ERIC EJ861152: The Best of Both Worlds: Infusing Liberal Learning into a Business Curriculum

2009·0.98 MB·English

by  ERIC

The Best of Both Worlds:
Infusing
Liberal Learning into a
Business Curriculum
LYNN S. ARENELLA, ANGELIQUE M. DAVI,
CYRUS R. VEESER, AND ROY A. WIGGINS III
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C ATBENTLEYCOLLEGE, a four-year private in- for example, or to integrate seemingly unre-
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stitution located in Waltham, Massachusetts, lated ideas and perspectives helps young
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S over 90 percent of students major in business women and men succeed in their chosen fields.
R disciplines. For decades, Bentley’s strong arts This notion is echoed by the former chief ex-
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and sciences departments have battled for a ecutive officer of General Motors, Roger Smith
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place within an overwhelmingly career-fo- (1987), who believes that “the Liberal Arts
cused curriculum, and may ultimately prove to be the most relevant
great strides have learning model. People trained in the Liberal
been made to change the traditional relation- Arts learn to tolerate ambiguity and to bring
Business and the ship between business and the arts and sci- order out of apparent confusion. They have the
ences. Recently, for example, students gained kind of sideways thinking and cross-classifying
arts and sciences
the opportunity to pursue a double major habit of mind that comes from learning, among
are complementary,
comprising a business discipline and an inter- other things, the many different ways of look-
rather than disciplinary liberal studies program. And over ing at literary works, social systems, chemical
competitive, two recent summers, in an effort designed to processes, or languages.”
facilitate the integration of liberal learning Fostering such “sideways thinking” is one
elements of a
principles across the curriculum, the college aim of the liberal arts. Getting business stu-
complete education
has offered weeklong workshops to faculty in dents to recognize that they, too, can benefit
both business and the arts and sciences. from such a background is essential to their
success in industry. Employers are asking for a
The value of liberal learning broader set of skills and attitudes that include
Bentley’s desire to integrate liberal learning more effective communication and quantitative
principles across the curriculum is based on skills as well as familiarity with and grounding
the belief that business and the arts and sci- in issues related to innovation, diversity, and
ences are complementary, rather than competi- global cultures (Schneider 2005). According
tive, elements of a complete education. A to Roberts T. Jones (2005, 35), “virtually all
genuinely rich education should be the basis for occupational endeavors require a working ap-
both professional success and a more mean- preciation of the historical, cultural, ethical,
ingful life. The ability to deal with ambiguity, and global environments that surround the
application of skilled work.”
LYNN S. ARENELLA is associate professor of natural Given the economic effects of globalization,
and applied sciences, ANGELIQUE M. DAVI is assis- institutions of higher education need to reex-
tant professor of English, CYRUS R. VEESER is asso- amine their approaches to teaching and learn-
ciate professor of history and director of the Jeanne ing in order to ensure that they are preparing
and Dan Valente Center for Arts and Sciences, their students for the ever-changing nature of
and ROY A. WIGGINS III is professor and chair of “the world of work” (Schneider 2005, 3). As
finance, all at Bentley College. Thomas L. Friedman (2006, 302) observes,
50 LIBERAL EDUCATION WINTER 2009
Bentley College
“the first, and most important, ability you can effective communication; creative thinking
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E develop in a flat world is the ability to ‘learn and critical analysis; service to the community;
V how to learn’—to constantly absorb, and and diversity and global citizenship.
