Teaching nonprofit management: One course assignment addressing multiple learning outcomes

Abstract

Research has documented that applied projects that are experiential and grounded in the course contents offer effective hands-on experience to students to understand the course materials and apply their learnings in a meaningful way. Experiential learning is particularly relevant to Master of Public Administration Programs (MPA) , which are usually applied and many of these programs' mission is to serve in-career students. This paper discusses the effective use of a major assignment (creating a nonprofit organization, on paper) for a MPA course in Managing Nonprofit Organizations. It also requires students to critically think about applying the six practices of high- impact nonprofits discussed in Forces for Good. The paper will explain the assignment and discuss how this assignment addresses multiple learning outcomes of this course. It will also provide students’ feedback on the assignment and some long-term outcomes of students’ experiences with this course and the assignment.