Academic Skills Course Notes

Introduction and Course Overview

• Transcript originates from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) School of Business and Economics, Academic Skills course for BSc International Business Administration.
• Pages indicate a slide deck used for an orientation to Academic Skills, AI policy, team structure, course objectives, assignments, grading, and logistics.

Course Coordinator

• Assistant Professor in Human Resource Management: Dr. Sabrine El Baroudi (email: s.elbaroudi@vu.nl)
• Department: Management and Organization, SBE
• Joined VU in 2018
• Teaching: Research Courses, Bachelor, Master, and PhD supervision
• Research interests: individual and team behavior, leadership and extra-role behaviors

WHY ACADEMIC SKILLS?

• Rationale: To develop skills that help navigate academic work effectively
• Emphasizes foundational role of academic skills in higher education and beyond

WHAT IS RESEARCH?

• Research is about contributing to knowledge.
• How to contribute:
  • Create new knowledge
  • Add to existing knowledge
  • Reject existing knowledge
• Knowledge is described as Theory:
  • “A theory is a logically self-consistent framework that describes and explains some aspect of the world, based on observations and experiments” (Lee & Lings, 2013)

WHY DO WE NEED IT?

• Simple illustration: Ice Cream Sales vs. Shark Attacks across months
  • Factors that could influence results: weather, events, seasonality (e.g., Super Bowl)
• Point: Research aims to explain complex phenomena; understanding is captured in theories; empirical work cumulatively shapes theories
• In social sciences, a single phenomenon can be explained by several theories
• Example domains: Firm Positioning, Marketing, Stakeholder Relations, Firm Performance

INDUCTIVE VS DEDUCTIVE APPROACH

• Inductive approach:
  • When there is little or no existing theory, you create a new theory (qualitative research)
• Deductive approach:
  • When there are existing theories, you test and refine them (quantitative research)
• Example prompt: Why do some students pass or fail a course? Which approach fits?

INDUCTION AND DEDUCTION (LEE & LINGS, 2013, P.6)

• Induction: start from specific observations to create a general theory
  • Example: Observe what students do to pass/fail; conduct interviews about experiences
  • Outcome: general statements such as
  • “students pass the course when they attend lectures, are active during tutorials and work on their assignments”
  • “students fail the course when they never attend lectures, are passive during tutorials and don’t work on assignments.”
• Deduction: use existing theory to set up hypotheses and test them
  • Example: Survey 400 students; predict that 350 attend lectures, are active in tutorials, and work on assignments; formulate hypotheses such as
  1. 350 students at the VU will pass the course
  2. 50 students will fail the course

INDUCTION AND DEDUCTION — CHALLENGES & EXTENSIONS

• Possible outcomes beyond initial hypotheses: you might find support or need to reject hypotheses
• If results deviate (e.g., 370 pass), you must explain other factors
  • Consider factors like context or other variables (e.g., IQ)
• Contribution to knowledge: adding new insights to existing knowledge and theories

THE PROCESS OF INDUCTION AND DEDUCTION

• Induction: Generalize from data to Theory
  • Collect data, generate hypotheses
• Deduction: Use existing Theory to derive predictions and test them
• Schematic flow (from slide):
  • Induction -> Generalize -> Theory
  • Collect data -> Generate hypotheses
  • Deduction -> Apply Theory (VU)

ACADEMIC SKILLS – IMPORTANCE & SKILLS GAINED

• Crucial to navigate a complex world
• Skills provided:
  • Understand theories and their limits
  • Evaluate scientific output
  • Design your own studies
  • Later: conduct your own empirical research (complemented by research methods courses)

ACADEMIC SKILLS AND AI

• AI usage policy:
  • You are allowed to use generative AI to enhance initial content and writing
  • AI can offer inspiration and learning advantages
  • Do not copy-paste AI-generated output
  • AI-generated content cannot substitute your work

ACADEMIC SKILLS AND AI — ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE

• Follow academic integrity rules
• All AI usage must be reported in a separate appendix (tools used and how output was incorporated)
• Each student must provide an honesty declaration for each assignment
• After assignments, random oral checks may occur to ensure compliance with course manual and instructions
• Unauthorized AI use is treated the same as plagiarism

TEACHING TEAM

• Professor-level and teaching staff across lectures and tutorials (names listed on slides):
  • Dr. Rebecca Ruehle
  • Dr. Valentina Fani
  • Arjan de Rooy
  • Dr. Agnes Baker
  • Dr. Sabrine El Baroudi
  • Kathleen Czako
• Tutorials: Chi Nguyen, MSc; Dr. Valentina Fani; Rebekka Tavakoli, MPhil; Dr. Sabrine El Baroudi
• Tutorials lead: Academic Skills Team

COURSE OVERVIEW

• Institution: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics
• Programme: BSC International Business Administration
• Course Manual: Academic Year 2024-2025, Period 1.1 (Pages 14-17 referenced)

ACADEMIC SKILLS – COURSE MANUAL

• Course Manual: Outline of course structure, rules, and requirements (on Canvas)
• Lectures + Tutorials scheduling details

COURSE OBJECTIVES: ACADEMIC RESEARCH

• Identify the problem and write an introduction
• Review the literature
• Determine the research design
• Conduct the research: data collection
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Discuss findings
• Individual assignment
• Group assignment

ASSIGNMENTS & GRADING

• Two main assessment components:
  • Individual Assignment
  • Group Assignment
• Tutorials provide guidance and feedback
• In-class activities labeled as trainings to help finalize assignments
• Additional course manual details for submission requirements
• Tutors answer questions about assignments

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

• Requirements:
  • Formulate a research question suitable for quantitative research
  • Write a literature review
  • Formulate hypotheses
  • Design a simple research model
• Tutorials guide toward finalizing the assignment
• Feedback on progress during tutorials
• In-class trainings to prepare for final submission
• Check Course Manual for details and submission requirements
• Ask tutors with questions
• Submission deadlines per course manual

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

• Group size: 5 students
• Tasks:
  • Develop two research questions: one qualitative and one quantitative
  • Explain how to conduct research to answer both questions
  • Provide a research proposal for each question (methods, data collection, analysis)
• Note: You will not conduct actual research yet; proposals must fit corresponding research perspectives
• Lectures and tutorials guide toward finalization
• Submission deadline per Course Manual

ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION GRADE – TUTORIALS

• Four in-class activities with your team
• Team members evaluate each other
• Four passes = 10% of final grade
• Tutorials contribute 10% to overall grade

ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION GRADE – LECTURES

• Four quizzes during lectures
• Dates not announced in advance
• Limited time to complete quizzes
• Participation grade: 10% of average of all quiz grades
• See Course Manual for more details

MANDATORY ELEMENTS & HONESTY DECLARATION

• You must provide an honesty declaration
• Take the quiz on Academic Conduct
• Mandatory elements for eligibility and grading

GRADING IN SUM

• Weightings:
  • Group Assignment: 40% of final grade
  • Individual Assignment: 40% of final grade
  • Attendance & participation (tutorials): 10% of final grade
  • Attendance & participation (lectures): 10% of final grade
• Overall Course Grade: Minimum 5.5 to pass
• Resits:
  • Group: resits capped at 6.00
  • Individual: resits capped at 6.00
  • Tutorials: no resits
  • Lectures: no resits
• Summary equation: $ext{Final Grade} = 0.40 \, G + 0.40 \, I + 0.10 \, T + 0.10 \, L$
  • Where G = Group Assignment, I = Individual Assignment, T = Tutorials, L = Lectures

FOR SECOND YEAR STUDENTS

• You must only make up the assignment for which you failed last year
• If you want to transfer last year’s grades, email the course coordinator and relevant tutorial teacher
• Provide your work group number
• Only assignments from last year can be transferred

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• General course info and logistics (not all content shown on slides)

COURSE SCHEDULE AND PLANNING

• Lectures: Monday and Tuesday
• Tutorials: Monday and Tuesday
• Academic Skills sessions: Monday and Tuesday
• Tutorials: check personal schedule

LITERATURE

• Main book: Doing Business Research: A guide to theory and practice, 8th edition, Nick Lee and Ian Lings (2008), London: Sage Publications
• Additional materials on Canvas (for lectures, tutorials, and assignments)

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CONTACT

• The Course Manual provides detailed course description and rules (on Canvas)
• Prepare for tutorial sessions; sometimes submit preparations on Canvas
• Messages announced on Canvas
• Questions: ask in tutorial sessions or during live sessions with the course coordinator
• Do not send Canvas messages; use email when necessary
• Contact respective services for potential adjustments
• FAQ section on Canvas for common questions

HOW TO FAIL THE COURSE

• Common reasons for failure are listed in the slides

WHEN DO STUDENTS FAIL?

• Examples:
  • Start doing work when course is nearly finished
  • Individual assignment treated as an easy essay (not acceptable)
  • Group assignment treated as an easy task without academic requirements
  • Plagiarism

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?

• General guidelines (see Course Manual for details):
  • Using another student’s work
  • Buying an assignment
  • Stealing others’ ideas
  • Copying text and presenting it as your own (including AI content)
  • Self-plagiarism
  • Not following APA requirements
• If plagiarism occurs, the SBE examination board handles the case

IMPORTANT WEBSITES

• Academic Skills (vu.nl)
• VU Timetable – Timetable view | VU Amsterdam
• Universiteitsbibliotheek – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (vu.nl)

THANK YOU

• Closing slide; end of deck