The Use of Student Consulting Projects as an Active Learning Pedagogy: A Case Study in a Production/Operations Management Course

Active learning has attracted considerable attention in higher education in response to concerns about how and what students are learning. There are many different forms of active learning, yet most of them are classroom based. We propose an alternative to active learning in the classroom through active learning outside of the classroom in the form of student consulting projects. While the literature on student consulting has largely focused on projects to assist small business owners, this research demonstrates the potential for using student-consulting projects in the Production/Operations Management course. We use a case study to describe the use of a student-consulting project as an alternative to the other types of active learning described in the Operations Management education literature.

[1]  Zenon X. Zygmont.  Debating the Socialist Calculation Debate: A Classroom Exercise , 2003 .

[2]  Mark D. Hanna,et al.  TOURING A SUPPLY CHAIN WITH STUDENTS: PEDAGOGICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS , 2000 .

[3]  Elisabeth J. Umble,et al.  Using Active Learning to Transform the Monte Hall Problem into an Invaluable Classroom Exercise , 2004 .

[4]  The Ism Simulation: Teaching Integrated Management Concepts , 2003 .

[5]  C. Bonwell,et al.  Active learning : creating excitement in the classroom , 1991 .

[6]  C. Bonwell,et al.  Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. ERIC Digest. , 1991 .

[7]  Ellen D. Cook,et al.  An active learning strategy for the classroom—“who wants to win … some mini chips ahoy?” , 2002 .

[8]  Ellen R. Auster,et al.  Creating Active Learning in the Classroom: A Systematic Approach , 2006 .

[9]  D. Wren,et al.  The Theory/Applications Balance in Management Pedagogy: Where Do We Stand? , 1994 .

[10]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[11]  The SBI Program and Student Outcomes: A Study of Business Policy Classes , 1995 .

[12]  Marjorie B. Platt,et al.  Nonvoluntary Class Participation in Graduate Discussion Courses: Effects of Grading and Cold Calling , 2006 .

[13]  Harold P. Welsch,et al.  Emerging Structures in Entrepreneurship Education: Curricular Designs and Strategies , 1990 .

[14]  Cathleen Whiting,et al.  Data-based Active Learning in the Principles of Macroeconomics Course: A Mock FOMC Meeting , 2006 .

[15]  L. Porter,et al.  Management Education and Development: Drift or Thrust into the 21st Century? , 1988 .

[16]  W. Bennis,et al.  How business schools lost their way. , 2005, Harvard business review.

[17]  Victor E. Sower,et al.  A Tabletop Flexible Manufacturing Cell for Use in the Production/Operations Management Classroom , 1997 .

[18]  K. Watson,et al.  Improving Operations Management Concept Recollection Via the Zarco Experiential Learning Activity , 2004 .

[19]  Boris Roussev,et al.  Active Learning through Modeling: Introduction to Software Development in the Business Curriculum. , 2004 .