope with
uncertainty and failure, and an urge to succeed without struggle are common among “Me Generation”
millennials (Marston, 2010; Twenge, Campbell & Freeman, 2012; Dobson et al., 2017). Millennials want
a work-life balance to enjoy their leisure time, which is very unlikely for entrepreneurs at the beginning of
their careers. Entrepreneurship education should be addressing the needs of the millennial generation and
should be designed to understand and serve these needs and values.
Entrepreneurship education is recently on the rise with new approaches and perspectives. It is now
considered a unique discipline, and not an amalgamation of other business disciplines, with requirements
distinct from other business professions (Morris, Webb, Fu & Singhal, 2013a). There were only a handful
of courses and programs three decades ago and today more than 3000 institutions offer a variety of
entrepreneurship programs (Morris & Lingouri, 2016). The current philosophy of entrepreneurship
education changed from helping students learn about venture creation into helping them actually create
ventures and think and act entrepreneurially (Morris, Kuratko & Cornwall, 2013b). Neck and Green
(2011) summarize the responsibility of entrepreneurship educators: “… we have the responsibility to
develop the discovery, reasoning, and implementation skills of our students so they may excel in highly

uncertain environments. These skills enhance the likelihood that our students will identify and capture the
right opportunity at the right time for the right reason (p. 55).”
Researchers investigate the competencies and skills unique to entrepreneurs –or those competencies
and skills used differently than managers and other professionals. The combination of these competencies
and skills coupled with an entrepreneurial intent constitutes an entrepreneurial mindset, defined as “the
constellation of motives, skills and thought processes that distinguish entrepreneurs from
nonentrepreneurs and that contribute to entrepreneurial success (Davis, Hall & Mayer, 2016, p. 22).”
Consequently, the entrepreneurship curriculum is frequently based on teaching business acumen and
knowledge while developing an entrepreneurial mindset. There is not one common list of ‘must have’
traits, skills and competencies acknowledged by all researchers and educators of entrepreneurship. Yet
most scholars agree on some combination of competencies, personality traits, and skill sets (e.g.,
opportunity recognition, opportunity assessment, risk management/mitigation, conveying a compelling
vision, tenacity/perseverance, creative problem solving/imaginativeness, , idea generation, resource
leveraging, value creation, resilience, self-efficacy, building/using networks, self-confidence,
independence, passion, etc.) needed for success in entrepreneurial activities (Davis et al., 2016; Morris et
al, 2013a). Scholars agree that the entrepreneurial mindset has important implications in entrepreneurship
education settings to help students understand their own unique strengths and weaknesses and what skills
and competencies they need to develop.
Therefore, existing education programs focusing on the entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurship
process, and business acumen attempt to develop the attributes needed to start a business. This is an
effective approach in many cases but incomplete in that it assumes that all entrepreneurship students
ultimate goal is to start a venture. Missing from entrepreneurship curricula is an understanding of
students’ motivational orientations towards success and failure, which is important as it may be one of the
determining factors affecting an individual’s’ decision to start a venture. Perceptions of success and
failure determine students’ aspirations to face the risks of starting new ventures and their endurance to
tolerate and manage these risks. First step in understanding the motivational orientations of students
towards success and failure is to understand how success and failure are defined for entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurial Perceptions of Success and Failure

Individuals have different motivations behind setting future goals. Goals are in part, driven by what
individuals believe to be attainable and perception of success (attaining the goal) and failure (not attaining
the goal) also determine the likelihood that an individual will seek a particular goal (Vroom, 1964).
Creating a new venture is a major goal for an entrepreneur. At the time of the decision to create a new
venture, the entrepreneur’s calculation of risk and evaluation of the opportunities ahead depends heavily
on how she perceives and reacts to success and failure.
Entrepreneurial success is a broad concept and the definitions vary accordingly. Fisher, Maritz and
Lobo (2014) claim that the indicators for an entrepreneur’s success may include economic, psychological,
and social indicators; survival beyond a certain timeframe; or simply constitute being in existence (i.e.,
being a registered business entity). Most definitions of entrepreneurial success use tangible elements
(Perren, 1999; Perren, 2000; Amit, MacCrimmon, Zietsma & Oesch, 2000) that focus on the financial and
operational performance of the new company such as income, revenue, company growth, personal wealth
creation (McMullen & Shepherd, 2006), profitability, sustainability or continued trading (Dafna, 2008). A
significant number of studies relate the concept of entrepreneurial success to survival (Perez & Canino,
2009; Bosma, Van Praag, Thurik & De Wit, 2004) and use more specified terms to define entrepreneurial
success such as being in operation at least for three years (Makhbul & Hasun, 2010). Competitiveness is
considered as another indicator of entrepreneurial success and is measured through market share
(Bamford, Dean & McDougall, 2000; Zahra & Bogner, 2000), the introduction of new products or
product quality (McGee, Dowling & Megginson, 1995), and the extent to which the company is engaged
in innovation.
Failure in the context of new venture creation also has varying definitions in the literature (Politis &
Gabrielsson, 2009). Business closure, involuntary liquidation, business falling short of its goals,

insolvency or bankruptcy, involuntary termination, discontinuation of the business due to a variety of
reasons, are typical criteria used to define entrepreneurial failure (Shepherd, 2003; Ucbasaran, Westhead,
Wright & Flores, 2010; Shepherd & Haynie, 2011; Ucbasaran, Shepherd, Lockett & Lyon, 2013). Other
definitions involve deviation from expected and desired results which include avoidable errors,
unavoidable negative outcomes of experiments and risk taking and interpersonal failures emerging from
misunderstanding and conflict or ineffective decision-making (Cannon & Edmondson, 2001).
Entrepreneurial research and education mainly focus on entrepreneurial success, with less attention
paid to entrepreneurial failure. Of the studies focused on failure, most are concentrated on the attitudes or
reactions towards failure after the failure takes place, for example, reducing the risk of failure, frustration
from failure, accepting and embracing failure, coping with failure, learning from failure and exploring
new opportunities after failure (Sitkin, 1992; McGrath, 1999; Shepherd, 2004; Singh, Corner &
Pavlovich, 2007; Neck & Greene, 2011; Ucbasaran et al., 2013). Yet failure represents a significant
outcome of entrepreneurial activity (McGrath, 1999; Politis & Gabrielsson, 2009). The high rate of failure
among newly formed ventures is an entrepreneurial reality. According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics’ Business Employment Dynamics, an analysis over a ten year period (2006-2016) show that of
those businesses started in March 2006, 43.3% failed within the first three years of their operations,
54.6% failed in five years and 67.2% failed at the end of ten years. Roughly, 30% of the businesses stay
in the market after ten years and these percentages are quite steady over the years. When the chances are
remarkably high, the entrepreneur’s perception and capacity to deal with the probability of failing is
important in making his decision to start a new venture.
Failure is expensive. In addition to financial costs, social and psychological costs of failure must also
be considered (Ucbasaran et al., 2013). Failure, in any sense, is costly for the entrepreneur in terms of
time, effort, money, and human capital invested in the creation of the venture. Many of these factors are
accounted for as risks prior to venture creation. For some, these risks will be considered as opportunities
for success while others will associate these risks with personal failure, and will want to avoid them. In
terms of entrepreneurship education, the question becomes one of understanding why some students,
seem to embrace the chance of success while others mainly seek to avoid failure. Understanding students’
motivational traits guiding their behavior may shed light to how their perceptions of success and failure
affect their goal setting as future entrepreneurs.
Motivational Traits
Motivation has been a major research topic in many social science disciplines with different
approaches to understanding the major determinants of a person’s motives and drives to behave in a
certain direction. Early theories of motivation focused on personality and individual differences as the
determinants of behavior in relation to desire to succeed and achieve (Murray, 1938; Lewin, Dembo,
Festinger & Sears, 1944; McCllelland, 1951; Atkinson, Clark & Lowell, 1953; Atkinson, 1957, Atkinson
& Feather, 1966). As an extension of these person-based theories, goal-based views of motivation
indicate that “individual differences in personality affect motivational processes and subsequent behavior
through their influence on the type of goals that individuals adopt –or do not adopt– in achievement
contexts” (Heggestad & Kanfer, 2000, p.752).
Most researchers agree on the existence of individual differences in motivational tendencies (Kanfer
& Ackerman, 2000) and numerous conceptual frameworks (Atkinson, 1957; Nicholls, 1984; Dweck,
1986; Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996; Elliot & Church, 1997; Elliot & Sheldon, 1997; Heimerdinger &
Hinsz, 2008) have distinguished between approach and avoidance motivation orientations. Motivation
underlying a certain behavior or choice with respect to goal setting could either be towards success
attainment or failure avoidance. Approach motivation demonstrates a desire to succeed with behavior
shaped by an orientation towards a positive outcome. In avoidance motivation, the dominant behavior is
motivated by the need to avoid failure and the negative outcomes associated with failure (Heimerdinger &
Hinsz, 2008; Atkinson, 1957; McClelland, 1985).
Elliot and Sheldon (1997) indicate that achievement motives effect achievement behavior indirectly
through achievement goal adoption and consequently adoption of achievement goals are the determinants

