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.
Keywords
Introduction
One of the enduring quests in academia is to find strategies to make student learning more meaningful and relevant. Towards that end, instructors decide on a variety of course assignments and learning outcomes for the courses. The goals of course assignments are to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their learnings, but also to address or accomplish the course’s student learning outcomes (SLOs). SLOs are also used for curriculum and program assessments – both have assumed increased importance in academia for a variety of reasons. The challenge, however, lies in finding effective strategies to connect projects and course assignments that directly address the SLOs.
The study and practice of public administration is geared to practitioners, which is reflected in MPA programs’ goals and missions. Many of these programs clearly state that they serve in-service and mid-career professionals. To make the curriculum more relevant to these stakeholders, many of these program rely heavily on various forms of experiential learning. As Cunningham (1997) explained, “An experiential learning (EL) perspective recognizes the classroom as a place for interactive learning, where teachers and students learn by sharing knowledge and experiences. EL de-emphasizes professorial lectures, memorization/regurgitation of facts and theories, and the five-hundred-page text” (219). Experiential learning also includes opportunities that goes beyond the traditional classroom setting. There are different types of experiential learning such as, service learning, internships, field trips, role playing, and applied projects. Some of these focus more on developing skills and abilities, such as in role playing; some focus more on developing knowledge, such as in field trips, while others focus on developing knowledge, skills, and abilities, such as an internship.
This paper discusses the effective use of an experiential applied project, for a graduate course on nonprofit management, that the author has been using for the past several years. This project is designed in a way to address most of the learning outcomes of the course. This paper explains the project, its relationship to the course SLOs, and uses examples from completed projects to demonstrate this relationship. It also shares some students’ comments that they noted on the course evaluations, as relevant to this assignment. The selected examples and students’ comments used here are based on the four most recent semesters of offerings of this course.
Experiental learning in teaching public administration
Experiential learning is a process that is not simply a hands-on approach to learning. It is instead providing opportunities to students to have a direct and reflective experience of learning and to demonstrate that learning in one or more applied settings. The key idea is the reflective learning. Kolb’s (1984) theory on experiential learning has been widely used to explain the idea. He provided a framework of experiential learning cycle that includes the following components in a sequence: a concrete experience, meaningful reflection, abstract conceptualization, and application of the knowledge. According to Kolb (1984), learning is a “process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (41).
The value of such experiential learning lies in providing opportunities to students to develop skills on how to reflect and apply abstract theory or ideas into a meaningful experience/expression. In contrast to the traditional lecture, in experiential learning, “students actively process an experience that leads to new knowledge, skills, or insights (Burch, et al., 2019, 242). As Fry et al. (2015) explains, experiential learning is a process that enables students to learn through ‘doing’, ‘learning while experiencing’, and learning through ‘hands on practice’ and ‘reflection’.
Burch et al. (2019) in their meta-analysis of studies on the relationship between experiential learning and learning outcomes demonstrated that the use of experiential pedagogies enhances student learning outcomes. The value of experiential learning, particularly in higher education, cannot be overemphasized. Speaking of higher education and students’ learning, Huang and Jiang (2020) argued that “It is not enough to ensure that they gain the required knowledge, it is also necessary to provide them with opportunities to deploy skills in real contexts.” This is echoed by others such as Harsell and O’Neill (2010), who commented that “Experiential learning is increasingly recognized as a critical component of a well-rounded graduate education curriculum” (27).
