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Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 10:32 PM
Subject: MG-ED-DV Digest - 26 Sep 2001 to 27 Sep 2001 (#2001-174)
> There are 4 messages totalling 308 lines in this issue.
>
> Topics of the day:
>
> 1. POSITION: INDIANA UNIVERSITY
> 2. Chinese Writing and Math Skills ... a possible explanation (3)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 06:57:05 -0400
> From: Charles Wankel <
cxx@bellatlantic.net>
> Subject: POSITION: INDIANA UNIVERSITY
>
> Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
>
> Position Announcement
> Assistant or Associate Professor of Management
>
>
> The Department of Management of the Kelley School of Business at
Indiana
> University invites applications for an Assistant or Associate
Professor of
> Management effective Fall 2002. Preference will be given to candidates
with
> a background in consulting, either previous experience teaching
consulting
> courses or professional experience in a consulting firm. The candidate
> appointed to this tenure-track position will be expected to be an
active
> contributor to the school's MBA major in Strategic Management
Consulting.
> Research and teaching experience in strategic management and/or
> entrepreneurship will be considered a plus.
>
> Candidates must possess a doctoral degree and have a strong commitment
to
> excellence in scholarly research and teaching. Compensation levels are
> competitive.
>
> Interested candidates should send a current vita and evidence of
teaching
> ability to the contact person indicated below. Three letters of
reference
> will also be required before an offer of employment can be considered.
> Applications received prior to December 1, 2001 will be given full
> consideration. The position will remain open until a suitable
candidate is
> found. Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action
> employer.
>
> Contact address:
> Patricia McDougall
> Chair, Department of Management
> Kelley School of Business
> Indiana University
> 1309 E. 10th Street
> Bloomington, IN 47405-1701
> (812) 855-7873
>
mcdougal@indiana.edu
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 14:15:50 +0100
> From: Ken Friedman <
ken.friedman@bi.no>
> Subject: Chinese Writing and Math Skills ... a possible explanation
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Interested to see the post on the piece in the Chronicle of Higher
> Education of September 28, "Chinese Writing and Math Skills." (
>
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i05/05a03001.htm )
>
> This was an interesting article. I have just written a letter to the
> editor on this. Without denying the possibility of a brain mechanism,
> I applied Occam's Razor to suggest a simpler mechanism.
>
> A copy of my letter to the Chronicle follows.
>
> Ken Friedman
>
>
> Sirs,
>
> The Chronicle (September 28, 2001: "Chinese Writing and Math Skills")
> reports an intriguing study by Chieh Li, of Northeastern University,
> and Ronald L. Nuttall, of Boston College, proposing that a brain
> mechanism "may underlie both writing Chinese and performing math
> problems."
>
> I will propose a simpler mechanism.
>
> The study focuses on Chinese-American students. Most Chinese-American
> families emphasize education and value academic success. Without
> denying the possibility of a brain mechanism, the factors accounting
> for outstanding achievement among earlier groups of successful
> immigrants may be responsible here, too.
>
> These factors include study, dedication to subject matter, and family
> support. This culture honors academic achievement and values learning.
>
> The mental skills that are strengthened by speaking and writing two
> languages - any two languages - may also be involved.
>
> A comparison may shed light on these factors. The Norwegian School of
> Management offers a course in organization theory and design to
> first-year Norwegian college students. We teach in English. We
> emphasize writing and research skills. We develop critical thinking
> skills through analysis, rhetoric, and logic. These are new
> challenges to our students. We encourage and reward active
> participation. We reinforce it with constant support by a dedicated
> teaching team.
>
> Our external examiners give these students high scores. Many are
> startled to discover that these are first-year students rather than
> juniors or seniors. After introducing this course to the first-year
> program in the mid90s, we observed higher levels of performance in
> later courses and thesis work. The advances these students make in
> all their abilities can be attributed to the skills and work habits
> they develop in the course.
>
> These students experience the challenges of multi-language education
> and mastery of conceptual skills in a supportive environment. On a
> small scale, these students experience some of the factors at work in
> an immigrant culture that values learning, supports learning with
> reflective coaching, and encourages achievement.
>
> These are proven factors in high test scores and outstanding academic
> performance. They function for all cultural groups and all languages.
> The Chinese language may have some specific value here. The Chinese
> culture itself is more likely to be responsible.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> --
>
> Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
> Department of Technology and Knowledge Management
> Norwegian School of Management
>
> Visiting Professor
> Advanced Research Institute
> School of Art and Design
> Staffordshire University
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 09:46:46 -0500
> From: "Kenneth G. Brown" <
kenneth-g-brown@uiowa.edu>
> Subject: Re: Chinese Writing and Math Skills ... a possible
explanation
>
> Ken and other MED listserv participants,
>
> I'd like to applaud Ken Friedman for his efforts. After reading about
the
> Chronicle piece, I was also thinking that alternative explanations for
the
> findings should be ruled out. Anytime a pre-existing individual
> characteristic is used to divide subjects in a quasi-experimental
design
> (ability to speak languages is only one example, but age and sex are
other
> examples that are more commonly used), there are numerous threats to
> internal validity. That is, there are many potential differences
between
> members of such groups, and as Ken points out, the simpler ones should
be
> ruled out first.