of achievement behavior. Consistently, desire to avoid failure is the motive underlying the pursuit of
avoidance goals. However, previous research has exclusively been focused on approach motivation to
explain the relationship between the motivational mechanisms and performance outcomes, committing
less attention to the avoidance motivation.
Heggestad and Kanfer (2000) define motivational traits as “stable, trans-situational individual
differences related to approach and avoidance of goal-directed effort expenditures (p. 753).” They
developed a measure of motivational traits, Motivational Traits Questionnaire, based upon an earlier
conceptualization (Kanfer & Heggestad, 1997) which defined two superordinate traits representing
achievement (aligning with approach motivation) and anxiety (aligning with avoidance motivation) as the
basis for the motivational traits. To indicate that these motivational traits are comprised of multiple
dimensions, Heggestad and Kanfer (2000) refer to these as the achievement complex and the anxiety
complex.
The achievement complex is comprised of two lower level traits, personal mastery and competitive
excellence. Personal mastery, describes the extent to which individuals define standards of excellence in
terms of personal improvement. Individuals high in personal mastery seek challenging tasks and
continually compete with themselves to show marked improvement. Competitive excellence refers to the
extent to which individuals adopt normative standards of excellence and define success relative to others.
Individuals high in competitive excellence compete with others, seeking to exceed their performance and
subsequently earn their respect.
Failure avoidance and achievement anxiety are the subdimensions of the anxiety complex. Failure
avoidance is the extent to which individuals are expected to actively avoid achievement-oriented
situations due to the anxiety caused by the possibility of experiencing failure. Achievement anxiety refers
to individuals’ tendency to experience anxiety responses in achievement situations. See Table 1 for a
detailed description of the achievement and anxiety complexes along with the associated dimensions of
each. Due to the concentration on approach motivation and lack of attention to avoidance motivation
among researchers, the description of the comprehensive achievement complex is usually more detailed
than the anxiety complex which reflects in Table 1.

TABLE 1
ACHIEVEMENT AND ANXIETY COMPLEXES DEVELOPED BY HEGGESTAD AND
KANFER (ADAPTED FROM HEGGESTAD AND KANFER, 2000)
Achievement Motivation Orientation Anxiety Motivation Orientation

(Achievement complex) (Anxiety complex)
Personal Mastery Competitive Excellence Failure Avoidance Achievement Anxiety

Self-referent trait: Other-referent trait: Explains to what Tendency to
Defining the standards Define success relative extent an individual experience anxiety
of excellence in terms to others. would be expected to responses in
of personal Goal is to exceed the actively avoid achievement
improvement. performance of others. failure-threatening situations
situations
Persist in striving to Adopt normative Anxiety caused by Anxiety caused by not
achieve high personal standards of excellence. the possibility of being able to achieve,
standards. Enjoy tasks Absolute quality of experiencing failure being assessed by
challenging their own performance is not a others.
skills priority.
Compete against Very competitive. High
themselves “to excel need to be respected by
one’s self”, others for their
“be the best one can accomplishments
be”
Does not give up easily Create competitive
in frustrating and situations against others
difficult situations. purposefully.
Sub-traits: Sub-traits: Subtrait: Active Sub-traits: worry,
determination, desire other referent goals, avoidance emotionality,
to learn, mastery goals competition seeking evaluation
apprehension
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Motivational Orientations Classification

Figure 1 shows a classification of motivational orientations that we derived from Heggestad and
Kanfer’s (2000) conceptualization of achievement and anxiety complexes. Since they can coexist at
different levels within the same individual, the two motivational orientations –achievement and anxiety–
are used as two determinant dimensions in designating the overall motivational orientation of the
individual. Typically a person would not have a full achievement or anxiety motivational orientation but
a combination of both. A deliberate prediction would be that each individual will have an amalgam of the
two types of orientations but would probably be dominated by one.

FIGURE 1
MOTIVATIONAL ORIENTATION TYPOLOGY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP STUDENTS
Cautious
Enthusiasts Optimists
High
(Q3) (Q4)
Achievement
Motivation
Orientation
Status Quo
Skimmers
Low Seekers
(Q1)
(Q2)
Low High
Anxiety Motivation Orientation
We propose having students respond to the Motivational Traits Questionnaire (Heggestad & Kanfer,
2000) and categorize their responses to populate the 2x2 matrix. The achievement motivational
orientation score on the vertical axis is calculated by the sum of the personal mastery (determination,
desire to learn, mastery goals) and competitive excellence (other referenced goals, competition seeking)
scores. The anxiety motivational orientation, on the horizontal axis, is the sum of failure avoidance (active
avoidance) and achievement anxiety (worry, emotionality, evaluation apprehension) scores.
Students scoring low on both achievement and anxiety motivational orientations will be placed in
quadrant one (Q1). These students have little interest in personal mastery and competitive excellence, and
are unresponsive to challenges. They have little desire to learn new things and master their skills. They
are not expected to feel anxiety about failure and will not appear worried about their performance. We
labeled this quadrant as Skimmers- those students who do not care about success nor failure and basically
are here for completing the course and receiving a grade.
Quadrant two (Q2) is where the students with low achievement and high anxiety motivational
orientations stand. These students, similar to skimmers, are not aiming at high levels of achievement and
mastery. They are not concerned with their personal improvement. Additionally, they have anxiety about
their level of performance and the possibility of failure. They are usually concerned about their outcomes
and have evaluation apprehension- they do not want to be evaluated by others due to the fear of having
low evaluations and being judged negatively as a result of their performance evaluations. We labeled the
students in this quadrant Status Quo Seekers, referring to their primary focus of maintaining their GPA by
avoiding failure.
Students who score high in achievement motivational orientation and low in anxiety motivational
orientation are placed in quadrant three (Q3). These students like to challenge themselves with hard to
attain goals and expect to fulfill them. They also like to compete with others and define success relative
to others. They have a high need to be respected by other people for their own accomplishments and
success. However, this group of students does not worry about negative outcomes and they do not avoid
failure. We labeled this group Enthusiasts. The students will make quick decisions but are more prone to
quick failure due to their imprudence towards failure. Students in Q3, with an intention to start their own
businesses, would likely be high risk-takers. Since they will not avoid and escape from failure, they could
use the failure experiences as an asset and learn from the consequences. These students could easily start
over and build another business and even become serial entrepreneurs.