Experiential learning, in its various forms, has been an important component in teaching public administration. This is mostly due to the applied focus of this discipline. Various scholars and practitioners have emphasized the importance of both theory and practice in public administration teaching and scholarship. Farrell et al. (2022) on their reviews of over 100 years of public administration education argued that “While the titles of some public administration courses may have changed, the curriculum retains its emphasis on public service values, the relevance of theory into practice, the significance of research into learning, and the importance of education for the enhancement of improved outcomes for citizens across the world” (126). In their review, they found over seven hundred results of articles published in JPAE dealing with theory and practice. They emphasized that “a consistent theme throughout public administration in general, is the issue of connecting theory and practice” (120). Using experiential assignments is one effective way to make that connection. Many authors have reflected on their use of experiential learning in teaching various public administration courses. Sarter (2020) explained effective use of a live research project to teach his research methods course; Peters (1997) discussed his experience in using experiential learning to effectively explain public budgeting and finance concepts; Kelly Jr. and Margolis (1998) demonstrated the effective use of experiential learning in teaching public sector quality management. Harsell and O’Neill (2010) incorporated field trips (a form of experiential learning) to the Capitol to teach students in MBA and MPA programs. The field trips included meetings and observing businesses and nonprofit staffs, and various congressional delegations and lobbying groups.
As Kelly Jr. and Margolis argued (1998) “Students prefer to learn things that are directly relevant to their current situations and learning through structured experiences seems to be the most effective method to ensure application of the new skills” (144). Experiential learning thus with its various forms (such as applied project, service learning, internships) can and has been effectively used to connect theory and practice, and to provide an enhanced learning environment to students.
Student learning outcomes (SLO)
However, effective experiential learning is not always easy to plan and implement. This requires instructors to integrate projects in a meaningful way with the course contents and the SLOs. SLOs are the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students are expected to gain after completion of a course. Developing meaningful and relevant SLOs for courses is important because these are geared to address the mission of the particular academic program of study. Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains is widely used to develop meaningful SLOs. The original taxonomy (1956) includes a sequence of six cognitive skills: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. It was later revised in 2001 by Lori Anderson and David Krathwohl, (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001). The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy includes the following levels of cognitive skills:
1. Remember – memorization
2. Understand – processing the information, organizing and illustrating the differences
3. apply – using the information and learning to a situation, case, project and so forth
4. analyze – understanding the different parts and the linkages, relations, connections and how things work
5. Evaluate-using judgment, interpretation, comparison, and illustration
6. Create – develop new ideas, solutions, or strategies
The higher the level, the higher and more demanding the cognitive skills. So, ‘creation’ is the most complex level of cognitive skill.
Bloom’s taxonomy is a great tool for instructors to develop course SLOs. The level of courses (such as freshman, undergraduate, graduate courses) could determine the level of cognitive skills that instructors may want to use as learning outcomes.
The following section shares this author’s experience in using an experiential project for her course on nonprofit management and explains how this one project addresses multiple SLOs.
Even though this course is a graduate level course, the course’s SLOs reflected all the above listed six cognitive skills. The reasons are two-fold: the course is a 500-level course, meaning that senior undergraduate students are eligible to enroll in this course, and this is an introductory course in the MPA program. Many students who take this course have no background in nonprofit management. Besides the experiential project, the course uses other assignments such as case studies, reflective essays, and discussion boards – designed to address the course’s multiple SLOs.
MANAGING NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION COURSE: Course learning outcomes and an experiential learning experience
Like many other Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs, the MPA program at Northern Kentucky University’s (NKU) mission is to provide “professional managerial, communication, and human relations skills and knowledge in preparation for or advancement in a variety of public sector and related careers. The program advances public sector values of effectiveness, efficiency, honesty, accountability, fairness, diversity and public service in the curriculum, extra-curricular events and speakers, and partnerships with area practitioners through the MPA Advisory Board, the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and other professional associations and individuals” (https://inside.nku.edu/artsci/departments/pscjol/programs/publicadministration/mpa/mission.html). Most of the courses in the curriculum are designed to provide these skills and competencies and uses a blend of theories and practice. NKU’s MPA program is a nationally accredited program. The goal of the program is to develop competent civil service practitioners to serve governments, nonprofit organizations, and citizens in the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati metropolitan region and beyond.
