Experiential Learning in the Classroom: The Impact of Entrepreneurial Pitches for Global Health Pedagogy

Abstract

Traditional experiential learning techniques have been incorporated into public health curricula in the past; however, research has demonstrated the need for more applied and innovative approaches to experiential learning. We introduced an entrepreneurial pitch project where students had the opportunity to design and present technological and social innovations to an external panel of judges. We then evaluated the impact of such pitches on experiential learning by conducting semistructured, face-to-face interviews with student participants. The interview transcripts were analyzed in light of Kolb’s experiential learning theoretical framework. The results of the study indicated that the process of preparing and delivering entrepreneurial pitches was rewarding for students and enhanced their learning experience. The process provided students with concrete experiences and demonstrated elements of abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. However, the results also illustrated that the entrepreneurial pitch process could be strengthened by the addition of critical self-reflection activities. Through the results of this study, we have created a narrative on how entrepreneurial pitches might foster experiential learning in global health pedagogy and provided recommendations for course designers and instructors to consider in maximizing experiential learning for students.

Keywords

experiential learning global health pitch innovation

Introduction

Experiential learning is often defined as the process of gaining knowledge and creating meaning from real-life experiences (Yardley et al., 2012). Gentry (1990) described experiential learning as an interactive process, where individuals not only learn from real-life situations but also have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience. Active learning is an important component of experiential learning, where students are able to acquire real-world contact rather than passively retaining information from lectures and readings (Gentry, 1990). Reflection is also a critical aspect of experiential learning, as the process allows students to relate new experiences to their own preexisting knowledge, therefore facilitating the development of new skill sets and ways of thinking (Cashman & Seifer, 2008). Maudsley and Strivens (2000) emphasized that the process of experiential learning is beneficial in developing problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, in addition to gaining professional knowledge that could benefit students both in the classroom and in their professional careers.

Due to the effectiveness and flexibility of experiential learning, such approaches are becoming increasingly popular in educational institutions, where students are encouraged to use knowledge acquired in the classroom to solve problems in an immediate and relevant environment (Cashman & Seifer, 2008). Furthermore, experiential learning is particularly important in the field of global and public health as it provides students with the opportunity to use specific public health theories to address real health challenges (Hu et al., 2016). For example, experiential learning methods have been incorporated into various public health, medicine, nursing, and health-related fields (Marriott et al., 2015). However, studies to date examining experiential learning in public health often focus on service-learning programs that are integrated into the academic curriculum and place a larger emphasis on community engagement (Cauley et al., 2001).

Although there are many benefits of integrating experiential learning activities into traditional classrooms, it is also important to examine the foundational frameworks underlying the experiential learning process in order to better appreciate its impact on student learning. Kolb’s experiential learning cycle is perhaps the most prominent and widely cited framework in the field of experiential learning (Kolb & Kolb, 2017). This framework outlines four critical aspects of effective learning: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation (Kolb, 1984). Concrete experience refers to the student actively participating in an activity. This activity could take a variety of different forms, from field courses to games or simulations within the classroom. Reflective observation involves students consciously reflecting back on what they have learned and attempting to make connections with past experiences. Subsequently, students integrate previous knowledge, concepts, and theories to their learning experience during the abstract conceptualization phase. Finally, active experimentation requires the application of acquired knowledge to new experiences. According to Kolb and Kolb (2017), experiential learning is a cyclical and recurring model, not a linear process. There is no prescribed starting point in Kolb’s model, as it is encouraged that students actively engage in all steps, regardless of where they begin their learning (Kolb, 1984).

Experiential learning has also been applied in the context of global health. For example, Hu et al. (2016) examined the benefits of a global health field study program. Researchers concluded that the experiential program allowed participants to observe global public health challenges in action and better understand the relationships between various key stakeholders, while also enabling students to gain a better understanding of global health principles in real life (Hu et al., 2016). Similarly, a study conducted by Hoffman and Silverberg (2015) generated comparable results. The researchers examined the effectiveness of incorporating an experiential campaign project into the global health advocacy course at McMaster University. They conducted a qualitative analysis of students’ written reflection assignments in addition to distributing quantitative surveys. Through thematic synthesis, researchers illustrated that experiential learning is an effective tool for global health education and that students also gained critical communication and interpersonal skills through the experience (Hoffman & Silverberg, 2015). Therefore, current experiential methods used in public and global health allow students to experiment with different areas of interest as well as develop interpersonal, technical, and professional skills that could be applied to their coursework and future careers (Chorazy & Klinedinst, 2019).