Quadrant four (Q4) includes students who score high on both achievement and anxiety motivational
orientations and are referred to as Cautious Optimists. These students, like the ones in Q3, have a high
need for achievement and success. They are competitive and they strive for competitive excellence. The
high anxiety motivation orientation score indicates their penchant towards avoiding failure. They do not
want to be judged as failures and will be cautious in making their decisions. They will move more slowly
than enthusiasts, conduct extensive and appropriate research taking their time to take calculated risks.
DISSCUSSION
Individuals start new companies for a variety of different reasons. It would not be reasonable to
argue that the intention to start a new venture can fully be explained by an individual’s level of
achievement versus anxiety motivation orientation. However, we speculate that it may be one of the
indicators in determining the individuals’ intentions and decisions regarding new venture creation and
certain aspects of their entrepreneurial behavior.
Psychological models developed to identify personality traits to distinguish entrepreneurs from non-
entrepreneurs demonstrate a number of significant traits, including risk taking propensity and a high need
for achievement (Lüthje & Franke, 2003). Stewart and Roth’s (2007) meta-analysis demonstrated that
entrepreneurs have higher achievement motivation than managers and this result is consistent with the
demands of the entrepreneurial role, attracting individuals with higher achievement motivation to an
entrepreneurial setting with challenge, autonomy and flexibility. We believe that students who score low
on the achievement complex, namely skimmers (Q1) and status quo seekers (Q2), will probably have little
to no interest in starting a new venture, regardless of their scores on the anxiety complex. They may
engage in entrepreneurial activity as a team member in a new start-up using their knowledge and other
managerial skills, but they are unlikely to become entrepreneurs themselves.
The risks foreseen by an entrepreneur involves both the chances for success and failure. Therefore,
students with an intention to start a new venture, who have different levels of anxiety motivation
orientation, provided that they scored high in achievement motivation orientation will engage in
entrepreneurial behavior somewhat differently. Enthusiasts (Q3) are most likely intuitive risk-takers
since they have low anxiety motivation orientation and are not inclined to avoid failure. Cautious
optimists (Q4) on the other hand, will depend more on thorough research taking longer times to make
decisions and take more calculated risks. Accordingly, understanding the motivational orientations of
entrepreneurship students may help educators to understand their level of intention to start new ventures
and determine the appropriate instructional methods, content, and curriculum to advance both students’
motivation and their skills and competencies for their future entrepreneurial experiences.
In a standard entrepreneurship course, there are a variety of students with different intentions. Some
students may be in entrepreneurship majors, some may even have started a business. Others may have
entrepreneurs in their families and may have had first-hand exposure to entrepreneurial activities. Other
students may have no entrepreneurship experience but may certainly have an idea and the passion to start
their own business one day. There may even be students taking the course as an elective, just to get a
feeling about the field and may be testing the waters. The diversity in students coupled with their
differential motivational orientations can present a challenge to educators who are likely gearing their
curriculum towards start-ups. Having prior knowledge about the students’ motivational orientations
around success and failure may help educators balance student needs.
In the current paradigm of entrepreneurship education, helping students create ventures and think and
act entrepreneurially (Morris et al., 2013b), limited content is allotted to discussions of failure. When
failure is addressed it is typically through discussions of reducing the risk of failure, frustration from
failure, accepting and embracing failure, coping with failure and learning from failure (Sitkin, 1992;
McGrath, 1999; Shepherd, 2004; Singh et al., 2007; Neck & Greene, 2011; Ucbasaran et al., 2013;
Yamakawa, Peng & Deeds, 2015). Supplementing these lessons by developing students’ awareness of
their own perceptions about success and failure could aid in developing the necessary skills to cope with
failure. As an entrepreneurial reality, the more we can integrate aspects of failure into entrepreneurship
curricula, the more responsive we can be to the diverse strengths of our students, the better the outcomes.

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Motivational orientations may be significant in understanding and predicting entrepreneurial

behavior. However, there are many other variables that affect an individual’s decision to start a venture
and undertake entrepreneurial activity. The typology presented in this paper examines motivational
orientation towards success and failure in isolation, which is a limitation of this discussion. Further
research should explore motivational orientation in relation to other variables associated with
entrepreneurship education to take a more holistic approach.
The construct developed by Heggstad and Kanfer (2000) is the most enhanced and comprehensive
one developed on motivational traits to date. Nonetheless, the Motivational Traits Questionnaire has some
minor issues that could be further investigated. Even though the final version of MTQ has eliminated or
replaced certain facets of the measure and the reliability - validity tests are very promising, Heggestad and
Kanfer (2000) indicate that “individual differences in the tendency to avoid failure share partial overlap
with traditional conceptualizations of anxiety in achievement situations (772).”
The motivational typologies asserted in the construct pave the way for further theoretical propositions
and empirical testing. Other moderating and mediating variables such as self-efficacy (Chen et al., 1998),
risk taking propensity (Carland et al., 1995), self-determination (Ryan & Deci, 2000), cognitive biases
(De Carolis & Saparito, 2006), opportunity recognition, action-orientation and interpersonal sensitivity
(Morris et al, 2013a; Davis et al., 2016) can be associated with the motivational orientations to study the
differences among behavioral patterns of individuals in different quadrants of the motivational orientation
taxonomy. Consequently, the typology should be tested for different groups of students with different
demographics such as age, gender, race, marital status, socioeconomic status, previous work experience,
education level of the individual and parents, family background and previous entrepreneurial experiences
(Robinson et al., 1991; Robinson & Sexton, 1994; Gartner, 2004; Sajilan et al., 2015; Startiene &
Remeikiene, 2015) all of which have been found to be related with entrepreneurial behavior. As
previously mentioned, research on motivational traits and orientations has merely focused on the
achievement motivation orientation in relation to the success of entrepreneurs. Future empirical research
using the typology of motivational orientations can also provide data based knowledge to further develop
the theoretical foundations and definitions of anxiety motivation orientation and its relation to success and
failure of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial behavior and make significant contributions to the pertinent
literature.
CONCLUSION
One of the basic premises of entrepreneurship is that an entrepreneur builds an organization (Cole,
1965; Kilby, 1971; Leibenstein, 1968; Schumpeter, 1934). New venture creation is a fundamental goal for
an entrepreneur and an entrepreneur’s motivation to start a new venture has frequently been studied in
relation to personality traits (Carland et al., 2002), cognition (Mitchell et al., 2002), need for achievement
(McClelland, 1961; McClelland & Winter, 1969), self-efficacy (Chen et al., 1998), self-determination
(Ryan & Deci, 2000), cognitive biases (De Carolis & Saparito, 2006) and risk taking perception and
propensity (Carland, et al., 1995). Other factors that contribute to the entrepreneurs’ intention to start a
new business have been classified under demographic characteristics such as age, gender, race, marital
status, socioeconomic status, previous work experience, education level of the individual and parents,
family background and previous entrepreneurial experiences (Robinson et al., 1991; Robinson & Sexton,
1994; Gartner, 2004; Sajilan et al., 2015; Startiene & Remeikiene, 2015). We believe that besides
personal traits, cognitions, demographics and unique personal experiences of an individual, motivational
orientation towards success and failure also plays a significant role in entrepreneurial intent and activity.
The broad purpose of this paper has been to develop a framework to classify and study the
motivational traits associated with perceptions of success and failure among entrepreneurship students.
Individuals have different motivational tendencies and are mainly motivated by two different motivational
traits: they either want to be successful and have high personal achievements or they want to avoid failure
(Kanfer & Ackerman, 2000). We presented a typology of motivational orientations of students, derived
from Heggestad and Kanfer’s (2000) conceptualization of motivational traits. The typology comprises

four alternative combinations of different levels of achievement and anxiety motivation orientations. We
suggest that students who have different combinations of achievement and anxiety motivation orientation
scores will display different entrepreneurial behavior and their level of intent to start a new venture will
differ. The proposed typology will provide us with insights to design curricula, instructional
methodologies and content responsive to different student motivational needs.
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Analyzing Course Grades in a Converged Classroom Environment –
A Follow-Up Study
Robert S. Keyser
Kennesaw State University
Two significant questions in evaluating student course grades in a converged classroom environment
include whether an empirical model can be developed to accurately predict students’ average course
grades and whether course grades differ between on-campus students vs. distance students. The purpose
of this study is to validate the results of a previous study with new data, including course grades for four
different industrial engineering technology courses taught by the same professor during one full
academic year. In sum, the reduced model (with new data) becomes the same two-factor main effects only
regression model that was developed in the initial study.

