Latest / IB Unplugged / Cracking the Case: Practical Strategies for DP Business Management Assessment w/ Maria Sayyed

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Cracking the Case: Practical Strategies for DP Business Management Assessment w/ Maria Sayyed · IB Unplugged

0:00
Welcome to IB Unplugged, a Kognity podcast for IBDP educators
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that tackles your submitted questions and challenges by connecting you with
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experts and peers who share their ideas and stories from real classrooms.
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Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of IB Unplugged.
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Today we're talking with Maria Sayyed, about the ATP Business
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Management course and specifically around assessment itself.
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Yeah. So Maria and I met, many years ago.
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She's been in the IB world hitting her classic IB bingo card.
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She's been, an examiner, a workshop leader.
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She's going to Kognity author and also writing some of our assessment.
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And she's been teaching both business management
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and economics for over a decade, currently in Dubai.
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And yeah, she's an absolute pleasure to work with.
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I've been able to see her in the classroom back in the day.
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She's a fantastic teacher who has a lot of ideas on how to really engage
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her students and get them to really buy into the business management course.
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So this episode is going to dive deep into the heart of the IBDP
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Business Management course, specifically focusing
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around the different assessment strands from the IA to the case studies
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and just practical tips for how to approach the course in general.
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We're going to talk about how to tackle the case studies,
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how to be intentional, how teachers can help students shift from
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just surface level memorization or strategic kind of thinking,
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and getting
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more to that analysis and evaluation and how you, as a business management
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teacher, can really engage
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in meaningful ways to help students connect to that content
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to not only their own interests, but also how they can perform
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well within the assessment
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strands itself within this course.
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So whether you're new to the course or just looking to refine your tactics,
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Maria is going to bring a lot of clarity and energy to help your students thrive.
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So we really hope you enjoyed this episode and thanks again for joining us.
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Let's dive in.
1:55
Hi, Maria, thanks so much for joining us today.
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Hi Courtney, hi John. How are you?
1:59
Hi, Maria. Great to have you here. Thanks for joining us.
2:03
We want to kick things off with giving a bit of background
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since this episode will be focused on business management.
2:09
So if you could explain what drew you to teaching business management
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and getting into that subject?
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I've always been fascinated by business since the child.
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My grandfather was a businessman and I wanted to become
2:24
a businesswoman myself, but by default I became a teacher.
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That's another story.
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But I think business management is a subject
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where you directly link each and every concept to real life scenarios.
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And I think teaching business management just let me bring,
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questions like how do products are launched
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or how do businesses take decisions?
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How do they plan?
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How do they explore the markets, what research they do?
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I think teaching business management just lets me bring these questions
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into the classroom and makes my students
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exploring these questions and think about the answers like,
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I just want to teach a subject where we can
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connect with real life scenarios.
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Because most of my students
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have their own businesses, their parents have their own businesses.
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So that connect is very, very important and crucial.
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And, that that fascinates
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me, except overall, aspect of
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real world case studies that, instantly clicks with me.
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So just, to bring this in context, I've wanted to teach a subject
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that where students could just instantly see its relevance, that, oh,
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it is how relevant is this subject in the real world scenario.
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So it's just not abstract.
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And I'm not talking just figures and numbers or I'm just not, scrolling data.
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It's just that I can see all this in in the market
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if I go into shops, I can see how pricing is done.
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If I go into the market, I see how market research is done.
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So I think that each aspect of business is so,
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applicable in real life
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that, it just connects
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automatically.
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I think for me, that entire fascination of how businesses work,
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it gives me that, motivation to teach my students.
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Yeah, it's you can tell it's
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quite an accessible subject in one way, or people might be very interested in it.
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And as I say, it's quite fortunate that you've got some young people
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who've their families have businesses as well.
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And so they probably connect with it in a different way.
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But then does that lead to some misconceptions about the course
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or maybe like misunderstandings about what the course actually entails?
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I think if I'm talking about, business management
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and the course, I think biggest misconception
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with students and teachers, both of them have
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is that IB requires you to define each and every term, word by word.
5:00
You need to memorize definitions.
5:02
You need to memorize tools.
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You need to memorize series. But that's not true.
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IB doesn't wants word by word definition.
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It wants you to have the understanding of the term.
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And that is why if you look at the rubrics,
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it doesn't say that you will get marks for definition.
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It gives you marks for terminology,
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the understanding of the terms
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is very, very important.
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The reality is that IB wants to see whether you can apply the knowledge
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which you've learned to real life context or not,
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like in assessments, it's just not enough to just name a tool.
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Okay, I am going to be using for example, Ansoff Matrix, or a Swot analysis.
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You need to explain the relevant
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of using that tool or theory.
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So the biggest misunderstanding I would say over here
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or misconception about the business is that if you have the knowledge,
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you're good enough and, you will not need to,
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do more evaluation.
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But the thing is, analysis without evaluation
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it just doesn't hold ground.
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To be very, very honest. I think knowledge is important.
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And when I teach my students so I teach them in steps.
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So I said, okay, like you need to know you need to have the knowledge.
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But until unless if knowledge is not applied in in case studies, in
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real life scenarios, you will not be able to analyze it further.
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And having said that, if you look at the rubrics, if my students get trained
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on getting to know that concept and then applying that concept
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to a case study, half of the job is done.
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Like I have secured 40 and 50% of the marks.
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So in DP one, I think the first term I'm not even looking at analysis
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and evaluation.
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I'm focusing on content knowledge and I'm focusing on application
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because if I am able to build that within my students,
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I can then move on to analysis and evaluation.
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So it's a step by step process.
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What misconception with teachers as well.
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Teach them everything.
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Teach them up till like if it is a ten mark question,
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This should be in the last band. 9 to 10.
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It doesn't work like that.
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It's a step by step process and you have to work along that.