Despite these examples, there exists a gap in current literature in regard to creative and applied experiential learning approaches in global health. Current studies focus on more traditional experiential methods such as case studies or international placements. There is need to develop new and interactive methods of engaging students with global health curricula (Kienzler & Fontanesi, 2017). We therefore designed an entrepreneurial pitch session for an upper year undergraduate program, which mirrors the Canadian television program Dragons’ Den (equivalent to Shark Tank in the United States), where various entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists, with the goal of obtaining business partnerships or start-up funds. Such has been adapted in various institutions and health care organizations to distribute research funding and encourage innovation (Mazhindu & Gregory, 2015).

Through the Innovations for Global Health course, students had the opportunity to create technological and social innovations that address current health challenges in low- and middle-income countries (Ezezika, 2019). A crucial component of this course required students to deliver an entrepreneurial pitch to a panel of external experts and potential employers. In groups of four to five, students chose a target country from a preapproved list created by the course instructor. After conducting background research on their country of choice, students then submitted a proposal for their innovation of choice, while also identifying a list of key informants who were later interviewed to help students to gain insight about the feasibility of their innovations. For the presentation, students were instructed to describe the global health problem, justify and give details about their intervention, as well as provide a concrete plan and budget for implementing their proposed intervention. Moreover, students were prompted to reflect on the anticipated results in addition to identifying potential barriers that might be encountered in the implementation process. There is currently limited research examining the effectiveness of such approaches on student learning, and whether this format benefits students in the field of global and public health specifically. Evaluation of experiential learning activities using Kolb’s experiential model has previously been conducted in disciplines such as economics, medicine, and engineering. For example, Herz and Merz (1998) examined the effectiveness of incorporating a simulation game into a standard economics class. Results illustrated that the game supported all four stages in Kolb’s experiential cycle and also outperformed traditional learning methods in all four aspects (Herz & Merz, 1998). Similarly, Chan (2012) used qualitative methods to study the impact of a community service experiential project on engineering students. The study found that all four components of Kolb’s cycle contributed to students’ “deep understanding” of academic content (Chan, 2012, p. 413). Girdwood et al. (2019) also drew upon Kolb’s experiential cycle in both designing and evaluating an experiential “residents-as-teachers” program. The researchers stated the effectiveness of grounding their program within Kolb’s conceptual framework and noted that students in the program reported most improvement in areas related to active experimentation and conceptualization (Girdwood et al., 2019). Therefore, this study aims to examine whether entrepreneurial pitches make a positive impact on student learning and global health education, particularly in the area of experiential learning.

Method

Selection Criteria and Participants

Participants consisted of students and panelists recruited from an Innovations in Global Health course. The selected students were health studies students in their third to fifth year of study, while panelists were industry professionals with experience and expertise in global health interventions. Each participant was involved in the entrepreneurial pitch presentations that took place once per week over the span of two consecutive weeks. Participants were first informed about the study through email prior to the entrepreneurial pitches, where information regarding the study and a copy of the consent form were sent to all students and panelists. Interested participants were then required to respond via email to set up an interview time on campus. In total, 10 out of 18 students in the course were interviewed for the study, and three out of five panelists were interviewed (for results from panelists, please refer to supplemental material). Signed consent was obtained from each participant before the start of each interview.

Data Collection

This study was approved by the university research ethics board. Data collection relied on face-to-face, semistructured, qualitative interview and the completion of a short quantitative questionnaire. The quantitative questionnaire (Table 1) consisted of six Likert-type scaled questions that revolved around four major categories: workplace simulation, connection to academic content (Foppa et al., 2021), interpersonal skills (Seow et al., 2019), and self-reflection (Jordi, 2011).

Table 1.

Student Likert-Type Responses to Quantitative Questionnaire.

Question	The skills gained from this experience can be applied to my future career	I think this experience will better prepare me for the workplace	This experience provided a connection between global health concepts and applied learning	This experience allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of real-life global health challenges	This experience allowed me to develop interpersonal skills that would be beneficial in the workplace	This experience provided me with the opportunity to engage in critical reflection and self-evaluation
Average	4.9	4.5	4.7	4.8	4.7	4.4
Mdn	5	4.5	5	5	5	4

Note. 5 = strongly agree with statement, 1 = strongly disagree with statement.

The written questionnaire was administered alongside the semistructured interview. The interviews were conducted on the university campus, within 4 weeks of completing the entrepreneurial pitches to ensure maximum recall for participants. The questions asked of participants included (1) In your opinion, do you think this case study mirrors authentic challenges you will experience in the workplace? (2) Do you think this experience allowed you to gain specific skills that could be valuable in your future career? If so, what specific employable skills have you gained? (3) Do you think this experience has enabled you to gain interpersonal skills that could be beneficial outside of the classroom? If so, what interpersonal skills have you developed through this experience? (4) What new knowledge have you gained through participating in this project? (5) Do you think this experience allowed you to engage in self-reflection? If so, how? Each interview ranged between 20 and 35 minutes and were audio-recorded with the permission of each participant. All interviews and questionnaires were anonymized to ensure student and panelist confidentiality.