INTRODUCTION
The converged classroom combines both hybrid (i.e., on-campus) and online learning environments
during the same Live class session. Unlike traditional courses that meet face-to-face two or three times
per week, hybrid sections of the course meet one day per week on campus and have pre-recorded course
lectures and materials such as narrated Powerpoint slides, an Overview Page, videos, handouts,
assignments, and exams, which are delivered via the Brightspace Desire2LearnTM (D2L) online learning
environment. Online sections of the course meet one day per week using the Blackboard Collaborate
learning environment, which is part of Brightspace D2L, and also includes the same narrated Powerpoint
slides, Overview pages, videos, handouts, assignments, and exams as for the hybrid students.
All converged courses are developed to include a 50% pre-recorded lecture video (i.e., pre-recorded
lecture or the narrated Powerpoint slides) and a 50% Live Session component that meets one day per
week. The Live Sessions are ‘converged,’ meaning both the hybrid and online sections can view the
lecture live. The Live Sessions are recorded and archived for students who are unable to attend the Live
lecture on the scheduled day and time. The archived recordings are intended for online students only and
can be accessed 24/7. They are archived in chronological order and can be accessed in Blackboard
CollaborateTM 24/7 simply by selecting the Recordings tab and clicking on the desired Live Session date.
The professor is not shown in the archived recording; however, all materials shown on the computer
screen on the instructor’s console as well as the professor’s voice is captured in the recordings.
Therefore, if a professor spends time working through a mathematical problem during the Live Session,
for example, students who view the archived recording can see and listen to how the instructor works
through the problem step-by-step as the instructor writes on the computer screen by activating a pen with
a choice of four different ink colors – black, red, blue, and green. Highlighting capabilities in different
colors are also available.
This study analyzes the course grades in four different Industrial Engineering Technology (IET)
courses during the 2016-17 academic year utilizing the same Blackboard CollaborateTM converged
classroom technology and taught by the same professor. Several research questions (RQ) in this follow-
up study are explored as follows:
RQ1: Is there a significant difference in average course grade between on-campus students and
distance students? The null hypothesis postulates no relationship exists between hybrid student and
online students.
RQ2: Is there a significant difference in average course grade among age groups? The null
hypothesis postulates no difference among age groups.
RQ3: Is there a significant difference in average course grade between genders? The null hypothesis
postulated no difference between genders.
RQ4: Is there a significant difference in average course grade between IET majors and other majors?
The null hypothesis postulates no difference between the two group majors.
RQ5: Is there a significant difference in average course grade between Fall and Spring semester?
The null hypothesis postulates no difference between the two semesters.
RQ6: Is there a significant difference in average course grade among class standing (Freshmen,
Sophomore, Junior, or Senior)? The null hypothesis postulates no difference among class standing.
RQ7: Is there a significant relationship between average course grade and cumulative grade point
average?
The objective of this research is to validate the predictive model results of the initial study from the
2015-16 academic year (Keyser & Parvathareddy, 2017) by determining which main effect predictor
variable(s), if any, have a significant effect on predicting course grades. This will be addressed by
forming a reduced regression model that is originally based on a 7 main effect factor regression model.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Hybrid courses combine instructional elements from traditional face-to-face (F2F) and online course
formats (El Mansour & Mupinga, 2007). Hybrid courses, in many circles, is synonymous with a
converged classroom and, therefore, the two terms may be used interchangeably. This type of learning
environment differs from a traditional classroom teaching environment in two distinct ways: 1) students
are first introduced to the substantive material and are required to read and understand the material before
coming to class for the Live Session; and 2) during the Live Session, the instructor helps to clarify points
of confusion or difficulty, work through problems, etc. (Haughton and Kelly, 2015). Because of changing
student demographics and efforts to make courses more accessible to students, converged (or hybrid)
course offerings have increased rapidly (Blier, 2008) due to many advantages it provides over traditional
classroom courses. For example, converged courses not only decrease travel time for student who live in
rural areas (Yudko, Hirokawa, and Chi, 2008), they also decrease travel time for students who live in
metropolitan areas where traffic is heavily congested. The converged classroom also accommodates
students’ busy schedules away from school; principally, work and family obligations (Aslanian, 2001).
Research also cites convenience, flexibility, currency of material, rapid feedback, and customized
learning as key factors for online students (Harasim, 1990; Hackbarth, 1996; Kiser, 1999, Matthews,
1999; Swan et al., 2000; Wiles & Keyser, 2016). Therefore, it is likely that hybrid courses will continue
to grow and stem the rising costs of higher education (Woodworth & Applin, 2007; Allen and Seaman,
2010). In higher education, online enrollments have grown 21% vs. 2% enrollment growth for traditional
classroom courses n s 2002 (Allen & Seaman, 2007).
Despite the many advantages of online learning, notable issues include a feeling of isolation by online
students (Brown, 1996), students who may be confused about the instructions or where to find course
elements (Hara & Kling, 2000), and a reduction in level of student interest and learning effectiveness (R.
Maki, W. Maki, Patterson, & Whittaker, 2000).
Whereas Kolb’s learning theory of pedagogical learning for instructional design (Kolb, 1984)
combined with Knowles’ learning theory of adult learning (Knowles, 1990, 1980) were instrumental in
assessing the learning needs of both on-campus and online engineering students, the effectiveness of
student attitudes, student satisfaction, and performance varies across the literature.
Lam (2009) analyzed the performance of traditional vs. online formats of an undergraduate computer
programming course using regression analysis, concluding that delivery mode did not influence average
course grades in a statistically significant sense; however, students’ cumulative grade point average
(GPA) was the only significant predictor. In analyzing the success rates of F2F vs. online students in two
different business courses, Wilson & Allen (2011) also concluded that cumulative GPA was the most
significant predictor of course grade, regardless of delivery mode. Xu and Jaggars (2014) conclude, in a
study of over 51,000 students initially enrolled in one of Washington State’s 34 community or technical
colleges during Fall 2014, that the online format had a significantly negative relationship with
standardized course grade, indicating that the typical student had more difficulty succeeding in online
course vs. traditional F2F courses. Driscoll, et al., (2011) concluded no significant difference in student
performance and student satisfaction between traditional vs. online sections of an introductory sociology
course taught by the same professor over multiple semesters with little change in course materials or
assessment instruments. Reisetter et al. (2007) found no significant differences between traditional and
online students in their course satisfaction and learning.
To stimulate both student performance and student satisfaction, Sauers and Walker (2004) state that
there is a need to identify the best use of online instruction and how to implement the tools of online
learning management systems. Further, undergraduate students suggested more instructor/student training
in the use of technology as well as the recording of synchronous sessions for later review (Bonakdarian,
Wittaker, & Bell, 2009); Wood, 2010). Effective instructors must play a far more prominent and
interactive role by being a present and active participant if they hope to foster effective student thinking
(Tassel & Schmitz (2014); Schubert-Irastorza & Fabry (2011).
METHODOLOGY
The research design consists of obtaining students’ course grades for four different Industrial
Engineering Technology (IET) converged courses taught in the Fall and Spring semesters of the 2016-17
academic year at a four-year comprehensive university. Students outside of the IET major were permitted
to register for an IET course if it was cross-listed to fit other particular major requirements. For example,
business majors were permitted to register for IET 2227 – Introduction to Statistics to satisfy their Intro to
Statistics requirement.
All four courses in this study are converged classroom courses, meaning each course consists of a
hybrid (i.e., on-campus) section as well as an online section. Both sections are synchronized so that both
hybrid and online students may simultaneously attend the Live Session. The Blackboard CollaborateTM
technology permits active participation for online students to speak (via a headset microphone) or text
responses so that everyone in the class can hear or read the dialogue exchange with the professor. A
primary benefit for online students is that, although not physically present in the classroom, the online
student is still an active participant who can see and hear everything during the Live Session from the
convenience of home or work.
All four courses were taught by the same professor utilizing the same classroom technology,
specifically, Desire2LearnTM and Blackboard CollaborateTM.
Each course includes 16 Learning Modules (one Learning Module each for 16 weeks). Included with
each Learning Module is an Overview Page, the pre-recorded lecture videos, posted Powerpoint slides,
homework assignments, and any ancillary materials accessed by links such as handouts, tables, videos,
Excel problems, etc. Students are required to submit their homework assignments via a Dropbox folder in
the Assignments tab in the D2L NavBar designated for that particular assignment. Quizzes and exams
vary from 1) downloading these assessments, completing them, saving the file, and then downloading the
submission in the appropriate Dropbox folder or 2) writing an online quiz or exam by clicking on the
Quizzes tab in the D2L NavBar, then clicking on the appropriate assessment (quiz or exam), opening the
file, and then completing the exam. Online exams are submitted automatically when the student selects
‘Submit’ when closing out the session. The professor offers alternate types of assessments each semester
to counter the possibility of students using recycled quizzes or exams from prior semesters.
Students are expected to view the pre-recorded lecture videos, read the textbook, review the posted
Powerpoint slides, and work problems on their own prior to the Live Session. During the Live Session,
with the expectation of familiarity of concepts for the week, the professor uses the Live Session to work
through problems in the chapter and answer any questions that students may have.
This type of classroom learning differs from traditional classroom learning in that, with traditional
classroom learning, the professor meets with students face-to-face on typically a M-W-F or T-R schedule,
whereby the professor will discuss concepts and work examples through each chapter. With converged
classroom learning, the expectation that students will view the pre-recorded lecture, read the textbook,
review the posted Powerpoint slides, and work problems on their own takes the place of one day in
traditional classroom learning environment prior to the Live Session. The Live Session serves as the
second day of traditional classroom learning. The anticipated trade-off is that time is more efficiently
utilized by the professor if students are already familiar with the chapter concepts prior to attending the
Live Session. The Live Session is thus utilized for solving problems and answering questions. Hence, the
same instruction and learning occurs as in a traditional classroom environment, albeit in a different format
with converged classrooms.
Once all assessments have been graded with appropriate weights assigned as outlined in the Syllabus,
the final course grade for each student is determined and a letter grade is posted in the Grades tab for each
student in the course.
In this study, the full model is based on all 7 main effects since all two-factor and higher-order terms
proved insignificant in the initial study.
Coded details of the main effect variables in the model are shown below:
Response variable:
ŷ = Course Grade
Predictor variables:
X1 = Gender (1 = Female; 2 = Male)
X2 = Age Group (1 = 20-29; 2 = 30-39; 3 = 40-49; 4 = 50-59)
X3 = Term (1 = Fall 2016; 2 = Spring 2017)
X4 = Registration (1 = On-campus student; 2 = Distance student)
X5 = Major (1 = IET; 2 = Other)
X6 = Class Standing (1 = Freshman; 2 = Sophomore; 3 = Junior; 4 = Senior)
X7 = Cumulative grade point average
Following an examination of the full model, the researcher addressed the research questions provided
in the Introduction section.
Reaching the final reduced model employs a two-step process. (1) Once the full model is analyzed
and p-values for all variables are compared to the researchers’ desired significance level,   0 . 05 , (2) a
reduced model was formed that retained only statistically significant predictor variables. A series of
diagnostic tests, including an analysis of residuals, follows to test its validity of the reduced model in
predicting average course grades.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
The participants in this study include students at a four-year comprehensive university who enrolled
in converged Industrial Engineering Technology (IET) courses (i.e., including on-campus (hybrid) and
distance (online) students during the Live lecture session). The same professor taught these IET courses
using the same online classroom delivery technology (Blackboard CollaborateTM online classroom
technology in the Desire2LearnTM (D2L) online learning environment during the Fall 2016/Spring 2017
academic year. In keeping with the principle of parsimony as in the initial study, the results for the full
model are shown below.
(1) Full Model:
Regression Equation
Course Grade (Y) = -0.814929 - 0.0870911 Gender (X1) + 0.0788999 Age Group
(X2) + 0.0119332 Term (X3) - 0.0354078 Registration (X4) -
0.321919 Major (X5) + 0.533686 Standing (X6) + 0.830711
Cum.GPA (X7)
Coefficients
Term Coef SE Coef T P
Constant -0.814929 0.876953 -0.92927 0.355
Gender (X1) -0.087091 0.142857 -0.60964 0.543
Age Group (X2) 0.078900 0.097033 0.81313 0.418
Term (X3) 0.011933 0.163296 0.07308 0.942
Registration (X4) -0.035408 0.124344 -0.28476 0.776
Major (X5) -0.321919 0.338884 -0.94994 0.344
Standing (X6) 0.533686 0.140616 3.79535 0.000
Cum.GPA (X7) 0.830711 0.114424 7.25996 0.000
Summary of Model
S = 0.640811 R-Sq = 48.67% R-Sq(adj) = 45.46%