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So it's a highly scaffolded sort of approach, right?
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Where you've got to have that baseline before you can really start
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to approach the the analysis, the evaluation level of thinking.
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So it sounds like you build it up from the baseline first
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and then go in that direction.
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Because once you start building so you've covered,
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for example, if it's a
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if the Denmark rate and then 50% is already covered
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with application and content knowledge, then it becomes very easy to build on
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analysis of data or teach them evaluation,
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because evaluation is a place where students struggle.
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That's the hard part, the thinking part, as opposed to just the
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can I say what I've memorized? Right?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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I remember when we were doing the research on developing the new syllabus
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and kind of what are the things that the teachers
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are going to really be spending a lot of time on.
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One thing that always came up
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was getting good case studies and saying, we need new ones
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pretty much every year, we wish we could use the same ones
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each year, but we've got to keep things relevant. For this year
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are there any, real world business cases that you are really looking forward to,
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or any in the past that you feel like have been really strong
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cases for teaching?
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Business is a subject where at every aspect, starting
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from business operations to marketing and human resource
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and finance and accounts, you will find key studies at every point,
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whether they are small businesses, big businesses, you will find examples.
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But one thing I do, and I think my students really connect with that
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because my husband is a businessman for the last 30 years,
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and so his business is the best example I use to explain them because the
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they're just fascinated because if I'm going to give them,
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a case study or a business, any, any, any other business,
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they will not be interested.
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But if they are listening.
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Oh, this is miss Maria’s husband's business,
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and she also has a say in the business
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they like. Oh, how do you do that?
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And how does your husband take this decision?
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And where does he get finances?
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I think, this this has helped me a lot.
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I think I've been using his business left, right and center since ages.
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He doesn't even know about it.
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But it's been so the, the feedback
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has been so positive because I can see that students
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have connected to difficult concepts like operation management,
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like, human resource and motivation theories didn't never connected to it.
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It is the connect because motivational theories in business are very dry.
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You can't do much in motivation theories.
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So I think getting his his business example
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and making up a story that how he motivates his employees
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or he does not motivate his employees actually has helped a lot
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because then students start like I give them, okay.
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Like he maybe he must give more days off
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and they'll say, no, miss, but this is going to impact the business.
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So yeah, you start a discussion and students
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start thinking. They're not thinking
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oh, we are studying business management.
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They think all we're giving miss Maria’s husband
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good, good advice and recommendations.
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So definitely that helps.
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And and when I look at businesses like Apple and Samsung, that's the the
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I think the favorite with students because you see you have clear groups,
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you have students who are Apple fans and you have students who are Samsung fans.
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So you know that brand loyalty is too strong, that at times like I feel,
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oh my God, like, I need to just to away like stay away from each other
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because, it actually, you know,
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the, the, the debating and the arguing and you just standing over there
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with you observing these students, that what you saying?
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And it just hits you like, look at the knowledge these students have.
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We underestimate the knowledge our students have.
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This generation has a lot of knowledge.
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They just don't know where to put this and how to put this constructively.
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And that is what it teaches to others.
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It's interesting that you mention that because initially
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when you were talking about that, I was I was envisaging students
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who are just so loyal to their brand that they would just argue
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kind of without, you know, with baseless claims or something like this, but
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you're telling me they actually have some deep knowledge about the actual
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the way that the business works and how it can connect? Right?
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You'll be you'll be amazed.
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Like, I must actually say that, like I have,
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a student who is who's already a businessman.
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He already runs a business at the age of 15.
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So it's like it's the
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argument that he gets on the table and with the students, it's
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just awesome to watch him just talk about finances and accounts
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and how he markets his product and how he gets his customers.
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I think that is the true connect.
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Yeah.
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If I am going to be talking about,
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a random business or any big business, students are not going to connect.
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That connection is very important.
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If they feel that, oh, I know about this business, then the connection develops.
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Yeah.
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As you were talking, I was just I was thinking of how important it is
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to have that personal connection and how important that story is. Right?
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And regardless of
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if you're a business management teacher or if you teach other subjects,
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we know that, you know, when you engage with a personalized story or you're
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or you're saying something that has connection to them,
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or even just to you personally, that you're going to get a lot more buy
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in, a lot more interest from students anyway.
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And it sounds like this course obviously is just
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filled with opportunities for whether it's a student
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who's got brand loyalty or, in your case, where your husband runs
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a business that you can constantly be, you know, referring back to,
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it just sounds like it's rife
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with opportunities for students to really engage in a deeper level.
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IB is fantastic in this.
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It's like how many examples you can get of a business, like these days
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we know, like makeup brands are just all over the place
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and girls, teenagers are just into makeup and skincare.
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And you know, sometimes, you know, when I see, okay, like,
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these groups of girls are not getting very interested.
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I'm just going to start, I'll mention, a few makeup brands
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and I'm going to or I'll, I'll mention, some brands, like, I'll mention
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Beaverton or Christian Dior. We know Maria teaches in Dubai.
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I am seriously telling you,
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I've seen this in the
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last so many years of teaching that,
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they started calling me the brand
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teacher, miss what are you wearing today?
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And what are you wearing?
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And they connect.
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And this is very, very important.
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If I see that, if, if a student is carrying a Gucci or a Vuitton bag
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just to start talking about that brand, start talking about competition,
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start talking about what new products they're launching.
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They'll get connected because they're going to link.
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And that's that's important to to maintain that excitement in the classroom.
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And for students to connect these concept to real life,
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it is important that you bring out products
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which they can directly connect and make personal connections.
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Like you said, John.
14:26
Are you an IB educator wanting to improve your practice
14:29
and needing just a bit more support getting there?
14:32
Ever wanted to learn more about a specific aspect of the diploma program?
14:35
Or just ask a question to an educational theorist about a specific IB aspect?
14:40
IB Unpluuged is the place for you.
