ON DEMAND: Drawing on students’ work experience to facilitate in-class and out-of-class learning

Abstract

In graduate and professional courses, a significant part of student learning happens through in-class participation and out-of-class networking. In-class participation allows students to share their views on topics and case studies discussed in class by drawing from their own experiences. Similarly, out-of-class networking allows students to share their experiences and discover commonalities and professional opportunities in domains that previously appeared to be outside their comfort zone. The pandemic has affected significantly both learning mechanisms. To counteract this, last Fall I implemented two initiatives in my core MBA course (three sections; two delivered F2F and one via Zoom). Specifically, during each session, I asked students if they would like to volunteer to give a short, informal presentation on how the topic covered in class that day relates to their experience, to be presented in class the next week. There are two main benefits of these presentations: students get better acquainted with each other and they learn the practical applicability of the concepts from class, making the material more relatable and, thus, more memorable. Right after each class, I would also ask students to share their “Aha” moments on the discussion board in Blackboard, which I did not grade so they did not feel this is busy work but rather a means to express themselves. I will discuss how these two initiatives were received by the students as well as the main implementation challenges.