PRESS = 52.5817 R-Sq(pred) = 41.31%
Analysis of Variance
Source DF Seq SS Adj SS Adj MS F P

Regression 7 43.6001 43.6001 6.2286 15.1680 0.000000
Gender (X1) 1 7.3502 0.1526 0.1526 0.3717 0.543335
Age Group (X2) 1 2.1101 0.2715 0.2715 0.6612 0.417871
Term (X3) 1 2.6680 0.0022 0.0022 0.0053 0.941875
Registration (X4) 1 1.1927 0.0333 0.0333 0.0811 0.776356
Major (X5) 1 1.9622 0.3706 0.3706 0.9024 0.344188
Standing (X6) 1 6.6734 5.9151 5.9151 14.4047 0.000240
Cum.GPA (X7) 1 21.6436 21.6436 21.6436 52.7071 0.000000
Error 112 45.9916 45.9916 0.4106
Lack-of-Fit 102 41.4916 41.4916 0.4068 0.9040 0.635204
Pure Error 10 4.5000 4.5000 0.4500
Total 119 89.5917
The full model contains both significant terms whose p-values  0 . 05 and non-significant main
effect terms whose p-values > 0.05.
The regression equation for the Full Model is:
ŷ  -0.815 – 0.087 Gender (X1) + 0.079 Age Group (X2) + 0.012 Term (X3) – 0.035 Registration (X4) –
0.322 Major (X5) + 0.534 Standing (X6) + 0.831 Cum. GPA (X7)
A quick general overview of these results reveal some important conclusions:
1) R2 = 48.67%, indicating a moderate amount of variation in the full model is explained by the
variables in the full model;
2) R2-adjusted decreased slightly to 45.46%, meaning the variation in predicting course grades
decreased slightly with the addition of new variables that do not produce a large enough
reduction in the residual sum of squares to compensate for the loss of one residual degree of
freedom associated with each new variable;
3) The full multivariate model tests Ho: 1   2    n  0 vs. Ha: at least one  j  0 . We
find that at least one variable is significant at the   0 . 05 level of significance;
4) In fact, two main effect variables, Class Standing (X6) and CumGPA (X7) appear to be
statistically significant at   0 . 05 , as they relate to other variables in the full model, and
should be retained to form the reduced model.
(2) Reduced Model:

