Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/302559
42 May/June 2014 BizEd BY ERNIE CADOTTE Training executive mentors to evaluate student work brings an added dimension to a business school's assessment and assurance of learning activities. M ultiple-choice tests, written assign- ments, and oral presentations are traditional methods business faculty use to determine whether students have met a course's learning objectives. But at the Uni- versity of Tennessee, Knoxville, we wanted to complement those methods with a more hands-on approach. For "Integrated Process Management," a course required of all our undergraduate busi- ness students in their junior year, we trained executive coaches not only to mentor students, but also to evaluate their performance, share feedback based on those evaluations, and assign grades. By participating in our assess- ment process, our coaches are in a better position to help students improve their perfor- mance and strengthen their business models. Simulation Structure Informally called "Marketplace," after the com- puter simulation that students use throughout the course, Integrated Process Management is delivered in sections of about 20 students each. In each section, students form teams of five to launch and build simulated computer com- panies, all while competing with other teams. In the simulation, they name their companies, formulate strategies, design logos, write mission statements, build and distribute computers, hire sales forces, determine employee compensation models, and choose when to expand or con- tract their reach. Their company must design computers with features that target any of five consumer segments—cost cutters, workhorses, travelers, innovators, and high performance users—in any of 20 geographical markets. MENTORS M E T R I C S FOR