Data Analysis

Recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim. Team members then coded the transcripts (i.e., systematic selection of a word or phrase to reflect the participants’ text) and conducted thematic analysis. Codes were organized into broad categories according to Kolb’s experiential learning theoretical framework (concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation; Kolb, 1984), under which subcategories were created, along with descriptive properties, including relevant quotations. This process of coding helped to organize and interpret approximately 52 pages of interview text. These qualitative research methods were selected due to their strong potential to reveal complexity and capture the richness of collected data.

Limitations

Although it was explicitly stated during the consent process that the research study had no bearing on the grades received for course, it is possible that some students might have tailored their responses in fear of affecting their overall grade. For instance, students might have reported what they believed the interviewer wanted to hear. We tried to account for this limitation in the study design by reminding students that all transcripts would remain anonymous and that their course grade is unrelated to study participation during the informed consent process. We also attempted to eliminate the impression of coercion by approaching participants during a scheduled time when the course instructor was not present in the classroom. This was done to ensure that participants did not feel pressured to sign-up for the study. Another limitation of the study is the small sample size, which could limit the generalizability of this study. There were 18 students enrolled in the course and only 10 students were interviewed. However, key findings were recurrent across the 10 participants, supporting their general relevance to the class.

Results

We analyzed the results based on the Kolb experiential learning theory, which is a four-stage model that demonstrates how experience is translated through reflection into concepts, which in turn are used as guides for active experimentation and the choice of new experiences. Kolb refers to these four stages as concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation (Kolb, 1984). They follow each other in a cycle (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Kolb’s experiential learning cycle.

Concrete Experiences

According to Kolb’s experiential learning model, concrete experience involves the learner actively participating in the experience. Based on thematic analysis, the concrete experiences of the students related to engaging with external stakeholders, presenting their projects to an external panel, being cross-examined on their projects, and working with team members. Students reported that participating in the course mirrored job and employment related experiences. For example, one student indicated that

[The Entrepreneurial Pitch] is kind of like having a co-op placement except you’re still in the classroom. You realize how much work it takes to make a project and take into account all the things that you will have to think about when you’re going into real-life projects. We had to think about everything. It was like as if we were actually doing it. (S4)

Other students reported that the process of developing projects and pitching to potential investors reflect what could occur in their future workplaces. One student specified,

I think it really mirrors what’s going to be going on in the workplace. I’d be interested in doing research in the future or some field around that, and then also working with people definitely is going to be something I’ll be doing in the future. (S2)

Several students also mentioned how the ability to “think on their feet” garnered from the experience of pitching their innovations to the external panel of judges will help prepare them for future job interviews.

Moreover, students also noted developing professionalism and communication etiquette through engaging with personnel outside of their team and the university setting. One student commented that “I didn’t know you could just google people and message them, and make things happen? [. . .] If you want to do something, find the people and get it done” (S7). This student is referring to an aspect of their project where they had to schedule phone interviews with locals in their target country to better understand the challenges within their country of interest.

Reflective Observation

In the reflective observation stage, the learner has the opportunity to consider their own strengths and limitations and also adjust their own approaches to solve new challenges. According to the results, there were very few reflective observations reported by students. Furthermore, when students did report any form of reflection, the emphasis was placed on delivering the entrepreneurial pitch itself and not related to understanding scaling-up innovations for global health. For example, only half of the students reported that they were able to engage in critical self-reflection through participating the entrepreneurial pitch project. One student reported that “[this experience] really just showed me, okay these are my strengths. I really like presenting. I really like working in groups. These are my weaknesses, [which is] finding research” (S2). Another student identified multitasking as a weakness:

I really struggled with doing multiple tasks at the same time [. . .] we were taking the feedback from the proposal and trying to incorporate it and fix the innovation, like improve it further and we would be googling 3 things at the same time and I would be very overwhelmed and I would just get lost. (S4)

The same student also reported that they had the opportunity to discover their own strengths. Specifically, they “found that [they were] actually really good at answering unexpected questions” (S4) through participating in the question and answer period of the innovation pitch.

Students also reported reflective observations in the context of groupwork and preparing for the pitch.