14:42
Simply visit kognity.com/ibunplugged to submit your question to us,
14:47
and have your question explored in more detail in an upcoming episode.
14:51
And now, back to the show.
14:54
Well, it sounds like, you know, there's there's so much in this course.
14:56
And obviously, you know, we're tailoring this
14:58
specifically to our business management teachers.
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And, you know, I'm sure that many business management
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teachers are listening right now going, yep.
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Yeah, that's why I teach it. That's why I love this course.
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But I know we really want to focus this
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episode on, I guess kind of three main parts
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you want to look at,
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you know, making sense of IA in the business management course,
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we're going to look at cracking some case studies,
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as well as just some practical tips for actually approaching the course.
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And I guess in this first segment, let's start with making sense of IA.
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And I know there have been some changes
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and there've been some shifts to the IA itself.
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What are some of the key like mindset shifts you feel need to happen,
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not just for teachers
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but for students as they approach the IA and business management?
15:34
Yeah.
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So like IA is as as the new syllabus and where
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since they are at the same now with 1800 words,
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the biggest misunderstanding
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which students and I will not say teachers that much, but students have
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is that they think that this is the mini version of an extended essay.
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If they're doing an extended essay in business management,
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they think that it's it's a narrative
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or a long research report on a business.
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So they will get data and data and,
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loads of research work,
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loads of research papers and financial analysis of the company.
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But that's not helpful.
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Like, you cannot have loads of data
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because you cannot analyze all that data in 1800 words.
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So, so for me, like since day one when I introduce the IA,
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what I do is I tell them like give me three research questions,
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not too broad because then if it's too broad,
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you have endless data and research with you,
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and then you will be in a fix like how to narrow it down.
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And what should I take and what is important
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or if it is too focused, then you'll not have enough data.
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So I think the understanding. If the student understands
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that your business management, IA is not a research paper.
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It is a project for you as a consultant.
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You are identifying a problem in the business.
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Any business you choose and you are making recommendations
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and providing solutions to the business owners that these are my recommendations.
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This is how you need to get rid of this problem if any.
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So those recommendations and strategic decision making is to be done.
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If the students understand that they the role is just of consultants,
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then the scope will be
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focused and then the analysis will also be focused.
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I think this is very, very important for students to understand.
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So that if a student sees a research question and things like, okay,
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am I able to answer these research question in 1800 words?
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If your answer is no, you said no, I would need more word count
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or I can answer it in 2500 words or 3000 words,
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then your approach is wrong.
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Then you have to narrow down your research question.
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When you're thinking about setting these research questions, I'm thinking that it's
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actually trying to make it really from the consultant perspective
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and it's instead saying like,
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what's the problem that needs to be solved,
18:08
and then figuring out what research needs to happen to get us there.
18:12
So are you kind of teaching the students
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how to figure out which problem they want to solve first?
18:19
Like how
18:19
what does that process look like for creating these strong research questions.
18:23
So again like get into a business like get me a business
18:27
you’re interested in researching.
18:29
Get me a problem where that business is facing. The problem should be not huge.
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A problem
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should be where you can find a solution.
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So I have an initial document for my students,
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as I said, like, get me three research questions.
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What tools and theories are you going to be using for this research?
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What, skills you're going to be using for this research?
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Give me the website where are you going to take
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your research from and they give me 1 or 2 pages
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of just initial basic, research they've done.
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And then I look at and I sit with them that what they are going to do and how
19:06
they're going to incorporate these tools and theories into the research question.
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And at the end of the IA, will they be able to answer that research
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question, because, see, the entire point is
19:16
you need to answer your research question or else the research is useless.
19:21
Yeah.
19:21
Because if you've not been able to answer the research question,
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there's no point in doing the IA.
19:28
So if at every point in every analysis
19:31
you've been able to answer the research question,
19:34
then you're doing a good job.
19:37
So that focus should be maintained throughout.
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So I tell them do not go and say okay miss I want to use five tools and theories.
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No. Choose a combination of three tools and theories.
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Explain them in the context of the business, analyze them and evaluate them.
19:55
Evaluation is something which students miss,
19:59
whether it is during assessments, whether it is IA’s, or whether it EE’s.
20:04
Evaluation is something which students always struggle in.
20:09
They understand.
20:10
And this this gets me into another point, which is opportunity cost trade off.
20:15
It's a very easy concept to understand oh it's a trade off.
20:18
But when students want to apply, it becomes difficult.
20:22
They get confused how to apply this.
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And that is what I explained them
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that when you are giving them recommendations that these are solutions.
20:29
These are your three solutions.
20:30
And these are your three recommendations
20:34
that how you can, get rid of this problem,
20:37
give them the trade off of each solution you have like that is evaluation.
20:42
So if you look at opportunity cost
20:46
as a part of your evaluation, it actually helps students understand
20:50
the concept well because again, as I said like what is opportunity cost.
20:55
It is a trade off between two decisions.
20:57
If you choose one thing, you have to let go of the other thing.
21:01
What is evaluation?
21:03
You're doing the same.
21:03
You're giving the pros and cons of a decision.
21:07
And then you have to make a choice which decision you're going to go forward with.
21:12
So what I'm hearing here is like use use this theory to help frame
21:16
some of the key pitfalls or the mistakes that students might run into
21:20
and to say, right, let's come back and visit
21:21
some of the theory that we've actually studied.
21:23
And here's how you can use this theory
21:24
to help guide your own evaluation, your own process of this IA.
21:28
Right?
21:29
So I think that, I mean, it seems like kind of the biggest misconception
21:32
or not misconception, rather the biggest pitfalls
21:34
that students might run into
21:36
comes down to like the evaluation and their ability to step beyond,
21:39
you know, describing and analyzing data, but then going into evaluating it.
