Revealing conceptual understanding of international business

Abstract

This study aims to identify an adequate approach for revealing conceptual understanding in higher professional education. Revealing students’ conceptual understanding is an important step towards developing effective curricula, assessment and aligned teaching strategies to enhance conceptual understanding in higher education. Essays and concept maps were used to determine how students’ conceptual understanding of international business can be revealed adequately. To this end, 132 international business students in higher professional education were randomly assigned to four conditions to write essays and to construct concept maps about an international business research topic. The conditions were: essay alone, essay after concept map, concept map alone, and concept map after essay. An assessment rubric was used to assess the breadth and depth of students’ conceptual understanding. Results show essays are the most adequate approach for revealing conceptual understanding of international business. In particular, concept maps revealed fewer facts and less reasoning than essays. Essays written after concept maps were less effective than essays, possibly since students perceived these essays as redundant. Further research is suggested on how educators can foster conceptual understanding.