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ABSTRACT
Purpose of the Study: Experiential learning (EL) is touted as a way to improve student engagement and administrators are promoting, and sometimes requiring, its application to a wide range of academic offerings including Marketing courses. But what do students think about EL? This research examines student attitudes toward their EL course experiences and their level of satisfaction with these experiences.
Method/Design and Sample: This study employs a measurement instrument known as the Benefits of Academic Community Engagement (BACE) scale. It was administered on a longitudinal basis to discrete samples of students (N=142) over 11 semesters of a capstone Marketing course spanning six academic years at a medium sized university in the United States.
Results: The most important finding was that two aspects of EL, Social Responsibility and Personal Skills Development, were strong predictors of student satisfaction. This is notable because it supports the view that EL can not only enhance student learning outcomes beyond traditional teaching methods such as lectures and tests, but also lead to enhanced student satisfaction.
Value to Marketing Educators: Marketing course evaluation measures typically include items such as instructor organization, grade fairness, course content and other course and classroom factors. However, measures typically do not include any consideration of the role of EL in a course. This research suggests an affordable open-source, valid and reliable instrument to evaluate EL in a course that features this pedagogical approach.
Keywords: Experiential learning, service learning, course evaluation measures, Marketing education
INTRODUCTION
Experiential learning (EL) is one of the emerging trends in Marketing education, as well as in the larger world of higher education. Many colleges have embraced the notion of EL as a way of enhancing their existing lecture-based courses (Forman, 2012; Frontczak, 1998) and some are now going the extra step and requiring it as part of their general graduation requirements, including Northeastern University, Seton Hall University, and portions of the State University of New York (SUNY) system ("Experiential Learning," 2018). Some administrators, including Sally McRorie, provost at Florida State University, have voiced strong support for this requirement, noting "Every student should - and can - participate in transformative, career-building experiential learning." (Famum-Patronis, 2019).
From a behavioral perspective, supporters of EL suggest that its use encourages students to become more highly...