21:43
But if, just as you say, you use this, the concept of opportunity cost,
21:47
that can really help to frame it well for letting them know
21:50
what what are the actual evaluative procedures I need to go here.
21:53
How am I assessing the implications and limitations of these ideas
21:56
that I've presented
21:57
from the position of a consultant, not the position of a researcher.
22:01
And I think that's
22:02
kind of my biggest takeaway from this first segment is like when when reframing
22:06
how I think about IA in business management, I need to think
22:09
as a consultant less as a researcher.
22:15
I guess one question I kind of had there is it is just as simple
22:18
as putting the business management IA before they do the EE?
22:21
Is that a useful step for them to do the IA and then the EE comes later?
22:25
No, it's actually IA comes later on.
22:29
Because what happens is EE starts in grade 11.
22:33
We, start the process of introducing the
22:37
EE as early as early as February in DP one.
22:40
The IA’s we start a bit later,
22:45
that is, in term three, we start introducing the IA.
22:48
Because IA is different than the EE, the rubrics are quite different.
22:53
So EE is again 4000.
22:56
So this they build on and they have time until December in DP two
23:00
to actually do the full, report, the EE report.
23:05
But for IA.
23:05
they have time until January and February to finish it off.
23:09
And at times what happens students they start writing an IA
23:15
and if they learn a new
23:19
concept or a new theory in Dp two, for example,
23:23
in October November, they change, they amend.
23:26
Sure. So that amendments are also important.
23:30
And if the amendment is actually helping the IA, why not?
23:34
And so it's a process.
23:36
So I can say like maybe some school start IA
23:39
first in some school study, it's I think simultaneously
23:43
the students are working on both in major subjects.
23:46
Yeah.
23:46
So they just really have to keep that distinction clear.
23:49
With regard to in the EE, I'm fully a researcher, whereas in the IA
23:53
for business management I am a consultant of a specific business.
23:56
I think that's a really helpful framing.
23:58
And it's a good way to approach that for sure. Yeah.
24:00
I was to kind of wrap things up with the IA,
24:03
I'm wondering if you have any other tips.
24:06
I like the way that you were saying how you start with three research questions
24:10
and kind of flesh that out, and then I would imagine
24:13
with a lot of students, by the time they're done doing that,
24:15
they know which one they want.
24:16
And maybe I need to do some guiding if they're stuck between a couple,
24:20
but that really helps them answer for themselves.
24:23
Is this a strong research question?
24:25
But after that step, is there anything else in your process
24:29
and way of working with the IA’s that you think has really helped students
24:33
to like, create stronger IA’s?
24:36
The two big gaps in the IA process,
24:40
which students need to
24:41
understand, as I said, like you cannot be including pages
24:46
and pages and pages of theory and data without analyzing it.
24:50
That's one. Second you can write about
24:54
or you could write a story a very nice story analyzing the company.
24:59
But have you actually linked
25:01
your theory to its application.
25:06
And that only comes with process because obviously when a student starts
25:10
writing an IA, he or she will see, okay, these are the problems I'm facing.
25:15
And that is when I step in like they've got me, okay.
25:18
If I'm doing something on Apple, I have financial reports
25:22
from 2020 and miss,
25:25
I want to include this, but is it even impactful?
25:29
Will it impact your, your IA?
25:32
Will it be helpful?
25:33
Like, why do you want to include data or research
25:37
which will not add any value to your research?
25:41
So that is what needs to be avoided.
25:45
I think the guidance from teachers is over
25:47
here is very, very important that very early on
25:50
they need to sit with their students and decide on
25:54
what type of research they will be taking, what tools and theories
25:58
they're going to be
26:00
applying their knowledge to, or they're going to incorporate into the IA.
26:04
That is extremely important.
26:07
You can collect loads of data, but if you don't know what to do with that data,
26:12
it holds no value.
26:15
So I think that step by step guidance is very important.
26:19
Research question, by the way, can be amended during the course
26:24
of the IA as well.
26:25
So it's not like they started with a research question
26:28
and I can't amend or reword it or rephrase it.
26:32
It can be rephrased depending on
26:35
what type of research you've done or what type of analysis
26:39
you've done, because with which time you will know that what analysis fits
26:45
best with your research and you can change your research question.
26:48
It's not something where all once
26:50
you finalize the research question, it has to change.
26:52
You can amend it.
26:53
It's not you can definitely do amendments, but any amendments
26:57
must hold value and your research must linked to your research question.
27:01
So that check ins is very, very important at each stage by a teacher.
27:05
Definitely.
27:06
We all know as IB, educators that we just need
27:11
we require to give one formal feedback,
27:13
IA feedback to the students.
27:15
But that small periodical check ins with the students is also very, very important.
27:21
If they're coming to you and they're asking you a question
27:23
or they're or they're,
27:24
they're confused in a theory or a tool to use, give them the guidance.
27:29
It seems like a lot of that can just kind of keep coming back to the framing,
27:32
as you were talking about before, like one framing your position again
27:35
as a consultant, but also framing, like, I like what you just said,
27:38
because it's not just tell me all the theories and the skills,
27:42
and it's also not just tell me the story of the company, it's the the two together.
27:47
And it's which particular theories, which particular skills apply to this story.
27:51
And it's navigating that together so you could see where
27:55
you know as you as you frame that for the students.
27:57
Because again, only one formal piece of feedback,
27:59
you can come back to what what are the main theories you're looking at?
28:03
How does that relate to this story?
28:05
And I guess, you know, if you kind of ask those probing questions
28:08
that allows the student to go on their own direction
28:10
without you providing specific feedback that that would
28:14
otherwise, I guess, cross the line with regard to academic integrity.
28:17
Just don't give them the answers
28:18
ask them questions so that they come up with their answers.
28:21
And that is this is what IB is all about.
28:23
Like the IB is not teaching it's facilitating learning.
28:27
Yeah.
