Student Teams Studying Organizations: Connecting the Classroom Through Field Experience

ABSTRACT

Education limited to the classroom may not connect theory to practice. From an experiential learning perspective, learning increases significantly after information has been transformed by experience. This paper describes two models for student team field experience which connect management theory to practice through observation and peer interaction. In the first model, student teams observe and report the daily operations of an organization; in the second, they not only observe but also serve as organizational consultants. An extensive study of the consultant model provides an in-depth examination of how to incorporate consultants in the public administration curriculum. Both models have been applied successfully in two university settings, with graduate and undergraduate clases.