My BRIDGE Project:
Company Portfolio Projects in
an Introduction to Business
Class
Betsy Haywood-Sullivan
Assistant Professor of Accounting
Rider University
msullivan@rider.edu
(609) 895-5544
Overview
Objectives of Target Course
My BRIDGE Project
My BRIDGE Journey
CAT: Portfolio Worksheet
Student Examples
Assessment: Grades and Student
Responses
Objectives of Introduction
to Business Course
Provides a foundation for advanced
business classes by introducing
business terms and concepts and by
demonstrating the relations between
business disciplines
Helps students focus on an area of
interest, often directing them to a
major if they are undecided
Connects students to the College of
Business in their first semester/year
My BRIDGE Project:
Students’ Company Portfolio
(Scrapbook) Project
I require the students to include a minimum of
three articles on the following areas:
1) information technology and/or operations
management;
2) management and human resources;
3) marketing and/or advertising; and
4) accounting and finance.
For each article the student submits, I look for
two types of analyses. The first explains why that
article represents a business area (i.e.,
marketing) and the second demonstrates how
this area impacts other functions of business.
Example of Business
Connection
“X Company laid off workers this
quarter (human resources) because of
the decrease in demand for its
product last quarter (supply and
demand – economics) and the decline
in sales and profits (finance).”
My BRIDGE Project:
My Journey Over Time
Provide examples of Scrapbooks
Emphasize in lectures the inter-relations
of business areas
Provide grading rubric for scrapbooks
Arrange for librarian to walk students
through various databases and searches
for articles
Provide grading notes for scrapbooks and
use grading notes as a comment sheet (See
Attachment #1)
Create a feedback loop/ opportunity to
rewrite summaries so that students have
an opportunity to improve
Create article grid so that students can
practice the connections in class and use
the grid to organize their thoughts before
writing summaries
(See Attachment #2)
Rename project “Company Portfolio”
rather than “Company Scrapbook”
Require connections to be done once all
articles have been submitted and
summaries completed on why it pertains
to a particular area
Perform CAT #2 (Focused Listings) after
covering each chapter to help students
identify key terms that they can use in
their article searches
Fall 2003
Spring 2004



Fall 2004


Spring 2005















My BRIDGE Project:
Classroom Assessment Technique
(“CAT”) Hybrid
This article describes what functional area of business? ______________________
Why?
R Business Area:___________ Business Area:___________
e Why?
Why?
l
a
t
e
s
t
o
Business Area:___________
Why?
My BRIDGE Project:
Example of Student Worksheet
My BRIDGE Project:
Example of Student Worksheet
My BRIDGE Project:
Assessment of Project
Portfolio Grades By Semester
100%
A's
B's
50%
C's
0%
Fall Spring Fall Spring
2003 2004 2004 2005
D's
F's
My BRIDGE Project:
Assessment of Project
Student Rating of Assignment
100%
80%
Excellent
60%
Very Good
40%
Good
20%
Fair
Poor
0%
Fall
2003
Spring
2004
Fall
2004
Spring
2005
My BRIDGE Project:
Student Responses to Project Question
List the two most important things you
learned from this project.
“I learned to see the business articles from
a businessman’s eyes. I learned to look
beyond the story in the article and to pick
up various details about plenty of different
business departments that contributed to
the article.”
My BRIDGE Project:
Student Responses to Project Question
List the two most important things you learned
from this project.
“I learned that companies have many different
parts entailed in order for it to be a company.
Usually I don’t really think about the different
departments that make up a company; however,
now that we had to look up the different aspects
of the company like management, human
resources, finance and so much more, I now look
more into a company as opposed to just looking
at what they sell.”
My BRIDGE Project:
Student Responses to Project Question
List the two most important things you
learned from this project.
“I didn’t realize in the beginning, but
definitely did at the end of my project, that
everything is related to one another some
how. Whether it is human resources to
accounting to technology, they all need one
another to make the company run. But more
importantly, they all need one another to
make themselves work.”
My BRIDGE Project:
Student Responses to Project Question
List the two most important things you
learned from this project.
“On a more personal note, I learned how to
be more responsible; it is a big transition
from high school to college. Teachers are
willing to help you if you are willing to
help yourself.”