28:30
Maybe this
28:31
isn't even a relevant question but I'm going to ask it anyway.
28:34
Do you have it come up a lot.
28:36
Where in their in this consultant mind they do their research
28:39
and then you read their solutions.
28:40
You're like this is not a good solution.
28:44
Or like this is not good advice for this company.
28:48
And do you do something about it.
28:51
So obviously like guidance is important.
28:54
Like if I see oh my God, the solution is I don't want to use that word.
28:58
Excuse me, but it's it's it's not, good enough.
29:02
And if the company or the business is not going to get anything out of it.
29:06
Yeah, then I will definitely guide them
29:09
towards what a good solution can look look like.
29:12
I can give them a couple of options and say, okay, think about this.
29:16
Like what do you think?
29:17
Like do you think the solution is going to be better in the long term?
29:20
Because one, one more thing, which is very, very important
29:23
that ask students questions and,
29:26
about short term and long term impact to the business that if you're
29:30
providing the solution to your business, like what is the longer term impact
29:36
the business will have, or it's just as a short term solution,
29:39
just, for the next six months, will that be helpful?
29:43
What after that? For their grades,
29:45
to what extent is it being a good solution?
29:52
How important is it that
29:53
the solution is a good one?
29:58
If everything else is sound.
30:00
It's not that there's a good or a bad solution.
30:02
The solution is a solution.
30:04
If a student is able to evaluate
30:08
the recommendation which they've given,
30:11
Okay, I'm giving you the solution.
30:13
However, it has its own issues.
30:16
If you can mitigate that, if you can look into that,
30:19
then this is a viable solution for you.
30:22
So yes, again, as I said, there's no good or bad solution.
30:26
Obviously, if it is something which is totally unacceptable,
30:30
you'll have to change.
30:31
But every solution to a business which students gave most of the time
30:35
is a good one. However,
30:38
if they lack evaluation, if they're not evaluating it,
30:42
if they're not giving the advantages and disadvantages
30:44
of the recommendations that is where they lose maths.
30:47
So really thorough information here on the IA.
30:50
I want to pivot now and talk a little bit about the case studies, because I know
30:53
this is also another element of the business management course.
30:56
And there's probably an extent where there's some overlap across these
31:00
two things, like what you were just talking about
31:02
with regard to evaluating well, understanding long term
31:04
and short term implications of solutions you might have put forward.
31:07
So I guess first and foremost,
31:09
what are the main assessment aims when it comes to the case studies.
31:13
And then yeah, I guess maybe just a little bit of teasing out
31:17
the differences
31:17
or the nuances between the ways that you might approach the IA
31:20
versus the ways that you might approach the case study.
31:22
In business management, if they're writing a good IA
31:26
and the skills like analysis and evaluation,
31:30
at the end of the term, and they're sitting at IA exams,
31:34
they do help.
31:36
You will not find, for example,
31:37
if they're sitting for their marks or if they're sitting for the end of term
31:42
DP one exams, you will not find these skills and the answers.
31:47
IA actually builds on these skills with the students.
31:49
And this helps
31:51
when they're doing assessments and when they are analyzing case studies.
31:55
We need to understand that why case studies are there.
31:59
And I tell my student all information you will find in the case study.
32:03
It's not there to ask you about concept
32:07
or what theory. It wants to see that
32:11
can you apply your knowledge to real world scenarios?
32:14
This is why case studies are there.
32:16
And so the skills are very, very important.
32:21
The ATL’s over the year are extremely important
32:24
when students are looking at case studies.
32:26
The case study actually tests your ability
32:29
that can you identify from that case study
32:33
what is your answer.
32:35
What is the question looking for.
32:38
Can you prioritize.
32:39
Can you argue your solution.
32:42
So that identification is important.
32:45
So if a student has knowledge of the concept then only
32:48
they will be able to identify it from the case study.
32:52
I hope it makes sense like it's step by step.
32:56
You need to have the knowledge.
32:58
You need to apply.
32:59
You need to know how I can apply my knowledge to this case study.
33:02
And you need to identify if this is a solution
33:05
which is given in the case study,
33:07
how viable is that solution.
33:09
Is there any con or is there any disadvantage to the solution.
33:14
So that is why case studies are there.
33:16
You have to.
33:18
The IB tests your ability that how can you filter this case study down?
33:23
We've kind of been touching on it throughout our conversation so far,
33:26
but it sounds like
33:27
if you were advising a student as they go into their case studies,
33:30
it sounds like what you're talking about is think first about the specific theory.
33:34
You think about the specific concepts here,
33:35
and then find the ways in which you would evaluate
33:37
the answers that are already there.
33:39
It's almost like you're saying
33:40
do kind of the Bloom's Taxonomy, for lack of a better term, like
33:44
let's start at sort of the base level and then we'll move up from there, right?
33:47
Yeah.
33:47
It's, business management, I tell my students is, is
33:51
is common sense.
33:53
You put yourself into the case studies.
33:56
If you have a case study of company X,
33:59
and the case study is talking to you about an owner which is struggling to,
34:05
with with the labor turnover, then what would you do?
34:08
Like, if that is a question
34:10
like how will the owner motivate the employees to stay on?
34:14
I tell my
34:15
students, put yourself, remove the the owner's name
34:18
over there, put your name over there and tell me, what are you going to do?
34:21
Again, in business management, it's easy.
34:23
It's common sense
34:25
that connect is important.
34:26
Will put themselves into the shoes and they'll start thinking like, okay,
34:29
if like,
34:31
these many employees are leaving, what am I going to do?
34:34
And this brings me to another thing which I just recall.
34:37
This is the example of Raffles World Academy.
34:40
Like this is one example.
34:42
Obviously it's it's it's a group like, you know, ventures as a group
34:46
which, so many schools and nurseries, it's a huge business.