The program is known for its commitment to service learning and other experiential learning and embedding those in many of the courses. As an example, the Mayerson Student Philanthropic project has been implemented in many MPA courses including the MPA Foundation, and the Resource Acquisition and Management courses. The project, in short, gives an opportunity to students to select nonprofits (using a variety of criteria) to receive funding. Working as a class, students explore community needs, learn about nonprofits, and in the end decide together where to invest the funds. Funding is provided by community donors. Other universities have used this model as service-learning experiences in courses (e.g. Smith and Brooks, n.d.). The program’s emphasis on experiential learning reflects NKU’s mission, which is as follows:
“Delivers innovative, student-centered education and engages in impactful scholarly and creative endeavors, all of which empower our graduates to have fulfilling careers and meaningful lives, while contributing to the economic, civic, and social vitality of the region” (https://www.nku.edu/about/mission-and-values.html). The institution’s commitment to community engagement has been recognized since 2006 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (https://inside.nku.edu/civicengagement.html).
The
The course has the following learning outcomes:
1. Understand philanthropy, volunteerism, and nonprofit organizations and the role of the nonprofit sector in our society and economy.
2. Appreciate different legal issues as they pertain to the nonprofit sector.
3. Understand the different managerial bodies/functions in this sector.
4. Appreciate the international dimension of the nonprofit sector.
5. Understand the different sources of revenue and techniques of raising funds and nonprofit financial management.
6. Appreciate the relationships among government, business, and nonprofit agencies.
7. Identify and comprehend the challenges facing non-profits in to-days’ world including issues of ethics, accountability, effectiveness, outcome assessment, tax exemption, and nonprofit identity.
8. Demonstrate their ability to create a 501.C.3 or 501.C. 4 nonprofit organization
9. Use critical thinking to understand the many challenges in forming and managing nonprofits.
The SLOs were developed keeping in mind Bloom’s taxonomy. Many of the SLOs focused on higher levels of cognitive skill building. For example, SLO # 8 and 9 clearly relate to Bloom’s level 5 and 6 of cognitive skills, whereas SLO # 6 and 7 are related to Bloom’s levels 4 and 5 of cognitive skills. However, as mentioned before, undergraduate students in their senior year are eligible to take this course and this is also an introductory course. So, the course’s SLOs include both lower and higher levels of cognitive skills.
The experiential project: Creating a hypothetical nonprofit organization
One of the major assignments for this course was for students to work in teams and create a hypothetical nonprofit organization (NPO), and later present it in class. The assignment asks students to assume that they have a $50,000 donations from friends and relatives to start up this nonprofit. One of the requirements was that this hypothetical NPO would be unique in terms of mission and services. Students are thus expected to do a basic needs analysis and identify a gap in the nonprofit services in this region. Based on this identification, each group would then decide on a focus area and work on developing an organization from scratch to address the gap in serving this region. Students will submit the project in a report with three different parts, as explained below:
Part 1 will include the following
1. Name of the organization
2. An appropriate designation (501. C. 3, 4, or other)
3. Mission, Vison, Goals/Objectives
4. List and a short narrative on at least two specific programs
5. A summary on the needs assessment
6. By-laws
7. Completed Articles of Incorporation.
8. Initial composition of board of directors (number, demographics, sources of recruiting, job duties, etc.)
9. CEO – qualification (what would be the ideal candidate for this NPO and why?), job duties
10. Initial budget
11. Projected revenue sources
12. Staff and volunteer composition: need assessment (number of staff and volunteers, rationale for that, job duties)
13. Completed form for IRS tax exemption
14. Marketing (marketing plan and strategies outline)
15. At least two outcome assessment measures/indicators on each of the two programs.
16. Types and sources of data/information needed to conduct outcome assessments using those measures/indicators – include an outline of the plan (how and when)
17. Other information/items as students deem appropriate to include.
Part 2 will discuss how this agency plans to implement the six practices of high-impact nonprofits that are discussed thoroughly in
The last part (Part 3) will include all the forms (such as articles of incorporation, tax exemption forms), documents (such as marketing plan) and other appropriate information.
