Creating Active and High-Impact Learning

Abstract

Active learning has attracted considerable attention in higher education in response to concerns about how and what students are learning. Many pedagogies may be categorized as active learning, although most are classroom-based. The authors propose an alternative to ‘active learning in the classroom’, which they characterize as ‘active learning outside of the classroom’, and present in the form of field-based student consulting projects. Field-based consulting forces students to engage in active learning. By participating in consulting teams, they are moved into a new realm of learning. In undertaking consultancy, rather than receiving information in a somewhat passive manner, students evaluate a real-world business problem and must themselves decide on a solution. For the student, the benefits of consulting include gaining experience in dealing with business owners and offering a professional opinion on a real business problem. The authors propose a framework for this design, describe how other instructors could arrange for their students to conduct consulting projects, and then identify possible directions for future research.