Today Ithaka S+R is releasing the first report in a new program focused on supporting teaching practices. In it, we explore the needs of faculty teaching undergraduate business.

We started with business as it is consistently one of the most popular majors in the United States, and understanding the needs of faculty in this field can have a large impact on undergraduate teaching and learning. Informed by interviews with 158 business instructors across 14 institutions, the report examines the full scope of the field’s teaching activities, from course planning to industry partnerships, as well as faculty perceptions of the most pressing challenges in teaching business students today. 

Our findings demonstrate how business education could be integral to emerging pedagogical strategies including the adoption of no/low cost resources and increasing emphasis on data and analytics skills training. The report’s recommendations highlight opportunities for various stakeholders–in academic libraries, teaching and learning centers, and third party information and technology providers–to better support business education. 

As with our Research Support Services projects, we partnered with research teams organized by academic libraries. Each of the 14 libraries published a companion report about undergraduate business teaching practices at their own institution, which provides a fuller picture of the overlaps and variances across the field while also identifying opportunities for institution-specific supports. This report is the first in a series of studies at Ithaka S+R examining teaching practices and support leveraging our unique partnership model. A second project, focused on teaching with primary sources, is currently being fielded. A project on teaching with data in the social sciences will launch in Spring 2020 and we are currently in the process of developing several projects to launch in 2021 focusing on the teaching practices in fields such as psychology, computer science, and nursing, among others. If you are interested in your library participating in a research site for a future project on this or other potential topics related to teaching support, please email Danielle Cooper (danielle.cooper@ithaka.org).

Research teams and local reports

Baruch College

Ryan Phillips, Louise Klusek, and Charles Terng, “Supporting the Changing Practices of Teaching in Business – Baruch Summary,” https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bb_pubs/1136/.

Bowling Green State University

Edith Scarletto, Linda Rich, and Vera J. Lux, “Changing Practices of Undergraduate Business Teaching at BGSU,” https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ul_pub/59/.

Georgia Institute of Technology

Patricia Kenly and Ximin Mi, “Undergraduate Business Teaching and Library Opportunities at Georgia Tech,” https://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/62012.

Grand Valley State University

Cara Cadena, Preethi Gorecki, Jon Jeffryes, and Carol Sanchez, “Ithaka S+R: Supporting the Changing Practices of Teaching in Business,” https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/library_sp/63/.

Kansas State University

Kendra Spahr and Livia Olsen, “Supporting the Pedagogical Needs of Faculty Teaching Undergraduate Business Students at Kansas State University,” https://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/handle/2097/40292.

Michigan Technological University

Nora Allred, Lauren Movlai, Jennifer Sams, “Tell Me Your Business: Assessing the Teaching Needs of Undergraduate Business Faculty,” https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/694/.

Murray State University

Ashley Ireland, Dana Statton Thompson, and Brian Bourke, “Examining the Pedagogical Practices of Business Faculty: A Qualitative Analysis to Inform Library Support,” https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/faculty/43/.

North Carolina Central University

Danielle Colbert-Lewis, Karen Grimwood, and Jamillah Scott-Branch, “Supporting the Changing Practices of Undergraduate Business Teaching at North Carolina Central University,” https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/nccu/listing.aspx?styp=ti&id=29034.

Providence College

Heather Williamson, Sarah Edmonds, and Peter Rogers, “Supporting the Changing Practices of Teaching in Business at Providence College,” https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/lib_research/1/.

Queens College

Edward F. Wall III, James Mellone, Qiong Xu, “Supporting the Changing Practices of Teaching in Business at Queens College, City University of New York,” https://academicworks.cuny.edu/qc_pubs/358/.

Santa Clara University

Nicole Branch, Anthony Raymond, and Melanie Sellar, “Exploring the Changing Teaching Practices and Needs of Business Faculty at Santa Clara University,” https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/library/206/.

State University of New York at Buffalo

Erin Rowley, “Examining the Undergraduate Teaching Practices of Faculty in the School of Management,” https://ubir.buffalo.edu/xmlui/handle/10477/80367.

University of St. Thomas

John P. Heintz, Marianne Hageman, Andrea Koeppe, and Ann Zawistoski, “Supporting the Changing Practices of Teaching in Business: University of St. Thomas Local Report,” https://ir.stthomas.edu/lib_staffpub/17/.

University of Texas San Antonio

Natasha Arguello and Veronica Rodriguez, “Supporting the Changing Practices of Teaching in Business: A study conducted in partnership with Ithaka S+R,” https://lib.utsa.edu/supporting-the-changing-practices-of-teaching-in-business.