How the project addresses many of the course learning outcomes:
This project directly addresses many of the course’s SLOs. The discussion here provides some selective examples to demonstrate that. The project directly addresses SLO # 8, which is “demonstrate their ability to create a 501.C.3 nonprofit organization”. However, throughout the process of creating this hypothetical NPO, students also gained knowledge and developed skills and competencies related to many of the other learning outcomes. For example, one part of the process asks students to do a needs assessment that would provide justification for creating this NPO. This requires students to do some research to learn about area nonprofits, the services they provide, and gaps in service provisions or meeting existing demands. This relates to the course SLO # 1 (understand philanthropy, volunteerism, and nonprofit organizations and the role of the nonprofit sector in our society and economy). The research that students conduct before choosing an area of service that their NPO would provide, offers students to reflect on the relevant readings and lecture and to dive more into this sector’s contribution to our society. Following is an excerpt from one group’s discussion on doing needs assessment that helped them choose a service area for their hypothetical NPO:
The plight of unsheltered homeless individuals in Cincinnati made headlines in 2018 when the city began dispersing downtown tents and camps. Since then, the Covid-19 pandemic has posed new financial stresses and physical and mental health challenges to people experiencing homelessness; the recent lifting of federal eviction bans may lead to increased demand on homeless shelters in the months ahead. According to Tender Mercies, a non-profit based in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, there are, on average, 1,000 homeless individuals in Hamilton County on an average day. Strategies to End Homelessness, which serves as a central hub for NPOs addressing homelessness in Greater Cincinnati, lists thirty partner organizations, which mostly focus on basic needs like housing, health services, counseling, job training, and childcare. None of these organizations, however, appears to focus on arts-based interventions or arts-based strategies for advocacy. Our hypothetical nonprofit will work towards that goal and agenda.
Following are two students’ comments on this experience that they noted on their course evaluations: 1. While doing research for the need assessment part, I was surprised to learn there is such a huge population of homeless people in our neighborhood. 2. The needs assessment part made me appreciate more of what these small nonprofits do to make our lives better.
Students have to decide on the appropriate designation of this NPO, such as whether it would be 501.C. 3 or 501.C. 4 and so forth. These are designations provided by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Nonprofits that are charitable organizations are designated as 501.C. 3, while those which are social service and advocacy organizations are designated as 501.C. 4. Students are also required to complete the Articles of Incorporation, Form 1023 (application for tax exemption), and develop the by-laws. These relate to SLO # 2, which is understanding legal issues pertaining to NPOs. Choosing an appropriate name for their NPO not only required students to think critically (SLO # 9) because the name should reflect the essence of the NPO, but it also made them more knowledgeable about how to check name availability (SLO # 2).
Many students commented on the course evaluations that developing the mission statement, goals and objectives were not that easy, and that is one area that their group members spent a significant amount of time.
Following is one of these students comments:
The best part was writing the mission statement, vision statement, goals, and objectives. My NPO, where I work, does not have a good mission statement and the goals are not tied directly to
it
. I plan to propose revisions to our CEO.
Different groups developed different types of NPOs focusing on many areas of needs.
Following is an example of one of the group’s NPO’s name, mission statement, and goals:
Name: Fuel for Thought, Inc.
Mission: Feed the bodies and nourish the minds of Newport youth.
Vision: We have a vision of supporting the educational success of Newport City students by providing wellness and literacy programs.
Goal 1: Improve school readiness/commitment and reading comprehension for students preK-12th grades by providing grade level appropriate literacy support year-round and meaningful mentorship. Objective 1: Improve kindergarten readiness percentage by 10%. Objective 2: 25% less absences and disciplinary issues within our program group (50 students) compared to the rest of Newport Schools students.