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T teach yourself, new ways of doing old things Throughout the first year, the Davis group
C or new ways of doing new things.” Such an worked to develop a workshop that would
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approach is the basis of a liberal education. provide the support, forum, and resources to
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S help faculty consider their syllabi, cases, and
R Liberal learning workshops course projects in light of the strategic priori-
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In 2004, Bentley College received a grant ties and perspectives; explore productive ways
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from the Davis Foundation to integrate liberal of integrating some dimension of these priori-
learning with professional training. Recogniz- ties into what they already do in the class-
ing the overlap between the two traditional room; and present their new ideas to and get
approaches and enhancing some of those ap- feedback from workshop colleagues. Faculty
proaches was one goal of the workshops sup- were then invited to apply for a place in one
ported by the Davis Foundation. “Our goal,” of two weeklong workshops to be held dur-
the grant application explained, “is to reshape ing the summer. As part of the application
the curriculum in such a way that our students process, each described an aspect of a course
will encounter core liberal arts skill sets and
perspectives in all their courses, and will be
able to make meaningful and productive links
between and among seemingly vastly different
learning contexts. The priorities of liberal ed-
ucation will then be ‘marbled’ throughout the
curriculum.” In addition, we set out to “mar-
ble” these perspectives and skill sets into the
curriculum so thoroughly that students will
repeatedly encounter and practice these ele-
ments in a multitude of courses and contexts
well beyond the general education core. Ide-
ally, students will be exposed to these ideas,
concepts, and complexities over four years in
their general education, arts and sciences, and
business programs of study.
Following a collegewide search, the dean of
arts and sciences appointed the chair of the fi-
nance department as the program director for
the Davis grant. In conjunction with the
dean, the director, in turn, appointed three
liberal arts faculty members to serve as both
organizers and facilitators of the workshops.
These faculty members were chosen from the
history, natural and applied sciences, and Eng-
lish departments. During the fall and spring
semesters of the first year, they met to assess
current liberal learning initiatives on campus,
to discuss the needs of the faculty, and to de-
sign a faculty workshop. They determined
that the workshop should encourage faculty to
examine the limitations of discipline-based
thinking and practices, to consider interdisci-
plinary approaches to current assignments,
and to infuse their courses with materials that
highlight the five strategic areas of the grant:
ethics and social responsibility; technology and
52 LIBERAL EDUCATION WINTER 2009
In addition to
he or she was interested in re- enhancing the Bentley already provides fac-
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vising (e.g., modifying an ex- classroom experience ulty with a variety of resources E
isting assignment, revising a for creating dynamic class- V
for students, I
course syllabus, rethinking an rooms, such as technologically T
approach to classroom lec- the workshops enabled advanced classrooms and sem- C
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tures or discussions, or design- participants to hone inars on topics like ethics and
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ing a new module). Once their teaching craft diversity. The workshops sup- S
accepted, faculty were encour- ported by the Davis Founda- R
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aged to come to the workshop having thought tion grant supplemented those programs by
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through the ways in which they might already providing participating faculty with the op-
be incorporating these liberal arts perspectives portunity to infuse their courses with liberal
into their courses or to consider ways in which learning principles.
they might begin to infuse their courses with
these perspectives or skill sets. Modeling one approach
In addition to enhancing the classroom ex- In designing and leading the workshops, the
perience for students, the workshops enabled facilitators were committed to modeling lib-
participants to hone their teaching craft. eral learning principles in the modules offered.
Bentley College
WINTER 2009 LIBERAL EDUCATION 53
The overall approach of
For example, facilitators de- the workshop was from different disciplines and
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E signed sessions that allowed to break down divisions teach. During the
V workshop participants to give first two days of the weeklong
I preconceptions of how
T input on the direction of a ses- session, faculty participants
C sion. Recognizing that faculty faculty from different deconstructed what currently
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might attend the sessions with disciplines and goes on in classrooms across
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S some reservations about being divisions teach the college. In order to free
R able to implement all of the them of any disciplinary con-
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demonstrated liberal learning strategies in straints, modules asked faculty to create as-
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their courses, the first day’s module, entitled signments, syllabi, and business cases for courses
“Obstacles and Impediments,” gave faculty an other than their own. In one module, for ex-
opportunity to voice their concerns. These in- ample, faculty were asked to create a syllabus
cluded worries about teaching in areas outside for a course on Southeast Asia. They were
of their expertise and sacrificing course con- given no other particulars or parameters. The
tent in order to include themes like diversity resulting syllabi emerged from collaborations
or ethics. Participants also discussed their among faculty from a range of departments, in-
anxieties about whether they could rely upon cluding economics, philosophy, finance, and
institutional support for innovative ap- English. Faculty collaborated across disciplines
proaches as well as about the potential down- and, by doing so, came up with creative solu-
side to innovation. tions to the many “obstacles” they had listed on
The overall approach of the workshop was that first day. In one case, faculty from history,
to break down preconceptions of how faculty English, and finance created a transdisciplinary
Frostburg State
University
54 LIBERAL EDUCATION WINTER 2009
course that included a two-week embedded chance to become acquainted and to learn
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travel component. about each other’s areas of specialization. The E
The experience of designing “someone discussions generated during these open periods V
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else’s syllabus,” along with kindred exercises, resulted in arts and sciences faculty and business T
largely succeeded in liberating faculty partici- faculty disabusing each other of misunderstand- C
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pants from their devotion to narrow, rigid dis- ings about their pedagogies, curricula, and
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ciplinary paradigms. The transdisciplinary disciplines. Many faculty expressed delight at S
collaborations proved beneficial as faculty being officially encouraged, for the first time in R
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moved into a “reconstruction” phase toward their careers, to think in unorthodox and even
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the end of the week and were asked to con- subversive ways about the content of their
centrate their efforts on changes they wanted courses and their classroom methods.
