Is Information Technology the Right Way to Teach Business Studies? – A project Undertaken in the Private Business Schools
Dr. Bhavna Mashru(Ph.D,)
The objective was to prepare and present reports, examining the use of Information Technologies in Business Studies. Along with the major objective there were some minor ones related to the development of communication and language skills of the students by becoming familiar with the partner country and its specificities in the sphere of history, the social and geographical development, its lifestyle and culture.
The first stage of the project included:
Explaining the aims and tasks of the project to the students, teachers and parents. Discussions among the teacher staff and organization of a parents’ meeting, dedicated to the project.
Preparation staff meeting under the project at the beginning of November, 2004 in the colleges of the Porbandar District. The representatives of the two parties specified the parameters of the exchange of students from the two countries.
Elaborating the criteria of assessment and selection of the students who would participate in the exchange. A most democratic principle was applied , that everybody had the right to apply, but the commission would choose those 20 students who would show the best results at the English examination( the topics had been given in advance) ,and Informatics (on the basis of an assignment elaborated).Added to this was the average mark in the Business subjects studies and the teachers’ appraisal of the applicant’s behaviour.
Preliminary language preparation of all students with an emphasis on the vocabulary connected with the problems of IT and business. This preparation was carried out mainly in the Business English lessons as well as in all classes of the subjects taught in English, namely Business Communications.
Establishing contacts with the English partner institution and collecting information about it and the subject chosen to be the topic of the project.. All students, by using Internet, had the opportunity to learn a lot about Colleges of the Porbandar District, organization of the teaching process there. Furthermore, some English classes were spared for the translation of the most interesting brochures, leaflets and folders about the college and the landmarks of Porbandar.
The exchange of students was carried out in two stages:
The first stage was the visit of the English students and teachers. Seventeen students and two teachers from V.R. Godhaniya College paid a visit to T.N. Rao Private Business School from 9th February to 22nd February, 2005. There was a provisional schedule made, which was approved by the English party and later on fully implemented. It included attendance at some classes, collaborative work in the computer lab, visits to Indian business establishments, doing sports, entertainments and excursions together. The Director of T.N. Rao Private Business School gave a talk on the educational system of India. A number of educational and social events took place, enabling not only the educational aspect of the exchange to be fulfilled but also that cultural similarities and differences be ascertained. There was excellent participation by students and staff throughout the visit. The students from 1st year B.Com class made a presentation of their training firm, . A presentation entitled Computer Models and Business Games, and the film on the real use of this method in the Finance Management classes, aroused great interest. A representative of Socrates Programme, attended some of the project activities and witnessed the interaction of the students and their participation when discussing specific topics. The linguistic aim of the project was successfully fulfilled at this first stage – the students from V.R. Godhania college learnt words and conversational phrases from the Rajkot students, and their peers had the opportunity to practice and extend their English vocabulary. One of the business visits was paid to the Rajkot United Bank. There a representative of the bank delivered a lecture on the use of Information technologies in the bank system of India. Then the students were shown round the bank, they talked to the experts and were given some advertising souvenirs. The English students collected a bulk of material for their reports under the project.
The second stage of the exchange was the visit of the Rajkot T.N. Rao students to V.R.Godhania College. The group to take part in the exchange was composed according to the requirements of the programme – 20 students including 10 boys and 10 girls, 4 teachers from the school – 2 women and 2 men. The duration of the stay was 14 day (13 nights) covering the period of time from 2nd to14th April, 2005. During the exchange time the student groups kept on collecting materials on the topic of the use of Information technologies in Business Studies. The subject of investigation was mainly the teaching process in Business Schools as an organization, active methods and forms of training. The learning environment in the college as a totality of modern teaching facilities, efficient methods of training, and numerous staff and financial capacity, was the source of rich impressions and a good basis to make analysis and conclusions on the topic .The students enhanced not only their knowledge but also initiated propositions to carry over the positive experience to the T.N. Rao Business school. An example proposition was to work out a communication portal of teachers and students in Private Business Schools. The everyday communication in English further extended the language knowledge and skills of the Rajkot students, they even learnt some local dialect. Divided into groups of four, the students were collecting facts and information necessary for their reports on concrete topics: similarities and differences in the educational systems in Rajkot. Information technologies in Business Studies in Rajkot Colleges and culture of IIMS , They used a diversity of methods such as observation, examination of literature sources and Internet information, inquiry, interview, modelling. The programme envisaging cultural events and excursions to the nearby towns in the region, a friendly dinner together and discotheque, was fulfilled with great enthusiasm.
As a result a DVD containing students’ elaborations under the project was made. Rajkot Based Private Business School was upgraded on which was made a separate link for the project where one could see in detail the exchange of students and the presentations under the project. There are also many photographs from the visit to Rajkot.
The students presented the process and the results of their work under the project on a special student conference. It took place on 16th of June, 2005.
Working on the project contributed to the development of the students’ professional skills in the field of Information technologies and the presentation of the products, designing the website; skills to communicate in English, to work in a team and make decisions, to assume responsibility; an ambition for better performance; tolerance and respect to the individual. The students learnt a lot of new things in the field of Information technologies, Business Studies and the different computer programmes used in the process of teaching. They extended their knowledge in the English language, especially their vocabulary, and learnt a bit about the specific way of speaking in some regions of England.
The experience gained under the project will contribin Physics, Geoute to the updating of the teaching methods used. There are already proposals by the teachers, Accounting, and even in Business Language and Literature to have their classes in the computer lab in order to make use of the technical means there. The participation in the project and especially the realization of the exchange of students is definitely a step forward for our school in respect to the higher level of training and coming up to the European standards. When comparing with their English peers, our students felt a justified confidence both with respect to their preparedness and work on the assignments they had, and their already shaped culture of conduct. The benefit from the contacts is really significant, but still more encouraging is the ambition to put into practice everything new and useful that was learnt during the work together. This will inevitably have an impact on the formation of the personality of the young Students of IIMs, the future full member of the Indian Community.
The project was highly evaluated by the people involved in it, and who became aware of the benefits from it. First, these are the students who gained confidence and accumulated knowledge and skills. Second, the teachers, who had the opportunity to learn some new modern methods of teaching and to see the effect of the work on the project in the results shown by the students, especially in the sphere of Informatics, Business Studies and the English language. A representative of theirs was present at two of the most important stages and expressed a very high evaluation. Very high, too, was the evaluation of the parents who witnessed the professional development of their children and the formation of exceptionally important personable qualities in hem such as a sense of responsibility, the skill to work in a team, the ambition to manifest and perfect themselves. We received a very high assessment by many university lecturers who are members of the State Examination Commission in Theory and Practice of the Speciality.
Project Coordinator: Dr. Bhavna Mashru
Commerce & IT College, Porbandar
Address: 1, Bhojeshwar Plot, Porbandar
Telephone: 9428438118
Fax: 931 18 99
e-mail: bctd@mail.orbitel.bg.
* ELTWeekly would like to thank Dr. Bhavna Mashru for contributing this research article.
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