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Journal of Education for Business

ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20

Study to Validate Prerequisites in Business

Communication for Student Success

Susan Plutsky & Barbara Wilson

To cite this article: Susan Plutsky & Barbara Wilson (2000) Study to Validate Prerequisites in Business Communication for Student Success, Journal of Education for Business, 76:1, 15-18, DOI: 10.1080/08832320009599044

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832320009599044

Published online: 31 Mar 2010.

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Study to Validate Prerequisites in

Business Communication for

Student Success

SUSANPLUTSKY

BARBARA WILSON

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California

State University, Northridge

Northridge, California

aculty members who teach business

F

communication incorporate technology into their courses. Not only do faculty use technology in their instruction, but they require students to use it to complete their assignments.

The extent to which faculty and students use technology in business communication has increased over the past 12 years. Scot Ober and Alan Wunsch’s latest report on postsecondary business instruction (1995) showed that, in addi- tion to word processing software for completing at least one written assignment, students now use grammar and style checkers. Further, students enrolled in 4-year institutions are required to use presentation software, e- mail, and the Internet more often than students enrolled in 2-year institutions. Likewise, Nelson, Smith, Mayer, and Galle’s status study on computer use in business communication (1995) revealed that many business communication faculty members require students to use computer software and hardware to complete some writing assignments. In fact, some of these faculty trained their students to use the software.

The literature reveals a variety of ways that faculty integrate technology into the business communication cur- riculum. For instance, Linda Driskill (1997) of Rice University and her students use her Department’s Wetlands

ABSTRACT. As business communi-

cation faculty members incorporate technology in their courses, curricu- lum designers need to address the extent to which students need to be computer literate. This study of under-

graduate business administration students at California State University, Northridge, was undertaken to determine whether the business computer literacy requirement contributes to the students’ overall performance in business communication. The findings indicate that students who completed the business computer literacy requirement performed significantly better in business communication than those who did not complete the program.

Website for case study. This compre- hensive case focuses on many topics covered in a business communication course: ethics, international issues, oral presentations, and writing. The site comprises secondary sources and assignments; specifically, students use newspaper articles, reports, and corre- spondence to prepare memorandums, reports, and visual aids. This interdisci- plinary case is used by faculty and students in political science, economics, biology, and civil engineering. Hoger, Cappel, and Myerscough (1998) described an assignment in which their students analyze Websites on the basis of typology, audience, graphics and design, and other media; subsequently, they present their conclusions and rec-

ommendations in a collaborative 10- to 12-minute oral presentation.

Although some faculty members use Websites and the Internet for instruction- al purposes, others require their students to design and develop Websites in accor- dance with communication principles and techniques. For instance, Laurie Cubbison of Purdue University requires groups of her business communication students “to find a client for which their group will write a report advocating a project plan and prepare sample docu- ments” (1997, p. 96). As a result, many students design and create a Web page. Zane Quible (1997), a professor at Okla- homa State University, uses a variety of Internet-based assignments in his business communication course. In one assignment, students use HTML to create a home page. Quible also employs an “Internet-based unit” in which the class meets virtually for four sessions.

Likewise, faculty members in the Department of Office Systems and Business Education in the College of Business Administration and Econom- ics at California State University, North- ridge, have designed their Analysis of

Communication for Business (OSBE

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205) course to reflect business prac- tices-communication theory, concepts, and techniques and communication technology. As a result of integrating

technology in OSBE 205, the extent to

September/October 2000 15

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which the students need to be computer literate should be addressed.

OSBE 205, a lower-division core course, has two prerequisites: freshman composition and business computer literacy. The latter is of concern to admin- istrators for two reasons: (a) Comple- tion of the business computer literacy requirement (BCLR) prior to enrolling in OSBE 205 impedes the students’ progress through the lower-division core, and (b) articulation of a business communication course from a community college to the College is difficult, as none of the community college courses has the BCLR. As a result, this study was undertaken to determine whether the BCLR contributes to the students’ overall performance in business communication. Specifically, we addressed the following three research questions:

1. Are OSBE 205 grades the same for students who complete the BCLR and

those who do not?

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2. Are OSBE 205 grades the same for

the five instructors?

3. Are OSBE 205 grades dependent on the freshman composition grade and the instructor?

Answers to these questions will enable recommendations to be made about the inclusion of prerequisites and

the sequence of courses.