to make to their own course materials. This The Davis Workshops have been an extra-
was performed in concentrated personal time ordinary success for Bentley College and have
called “mini-sabbaticals,” which were used to influenced pedagogy and thinking across de-
finalize independent work. Following these partments and disciplines. Over the course of
focused efforts, faculty were asked to pair up two summers of workshops, seventy-four of
with another participant from a different dis- approximately 250 full-time faculty members
cipline in order to present their ideas. Then, took part, including thirty-five tenured fac-
each person presented his or her partner’s ulty and twenty-four tenure-track faculty. In
plans to the larger group. all, sixty syllabi in undergraduate and gradu-
These paired presentations turned out to be ate courses were in some way reshaped by the
among the most powerful experiences of the workshops. But the Davis Workshops were
workshop. In each case, participants made a also at the core of a broader redefinition and
special effort to understand and accurately ar- realignment of the role of the arts and sci-
ticulate what their partners had developed. ences in the culture of Bentley. They served as
For example, in one presentation, a faculty the intellectual inspiration for innovative arts
member from the finance department reviewed and sciences initiatives at the core of the col-
the proposed changes of a faculty member lege’s mission. In retrospect this makes perfect
from the English department. Together, they sense, since the workshops encouraged critical
collaborated on ways the literature professor reflection about the limitations imposed by
could “marbleize” the themes throughout her our disciplines and promoted creative connec-
Shakespearean film course. In return, the lit- tions across disciplines around shared values
erature professor helped the finance professor and perspectives. But the degree to which
think through the integration of ethical issues interdisciplinary collaboration has grown is
into his corporate finance course. In another quite astounding. ■■
pairing, a faculty member from the taxation
department helped a historian create Great To respond to this article, e-mail [email protected],
Thinkers of the Twentieth Century, an ambi- with the authors’ names on the subject line.
tiouscourse that incorporates material usually
fenced off within philosophy and literature
and that was later submitted to the college’s REFERENCES
curriculum committee for consideration as a Friedman, T. 2006. The world is flat: A brief history of
future undergraduate offering. the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus,
and Giroux.
Jones, R. T. 2005. Liberal Education for the twenty-
Unexpected benefits first century: Business expectations. Liberal Educa-
While facilitators planned numerous activities tion 91 (2): 32–7.
and exercises for the workshop participants, Smith, R. B. 1987. The liberal arts and the art of
some of the benefits of the workshops derived management. In Educating managers: Executive ef-
fectiveness through liberal learning,ed. Johnston et
from experiences outside the classroom setting.
al., 21–33. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Faculty who had often seen each other only at
Schneider, C. G. 2005. President’s message: Liberal
full faculty meetings or during committee work Education and America’s Promise. Liberal Educa-
spent one week together from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 tion 91 (1): 2–3.
p.m. each day. The lunch hour, often a break
from workshop modules, gave participants a
WINTER 2009 LIBERAL EDUCATION 55