Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/56529
DISCUSSION NO. 9: Maintaining Teaching Relevance The Situation Because most business schools offer discipline-based courses, few faculty have the cross-disciplinary training to teach what's happening in the current market. Critics claim that management degree programs are generic, and they ask hard questions. Are business schools still relevant? Are students being taught to think critically? Are students actively participating in the teaching/learn- ing process? Suggested Actions • Encourage faculty to expand their research, particularly into relevant emerging fields. • Keep doctoral education focused on relevant topics, particularly in emerging fields. • Expand faculty experience in business and government. • Supplement textbooks with more just-in-time information sources—from the newspaper to Web news feeds to stock market data—to illustrate financial principles through current events in politics, business, and the economy. • Develop expanded partnerships with local firms to stay more closely in touch with what businesses need. • Strengthen interdisciplinary teaching: } Hire and train faculty to teach cross-functional courses. } Expand students' interdisciplinary learning opportunities. } Devote more centers to interdisciplinary research. • Prepare students for the real world: } Expose them to topics such as business ethics and social responsibility. } Develop their critical thinking skills. } Give them experiential learning opportunities. • Change learning objectives to better reflect a changing curriculum. Today's "Black Swans" As educators discussed and exchanged these ideas during the conference, I was reminded of the 2007 book The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. His title refers to a widely held belief among 17th-century Europeans that there was no such thing as a black swan, because no one had ever seen one. They would eventually learn, however, that black swans commonly existed off the coast of Australia. Similarly, Taleb notes our tendency to disbelieve that which we cannot predict. But even rare events—the dotcom bubble, 9/11, or today's financial collapse—aren't as rare as we'd like to think. Once they happen, the world is never the same. No one anticipated this financial crisis—the econom- ic equivalent of Taleb's black swan—and yet it will have extreme impact. Business schools need to accept the notion that things will never be the same. But they also can take advantage of change to try new and sometimes even radi- cal ideas to push forward and prepare themselves for a time when the next black swan inevitably arrives. ■ z Richard E. Sorensen is dean of the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 49 DISCUSSION NO. 10: Delivering Services The Situation While the uncertain economy will cause some existing edu- cational programs to be curtailed, new ones will emerge. Economic development and impact studies will become increasingly important to business and government. Suggested Actions • Determine the market for new or expanded programs—and deliver them. • Offer more programs related to economic development and impact. • Enhance entrepreneurship programs to attract newly unemployed individuals. • Expand credit and noncredit programs that generate surplus revenue. • Expand programs that build on faculty members' skill sets. • Develop appropriate infrastructure to support program delivery. • Expand grant and contract activities to prepare for the next round of change.