Activities used in the adult graduate business classroom: Analysis of environmental scanning and teaching.

摘要

In recent years colleges and universities have seen a growing number of adults returning to the classroom to earn bachelor's and master's degrees in business. At the same time, management experts such as Mintzberg (2004) are making the case that traditional graduate management education programs are often not meeting the needs of current business enterprises. Mintzberg argues that traditional programs do not effectively take advantage of students' prior experiences or provide experiential learning programs for students. The literature on adult learning argues that adult learners prefer learning environments where they can make connections between what is discussed in the classroom and what they experience outside the classroom (Kasworm, 2003; A. Y. Kolb & Kolb, 2005). The same research also indicates that the teacher-student relationship is important to the adult learning process.; Logic leads one to expect that if the teacher of adult students is going to try to help students connect what is discussed in the business classroom with the student's experiences, the teacher needs to examine the business environment and learn something about the students' experiences. This research effectively provides empirical evidence connecting the familiar business concepts of internal and external environmental scanning and the educational concepts of using experiential connecting behaviors and teacher-student relationships to enhance the learning processes of adult graduate business students. A model linking internal and external environmental scanning behaviors, experiential connecting behaviors, and teacher-student relationships was proposed and tested. The data empirically revealed the existence of the four variables, but the resulting connections between the variables were found to be different than those hypothesized. The finalized model provides a basic understanding of how the variables are linked, which is useful for teachers of adult learners, but further research is indicated to expand the understanding of the learning processes of adult students and enhance the classroom experience.