Assumptions in the reduced model include: 1) errors are uncorrelated random variables with mean
zero; 2) errors have constant variance; and 3) errors are normally distributed.
Results for the reduced model are as follows:
Regression Equation
Course Grade (Y) = -1.52397 + 0.575674 Standing (X6) + 0.875555 Cum.GPA (X7)
Coefficients
Term Coef SE Coef T P
Constant -1.52397 0.523040 -2.91368 0.004
Standing (X6) 0.57567 0.124432 4.62641 0.000
Cum.GPA (X7) 0.87556 0.102678 8.52721 0.000
Summary of Model
S = 0.632276 R-Sq = 47.79% R-Sq(adj) = 46.90%

PRESS = 49.0856 R-Sq(pred) = 45.21%
Analysis of Variance
Source DF Seq SS Adj SS Adj MS F P
Regression 2 42.8182 42.8182 21.4091 53.5530 0.000000
Standing (X6) 1 13.7493 8.5566 8.5566 21.4036 0.000010
Cum.GPA (X7) 1 29.0689 29.0689 29.0689 72.7133 0.000000
Error 117 46.7735 46.7735 0.3998
Lack-of-Fit 89 37.6068 37.6068 0.4225 1.2907 0.224671
Pure Error 28 9.1667 9.1667 0.3274
Total 119 89.5917
At the   0 . 05 level of significance, the reduced model is significant (p-value = 0.0000) and both
terms in the reduced model are statistically significant (p-values <   0 . 05 ). The standard deviation is
s = 0.632276 and R2 = 47.79%, a reduction of only 0.88% from the full model, a clear signal that the
other terms in the model were non-significant towards predicting course grades.
The final reduced model becomes: Course Grade (Y) = -1.52397 + 0.575674 Standing (X6) +
0.875555 Cum.GPA (X7).
Next, diagnostic procedures were applied, including a residuals analysis, to determine whether the
residuals have appear independent and have constant variance. We begin with a Four-in-One plot of the
residuals for Course Grades in Figure 1, which includes a Normal Probability Plot; a Histogram of
Residuals; Residuals plotted against Fitted Values; and Residuals plotted in Observation Order.
The Normal Probability Plot of residuals for Course Grade reveals non-normality, as indicated by the
tails at both extremes of the plot, although there is some semblance of normality in the middle portion of
the plot. The Histogram of residuals corroborates what we see in the Normal Probability Plot; that is,
some semblance of normality is indicated in this left-skewed distribution; however, the Histogram
essentially indicates non-normality in the distribution of data. The residuals vs. fitted values for Course
Grade display non-constant variance. The residuals plotted in observation order reveals random
variability in the data. Since the data are not time-ordered data, the presence of multicollinearity is not
apparent.
FIGURE 1
A FOUR-IN-ONE DIAGRAM OF RESIDUALS FOR COURSE GRADE (Y)
Residual Plots for Course Grade (Y)

Normal Probability Plot Versus Fits
99.9
99
1
90
0
Residual
Percent
50
10
-1
1
-2
0.1
-2 -1 0 1 2 1 2 3 4
Residual Fitted Value
Histogram Versus Order

20
1
15
Frequency
0
Residual
10
-1
5
-2
0
-2.0 -1.6 -1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0.0 0.4 0.8 1 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Residual Observation Order
The Residuals vs. Fitted plot for the predictor variable, Standing (X6), is shown in Figure 2 below.
The variance has approximately the same overall variance between the two values ( 3 = Junior class
standing; 4 = Senior class standing) leading one to assume constant variance among all residuals,
although the residuals appear more tightly clustered for Junior class standing than for Senior class
standing.
FIGURE 2
A RESIDUALS VS. FITTED PLOT FOR (CLASS) STANDING (X6)
Residuals Versus Standing (X6)

(response is Course Grade (Y))
1.0
0.5
0.0
Residual
-0.5
-1.0
-1.5
-2.0
3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0
Standing (X6)

The Residuals vs. Fitted plot for the predictor variable, Cumulative GPA, is shown in Figure 3. There
appears to be constant variance among residuals in this plot.
FIGURE 3
A RESIDUALS VS. FITTED PLOT FOR CUMULATIVE GPA (X7)
Residuals Versus Cum.GPA (X7)

(response is Course Grade (Y))
1.0
0.5
0.0
Residual
-0.5
-1.0
-1.5
-2.0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
Cum.GPA (X7)

Final analysis of the Reduced Model ANOVA table shows the p-values for both Standing and
Cumulative GPA <   0 . 05 , leading to the conclusion that the remaining two predictor variables are
statistically significant. Further, the standard deviation is s = 0.632276 and R2 = 47.79%, indicating that
47.79% of the variability in the response variable, ŷ , is explained by the two predictor variables, Class
Standing and Cumulative GPA.
CONCLUSIONS
Next, we shall address each of the research questions.