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Method

An ex post facto research design was developed. Intact groups were used to determine whether a relationship existed between the BCLR and/or freshman composition (independent variables) and the course grade (dependent variable).

OSBE 205, a lower-division course, is required of all students who major in business administration or business education. Prerequisites include the comple-

tion of freshman composition (exposito-

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ry writing) or an equivalent course and the BCLR (overview of hardware and software concepts, word processing software, the Internet and database searches, and spreadsheet software) with a grade of C. Further, all faculty members who teach OSBE 205 use a general syllabus that requires students to complete two

reports

(an informational and an analyti- cal), from five to 10 writing assignments

16

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Journal

of Education for Business

(memorandums and letters), and two oral presentations. At least 50% of the final course grade is allocated to the reports, and all writing assignments must be critiqued and graded. Because of the number of writing assignments that must be evaluated, only 25 to 35 students may enroll in a section.

The population comprised students enrolled in 26 sections of OSBE 205 during the spring 1998 semester. From this population, a sample was selected purposefully; it comprised 326 students enrolled in 13 sections taught by 5 different instructors. These instructors were selected because each of them had at least 15 years’ experience teaching the course and integrated technology into the course. Students’ class stand- ings ranged from sophomore to senior; all but 15 students declared their majors in business administration or business education.

Data that included each student’s identification, name, major, and instructor and whether he or she had completed the prerequisites were collected from each student’s Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) report and entered into

an Excel spreadsheet. We then used

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SPSS to run ANOVAs to test for differ-

ences between and among groups.

Findings

OSBE 205 grades differed between those students who completed the BCLR and those who did not. The average OSBE 205 grade for students who completed the BCLR was a C (mean =

1.993), whereas the average grade for

students who did not complete the BCLR was a C- (mean = 1.737), as shown in Table 1.

Students who completed the BCLR performed significantly better in OSBE 205, as shown in Table 2. A significant difference existed between the means of those who took the BCLR and those who did not, F (1,316) = 5.445, p = .020.

OSBE 205 grades given differed among the five instructors, as shown in Table 2. The main effect for Instructor

was significant, F (4, 316) = 8.389, p =

.OOO. Follow-up comparisons using the Bonforoni test found that Instructor 5’s average course grade was significantly different from those for the other four instructors. Further analysis revealed that 10 students (38%) received a U (unauthorized withdrawal). Additional inquiry revealed that some of these students did not complete the course for one or more of the following reasons: They felt overwhelmed by the research reports, they perceived their writing skills to be inadequate, or they lacked proficiency in the use of technology. These data explain the instructor effect

TABLE 1. Summary Statistics for Instructor and BCLR- Dependent Variable: BC 205 Course Grade

Factor

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M SD n

BCLR

Completed 1.993 1.168 163 Not completed 1.737 .944 163 Total 1.865 1.068 326

TABLE 2. Tests of Between-Subjects Effects for Instructor and BCLR- Dependent Variable: BC 205 Course Grade

Source

Sum of Mean

df squares squares F P

Corrected model Intercept Instructor BCLR

Instructor * BCLR Error Total Corrected total 9 1 4 1 4 3 16 326 325

4 1.404” 4.600 4.414 ,000

823.769 823.769 790.362

.ooo

34.973 8.743 8.389

.ooo*

5.676 5.676 5.445 .020*

1.006 .252 .241 .915

329.357 1.042 1504.700

370.361

aRz = .112 (adjusted R2 = ,086).

[image:3.612.228.566.398.731.2]

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and demonstrate that standards appeared to be consistent among instructors.

Interaction existed between the Instructor and the Freshman Composi-

tion Course Grade, as shown in Table

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3

where the F ratio for the Instructor

*

Comp Grade is 1.597 and the corre-

sponding p

value is 0.037.

This means that a change in a student’s OSBE 205 grade resulting from

an improvement in the student’s freshman composition grade depended on the student’s instructor. In order to pre- dict a student’s success in OSBE 205,

the student’s freshman composition grade as well as the instructor must be known. For example, students with a Freshman Composition Grade of 2.7 did

best with Instructor 2; whereas students

with a Freshman Composition Grade of

3.3 did best with Instructor 3, as shown

in Table 4 and Figure 1.

