Paired Courses: Using Liberal Arts to Improve Business Education

Eric Litton () and Jim Wacker
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Eric Litton: Coker University
Jim Wacker: Coker University

Humanistic Management Journal, 2020, vol. 5, issue 2, No 6, 249 pages

Abstract: Abstract This paper summarizes paired courses, a technique that is being used to incorporate the benefits of liberal arts into the business curriculum. This technique pairs a required business course with a liberal arts course that students take concurrently during a semester. The courses have overlapping themes and activities to build specific competencies that are desired by organizations, such as communication (all types), critical thinking and problem solving, emotional intelligence, and organizational professionalism. These competencies are identified by exploring national surveys and conducting a local survey of business professionals. The paired courses utilize a variety of exercises with the ultimate goals of building desired workplace-related skills in students and improving their practical reasoning ability. The exercises do this by strengthening students’ analytical thinking, understanding of multiple framing, and reflective exploration of meaning through various techniques. Many of the activities are explained in detail with some additional resources provided. Teachers can utilize the same activities or adapt them to their classroom.

Keywords: Business; Liberal arts; Paired courses; Workforce readiness; Communication; Practical reasoning; Experiential learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s41463-020-00090-x

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