Goal 2: Support the nourishment of Newport children by providing meals to underprivileged students on weekends and non-school days. Objective 1: Provide three meals per week (mostly weekends) to 50 students Objective 2: Provide impromptu meal support on snow days or school closings
Part 1 of the report also requires a discussion on board composition, CEO, recruitment, training along with volunteer management – all are related to SLO # 2, 3, 4, and 9. One example of how this section relates to SLO # 9 is the discussion on the prospective CEO’s preferred qualifications. As one may be aware that a recent trend in the nonprofit sector is the hiring of CEOs from the private sector. In the nonprofit community there is a disagreements on the value of hiring CEOs from the private sector. Students choice of prospective CEOs for their NPOs demonstrated a similar pattern. For example, one of the groups formed an art NPO,
As one student commented on this issue: We had a great discussion on CEO’s qualification – even though we had disagreements on hiring a CEO from the private sector, we also realized that the nonprofit sector needs money to deliver its mission.
Most probably the part that students enjoyed the most and also felt challenged was trying to find a name for their nonprofits – this part not only challenged students to apply their creativity and imagination, but also critical thinking (SLO # 9) in the sense that they wanted the name to reflect the mission of the NPO.
Students undoubtedly were creative on this part. Following are some of the names that groups chose for their NPOs: Loads of love, Next Generation America, Foundation of Peace in Being, Fostering Forward, Someone to Love, Roots to Resilience.
Another area which students have to critically think and evaluate is on the outcome assessment part (SLO # 7, 9). Developing program outcomes and identifying measures are challenging endeavors in the nonprofit sector. This part of the project requires students to develop and discuss at least two programs, select appropriate measures/indictors of outcomes for each of these programs, and also identify the sources of data/information that they will need to conduct the outcome assessments using those measures/indicators.
Examples of outcome assessment measures that some of these groups mentioned are:
Example 1:
NPO Name: Together We Shine
Mission: To offer a variety of after school programs to kids with single parent
Outcome: Decrease disciplinary issues relating to attention and focus
Measure: 25% less disciplinary issues among participating students (measured at 2 years intervals)
Data sources/collection: School districts disciplinary records.
Example 2:
NPO Name: Our Daughters Our Strength.
Mission: To offer counseling and support services to women who are in abusive relationship.
Outcome: Clients will feel more confident to effectively address an abusive relationship.
Target: Initially at least 15% of the clients (within a year in the program) Following is an excerpt from one group’s reflection on this part of the project:
Everything we learned in the course – we demonstrated in this project. The hardest part was the outcome assessment part. However, that part was also a good learning experience, and made me realize that the nonprofit I work could use many of these strategies.
As mentioned above, the second part of the report requires students to discuss ideas and strategies as to how this agency plans to implement the six practices of High-Impact nonprofits that are discussed thoroughly in
1. Shared leadership
2. Inspire evangelists
3. Nurture Nonprofit Networks
4. Advocate and serve
5. Make markets work
6. Master the art of adaptation
This part requires students not only to use their analytical and critical skills, but also to offer practical strategies and ideas to implement these six practices.
The discussion below uses two examples on each of these six practices, that students discussed in this part of their reports:
Shared leadership
a. Because our organization will not have a hired CEO in the first year of operation, we have strategically created three committees to manage different aspects of the organization, so all responsibilities will not fall to the board chair, who is acting as the CEO. b. The CEO will have an advisory committee composed of key volunteers. Once this start-up gains resources to hire additional paid staff, this committee will include other managers too.
Inspire evangelists
a. First we will turn to our board members to be our first champions. We will not only recruit those that have a passion for our mission but will also give them the training and other support so they can develop as a strong community. b. By creating productions that explore issues identified as important by people who have experienced or are currently experiencing homelessness, our productions should be meaningful, memorable events that cause audience members to re-think issues like gentrification, displacement, drug abuse/recovery, the experiences of homeless women and children.