34:49
I give them the example of their school visiting in their school,
34:53
and they can relate to concepts.
34:58
So when I am teaching HR, for example, and there is a case
35:01
study on human resources, for me it becomes very, very easy.
35:04
And I say, okay, like,
35:06
five teachers are leaving this year.
35:08
Do you know the reason behind it?
35:10
And they'll just start talking about it.
35:12
What do you think?
35:13
How can the school stop them from leaving and they'll come up with solutions.
35:18
And then I will just like, say, okay, like,
35:21
now take out the name of Raffles World Academy and get back
35:24
to the original, business, which was on the case study.
35:28
So this is the way I have always started from the first like first time, like
35:34
I have always taught my students through past papers.
35:38
Yeah, I think this is one advice which I would like to give all teachers,
35:43
if you're going to only teach knowledge and content
35:46
chapter by chapter and unit by unit, you missing on. What you're really teaching
35:50
is empathy, right? It's like
35:51
how to put yourself in their shoes and understand that a little better.
35:55
And obviously using your own environment as the case study for that.
35:58
But then that helps them, I guess, transfer into the main area.
36:01
Now, think through what's the basic knowledge I have?
36:03
How am I in analyzing that?
36:04
How can I take it to the next step? Right?
36:06
It's yeah, it's it's interesting,
36:10
to actually see,
36:12
students,
36:13
when they trained in the correct manner since the very start,
36:17
how strong the responses become.
36:21
That training and I said, as I was saying that
36:26
to teachers especially don't focus on covering the syllabus.
36:29
Focus on covering the skills because students can go home
36:34
and read the content, they can read the textbook themselves.
36:38
This is the world of AI.
36:39
They can do all that themselves.
36:40
They can summarize an entire unit.
36:43
If you're not teaching them the skills,
36:45
they will not be able to answer the questions.
36:49
And so that is when IB pass papers come.
36:53
So like starting from unit one and subtopic 1.1,
36:59
I have case studies
37:01
and most of the case studies I try to take from IB,
37:04
or I build on my own case studies where the students can,
37:07
from the very beginning, know how to analyze case studies.
37:11
I like it.
37:12
No, I think that it's great.
37:13
And I think it's really important because you're not saying you have to use
37:17
the past papers from the beginning to just be in pure, exam prep mode.
37:24
It's just there's always this way of processing case
37:28
studies that does coincide.
37:30
Obviously, with the exams.
37:31
It's not just first there's the learning part, then there's the exam prep part.
37:36
It's all one in the same.
37:37
And it's just building out that framework for how to to analyze these case studies.
37:42
And the students are scared and be very honest.
37:45
They have this fear of past papers.
37:47
And if you're going to be introducing these past papers from the very beginning,
37:52
they're going to be confident by the end of the first year, you'll see,
37:56
miracles and answers.
37:57
And I've seen real like very, very good answers,
38:00
like with the introduction of paper three for High Level, which is a social
38:04
enterprise based paper, it the rubrics are very difficult.
38:08
And I think one thing which we did as a school
38:12
is that we introduced paper three from the very beginning.
38:16
And when I saw like the end of term exams, when I looked at the answers, I was
38:22
I was smiling to myself, like, look at these students.
38:24
Like,
38:26
if an IB student sits the actual IB exam,
38:29
they will not be able to give these answers
38:31
what our students are giving, because that's the way we've trained,
38:35
our students.
38:37
So it's again, like planning is is again very, very important.
38:41
Yeah.
38:41
To wrap that up, is there anything else besides this
38:44
consistency with the past papers that you feel has really helped build
38:48
confidence and exam readiness with your students?
38:53
Many things, I think like what
38:55
what we also do is like we have these, shotguns.
39:01
We we mimic that. And,
39:04
there is an organization in Dubai and our students have actually won,
39:09
10,000 Dirhams, seeding as well.
39:12
And that, with presenting or pitching their idea.
39:15
So I think very early on from grade nine, we, we train and mentor our students
39:20
to pitch their business ideas
39:22
to come up with a product which is not there in the market.
39:25
And you'll be amazed.
39:28
You will be amazed to the products
39:31
they come up with. And,
39:34
when I was teaching grade nine and ten long back,
39:37
they used to make 3D models.
39:39
Actual 3D models of the products and come up with that.
39:42
Okay, miss, like look at my product.
39:44
And I was like, oh my God, this is a great student who's doing this.
39:47
It's amazing what these young minds are capable of.
39:53
My name is Anthony Anderson.
39:54
I teach at the Forest Hill High School in Florida.
39:59
I teach the history of the Americas.
40:04
And I teach about language.
40:06
You know, English and Spanish.
40:08
Kognity definitely saved me this year because the students
40:13
can go into the classroom immediately, get all the text translated, and the
40:19
I have a measurable result, the numbers going up about 30%.
40:25
So it is impressive.
40:26
I recommend it to anyone who has no textbooks, you know.
40:31
So yeah, I'm all for it.
40:34
These are life savings.
40:37
You know, we've been touching on it kind of throughout the entire discussion
40:40
so far.
40:41
I mean, you're constantly coming back to just sort of teacher strategies,
40:44
I guess, and approaches to how you're going
40:46
to scaffold the learning so that students are prepared
40:48
not only for the IA, but also for when they get into the exam.
40:51
So let's let's pivot into kind of our third segment here, kind of key things
40:55
we want to talk about with regard
40:56
to practical approaches in that business management classroom.
41:00
You've spoken about the theories, you've spoken about the actual,
41:04
skills that they're developing.
41:05
But I guess, is there is there kind of a perfect balance?
41:08
Or maybe let's just talk about how do we how do we balance the theory
41:12
and the application of knowledge as well, so that they have the tools
41:15
and the knowledge they need,
41:16
but they also understand how I can apply this to different situations.
41:19
Are there top tips that you could suggest for people in terms of approaching that?
