Teaching Business

Business studies revision workshops hit the mark

We’ve just completed an exhausting but enjoyable tour of our AQA Business Studies revision workshops. Some fantastic feedback on these events leads us straight into planning the programme for 2008/09.

Mobeen - evaluating the Eurozone Economic forecasts

Evaluation of economic data forecasts for AQA ‘Mobeen’ case study

Over the last five years or so that I have been teaching Business and Economics, data for key economic performance indicators have been rather dull. Inflation, unemployment and interest rates have each been low and steady, and we have seen little of the ‘boom and bust’ cycle that appears in all the textbooks. It has been difficult to see any realistic economic forecasts actually making that much difference to businesses’ plans.

And so it is with the predictions for Eurozone (you did notice that they are for the Eurozone, didn’t you?) in the AQA Unit 2/3 case study on ‘Mobeen’ for Summer 2008. If these forecasts came to pass, none of them would have that great an influence on the plans for Mobeen.

However - there are a couple of evaluative points that spring to mind. If you actually look at what is going on currently with the UK Pound/Euro exchange rate and with inflation in the costs of meat and wheat, you will see that in reality, Mobeen could be facing some more challenging issues. Of course, the case study will have been written some months back, but you will do yourself no harm if you have a handle on what is really happening.

All set for the AQA Unit 5&6 Revision Workshop

The programme and materials for our AQA A2 Business Studies Units 5&6 Revision Workshops are now complete.  It promises to be really useful and hopefully enjoyable day for over 1,500 A2 students.  Here’s what we are covering on the day.

Hot Seat takes its place at the home of football

Students visiting Wembley Stadium will now be putting themselves in The Hot Seat. as part of their studies.

Chalk and Cheesy - A Tale of Two Examiners?

On one corner of the desk there is the tale of Hamster Hilton, a case study so bereft of genuine business studies content, it is hard to see why OCR Business students bothered studying Unit 2871. In the other corner, the story of Albion Cheese Company, a well-researched and challenging business strategy case study that will stretch the A2 Unit 2880 students.

Latest edition of Latte Magazine is Published on Friday!

Issue 4 of Latte Magazine, our free print magazine for Business, Economics & Enterprise teachers is now at the printers and should be sent out later next week.  Take a sneak preview at the contents and order your copy here!

Edexcel AS Business Studies - IKEA case Study

Our Edexcel AS Business Studies revision notes for the IKEA case study are now complete. As part of the exercise, Mark Tottman has produced an excellent series of guided revision questions that help lead students through the key issues raised by the case study.  Here are the questions:

The Business Studies Lessons from Terminal 5

Rarely can there have been a business news story that provides such a rich source of business studies content.

Homework Ideas

Try a strange idea for a homework task ....

Great reasons to use blogs in business studies & economics

At the ICT in Business & Economics conference, delegates shared their thoughts on reasons to encourage students and teachers to get involved in blogging.  Here is a brief summary of those suggestions.

Camtasia - A Useful Tool for the Business & Economics Classroom

At the ICT in Business & Economics Conference (29 Feb 2008) we demonstrated the use of Camtasia - a really useful software tool for developing e-learning materials, including video capture and editing.

Real Burger World - the Real Life Basis for Mobeen

It is always interesting to find out more about the real businesses that inspire the pre-release case studies for AQA AS Business Unit 2&3.  And we’ve managed to track down the inspiration for the May 2008 case study - Mobeen.

Kelloggs - AQA Case Study - Links to Useful Sites

Students preparing for the AQA GCSE Business A (3132) case study on Kelloggs are encouraged to undertake their own research on the business issues raised in the pre-release material.

In this blog entry, we are keeping a list of useful research material that you might like to share with your students.  If you find a source that is useful but not yet listed, please contribute it via the comments section below.

Kelloggs Starter Quiz - Match the Products

Here is a quick interactive game that could be used as a starter exercise with GCSE Business students - particularly those preparing the Kelloggs Case Study (AQA Unit 3132).

Useful online sources of business videos

At the ICT in Business & Economics conference last week, we debated the best sources of free online videos for business & economics teachers.  Here are some details of the resources that we recommended by delegates.  Please feel free to recommend additional resources to us via the comments box below: