Ropes, Poles, and Space: Active Learning in Business Education

As business students graduate and obtain jobs in the global market, corporations are complaining that students employed in entrylevel management positions lack critical thinking or creativity skills. Creativity involves the ability to break out of established patterns and try new approaches. A truly creative individual is not lost in his or her own world, oblivious to all that goes on around them; rather, they combine broad knowledge and imagination to stimulate adventurous (and very likely unconventional) thinking versus merely generating a taxonomy of ideas leading to only one conclusion. How can a university business faculty incorporate ‘critical thinking’ and ‘creativity’ into their courseware? This article discusses an encompassing active learning matrix with examples of exercises, projects, and simulations to foster critical and creative thinking skills in business courses.