41:23
Yeah, I guess just don’t teach theory in isolation.
41:27
That's my biggest giveaway right now is like, you just can't
41:31
go ahead and stand in front of the class and teaching a theory.
41:34
It's just going to go above their heads.
41:37
They will not understand.
41:38
Like, do you teach in Herzberg theory?
41:41
What are they going to understand?
41:43
They did not they they still are 14 and 15 years,
41:47
of age that
41:49
again like and I'm going back to it because this is what business is all
41:53
about that until and unless you connect it to practical scenarios,
41:58
you can't make the students understand they will never be able to apply.
42:02
So again, don't teach theory in isolation
42:05
if you are teaching them or if,
42:08
we learn a concept in the in the morning, we apply it in the afternoon
42:12
to a real world scenario,
42:15
give them opportunities and give them chances
42:18
to showcase their knowledge.
42:21
Maybe with, with the help
42:24
with, like, small episodes of Shark Tanks or pitching their product again
42:29
and that is when the knowledge comes alive.
42:32
That is my firm belief.
42:34
Like until unless you're not going to link a theory or a tool
42:39
to real world application, it's not going to work for you.
42:42
So I think since like from term one, I free my lessons and this is what I do
42:48
for I free my lessons in a style of IB assessments.
42:51
As I as I said earlier, students are just constantly practicing
42:55
the way they'll be tested.
42:57
That is important.
42:58
And initially you will see,
43:01
issues and problems where the students will not get it,
43:03
but tell how long if consistency is maintained and the students
43:07
are constantly practicing and,
43:11
linking their theory and not working in isolation
43:15
or just not memorizing definitions, thinking about the term
43:19
and getting the understanding of the term, then only they'll be able to apply it.
43:25
And that is why I am against memorization.
43:28
But it sounds like what you were talking about earlier,
43:29
when you have that personal connection in a story or something that helps them
43:33
really connect with it, that almost provides
43:35
a really great vehicle for them to then empathize with it.
43:37
And now they care about it.
43:38
So now they're going to have a deeper connection with the content.
43:41
So they know the theory as they as they apply it in real terms.
43:45
Right?
43:46
Yeah, exactly.
43:47
It's like see people are seeing businesses all around them.
43:51
Like look at the TikTok and Insta trends,
43:53
like on like the this is today's generation.
43:57
This is the trend.
43:57
Like I want to see I want to see like business concepts with my students.
44:02
Like they're looking at business concepts and they're actually linking
44:06
these business concepts to a TikTok trend they just watched last night.
44:12
Or, how did this business,
44:15
have this
44:16
marketing campaign or, launch a new product
44:19
or how they walked into a mall and they saw a saw discounts.
44:23
And why is a business giving discounts and why
44:26
they are 20% off and sales and all that.
44:29
I think that is what
44:32
will connect students to, to the subject.
44:36
So if you're teaching a concept and you bring that. Ask the students, okay,
44:41
you went with it to yesterday, like if you're teaching a concept
44:45
on Monday or Tuesday and you're just saying, okay, you
44:47
what did you do on a weekend? I went to the mall. Okay.
44:49
So what did you buy? Okay. So I bought this.
44:51
And look at the pricing. Did you compare your pricing?
44:54
You can just build on a conversation, on simple a purchase of
44:58
for example, a pizza or,
45:03
a shot from, Marks and Spencer.
45:06
Anything you can start, you can ask, you can build on the questions, then
45:10
you can start asking a student that, okay, why why did you go to Marks and Spencer
45:14
and why didn't you go to Bloomingdales or why you didn't go to Zara.
45:19
Like why did you choose Marks and Spencer.
45:22
So then the student will start thinking like, okay, maybe the quality is good.
45:27
I like the brand.
45:28
They'll start using these terms.
45:30
That is when they going to develop the understanding of the concept.
45:35
So this is what meaningful, meaningful connections are all about.
45:39
No, I, I really like that.
45:41
As you've gone through the syllabus now and you've had some time with the new one,
45:46
what have you found to be one of the hardest either
45:49
concepts or skills or just parts of the syllabus for you
45:52
to get your students to click? By the end of the syllabus
45:57
when we come to unit five, it dries out a bit.
46:01
There's not much.
46:02
It's it's a it's a lot of reading and reading and reading.
46:05
This is knowledge knowledge, knowledge.
46:06
And that is the time, where students just start losing interest
46:11
because they're preparing for their final exams. And,
46:15
you have these last few
46:17
subtopics left and, which are dry topics you can't.
46:21
You've already taught parts of this topic in the other unit, so
46:27
to maintain that focus becomes difficult by the end of the term.
46:31
I would definitely, if you're asking me about
46:34
a difficult theory or a tool, I've not encountered something
46:38
which is difficult to teach students because, again,
46:43
teaching by instance and,
46:46
teaching in bits and pieces and then connecting it as a whole,
46:50
is it what works for this generation
46:53
and for the students of 15 or 16 years of, age.
46:56
So I never found difficulty in teaching a tool or theory,
47:01
but definitely to maintain their focus by the end of DP two
47:06
is what has been a struggle because students have so many deadlines.
47:11
They have the IA deadlines. They have
47:13
IO’s going on, so that is difficult.
47:16
Yeah, I was going to say that's probably true for for any subject.
47:20
Yeah.
47:20
I think being a coordinator, you also understand that, yeah,
47:23
once you get toward the end of it, you just go like,
47:25
all right, come on, guys, stay with me.
47:27
You know, there's still interesting stuff.
47:28
I know it feels like we're all done, but they lose focus.
47:30
Then again, like, I think one thing, one one again.
47:34
Takeaway.
47:34
The biggest takeaway, on this is what I tell
47:38
students is
47:39
stick to your deadlines, expect your deadlines.