RQ1: Is there a significant difference in average course grade between on-campus students and
distance students? The null hypothesis postulates no relationship exists between hybrid student
and online students.
Ho: There is no difference in average course grades between on-campus students and distance
students
Ha: There is a difference in average course grades between on-campus student and distance
studentsIt is observed that the Registration p-value of 0.776 >   0 . 05 in the full model.
Therefore, we fail to reject Ho with 95% confidence and conclude that Registration (i.e., on-
campus students vs. distance students) is not a significant variable in the full model,
indicating the predictor variable Registration explains no variation in predicting student
course grades in relation to all other predictor variables.
RQ2: Is there a significant difference in average course grade among age groups? The null
hypothesis postulates no difference among age groups.
Ho: There is no difference in average course grades among age groups
Ha: There is a difference in average course grades among age groups
It is observed that the Age Group p-value of 0.418 >   0 . 05 . Therefore, we fail to reject Ho with
95% confidence and conclude that Age Group (i.e., 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59) is not a significant
variable in the full model, indicating the predictor variable Age Group explains virtually no variation in
predicting student course grades in relation to all other predictor variables.
RQ3: Is there a significant difference in average course grade among genders? The null
hypothesis postulated no difference among genders.
Ho: There is no difference in average course grades between genders
Ha: There is a difference in average course grades between genders
It is observed that the Gender p-value of 0.543 >   0 . 05 . Therefore, we fail to reject Ho with 95%
confidence and conclude that Gender (i.e., Female vs. Male) is not a significant variable in the full model,
indicating the predictor variable Gender explains virtually no variation in predicting student course grades
in relation to all other predictor variables.
RQ4: Is there a significant difference in average course grade between IET majors and other
majors? The null hypothesis postulates no difference between the two group majors.
Ho: There is no difference in average course grades between majors
Ha: There is a difference in average course grades between majors
It is observed that the Major p-value of 0.344 >   0 . 05 . Therefore, we fail to reject Ho with 95%
confidence and conclude that Major (i.e., IET vs. Other) is not a significant variable in the full model,
indicating the predictor variable Major explains virtually no variation in predicting student course grades
in relation to all other predictor variables.
RQ5: Is there a significant difference in average course grade between Fall 2015 and Spring
2016 semesters? The null hypothesis postulates no difference between the two semesters.
Ho: There is no difference in average course grades between terms
Ha: There is a difference in average course grades between terms
It is observed that the Term p-value of 0.942 >   0 . 05 . Therefore, we fail to reject Ho with 95%
confidence and conclude that Term (i.e., Fall 2016 vs. Spring 2017) is not a significant variable in the full
model, indicating the predictor variable Term explains virtually no variation in predicting student course
grades in relation to all other predictor variables.
RQ6: Is there a significant difference in average course grade among class standing (Freshmen,
Sophomore, Junior, or Senior)? The null hypothesis postulates no difference among class standing.
Ho: There is no difference in average course grades among class standing
Ha: There is a difference in average course grades among class standing
It is observed that the Standing p-value of 0.000 <   0 . 05 . Therefore, we reject Ho with 95%
confidence and conclude that Class Standing (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior) is a significant
variable in the full model, indicating the predictor variable (Class) Standing does, indeed, explain
variation in predicting average course grades in relation to all other predictor variables.
RQ7: Is there a significant relationship between average course grade and cumulative grade
point average?
Ho: There is no difference in average course grades among cumulative GPA
Ha: There is a difference in average course grades among cumulative GPA
It is observed that the Cum.GPA p-value of 0.000 <   0 . 05 . Therefore, we reject Ho with 95%
confidence and conclude that Cum.GPA (0 – 4.0) is a significant variable in the full model, indicating the
predictor variable Cum.GPA does, indeed, explain variation in predicting average course grades in
relation to all other predictor variables.
It is important to note that both Standing (X6) and Cum.GPA (X7) were statistically significant
variables in the final Reduced Model with p-values of 0.000 and 0.000, respectively.
In sum, the researchers’ objective was to validate the results of the previous, or initial, study in
determining which predictor variable(s), if any, had a significant effect on predicting average course
grades. The Reduced Model is: Course Grade (Y) = -1.52397 + 0.575674 Standing (X6) + 0.875555
Cum.GPA (X7).
Beginning with seven main effect predictor variables, only two predictor variables, Class Standing
and Cumulative GPA, proved statistically significant. All higher-order interaction terms were removed
from the full model 1) in keeping with the principle of parsimony, and 2) since none of these higher-order
terms proved significant in the initial study.
The R2 value of 47.79% was much improved over the R2 value of 17.0% in the initial study.
Consideration of other main effect variables not included in the current full model may contribute to
higher R2 and r values.
In conclusion, the Reduced Model discovered in this follow-up study is the identical model concluded
by the researchers in the initial study (Keyser & Parvathareddy, 2017) during the previous year.
Therefore, the conclusion in the initial study is validated.
AREAS OF FUTURE STUDY
This study consists of analyzing student course grades in four different courses using the same
technology by the same professor at the same four-year comprehensive university during the 2016-17 Fall
and Spring semesters. The next study will compare student course grades between students majoring in
industrial engineering technology vs. students majoring in industrial & systems engineering taught by the
same professor within the same department at the same four-year comprehensive university. Additional
future studies could include an analysis of average course grades by other professors in different
departments at the same four-year comprehensive university; a comparative analysis between
undergraduate- and graduate-level converged courses, as well as conducting similar analyses involving
professors from other universities who also utilize converged classroom learning environments.
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Developing a Department Profit Center while Enhancing the Student
Learning Experience: Building a Professional Sales Center
Mick Jackowski
Scott Sherwood
April Schofield
As an innovative means of creating greater impact on student learning while becoming more self-
sustaining, a university marketing department created a Center for Professional Selling. Corporate
partners paid the Center for the ability to recruit students taking sales courses. In addition to providing
the potential for students to land high-paying entry level positions, partners also shared their own
experience and expertise with students during scheduled class visits and other events. Students
participated in experiential learning activities that increased their marketability and led directly to
employment for many.
INTRODUCTION
Government funding of higher education is $10 billion less than it was prior to the recession in 2008
(Mitchell, Leachman, and Masterson, 2016) and some predict it will never return to those previous levels
(Doyle, 2013). To combat this, public universities have been increasing tuition at rates surpassing the
growth of median income levels, a strategy that cannot be sustained without institutions pricing
themselves out of the market (Mitchell et. al, 2016).
In this era of declining subsidies, academic departments could realize smaller operating budgets while
costs continue to increase, which could negatively impact student learning. For example, one study found
that decreases in government funding of higher education increases the cost of improving student degree
completion rates (Sav, 2016). With this problematic environment now a harsh reality, institutions of
higher learning must find more alternative funding sources--donations, grants, public-private partnerships,
sponsorships, etc.—in an effort to maintain their standards of quality.
Likewise, academic departments should not solely rely on traditional means of funding from the
institution, lest it become bound to the successes and failures of administrative units outside of their
control. However, traditional department funding, whereupon a department is allocated resources based
on decisions made in the offices of the Dean, Provost and President, is the only means of revenue
considered in the vast majority of academic units in the United States.
Instead, academic departments should embrace an entrepreneurial mindset and develop their own
sources of revenue. By doing so, departments can not only maintain or increase their own service quality
standards, but also develop more autonomy within the university and illustrate a non-profit version of
corporate entrepreneurship to the rest of the campus community.
Additionally, a Gallup poll reported that employees’ level of engagement in the workplace doubled if
they also engaged in experiential learning activities while they were in college (Castellano, 2015).
Accordingly, it makes sense that academic departments expose their students to more experiential
opportunities. And toward the end of a department becoming both more effective and efficient, the
strategy of developing new revenue streams should also provide these experiential opportunities.
Specific to teaching sales, students who received a formal sales education through experiential
learning activities at a university were both more motivated (Mani, Kothandaraman, Kashyap, and
Ashnai, 2015) and more successful in the first year of their careers than employees who received that
training after being hired (Bolander, Bonney, and Santornino, 2014). Because of this, it is vitally
important to integrate more active learning scenarios into a sales curriculum, instead of relying on a
traditional lecture format.
This paper provides a case study of an academic marketing department at an urban university
developing a sales center to not only better prepare its students for careers in that field, but to also
generate new funding streams. These sources of revenue created new student scholarships, funded student
travel to sales competitions and subsidized the department’s annual student awards banquet.
BEGINNINGS
Before the creation of the Center, the Marketing Department offered two sales courses: Personal
Selling and Sales Management. Due to increased demand from students, the department added a second
section of Personal Selling. To better assess whether these courses were providing students with the most
up-to-date knowledge of the discipline, the course coordinator investigated several organizations,
including the Sales Education Foundation and the University Sales Center Alliance (USCA). Almost 30
colleges across the country belonged to the USCA and shared best practices in sales curriculum.
Armed with this information, the department added a course in Advanced Selling, revised its Sales
Management course, and created a sales role play laboratory. One of the key tools in the laboratory was
an online program that allowed student presentations to be recorded and graded with comments in a
secure environment. The program focused also on training students for careers in business-to-business
sales because it is these companies that hire a majority of recent graduates for their salesforces.
The decision to transform the sales program into a full-fledged Center for Professional Selling was
multi-faceted. First, it better differentiated the sales program from the mix of traditional courses found in
the marketing curriculum, as well as the typical offerings in the School of Business. Second, it reinforced
the importance of sales training to students, and third, it crystallized the brand to the corporate community
as a singular source of well-trained entry-level salespeople.
After establishing the Center for Professional Selling, program administrators applied for Associate
membership in USCA having met the initial requirements--three faculty members teaching sales courses,
a sales laboratory, three core sales courses (a two-course sequence in sales, plus sales management), an
independent advisory board, and support from the Dean’s office. The Center now offers both a sales
certificate and minor and added freshman/sophomore level courses in introductory sales and customer
service.
PARTNER FUNDING
Researching other programs provided the knowledge that in addition to offering traditional sales
courses, the opportunity existed to form revenue-generating partnerships with large companies with
offices in the community. These relationships are mutually beneficial in that a) companies pay for the
right to recruit students trained specifically in skill areas needed to be successful in sales, b) students gain
industry knowledge through partner presentations in the classroom, as well as networking events, c)
students have a direct pipeline to potential employment in high-paying positions, d) the department
generates a source of alternative funding that can be rolled back into activities that support student
learning, and e) partners provide realistic learning and feedback opportunities for students by acting as
role play buyers and mock interviewers.
Sales programs around the country utilize different revenue strategies when developing corporate
partnerships, from an annual partner sponsor level of $25-50,000 to some institutions giving the sales
recruiting right for free. This latter strategy devalues the privilege extended to partners and defeats the
goal of creating departmental revenue streams. The more expensive extreme sometimes requires that a
specific sales method is taught and grants more oversight to the partner because of the size of the
investment. This program decided to offer a $5,000 sponsorship-level due to its lack of a proven sales-
training track record with area employers.
In return for this fee, partners received the right to visit sales classes to talk about pre-determined
topics and promote opportunities within their own company. Additionally, the sales program organized an
evening meet-and-greet event every semester at the university hotel. This opportunity allowed students to
experience an authentic networking event and build rapport with partners with whom they would be
interested in obtaining an internship or full-time sales position.
Using this rather straightforward relationship outline, representatives of the sales program met with
recruiting executives in several companies that had partnered with other universities and quickly
developed a core group of financial supporters. In addition to cash partners, the Center also has in-kind
sponsors, or those that provide services or product in place of money. Two examples of this are the video
recording company that is used in student role plays, as well as a company that visits classes every
semester to teach dress for success strategies
Each semester the Center offers a networking event for all sales students and partner companies.
Students participate in mock interviews, career assessments (SEF), and job shadowing. Sales students
also sell to real customers for real money for one of our partners, who in turn give a portion of those
proceeds back to the Center.
In addition to the benefits mentioned already, the faculty of the Center are proponents of experiential
learning because results indicate that students who take a more active role in their learning environment
are more likely to retain the knowledge they obtain (Chapman, Schetzsle, and Wahlers, 2016). With this
is mind, students not only engage in sales role plays as course assignments, but every semester, the Center
invites select high performers to compete in sales competitions around the country. The portion of the
expenses not subsidized by the inviting institution are covered by the Center from partnership funds.
Students are permitted to keep any cash prizes they earn at the competitions.
Corporate sponsorships also created a plethora of scholarships for high achieving students in the sales
program. Finally, the Center allocated some of the funds to the Marketing Department, which used these
moneys to stage the annual marketing department student awards function.
TYPICAL SEMESTER
In addition to regular course preparation, arrangements must be made to schedule partners for
classroom visits. Although this may appear to be a relatively straightforward task, coordinating calendars
with busy executives is time-consuming and faculty must be pliable with their course schedules. It is
common to rearrange visits myriad times during the semester to accommodate partners who must change
their presentation dates.
In class, partners present about 30 minutes of material that students need to learn and the rest of the
class is dedicated to students learning more about the sales process at that company and the types of
employment opportunities available. This experience provides an opportunity for students to ask
questions specific to that company and begin forging relationships with potential employers in a more
intimate setting. Partners encourage students to follow up with them after the class visit, which often leads
to employment opportunities before they graduate. At the very least, these students are now known by
recruiters, which is an important and necessary first step to move past the typical review of cover letters
and resumes. All students, whether they pursue job opportunities with partner companies or not, graduate
with a network of business professionals in a variety of industries.
Almost every course utilizes role plays to make the students more comfortable in selling situations
and partners provide the selling scenarios for these exercises. The faculty give the best of these students
an opportunity to compete in either an internal sales competition or travel to national events, or both.
Freshmen and Sophomores in Introduction to Sales who perform well in their role play final are invited to
travel to a national competition solely for underclassmen. Additionally, partners serve as buyers for
students in Personal Selling and Advanced Selling courses.
Students in two sections of Personal Selling use role plays to compete in an internal sales competition
and students in Advanced Selling can earn the right to compete in some of the largest sales role play
competitions in the country. Additionally, students in Sales Management sometimes attend a national
sales management case study competition.
These opportunities provide valuable bullets on the resume of students, but more importantly, most
sales competitions provide recruiter fairs where students interview for positions when they are not
competing. Many students have landed their first sales position while attending these events.
As another means of experiential learning that also strengthens ties to the corporate community is the
students’ ability to use their knowledge and sell a product. The Center developed relationships with two
professional sports teams that provide students with one game a semester to sell. The teams reduce the
cost of the ticket and allow the Center to build in a mark-up that turns into a donation to the Center. The
teams also provide additional perks, such as the opportunity to skate on the ice or shoot baskets after the
game for ticket buyers, plus a VIP experience or a shadowing experience for top-selling students. The
proceeds generated from this experience help fund more scholarships. Students also create LinkedIn
profiles, resumes and the Introduction to Sales class partakes in mock interviews with the Career Services
Department.
CONCLUSION
This case study provided details on how a marketing department developed a center in a specialized
facet of its discipline. While this opportunity may seem reasonable to do within a marketing department,
the authors propose that any department has the potential to find their own symbiotic relationships
between their students and organizations that recruit them. Employers already invest in and attend career
fairs on virtually every campus in the United States, but they participate knowing that they will encounter
a wide swath of students with differing levels of knowledge, skills, and overall ability. Most of the
students they meet are not good candidates for their entry-level positions. It makes sense that these
recruiters would prefer more targeted opportunities to meet a smaller, yet more qualified, number of
students. The good news for academic departments is that companies have both the willingness and
financial resources to make this possibility a reality.
In this scenario, the tables turn and the students become the desired ones and companies often
compete to win the favor of the most talented individuals. In the case of this sales center, top students
often receive multiple offers and get to pick the employment opportunity that best suits them. After-hire
reports from partners indicate that students recruited from the center are better-prepared than their
counterparts from other institutions that lack sales programs, which makes these partnerships easy to
continue over the course of many years.
REFERENCES
Bolander, W., Bonney, L., & Santornino, C. (2014). Sales Education Efficacy: Examining the
Relationship Between Sales Education and Sales Success. Journal of Marketing Education,
36(2), 169-181.
Castellano, S. (2015). Setting Up for Success: Mentoring and Experiential Learning are Shown to Benefit
Future Workers. TD Magazine, 69(3), 16.
Chapman, J., Schetzsle, S., & Wahlers, R. (2016). An Innovative, Experiential-Learning Project for Sales
Management and Professional Selling Students. Marketing Education Review, 26(1), 45-50.
Doyle, W. R. (2013). State Funding for Higher Education: Situation Normal? Change,
November/December, 58
Mani, S., Kothandaraman, P., Kashyap, R., & Ashnai, B. (2015). Sales Role Plays and Mock Interviews:
An Investigation of Student Performance in Sales Competitions. Journal of Marketing
Education, 38(3), 183-198.
Mitchell, M., Leachman, M., & Masterson, K. (2016). Funding Down, Tuition Up: State Cuts to Higher
Education Threaten Quality and Affordability at Public Colleges. Center on Budget Policy and
Priorities, August, 2016.
Sav, G. Thomas (2016). Declining State Funding and Efficiency Effects on Public Higher Education:
Government Really Does Matter. International Advances in Economic Research, 22(4), 397-408.
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On-Line Education – Our Future Or A Fad? A Short Case Study.

