Redefining the Professor’s Role in the Online World

Online classrooms have made their way onto the education scene in a big way. A considerable amount of higher education institutions have begun to understand the benefits of online coursework. Most educational theories are based within face-to-face classrooms and online classroom research is lacking. A paper by Arbaugh, et. al. (2013) discusses the need for additional research in online classroom management from a manager’s perspective. This research runs from professor management all the way to online learning theories.

There is a bias by instructors against online learning even though more universities are adapting the technology. The bias comes in part from a lack of research to support online learning and the very perception professors have of their traditional academic roles.  No longer does the concept of pipe smoke filled rooms, tweed jackets and dusty books define a professor’s role. It has been replaced by a laptop and kindle.  

What is an online professor? It is defined as an instructor that teaches at least 80% of their presentation content and interaction in a virtual setting (Allen, et. al. 2007). The online professor has skills in online communication, technology, and their individual content areas to raise student awareness. They are savvy in technology and use sophisticated tools to conduct research. 

This relatively new phenomenon, which is now making its way into the mainstream, opens a new market for academic research. This type of research includes critical management education, experiential learning, planning student activities, management education and literature, job design, recruitment, training, retention and motivation, and many more areas. The entire arena of online management and education is open for exploration.

The author suggests starting with traditional educational and management theories to create online tests and experiments to adopt them to the online world. As the research gap is filled, it will lend more credibility to the field as well as more concisely show the benefits of online education. Traditional professor reservations about redefining their roles will lessen as information becomes available to make proper assessments. The use, strength, and practicality of online education will increase with improved methods. Universities may find better management paradigms through understanding the virtual world better. 

Allen, et. al. (2007). Blending in: The extent and promise of blended learning in the United States. Needham,MA: Sloan-C.

Arbaugh, J. et. al. (2013). New uses for existing tools? A call to study online management instruction for instructors. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12 (4).

Improving Business Education through Industry Connections

Business colleges have developed over the past few decades. According to Xie and Steiner (2013), not all of these changes have been for the better. The authors argue that traditional business education has damaged the overall business community and narrowed people into irrelevance. They provide some possibilities for improvement of business colleges within their paper. 

They offer a couple of solutions that include connections between business and business schools, new business education models,  as well as joint creation of knowledge management. Their reasoning is that student’s knowledge should broaden perspectives beyond simple tools of management and should include the overall human elements that enhance understanding further than number crunching. 

Collaboration between Business Schools and Business: In the older models, students were apprentice oriented. Business colleges should make stronger connections to the business community in order to create higher levels of relevant education. The traditional educational model has separated itself from the needs of modern day business management. Professors should be seen as professionals with certain codes of ethics and standards.

Joint Creation of Management Knowledge: There is practical knowledge and academic knowledge. Even though these two forms of knowledge can overlap, they have become more separate in recent decades. Practitioners and academics should work closely to ensure that knowledge is practical and applied in nature. Education should focus on solving practical problems for business managers. 

New Educational Models Revisited: New business education models need to develop that bridges the gaps between traditional education and modern business needs. The student should learn new concepts that applied practically in the real world. Colleges should focus on teaching those skills that are most relevant within the modern business market. 

Interestingly, the report highlights the concepts of the practitioner-academic that creates new knowledge but does so in the context of applied usage of knowledge. Business education and business management should be intertwined to create relevancy in the modern day work place. Data crunching is important but the understanding of human behavior is a primary function of management. Data crunching and soft skills of human management are important co-complimentary skills. Colleges should seek to foster both.

Xie, C. & Steiner, S. (2013). Enhancing management education relevance: joint creation of knowledge between business schools and business. Business Education & Accreditation, 5 (2).

The Implementation of Critical Thinking Skills in Business Education

Research by Anderson and Reid (2013), delve into the issue of developing critical thinking skills among college students. These skills are particularly important for college of business graduates who may someday need to develop and implement their own strategies.  Such skills are also important in their daily lives as they make the hundreds of miniscule decisions that lead to career success. 

Critical thinking can be defined as the use of cognitive skills or strategies that increase the likelihood of positive outcomes (Halpem, 1998). It may also be defined as the knowledge, skills and strategies that improve rational decision making, problem solving and improve creativity (Reid, 2009). Such skills afford people the opportunity think about the factors that go into making a decision and finding more rational conclusions. 

A 2008 report of business colleges found that 87% had no critical thinking components (Devore, 2008). Likewise, business managers were also disappointed in the critical thinking skills that graduates gained upon graduation (Woods-Bagot, 2012).  The lack of critical thinking skills within colleges and the general disappointment of mangers mean there is a misalignment between education and the needs of employers.

Employers are able to expand upon graduates skills and abilities through further job knowledge and training. College graduates should come with the fundamental broad understandings that employers can further for effectiveness. Critical thinking is an essential and fundamental aspect of successful business management and should not be ignored in the educational process.

The authors put a critical thinking component within capstone courses and evaluated them with the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST). They incorporated business case studies that helped to enhance these skills and help students find rational alternatives. The use of case studies is believed to further help students solidify the material.  

