Phillip Hartley, Luis Torres, Amanda Wilsker and Will Holmes - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Phillip Hartley, Luis Torres, Amanda Wilsker and Will Holmes Georgia Gwinnett College

Research Questions: What techniques have you used to orchestrate experiential learning projects in your classes? Which ones have generated the best outcomes?

Motivation  “Experiential learning is a powerful and proven approach to teaching and learning that is based on one incontrovertible reality: People learn best through experience.” Kolb, 2015  Experiential Learning Projects can create numerous benefits:  Student learning  Service provision  Professional development  Communication skill development  Real world application of acquired knowledge

Research Design  Professors from various business disciplines reported on their experiences regarding these questions:  How did you identify/recruit “clients”?  What were students’ deliverables?  How did you ensure student learning through and evaluate projects that entailed different approaches to the same task?  How did you balance the need to generate results for clients while managing their expectations?  Please share any other takeaways from your experiences.

Project Design Strategies  Assigning groups based on “pre - tests” of students’ skills or abilities relevant to the project or allowing self- selection  Duplicative vs. Unique Assignments-Having multiple student groups work on the same portion of a project or not  Collaborative vs. Individual Client Assignments- Segmenting project among groups or allotting a single group for each client  Provide multiple deadlines for project portions  Be sure project structure fits with text/class structure

Student Strategies  Frame the project as a reflection of the students, the class, and the school  Emphasize the potential impact of helping the client with something very important to them  Communicate the value of the project as work experience and resume material  Use peer evaluations to limit freeriding  Create competition between groups either implicitly or explicitly  Schedule frequent progress reports to provide guidance

Client Strategies  Recruit clients that fit with and can benefit from the project structure  Communicate project structure clearly and repeatedly to ensure complete buy-in and to avoid project creep  Manage expectations with realistic depictions of results and students ’ inputs of time and effort  Schedule frequent progress reports to solicit feedback

Thank you for your time and feedback!