Effective Methods of Teaching Business Education

NBEA 2008 Yearbook

National Business Education Association

The Business Education Curriculum in the Education System

The purpose of education or training is to provide a series of organized learning experiences for the learner at all levels of education.

Business education curriculum, part of the larger system, comprises a variety of teaching and learning contexts.

The business curriculum encompasses content for, about, and in business.

Things to Consider when Developing Curriculum

Whether the experiences are intended for personal business (college) or career use.

First step is determining objectives and how to deliver the material.

Unique nature of each individual, needs of the community, subject matter content, and other factors that impact the business curriculum.

Communicate desired outcomes.

NBEA

1983 NBEA appointed a task force to prepare a list of curriculum standards for teaching business subjects.

These are the standards you should use for your programs.

Have been incorporated into state and local standards.

Addresses all levels of the business education curriculum.

Elementary

K-6: Business educators at this level begin with the assumption that learning is lifelong. They serve as resource persons: technology coordinators, peer coaches, media specialists, or team teachers. By partnering with elementary teachers, business educators are able to integrate technology and career awareness into the curriculum.

Career development, communication, computation, economics and personal finance, information technology delivered at this level.

Keyboarding is the subject with the greatest effect.

Elementary

1929 First study concluded that typewriting enhances the learning process in language arts. The study showed: Elementary school children can learn to key correctly and well Keyboarding experiences accelerate language arts skills and

competencies Keyboarding helps improve penmanship Creative composition expression can be stimulated by work at

the computer keyboard Elementary school children submit neater papers and make more

projects and displays when their materials are typed Added use of the computer and the typewriter improved attitude

towards schoolwork

Elementary

Often taught or led by business educators. Computer lab instructors teach keyboarding with

assistance from business teachers Become certified to teach keyboarding Goal is 25-30 wpm in 3rd grade with gradual

improvement through the 6th grade Foundational information technology skill

developed at the elementary level Some learn introductory application skills in word

processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentations and graphics, as well as, other computer literacy concepts.

Middle/Junior High

Grades 6-8 In middle school/junior high, business educators teach students

to use technology effectively in the learning process, regardless of subject matter. Students are introduced to key concepts in basic business, entrepreneurship, and personal finance and how these concepts are integrated in a business venture.

Curriculum primarily includes exploratory and career awareness experiences and continues to build basic skills of reading, spelling, writing, and computing.

Various applications skills are continued especially word processing are continued at this level

How to use the internet to research information and write reports

Middle/Junior High

Career awareness Technology careers which introduce students

to the world of work Basic business and personal finance which

provide students with basic business and personal accounting principles

Begin to take more intensive career oriented coursework

High School

9-12 grades Refine their skills and begin career preparation Business educators at the secondary level facilitate learning in a

student-centered environment, guiding learners as they develop the skills needed to be effective consumers, citizens, workers, and business leaders---Learners continue to explore careers, apply work-based skills, gain business experience, and participate in student organizations.

Business teachers have been at the forefront of the computer revolution.

Nearly all subjects at the secondary level have some relationship to the use of the computer.

Many schools require students to take at least one semester credit of computer literacy/applications course; personal finance or economics.

Other courses are generally electives

High School

Courses include: Accounting, business communication, business law, business math, computer applications (Computer Technology), business management, economics, entrepreneurship, web design, ecommerce, international business, introduction to business, finance, business computer programming.

Students in 11th and 12th grades may take advanced courses in computing/programming, telecommunications, multimedia, webpage design and other business topics.

Industry-sponsored technology certification is frequently available such as Microsoft Office Specialist, Cisco Certified Networking Associate, Novell-sponsored Certified Network Administrator and others

Business and marketing teachers also provide work-based learning through cooperative education programs and business internships

Postsecondary Schools

Community/junior colleges, technical colleges and institutes, career colleges.

Two-year postsecondary/community colleges or technical colleges are ideal places for providing education and training to people who want to broaden their educational experiences, change careers, expand employability options, and/or upgrade technological skills. Certificate and degree programs, when combined with practical work experiences, can smooth the transition from high school to two- and four- year colleges or to the business world.

Postsecondary Schools

Mission was formerly to provide the first two years of college for local students. Now they have more complex roles.

One role is to provide the first two years of college to those who intend to transfer to a four-year institution.

Another role is to provide employability skills for those who need only two years of college.

A third role is to provide ongoing education for people who have already been to college and are retraining or are working and want to improve their jobs skills

Teaching at a community college usually requires a master’s degree.

Postsecondary Schools

Build upon the skills learned in high school and in some cases may even duplicate some of those skills.

Classes include information technology courses and industry certification classes typically taught by business instructors.

Students transferring to a four-year college typically take some of their prerequisites at the community college.

Transfer courses include accounting, business law, business communication, business statistics, marketing, economics, management

Associate of Arts and/or Science includes primarily general education for transfer to four-year college

Associate of Applied Science degree prepares students for employment in a variety of fields including business. (office systems, accounting, marketing, information technology)

Concurrent Enrollment is also offered quite often through a community college. This provides dual enrollment in the high school and the college. Students receive credit at both institutions.

Technical Colleges and Institutes

Postsecondary schools that offer no higher than a two-year degree or diploma in a vocational, technical, or career field.

Business courses in these institutions tend to be more specialized and aligned with the needs of a specific business occupation.

Career Colleges

For-profit postsecondary institution providing professional, career-specific programs. Other terms used to describe these are private business college, proprietary school, or independent college.

Offer short-term certificates and diplomas to bachelors, master’s and doctoral degrees.

Business-related programs include accounting, allied medical, business administration, hospitality management, information technology, and legal administration.

Credits may not be transferable to colleges and universities.

College and University Curriculum

National Standards for Business Education does not address curriculum at the college and university level because that area is very broad.

Faculty members generally must possess a doctoral degree. Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)

accreditation assures quality and promotes excellence and continuous improvement in undergraduate and graduate education for business administration and accounting.

AACSB process requires that the curriculum must include such general knowledge and skills areas as communication abilities; ethical understanding and reasoning abilities; analytic skills; use of information technology; multicultural and diversity understanding; and reflective things skills. Suggested management-specific knowledge and skills areas include financial theories, group and individual dynamics, statistical data analysis, domestic and global economic environments and creation of value through integrated production and distribution of goods.

Workforce Training Development

Instruction delivered through educational institutions prepares individuals to enter the workforce.

It also provides for retraining or upgrading knowledge and skills.

Instructional approaches in the educational setting are fairly standard.

Workplace instruction is sponsored, planned, designed, conducted, and evaluated at either the organizations site or at a remote location such as on a college campus.

Rapid technological change drives the demand.

Career and Technical Education

CTE offers programs for students, workers, and lifelong learners of all ages to fulfill their working potential.

Business education and other career fields such as agriculture, family and consumer sciences, health and industrial technology provide career-related courses and programs that are constantly evolving due to the changing global economy.

The career and technical education curriculum delivers Academic subject matter taught with relevance to the real world

(contextual learning) Employability skills, from job-related skills to workplace ethics Education pathways that help students explore interests and careers

in the process of progressing through school

Career Clusters

Education pathways allowing students to explore and prepare for careers are organized into career clusters.

U.S. Office of Education identified 16 Business management and administration Education and training Finance Information technology Market, sales, and services

Career clusters identify pathways from secondary school to two- and four-year colleges, graduate school and the workplace to help students learn in school and what they can do in the future.

This connection to future goals motivates students to work harder and enroll in more rigorous courses.

Curriculum Integration

Recommendation from the Association for Career and Technical Education Create incentives for students to pursue the core

curriculum in an interest-based context. Connecting rigorous academic expectations with the

relevance of an interest-based curriculum can help connect students to learning in meaningful ways.

Business education has long been a leader in ensuring relevant, integrated curricular opportunities.

Operating a school-based enterprise such as a school store is an example of this.

Student Organizations

All CTE areas support the co-curricular opportunities provided through student organizations such as Business Professionals of America, DECA and Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda as a vital significant positive relationship between business program.

Factors Impacting Business Education Instruction

Technology 500 B.C. – the abacus 1800s – telephone and typewriter Computer has had more impact than any other Business teachers worldwide provide the

instruction for the productive use of this technology

Industry-sponsored technology certification Distance learning

Factors Impacting Business Education Instruction

National Standards and Funding Legislation Diane Ravitch (1995), recognized as a chief architects of the

modern standards movement gave this rational for standards, “Americans…expect strict standards to govern construction of buildings, bridges, highways, and tunnels, shoddy work would put lives at risk. They expect stringent standards to protect their drinking water, the food they eat, and the air they breathe. Standards are created because they improve the activity of life”

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) 2003 Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement

Act of 2006 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) 2012

Teacher Education Standards and Accreditation

Some states NBEA standards, National Association for Business Teacher Education (NABTE) Business Teacher Education Curriculum Guide and Program Standards are used as guidelines for subject matter content of the standards.

Certification/licensing requires teachers to complete a business teacher education program in secondary education that includes a student teaching experience.

Many states require business teachers to pass a teaching proficiency and/or content area proficiency test.

Certification/licensing also requires CTE endorsements, work experience, work-based learning or cooperative education program coordination.

Alternative Route to Licensure (ARL) All states have enacted legislation allowing individuals to attain teaching certification bypassing the postsecondary education program