Rethinking the MBA through Hip Hop innovation and Hip Hop innovators: Fat Joe and DJ Khaled pair with two sport × entertainment faculty.

Theory without relevance for practice in a professional graduate degree has been critiqued by some scholars as a deficit approach when preparing MBA students for the workforce. Scholars and practitioners alike call for more pedagogy in the curriculum with a focus on innovation, creativity, and the involvement of industry practitioners. This paper serves as a case study of a moment in time on Monday, 14 June 2021, when the concept of "pracademics" was realized between two artists and two faculty. Following the transcription of the dialogue between two guest speakers from the Hip Hop world (i.e., Fat Joe and DJ Khaled) and two faculty from the sport management MBA program, the paper analyzes the deeper meaning of their intellectual presence with their expertise in the business of culture (i.e., Hip Hop). Findings reveal how the pairing of Hip Hop artists and faculty in an MBA program can address the innovation gap within global business curricula and models. The broader umbrella of pedagogy and application has implications for other academic disciplines to embrace this concept of pairing academics and industry practitioners.

Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Assessment for Dyslexia in Adolescents and Young Adults.

The same working memory and reading and writing achievement phenotypes (behavioral markers of genetic variants) validated in prior research with younger children and older adults in a multi-generational family genetics study of dyslexia were used to study 81 adolescent and young adults (ages 16 to 25) from that study. Dyslexia is impaired word reading and spelling skills below the population mean and ability to use oral language to express thinking. These working memory predictor measures were given and used to predict reading and writing achievement: Coding (storing and processing) heard and spoken words (phonological coding), read and written words (orthographic coding), base words and affixes (morphological coding), and accumulating words over time (syntax coding); Cross-Code Integration (phonological loop for linking phonological name and orthographic letter codes and orthographic loop for linking orthographic letter codes and finger sequencing codes), and Supervisory Attention (focused and switching attention and self-monitoring during written word finding). Multiple regressions showed that most predictors explained individual difference in at least one reading or writing outcome, but which predictors explained unique variance beyond shared variance depended on outcome. ANOVAs confirmed that research-supported criteria for dyslexia validated for younger children and their parents could be used to diagnose which adolescents and young adults did (n=31) or did not (n=50) meet research criteria for dyslexia. Findings are discussed in reference to the heterogeneity of phenotypes (behavioral markers of genetic variables) and their application to assessment for accommodations and ongoing instruction for adolescents and young adults with dyslexia.