Technology Tips and Strategies

• Tip #1: Email and Course Management
• Tip #2: Email Ice-breaker
• Tip #3: Cross-Cultural and Business Communication with Email Keypals
• Tip #4: Annotated All-Class Bibliography
• Tip #5: Interview an International Business Executive
• Tip #6: Building Relationships and Exploring Cultures

Language Support

• Online Dictionaries and Language Tools
• Effective Searches for Business English
• Effective Searches for Business English: Additional Approaches
• Online Writing Lab (OWL) Purdue, from Purdue University, provides information on Documenting Sources and Professional Writing.

Projects

Business Communication

• Ask the Company
• Learning by "Lurking"
• Business Presentation Styles across Cultures
• The Culture of Self-Presentation and Résumé Writing

Business Research

• Researching Companies and Creating Company Profiles
• Gathering International Market Data
• Country-Specific Cultural Analysis
• Global Marketing and Communication on the Web
• Real Time Research
• Netting Jobs through the Web
• Analyzing International Job Opportunities

Business Simulations, Exercises, Tutorials, and Lesson Plans

This section contains links outside this site to no-cost problem-based learning and simulation sites that others have developed for Business or for Business English. Registration is required for some of them.

• Break Even Analysis, Cameron Balloons Virtual Factory, and other simulations from biz/ed Virtual Learning Arcade.
• Business English Exercises, from Pearson and Caroline Brown.
• EcEdWeb, with economic education resources in all forms and at all levels, from University of Nebraska .
• EconEdLink, with lessons at the grades 9-12 (secondary) level, which can be used as is or adapted for post-secondary level learners.
• FTE Lesson Plans and Curriculum Materials, from the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE).
• Gazillionaire, a game of business strategy from LavaMinds (downloadable for Windows).
• IndustryMasters, Real-Time Business Simulation, in which you are the CEO of your own company. At each real-time simulation round you can win a competition for the highest share price. Your competitors - other players from around the globe - will be just as tough as in the real world.
• Informatist, play and learn business skills that will stand you in good stead in the real world.
• Lemonade Stand Game Have you ever wondered if you would be good at running your own business? Well here is your chance! You now have your very own lemonade stand and 30 days to try and make some money.
• PerfectCompetition.net, a multiplayer online business strategy game that features business administration, finance, accounting, marketing, human resource management, real estate, networking, negotiations and deals, company and contract law, business ethics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, and non-cooperative game theory.
• Price and Line Strategy Simulator We've created a simple simulation that is tuned to roughly represent Dell, HP and Compaq. In the simulation you play a company that is about the size of HP or Compaq (pre-merger) and your competitor is about the size of Dell. In the game, you compete only on price, the market perceives your computers as being of equal quality. Market demand for computers is price-sensitive.
• Price Strategy Simulator We've created a simple simulation that is tuned to roughly represent Dell, HP and Compaq. In the simulation you play a company that is about the size of HP or Compaq (pre-merger) and your competitor is about the size of Dell. In the game, you compete only on price, the market perceives your computers as being of equal quality. Market demand for computers is price-sensitive.
• Principles of Entrepreneurship, from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs.
• Roadside Attractions, from the U.S. National Park Service, Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plan. The focus is on the concept of "boosterism."
• Tycoon Online, a multi-player simulation.
• U.S. Small Business Administration, Free Online Courses (in English and in Spanish). The courses are all self-paced and take about 30 minutes to complete. Most of the courses require a brief online registration.
  

Assessment

This section contains links outside this site to ideas for assessing and giving feedback on learners' work, particularly for project-based learning (as with the projects and simulations above) and traditional ESL/EFL skill areas.

• Evaluation Plan for Letters, including business letters.
• Professional Development for Educators: Rubrics, for research reports, PowerPoint presentations and more.
• RubiStar, a tool to help make assessment rubrics for oral presentations, research, writing, and more.
• Rubrician, many examples of writing and technology rubrics for grades 9-12; also adaptable for adult learners.
• Teach-Nology Rubric Maker, rubrics for ESL/EFL and subject areas; also adaptable for adult learners.
  

Kay Westerfield, Global Communication Consulting,kwesterf@uoregon.edu