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Suggestions to Increase Course Evaluation Response Rates in Online Courses ................................. 10

On Line Education – Our Future or a Fad? A Short Case Study ........................................................ 16

Mobile Learning Application to Facilitate Ubiquitous

Starting Early: The Impact of Experience Based Education

We examine the education-entrepreneurial intentions relationship and the effects of experiential

Team Based Learning in Management Accounting: A Comprehensive

Graduate Student Perceptions and Experiences with Connectivity

Updating Graduate Business Curricula: Incorporating Experiential Learning ................................. 74

Education for Responsible Future Leaders: International

Analyzing Course Grades in a Converged Classroom

Developing a Department Profit Center while Enhancing the Student

1. Generate an exchange of ideas between scholars, practitioners and industry specialists

Articles should be submitted following the American Psychological Association format.

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ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE RATES

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ADMINISTERING STUDENT EVALUATIONS

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A SHORT CASE STUDY

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Survey Questions Agree

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DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION

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CONCLUSION: IS E-LEARNING A FAD?

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IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION THEORY AND PRACTICE

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THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR THE APP

MGMT 620 or “International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior” is a graduate level course

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App. Structure/Technical Requirement

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We examine the education-entrepreneurial intentions relationship and the effects of experiential

“All learning is experiential” (Joplin, 1995).

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REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

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