The large

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F values for Instructor and Freshman Composition Course Grade

mean that when the OSBE 205 course

grade is averaged over different instructors, the means for the Freshman Com- position Course Grade are significantly different. Likewise, when the OSBE

205 Course Grade is averaged over the

Freshman Composition Course Grades, the means for Instructor are significantly different. Thirty-two percent of the variability in the OSBE 205 course

grade can be explained by differences in Instructor and Freshman Composition Course Grade.

The variable for the Freshman Com- position Course Grade was not con- trolled. The grade may have varied con- siderably because students are able to fulfill this requirement by taking freshman composition in one of three depart- ments within the university (English, Chicano Studies, or Pan-African Studies) or at one of the community colleges. Fur- ther, it is taught by a number of different instructors. Therefore, course content, writing requirements, and evaluation cri- teria vary in freshman composition courses and affect the preparedness of

students who enroll in OSBE 205.

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Conclusions and Recommendations

Based on these findings, the following conclusions are apparent:

TABLE 3. Tests of Between-Subjects Effects for Instructor and Freshman Composition Course Grade-Dependent Varlable: BC 205 Course Grade

Source

Sum of Mean

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df squares squares F P

Corrected model Intercept Instructor

Freshman Composition Course Grade Instructor * Comp

Grade Error Total

Corrected total

39 1 4

9

26 255 295 294

105.85 la 2.714 3.094

.ooo

196.727 196.727 224.285 .OOO

10.886 2.722 3.103 .016*

28.281 3.142 3.583 .Ooo*

36.421 1.401 1.597 .037*

223.668 .877 1347.870

329.519

aR2 = ,321 (adjusted R2 = ,217).

TABLE 4. Interaction Data Table for Freshman Composition Course Grade and Instructor-Dependent Variable: BC 205 Course Grade

1.0 1.3 1.7 2.0 2.3 2.7 3.0 3.3 3.7 4.0

I I

Instructor 1 2.3 0.0 - 1.8 1.7 2.3 1.9 1.7 2.7 1.9

Instructor 2 0.4

-

2.7 1.9 2.7 3.0 2.4 1.9 2.8 1.9

Instructor 3

-

2.0 0.0 0.9 2.6 2.0 2.0 2.2 2.0 2.0

Instructor 4 -

-

2.7 1.4 1.2 1.5 2.1

*

2.6 3.0

Instructor 5 - -

-

0.4

*

0.0 0.9 1.7 2.0 1.7 [image:4.612.220.570.31.714.2]

Note. - represents empty cells.

FIGURE 1. Interaction Plot: Freshman Composition Grade and Instructor

X axis: Freshman Composition Grade

Y axis: BC 205 Course Grade

September/October 2000 17

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1. Students who complete the BCLR perform better in business communica-

tion than those who do not.

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2. Standards among faculty members

who teach business communication appear to be consistent.

3. Students’ performance in freshman

composition and the instructor of business communication jointly affect the grade that students earn in business communication.

Based on these conclusions, the following recommendations can be made:

1. Programs should continue to

require students to complete the BCLR and freshman composition prior to enrolling in the business communication course.

2. Students should be advised on the

proper sequencing of these courses so they can progress through their lower- division core efficiently.

3. A system should be established to

ensure that these prerequisites are met.

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REFERENCES

Cubbison, L. (1997). A heuristic for defining the

purpose of a client’s WWW site. Business Com-

zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

munication Quarterly, 60, 9&97.

Driskill, L. (1997). Wetlands Web site: Course efficiency and audience complexity. Business Communication Quarterly, 60, 93-95.

Hoger, E., Cappel, J.,

& Myerscough, M. (1998).

Navigating the Web with a typology of corpo- rate uses. Business Communication Quarterly, 61, 3 9 4 7 .

Nelson, S., Smith, D., Mayer, K., & Galle, W. (1995). The status of computer use in business communication instruction. Business Commu- nication Quarterly, 58, 17-20.

Ober, S., & Wunsch, A. (1995). The status of post- secondary business communication instruction

in the United States-1994 report.

zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

The Delta Pi

Epsilon Journal, 37, 225-239.

Quible, 2. (1997). Internet-based assignments and written business communication: A logical union. Business Communication Quarterly, 60, 98-10.

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