Research Needs Assessment in a Business Capstone Course

1. Research Needs Assessment in a Business Capstone Course Librarian and Faculty Partnerships

2. MGT 333I BizBlock • Combines management, marketing, and business communication • Student teams create and present a comprehensive business plan • Focuses on applied learning and teamwork - valuable skills in today's work environment • 40-80 students each semester, co-taught by 3 instructors from management, marketing and communication

3. BizBlock & the Library Business Team • Identified resources needed by students to perform company, industry, market & demographic research • Performed an overview of research via instruction session • Delivered resources via a point-of-need blog timed to syllabus and linked into Vista Course • Blog allows for organization, interactivity & searchability Professors Mary Bowers & Chris Scherpereel with BizBlock students

4. The Blog

5. Assessing What We Did: The Survey Process • Created a survey to assess library support and research needs for students in BizBlock, with Sue Peiper, Coordinator of Assessment at the E-Learning Center • Administered the survey in paper because the class was large and we did not have a computer available for each student • Response rate was 100% (75 students) however, some students did not answer every question • Survey was administered to students in late November a few weeks prior to the end of the Fall 2007 semester • Data was transcribed from paper into the Flashlight survey tool to allow for analysis using Flashlight. Some data was analyzed in Excel

6. Assessing What We Did: The Survey Process (cont.) • Results of the survey were shared with the BizBlock faculty via a 1 hr meeting, where we discussed implications of the results and next steps • Analysis of the quantitative data (student narratives) was the most time consuming • Required reviewing all the data then going back and trying to tease out patterns among the data • Tallied suggestions from all the narratives • The quantitative data was invaluable and worth the time commitment. Resulted in specific changes to our approach with this class in Spring 2008

7. How often did you use the blog? If you didn’t use the blog, why not? How well did the blog align the resources with the assignments in your syllabus? If asked for assistance from the Business team, how would you rate the Business Team with regards to service and responsiveness? If you did not ask for assistance from the Business team, why not? Would you suggest using the blog again with the next class? Why or why not? Was having access to the blog an advantage for researching your business plan, why or why not? What improvements, if any would you make to the blog? Assessing What We Did:The Survey Questions

8. What we Learned: The Blog

9. Some Surprises- Good & Bad • Teams often designated 1-2 of the 4-5 members to do the research • Instructors found this an enlightening and unexpected result. All team members are now expected to contribute to the research • Students were encouraged to communicate, comment and share resources via the blog, but they chose not to • Confusion about how to contact the Business Team for help • Faculty reported that the teams that utilized librarian assistance did better on business plans

10. Student Suggestions • Link Blog posts to parts of the 15 Weeks to a Successful Business Plan map • Instructors should encourage and require students to use the blog • Better marketing and visibility of the Library Business Team • Better integration of the Library Business Team help into class

11. Faculty Suggestions • That the Library Business Team be on-site for the BizBlock research lab class to assist students at point-of-need and make students aware of Library Business Team assistance • Re-evaluate content resources to ensure best research tools for business program curricular needs • Resulted in obtaining MarketResearch Academic.com, Hoover’s, & SRDS Online

12. Changes Implemented for Spring 2008 • Linked Blog posts to the 15 Weeks to a Successful Plan map • Arranged for 2 Library Business Team Visits to BizBlock class at key times • Early in Course: Overview of Major Resources • Peak Project Time: Research Lab-Class period devoted to addressing specific BizBlock team research questions that arose after initial research • Ample Contact Information for Business Team shared for student follow-up

13. 15 Week Plan linked to Blog

14. Early Anecdotal Feedback: Spring 2008 • Students appreciated the research lab and opportunity to ask questions after doing some initial research • End of Spring 2008 the Library Business Team will conduct a follow-up Spring Survey to assess the changes implemented as a result of the Fall 2007 Survey • Based on student feedback, the Library Business Team will continue to assess Library resources and services for the BizBlock course

15. Tina Adams & Sandra Lahtinen Cline Library Business Team Library.Business@nau.edu 928-523-6849 Mary Bowers Senior Lecturer, Management Mary.Bowers@nau.edu 928-523-7359 Jennifer Mitchell Lecturer of Marketing Jennifer.Mitchell@nau.edu 928-523-8524 Questions? Please Contact Us