Nurture Nonprofit Networks
a. By partnering with Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, which already focuses on socially conscious theater, we can complement their current offerings and share creative resources. We may also be able to apply jointly for arts grant funding. Ideally, our theatrical productions will help bring greater visibility to and awareness of the needs of homeless people in our area, which could help grow the donor base for other local organizations that address the needs of homeless people (e.g. the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, Strategies to End Homelessness, and Tender Mercies). b. We plan to organize a yearly retreat inviting all the area nonprofits working with similar mission or serving the same population. We also plan to ask these nonprofits who have headquarters in other states to join the retreat.
Advocate and serve
a. Our board members, spearheaded by the Outreach Committee, will target Hamilton City Council to pass legislation that will generate a greater impact on the ground through service outreach. The first advocacy effort will surround the expansion of the public bus system. It is essential for individuals to have reliable transportation to maintain employment and self-sufficiency. b. The CEO will work with key volunteers to lobby with their congressional representatives to inform them of the alarming opioid crisis in Middletown and other cities in Ohio, and the need to allocate more money towards programs to help the affected population.
Make markets work
a. We plan to work with area book publishers and bookstores to receive books that are either misprinted or overstocks. We will also ask customers to make book donations for students in our literacy program. On the nutrition side, we will ask grocery stores and restaurants to donate extra food. b. We plan to work with local businesses to change their business practices. For example, instead of throwing away what is left of a catered meal, donate it to the local homeless shelter to see if they would like to have it. We are hoping that the local businesses want to adapt to good changes because it not only helps the community, but it helps their businesseslook good. Partner with business. We plan to work with local corporate businesses because we could get volunteers needed for big events and we could also get donations from those businesses as well. Having our corporate business partners participate in our events will show the community that even though they are big companies, they also care about them as well and together, we are working for a good cause.
Master the art of adaptation
a. We plan on sending out feedback forms to people involved in our stroke advocate program and one of the questions we plan on asking participants is for suggestions they think should be made to improve the program. We intend to take these feedback forms seriously and modify the program as we receive feedback. b. Our nonprofit will send key volunteers and the CEO to attend annually professional conferences geared to the nonprofit sector, so they remain updated on trends and emerging issues. Our CEO will also utilize SWOT process at our annual retreat or may be once in 2 years.
The following are some additional and relevant comments that students noted on their course evaluations
“The project really made me think about how much the nonprofit sector does to help society addresses so many issues. It made me realize that I could someday form a nonprofit agency – completing this project made me very confident of that.”
“It was eye-opening to see how different groups decided to spend the $50,000. Our group used it in a less effective way. I love the one group’s decision to spend most of it in marketing. As Dr. Ahmed explained, for a new start up- marketing should be the top priority.”
“The most enjoyable part was exploring names for our nonprofit.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed the project. One suggestion would be for the instructor to ask all groups to use the same social issue/challenges, such as poverty, homelessness, to form the nonprofit. It would be then interesting to see how these different nonprofits would design programs to address the same issues”.
“I feel that everything we learned in this course, we also applied those in creating this nonprofit. Our group was excited throughout the entire process, and we actually ordered and wore tees with our NPO logo at the presentation”.
“There was a speaker who presented during the middle of the semester week. It would be more useful if the speaker were presenting during the first three weeks of the semester. That would help us learn from her the challenges and her motivation to start her own nonprofit”
Implementation issues
For any experiential projects/assignments, instructors have to plan carefully. The planning involves deciding how much time to allot to these projects, whether to use individual or group assignments, developing meaningful grading rubrics, and so forth. Considering the situation that this project is a major project, requiring both time and creativity, as mentioned before, the instructor assigned this project as a group project. Students were given the option to voluntarily chose their team members; in a few cases, where a student was new to the program or was not acquainted to anyone, the instructor would ask him or her to find a group that is working on a nonprofit with mission that he or she also feels close to. In rare cases, students chose to work individually on this project. So far, there were only two students who chose to do that. Their reasons were the same – they already were contemplating to create a nonprofit and wanted to take this opportunity to work on that. The instructor also gave students some class time to work with their group members on this project.