The researchers used sixteen-question questionnaires to assess student’s use of critical thinking. The pedagogical methodology of teaching critical thinking skills as a class appeared to have high transference from college to work life. In addition, students viewed after graduation the experience of learning about critical thinking as a positive experience. The authors contend that such critical thinking aspects are beneficial for the students as well as the employers.

The findings of the authors indicated that having a course or two on critical thinking brings about positive results in the students learning process. Even though the study focused on separate course components it is possible to develop critical thinking throughout the college experience in a way that is incorporate into the majority of the course. A single course on methodology may solidify the processes used but it is the critical thinking aspects within courses that creates a pattern of thinking and behavior that students may rely on in their jobs.

Anderson, P. & Reid, J. (2013). Critical thinking in a college of business administration. Southern Business Review, 37 (3).

DeVore, N. (Ed.). (2008). Critical thinking and better decisions. Portland, OR: Verge Consulting.

Halpern, D. (1998). Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains: Dispositions, skills,

structure training, and metacognitive monitoring. American Psychologist, 53, 449-455.

Reid, J. (2009b). A quantitative assessment of an application of Halpern's teaching for critical thinking in abusiness class. DeKalb, IL: Proquest Publication No: 340486.

Woods-Bagot. (2012). Research study: University graduates don't make the grade. San Francisco, CA:

Woods-Bagot.

Evidence-Based Leadership as a Method of Critical Thinking

Leadership has become a hot topic in the world of business. The development of the next generation leaders requires fostering throughout their lives the proper self-image, decision making patterns, and ethical approaches that reduce personal bias and challenge improperly rooted premises. The use of evidence-based leadership offers an opportunity to create more logical thinking patterns that helps counter the natural biases that make their way into decisions that impact a great many people. Using such data is not paint-by-the-numbers type leadership but one that uses the available information in new ways that check alternatives and incorporates scientific knowledge.

Evidence based leadership is the concept that leadership is based on the ability to take information from the environment and use this information to make adequate decisions that impact a large group of people. It is possible to define such a concept as, “making decision through conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of four course of information: practitioner expertise and judgment, evidence from the local context, crucial evaluation of the best valuable research evidence, and the perspective people who might be affected by the decision (Briner & Rousseau, 2011). Leadership entails a wider scope of stakeholders and influence based on the decisions but does not ignore the systematic influence of management techniques.

Such leaders do not simply make decisions premised upon affiliations or personal needs but use evidence to guide their decisions to more accurate conclusions. In such a scenario, the use of evidence acts as check and balance that helps to ensure that the best decisions are made by limiting of personal bias within those decisions. They draw from their experiences, use research, understand the context of the information, the likely outcome of such decisions, and the people who are impacted by such decisions. It is the thorough analysis of the factors and the possible outcomes before decisions are finalized that increases utility.

Higher education can help train students to be better leaders at a time when leadership is lacking. Some have argued that schools have not done a great job of training on management skills in order to develop leadership skills (Mintzberg & Gosling, 2002). Others have suggested that research in business schools should be more analytical by nature allowing for a stronger theoretical underpinning and a more sophisticated methodology (Gordon and Howell, 1959).  Each of these indicated that the ability to analyze and use theory to help guide decisions can be beneficial in rounding out of leadership decisions.

 Leadership is about expanding one’s skills and experiences over the life development of the individual. “Every form of growth or stage of development in the life cycle that promotes, encourages, and assists the expansion of knowledge and expertise required to optimize one’s leadership potential and performance” (Brungardt, 1997). Leadership entails the processes of continuous growth and development. Using data in fostering that growth creates greater levels of structure and logical thinking patterns that can influence the mental framework toward future decisions.

The development of such leadership requires a transformation of self-efficacy. Leadership needs self-insight and self-knowledge in order to make appropriate decisions and work well with others. If we think about how self-image, data for decision-making, and our beliefs in influence our decisions, we can create new ways of viewing our environments and may find such concepts to be beneficial in enhancing current leaders and fostering future ones. 

The use of research and data in decision-making helps us to avoid those fallacies that have created poor self-concepts that influence decisions that have a profound and systemic influence on people. Accurate and effective leadership requires a level of inductive and deductive reasoning. It is the ability to view ourselves, the information available, and the outcomes in a manner that benefits businesses and other stakeholders in the most effective ways possible.

As the nation seeks paths to growth and internal development for future sustainability it will need new ways of viewing and enhancing leadership. Leaders are human and make the same mistakes other humans make in their decision-making processes. This means that leaders are influenced by their social networks, self-image, financial stakeholders and many other pressures in their lives. By using research and evidence, such leaders can provide a better way of managing by using critical thinking to help round out their personal motivations. Such information also helps to create more accurate environmental understandings that further develop the decision making process to be aware of alternative solutions not previously considered.

Briner, R & Rousseau, D. (2011). Evidence-based I-O psychology: Not there yet. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice. 4.

Brungardt, C. (1997). The making of leaders: A review of the research in leadership development and education. Journal

oi Leadership Studies.( 3).

Gordon, R. & Howell, J. (1959). Higher education in business. New York: Columbia University Press.

Mintzberg, H & Gosling, (2002). Educating managers beyond borders. Academy oí Management Learning and Education.

1.