Academy of Management Teaching and Learning Conference Atlanta, Georgia August 2017
Title: Pedagogy Styles in China and USA Classrooms: “A View of Project Based Learning”
Presenter:
Dr John Donnellan, DPS, MBA NJCU School of Business, 160 Harborside 2, Second Floor Room 234f, Jersey City, NJ 07311 201-200-2308
[email protected] AOM ID 81308
Statement:
I agree to register and attend the 2017 TLC@AOM Conference should this submission be accepted.
Time:
60 minutes
Theme:
Assessing learning and its associated challenges.
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Proposal narrative: This presentation presents results of project based learning in China and USA classrooms for business education at the higher education undergraduate level. Project-based teaching and learning appears to be effective methods for teaching and understanding business concepts. Academia and business need to assess differences in teaching styles which results in differences in how one understands and utilizes information as well as the associated challenges. This presentation takes a look at two styles of learning, “Critical Thinking and Memorization through Reputation”. Each style has its benefits but critical thinking is more transferable to both the classroom and the boardroom. The presenter spent several years teaching in China and New Jersey and presents information as well as techniques in identifying and understanding each style. This presentation was based upon the outcome from comparing teams of higher education students in China with similar level students in the USA through Project Based Learning [PBL]. This form of teaching asserts that students and teachers must have Active Learning, Assessment and Inclusivity within the classroom to be effective. Thus, a similar project was introduced at 2 universities over a 2 year period – Changzhou University China and NJCU USA. The project was a case study and it required individual contribution, critical thinking, team work and presentation skills. Projects are “real-world” business case studies and everyday life business issues can be integrated into the college curriculum. Improving critical thinking, or ‘metacognition’ as cognitive psychologists prefer to call this set of skills, is the spearhead of many initiatives to enhance the standard of education in general and that of business education in particular (Tempelaar 2006) However, there is little
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evidence that critical thinking is being taught or that critical thinking skills are being learned (Reid 2012). This paper presents arguments on performance from students in Chinese and American [USA] classrooms from a higher education perspective. Chinese students face an acute need to bridge different ways of knowing and expressing what they know and are often characterized as unable to work in a critical context. (Turner 2006) Dahlin wrote that “students and teachers in the Far East often see memorization and understanding as working together to produce higher quality outcomes. In Contrast, in the West it is more common to associate memorization with ‘surface’ and understanding with ‘deep’ approaches to learning. (Dahlin 2000) Educators must understand that the culture of China is vastly different from the culture of the USA. Therefore, it appears that the Chinese students tend to work collaboratively in teams while the USA tends to have a higher individualism characteristic. A review of Hofstede’s Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind [2010] reflects that China is very different than the United States with respect to education. China is a highly collectivist culture where people act in the interests of the group and not necessarily of themselves (Hofstede 2010). Students in a Collectivist society only speak up in class when selected by group and the purpose of education is learning how to do. Whereas students in an Individualist society are expected to individually speak up in class and the purpose of education is learning how to learn (Hofstede 2010).
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Proposal session format:
A presentation on the research conducted between Changzhou University China and NJCU USA on pedagogy styles in the classroom.
An interactive questionnaire via Socrative app. Participants will have instruction on how to download this to their phones at start of class.
Discussion and review of presentation and questionnaire results at individual round tables. Table scribe will read to audience gathered table results.
Wrap up discussion with entire audience.
Description of dynamic and interactive session (well described interaction components)
The audience will have an interactive opportunity to test their ‘critical thinking and memorization skills’. Audience is supplied with a short PPT that asks questions which utilized both memorization and critical thinking skill sets. Socrative response application will be used to ask questions and audience will then have a debrief session that will exam how the classroom has both types of learning techniques.
Relevance to the intended audience
The audience would benefit most if they were higher education teachers of undergraduate students. Since many schools have fostered strong relationships with Asia it is more than likely these schools have an Asian student body which can be first generation as well as foreign students. Knowing that there is a difference in pedagogy styles between the east and west will help teachers to understand the differences in teaching and learning styles.
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Provision of useful "take-aways" for participants
Participants will learn how different learning styles impact students
Participants will understand the need for incorporating more critical thinking within the classroom
Interest to multiple Academy divisions or interest groups
The following divisions would benefit from this presentation: o International Management o Management Education & Development o Organizational Behavior
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References Dahlin, B., & Watkins, D. (2000). "The role of reputation in the processes of memorizing and understanding: A comparison of the views of German and Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong." The British Journal of Educational Psychology 70: 65-84. Hofstede, G., & Hofstede, G.J. McGraw Hill
(2010). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. . New York,
Reid, J., & Anderson, P. (2012). "Critical Thinking in the Business Classroom." Journal of Education for Business 87(1): 52-59. Tempelaar, D. T. (2006). "The role of metacognition in business education." Industry and Higher Education 20(5): 291-297. Turner, Y. (2006). "Students from mainland China and critical thinking in postgraduate Business and Management degrees: teasing out tensions of culture, style and substance." International Journal of Management Education.
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