Groups were also asked to grade each of their group members using a rubric (Appendix 1).
Each group also presented their reports in class. That provided students an opportunity to offer feedback and suggestions. Appendix 2 has the grading rubric. Attendance was mandatory for these presentations because the presentations offered students a great learning experience.
Group work has benefits, but also poses some challenges. During these four semesters’ of group work on this project, there were a total of 12 groups. During that period, the instructor did face some challenges addressing issues that two groups faced. The issues were related to interpersonal issues and perception of unfair or unequal contributions from one or more group members. The instructor wanted this group work to be another learning experience. So, each of the members of these two groups were asked to write a narrative on strategies that they could have used to avoid facing these issues. The instructor asked them to share these written narratives with each other on the last day of the class meeting. The instructor emphasized that each of the group members could learn from this experience and narratives, because in the workplace team works are becoming a common process in many organizations. Those narratives were confidential, and hence only shared with the respective group members.
Conclusion
Newman (1996) while emphasizing lecturing as a highly effective strategy argued that “strict lecturing alone can become a controlling, passive, top-down approach to instruction” (19). Experiential learning is increasingly being used and recognized as enhancing effective learning. This change in teaching pedagogies in higher education could be contributed to a variety of factors such as a greater understanding of adult learners’ learning styles, changing workforce emphasizing hands on experience, increased emphasis on connecting classroom experience with the real world, and faculty constant experimentations to engage students in the classroom.
Experiential exercises, like this project, offers not only a great learning experience for students, but also offers the same to instructors. Over the years, the project parameters have been revised based on students’ feedback. For example, allotting $50,000 for students to spend on this start up idea came from one of the student’s feedback on this project. Considering the reality that all groups do not work productively, and sometimes one member’s dysfunctional behaviors could affect the group performance, the team members grading each other addressed some of that. The project, being mostly a team based one, also provides first-hand experience to students about the various dynamics of teamwork and the importance of making decisions as a team. Weber and Witkowski (2016) emphasized that “Teams are microassociations where members learn the art of compromise and thus the basic cooperative skills that allow for the good working of a democratic system” (99). Hatcher (2021) while discussing the importance of community-based approach in public administration education, echoed the same when he argued that “Programs need more active experiential learning and team-based projects to emphasize the collective over the individualistic in public service” (10).
There are currently more than 1.8 million nonprofits in the United States; the sector makes up 5.9% of Gross National Product, and comprises 6.4% of the US workforce (Independent Sector, 2022). In 2007, Mirabella (2007) in her research found 240 colleges and universities across the USA that provide courses in nonprofit management education. One can only assume that this number is much higher now. Gerlach (2016), while discussing nonprofit management education argued that the key components to build a successful nonprofit management track are commitment, a quality education, and experiential learning (476). He explained two major benefits of experiential learning which are (1) students learn by doing, and (2) students often find jobs through these experiences. However, the experiential assignments have to be relevant and geared to the particular student group’s need.
Many decades ago, Hoover and Whitehead (1975) stated that “Experiential learning exists when a personally responsible participant cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally processes knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes in a learning situation by a high level of active involvement” (p. 25). Similarly, Ives and Obenchain (2006) found that there are three core elements of experiential education: opportunities for students to engage in self-direction, the curriculum has clear connection to the real world, and students are allowed to engage in critical reflection of their experiences.
This project, requiring students to form a hypothetical nonprofit, offered students an opportunity not only to apply their learnings from the course materials, but was also designed in a way that gave students a great deal of autonomy to engage their thinking, preferences, and self-direction to complete it. While at the same time, they have the opportunity to apply and develop critical thinking skill in all the different phases of the project. This project, as explained, addresses all of the course’s SLOs except one (SLO # 4: appreciate the international dimension of the nonprofit sector). The project also required students to use critical thinking in many of the steps while completing this project and creating a hypothetical nonprofit -thereby, reflecting Bloom’s highest level of cognitive skills.