>
> I was surprised to see a study with these limitations highlighted in
the
> Chronicle. Sometimes we (as a community) get caught up with findings
that
> are intuitively appealing or simply interesting, and we forget to be
> systematic in our interpretation of data. I applaud Ken's efforts to
to do
> so.
>
> Maybe this is a good segue into discussing other areas of management
> education and development that might be over-stated or
under-supported. In
> this vein (but on a different subject), I was wondering what listserv
> members think about the concept of community of practice. While
> intuitively appealing and clearly based on solid foundations (e.g.,
> learning is often a social process, meaning is developed through
repeated
> interaction), I am having difficulty finding empirical literature
> suggesting the power of such communities over learning. Any thoughts
or
> leads in this area would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> From a different Ken
>
> At 02:15 PM 09/27/2001 +0100, you wrote:
> >Dear Colleagues,
> >
> >Interested to see the post on the piece in the Chronicle of Higher
> >Education of September 28, "Chinese Writing and Math Skills." (
> >http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i05/05a03001.htm )
> >
> >This was an interesting article. I have just written a letter to the
> >editor on this. Without denying the possibility of a brain mechanism,
> >I applied Occam's Razor to suggest a simpler mechanism.
> >
> >A copy of my letter to the Chronicle follows.
> >
> >Ken Friedman
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~
>
> Kenneth G. Brown, Ph.D.
> Dept of Management and Organizations
> 108 Pappajohn Business Building
> University of Iowa
> Iowa City, IA 52242
> PH: 319.335.3812 FX: 319.335.1956
>
HTTP://www.biz.uiowa.edu/faculty/kbrown
> ~~~~~~~~~
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 09:03:21 -0600
> From: Dick Dailey <
rtd@selway.umt.edu>
> Subject: Re: Chinese Writing and Math Skills ... a possible
explanation
>
> Dear Colleagues,
> Ken presents an interesting viewpoint which does indeed simplify the
> finding noted in the study. However, I can simplify it even further.
> After the family has finished dinner and the dishes have been cleard
> away, everyone sits down together and does their homework. The older
> siblings help the younger ones with the parents monitoring the
> process. This also applies to other Asian cultures.
> Dick
> Richard T. Dailey, PhD
> Professor of Management
> Fulbright Scholar
> Belarus State University and
> Belarus State Economic University
> Fall Semester 2001
>
>
> >Dear Colleagues,
> >
> >Interested to see the post on the piece in the Chronicle of Higher
> >Education of September 28, "Chinese Writing and Math Skills." (
> >http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i05/05a03001.htm )
> >
> >This was an interesting article. I have just written a letter to the
> >editor on this. Without denying the possibility of a brain mechanism,
> >I applied Occam's Razor to suggest a simpler mechanism.
> >
> >A copy of my letter to the Chronicle follows.
> >
> >Ken Friedman
> >
> >
> >Sirs,
> >
> >The Chronicle (September 28, 2001: "Chinese Writing and Math Skills")
> >reports an intriguing study by Chieh Li, of Northeastern University,
> >and Ronald L. Nuttall, of Boston College, proposing that a brain
> >mechanism "may underlie both writing Chinese and performing math
> >problems."
> >
> >I will propose a simpler mechanism.
> >
> >The study focuses on Chinese-American students. Most Chinese-American
> >families emphasize education and value academic success. Without
> >denying the possibility of a brain mechanism, the factors accounting
> >for outstanding achievement among earlier groups of successful
> >immigrants may be responsible here, too.
> >
> >These factors include study, dedication to subject matter, and family
> >support. This culture honors academic achievement and values
learning.
> >
> >The mental skills that are strengthened by speaking and writing two
> >languages - any two languages - may also be involved.
> >
> >A comparison may shed light on these factors. The Norwegian School of
> >Management offers a course in organization theory and design to
> >first-year Norwegian college students. We teach in English. We
> >emphasize writing and research skills. We develop critical thinking
> >skills through analysis, rhetoric, and logic. These are new
> >challenges to our students. We encourage and reward active
> >participation. We reinforce it with constant support by a dedicated
> >teaching team.
> >
> >Our external examiners give these students high scores. Many are
> >startled to discover that these are first-year students rather than
> >juniors or seniors. After introducing this course to the first-year
> >program in the mid90s, we observed higher levels of performance in
> >later courses and thesis work. The advances these students make in
> >all their abilities can be attributed to the skills and work habits
> >they develop in the course.
> >
> >These students experience the challenges of multi-language education
> >and mastery of conceptual skills in a supportive environment. On a
> >small scale, these students experience some of the factors at work in
> >an immigrant culture that values learning, supports learning with
> >reflective coaching, and encourages achievement.
> >
> >These are proven factors in high test scores and outstanding academic
> >performance. They function for all cultural groups and all languages.
> >The Chinese language may have some specific value here. The Chinese
> >culture itself is more likely to be responsible.
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >
> >Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
> >Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
> >Department of Technology and Knowledge Management
> >Norwegian School of Management
> >
> >Visiting Professor
> >Advanced Research Institute
> >School of Art and Design
> >Staffordshire University
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of MG-ED-DV Digest - 26 Sep 2001 to 27 Sep 2001 (#2001-174)
> ***************************************************************
>
>