47:43
It is very, very important because if you don't neglect that
47:46
and if you want to an extension, you just your entire process gets ruined
47:52
because then it one extension leads to another and you're never on task.
47:56
Yeah.
47:56
That's a, that's a key piece of advice for anybody,
47:59
not just in a business management course, isn't it.
48:01
Like anybody in the IB like trust the deadlines for sure.
48:05
As we kind of draw this, this conversation I guess to to kind of close here
48:09
what's what are some of like the key advices or what
48:11
what would you offer to teachers
48:13
preparing students for I guess assessment in the business management course.
48:16
What would be your main piece of advice for them?
48:18
As I said, don't go on taking each syllabus, each subtopic.
48:23
I finish this, I finish this, I finish it.
48:27
Don't focus too much on teaching content.
48:30
Focus on teaching skills. Because you mentioned that earlier.
48:33
Does that come with the caveat that you would expect students
48:35
to do the reading on their own so that they do get that content?
48:39
I do that the many times, like for example, the, the,
48:42
the some units which you just need to read, it's, it's
48:47
common sense and it's just reading and just minimum
48:51
explanation by the teaching.
48:52
It's just you're just reading,
48:54
for example, you're reading through operation management okay.
48:57
Supply chain, there's not much of, explanation that is required.
49:03
Students just need to read it one time and I have often
49:06
given students topics which they will just go home and read.
49:10
This is your reading task.
49:12
Come back tomorrow to me.
49:13
Talk to me about it.
49:15
Talk to me about it. Give me examples.
49:18
And this is I think it all subjects this this might be true that there some topics
49:23
which you can just leave it on the students again like they are
49:27
the students are at the center of the IB and the
49:31
the as the as I
49:32
said, we just facilitate, learning.
49:35
So they it's their responsibility to give them that responsibility.
49:39
Don't spook them.
49:40
Don’t feed them each and everything.
49:42
Leave them on. Leave it on them.
49:44
Let them come up
49:46
with explanations.
49:48
And if there is, if they're stuck somewhere, we always have to help them.
49:52
So my biggest advice to teachers preparing
49:55
students is don't go and just tick boxes.
49:58
Okay? I finish this unit. I finish this unit.
50:01
You need to teach skills that is important
50:05
whether you have to give a lesson every week.
50:07
Do that because once the skills will be perfect,
50:11
the knowledge will just come through. Yeah.
50:13
And I think that I, I don't know if you remember, but
50:16
I've sat in some of your classes back in the day.
50:19
It was a few years ago.
50:20
I got to sit in the back of the room.
50:22
Then at one point you put me in the front of the room,
50:24
which I was not ready for, but I what I one takeaway I did have was
50:29
just how accustomed your students were to a conversational style of the classroom.
50:35
Like you could tell this was normal for them to just be like,
50:39
let's talk about this. Like, let's see how this goes.
50:41
You had a very organic, conversational style in your classroom,
50:45
and I think that a lot of the examples that you've brought up today
50:48
in this podcast have,
50:51
resonated with that.
50:52
And then I remember we were in your office and I was asking you questions
50:55
about how students were using Kognity.
50:57
You're like, let me see who I can find.
50:58
And you stick your head out the hallway and you're like,
51:00
you, you, you and you come on over here.
51:03
And you started asking them questions.
51:05
And again,
51:07
when students are able to reflect and analyze on their own ways of learning,
51:11
it shows that this is a very normal way of conversing
51:15
with you and conversing with the other kids in the class.
51:18
So I yeah, I definitely saw that in your style.
51:22
And I think that a lot of your examples, from today also show that as well.
51:26
I think I'm one of the few teachers in the school
51:31
who promotes arguments
51:33
and debates and debates, not like arguments, like proper arguments.
51:37
And sometimes they can lead up to fights like, but, you know, behind that.
51:41
Also, there's a reasoning and rationale because the amount of information
51:47
the students argue about just
51:50
to prove themselves right, not only
51:54
teaches them skills,
51:56
but also prepares them for TOK. TOK, as you
52:00
know, is is very, very it's a core component of IB.
52:04
So that argument of whether, this is right or this is wrong
52:08
and questioning everything, that is what I love my students to do.
52:12
So I sometimes I'm just sitting at the back of,
52:16
the class and go ahead, just start your argument.
52:18
I'm enjoying this.
52:20
It's and they will go and they look, you know, this has to be done with this.
52:24
And in between I'll, I'll give them the feedback.
52:28
Okay. So this is what you said.
52:30
So is this right?
52:31
So I'm just going to flip it on student.
52:33
So the balance questioning is very very important.
52:37
It teaches them the skill of debating.
52:40
And that skill of debating teaches them evaluation.
52:46
And then at the
52:46
end of the lesson I'm going to tell them, see you just gave me
52:50
like four positive points and four negative points.
52:54
Why can’t you just go and write it in your answer?
52:56
The same thing what you were talking about.
52:58
What happens when you write the answer.
53:01
So yeah.
53:01
So that's the whole process. Good.
53:04
All right.
53:05
Well that was fun.
53:07
Thank you.
53:09
I think that we had a lot of really great points here for teachers
53:13
to take away when it comes to the IA, the assessment
53:15
and just the general structure of their class.
53:17
Maria, it is always a pleasure working with you and talking with you.
53:22
Thank you so much for today.
53:23
Thank you so much, Courtney and John, it was a pleasure talking to you both.
53:28
IB Unplugged is a Kognity podcast hosted by John Patton
53:31
and Courtney Marline and produced by Katilina Gaffney.
53:34
Be sure to subscribe or follow and share with your fellow IB educators.
53:38
If you'd like to submit a topic, request or a question, please do
53:41
so on kognity.com/ibunplugged.
53:44
Let's keep the conversation going
53:46
and support each other in teaching with confidence,
53:48
creativity and joy.
53:50
See you next time.