As reflected in the students comments on course evaluations, students find this project very useful and interesting. Over the years, a few students have actually implemented this project and formed their own nonprofits, either through using this project for their MPA capstone course, or after graduation. Examples include
Gerlach and Reinagel (2016) while discussing internship, pointed out that “MPA programs face the double-edge sword of appealing to a wide range of students, particularly with regard to incorporating experiential learning into their curricular” (137). As they explained, pre-service students usually show great interests in internship, while in-service students may find such experience as redundant. This author, as mentioned before, has been using this project every year in her nonprofit management course. The students in this course are mostly non-traditional adult students, many of them are nonprofit practitioners, but the course also have students who are in their senior years and graduate students without any background in nonprofit management. Based on the students’ feedback and outcomes, the author finds this project as highly effective in teaching the nuances of nonprofit management. Students’ experiences and comments on this course also provide the instructor valuable feedback to help her continue to revise the project requirements to make it more relevant and interesting to the students. A well-designed experiential project could appeal to both in-service and pre-service students, as experienced by this author.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Grading rubric for assessing team members performance on the group project.
Indicators
Unacceptable (1)
Acceptable (2–3)
Good – Excellent (4–5)
Participate and attend meetings
Miss frequent meetings and fail to inform team members
Attends most meetings and when absent informs team members
Attends all meetings
Make a meaningful contribution to group efforts
Fail to contribute ideas, suggestions or participate in discussion
Offers ideas, suggestions and participates in group discussions. Helps keep group focused during meetings
It is easy to identify his or her ideas and role in shaping the completion of the project
Complete assigned tasks in a timely manner and meet deadlines
Consistently fails to complete assigned tasks or meet deadlines and hampers/delays group progress
Complete most tasks by assigned deadlines. Failure to complete occasional tasks on time does not delay group progress
Completes tasks by the deadline or in advance. Circulate work products prior to meetings
Seek input from others in the group and listen to ideas
Make decisions about team tasks without consulting group members
The involvement of team members is typically sought before making important decisions
The involvement of team members is sought before making all important decisions
Cooperate with other members to complete the task
Causes conflicts and is unwilling to compromise that leads to inefficiency in completing the tasks/s; disrespectful to other team members
Is willing to compromise to complete tasks in a timely manner; treats most group members with respect
Helps facilitate discussions and resolve conflicts that arise among group members; respectful of all group members
Grading rubric on team presentation.
Indicators
Unacceptable (1)
Acceptable (2–3)
Good – Excellence (4–5)
Logic and organization of ideas and arguments
Haphazard presentation, listener can follow the presentation only with great effort
Presentation is generally clear and well organized. A few minor points may be confusing
Presentation is clear, logical, and organized. Listener can follow line of reasoning
An ability to effectively use visual and communication aids
Communication aids are poorly prepared or are used inappropriately
Communication aids contribute to quality of the presentation and are used appropriately
Communication aids are used in a professional manner and enhance the presentation
An ability to listen and respond to questions from the audience clearly and concisely
Unable to respond to questions. Provides inaccurate response to questions
Generally, is responsive to audience comments, questions, and needs. Misses some opportunities to make or emphasize key points
Consistently clarifies, restates, and responds to questions. Summarizes when needed
An ability to stay within designated time constraints
Presentation is way too long for the content or is too short. Pacing is way too short or too fast
A little too long. Is about the right length but could have made better use of available time. Pacing is sometimes too slow or too fast
Presentation is desired length and maximizes the use of available time. Pacing is excellent
Appropriate use of verbal and nonverbal communication (e.g., eye contact, body language. Limited use of notes)
Presenter is uncomfortable, body language indicates a reluctance to interact, reads off notes, no eye contact, distracting mannerism
Clear verbal communication. Body language reflects just a little discomfort at being in front of the audience
Presenter captures the audience full attention. Body language reflects comfort and joy being in front of the audience