Abstract Conceptualization

In the abstract conceptualization phase, students integrate previous knowledge, concepts, and theories with the new learning experience, creating theories to explain observations. Through the entrepreneurial pitching experience, students were able to apply course knowledge related to scaling interventions to a real-life situation. As indicated by one student who worked on developing a mental health program in Rwanda (Table 2): “so just knowing how to scale our innovations in Rwanda, as well as being in tune with the cultural and social and political context of that country is so important” (S1) Another student mentioned,

We’re health study students, but there’s a lot of business side of it, and that’s something unique, which that’s another thing. A skill is learning how to pitch a business idea rather than just the health idea because it’s easy to pitch a really nice, lovely health intervention, but to actually start thinking about how that will work in terms of business and implementation and scaling up, which is the focus of this course, it’s a different kind of thinking. (S3)

Table 2.

Brief Description of Student Projects.

Project theme	Project description
Iron folic acid (IFA) supplementation in Ethiopia	The idea was to integrate IFA educational kits with the health development team (HDT) instead of antenatal care clinics, as few women in some regions of Ethiopia visit antenatal clinics. HDT leaders will distribute IFA education kits to local women and educate expecting mothers about the benefits of IFA supplementation.
Reproductive health in Kenya	The idea was to create a one-stop app that integrates the most used and impactful reproductive health apps on one platform creating direct access to health care services. The plan is to partner with existing apps in Kenya in the district of Mandera, where app usage will be monitored and studied.
Antenatal care in Nigeria	The idea was to create an antenatal care package that utilizes a home care approach, which addresses the financial and geographical barriers for low-income women who struggle with accessing clinics. The project involves a health care team (including a nurse practitioner and midwife), and partners with hospitals and non-for-profit organizations in northern Nigeria.
Mental health in Rwanda	The idea was to provide a community-based mental health program in Burera district involving faith leaders and trained lay health care workers with lived experiences of trauma. The plan was to deliver the program through two trained psychiatrists and multiple trained leaders and to provide culturally appropriate mental health support combined with personal empowerment.

Here the student is using previous knowledge and concepts to think about the practicality of their idea as they prepare to engage with the panel of judges.

However, some also realized the limitations of certain concepts. For example, students learned that interventions that might have worked in one country may not work into another, due to various structural and cultural factors. To illustrate, one student succinctly noted,

[it is important to be] culturally conscious when you’re working in global health, because you’re trying to implement projects and policies. In countries that you don’t live in, so you don’t know how they live there, and you really have to immerse yourself into that country’s dynamics to be a successful employee in the global health field. (S1)

Similarly, another student mirrored that “you need to be aware of the actual background of the country before you’re even thinking of anything close to starting innovation. You have to do your background research, which is really important” (S10). Abstract conceptualization was highlighted by a student who mentioned,

It made me realize you have to learn about a whole new system, a whole new way of life, . . . at least makes me appreciate the steps and the requirements that I have go through to be able to actually do it instead of just blindly implementing something. (S2)

This same sentiment was echoed by another student who highlighted how their knowledge was being used to create new ways of approaching their work:

yeah, so we wanted to collaborate with the NGO. And then hopefully reaching the NGO to the Ministry of Health. So the people we interviewed, for instance UNICEF guy, he was working at a supply-division chain in Denmark. But he actually worked in the Ministry of Health at one point. So he allowed us to understand what are the challenges to that, if it’s regional, or if it’s financial. He gave us insights for how to scale it so we can amend our project . . . and make it so simple. (S8)

Active Experimentation

In the active experimentation phase of Kolb’s experiential learning theory, the learner applies their existing knowledge to new experiences or situations through using theories to solve problems. Active experimentation was illustrated in a statement made by one of the participants:

If you fail, then it’s good because you can come back and you can try again . . . just to keep trying. And eventually you’ll just keep tweaking your work, and if your idea’s bad, then you can come out and get a new one. So I think even for Dr. _______, he was able to help us go back to our assignments and we kind of fixed it. So it was really . . . I don’t know, it’s really real-life application. (S9)

The idea of multiple iterations and active experimentation was echoed by another student who was speaking about how their group arrived at their ultimate project presented to the external panel: “even the final project we had, wasn’t our initial idea to begin with. We went through five different ideas.” (S5)

Participants discussed two areas in which active experimentation was featured in their learning. The first area was applying what they knew about cultural norms in actively refining their innovation. As one student stated,

People hear global health and think yeah, that’s a great innovation to apply, good going. But they don’t think about how you have to be so culturally specific. (S1)

Through interviews with key stakeholders within the Rwanda health sector, the student had a deeper awareness of the cultural challenges.

The second area of active experimentation focused on students applying specific knowledge of their target country to determine how well their potential solution might work. As mentioned by one student,

In the interviews with the stakeholders, you do learn a lot about the country dynamics and the demographics . . . which I didn’t really think about before this class, I just thought like, Oh, I’ll come up with this random app or whatever and implement it in the country and see if works. But no, that’s not how it works. (S10)

Another student explains the impact of active experimentation in relation to engaging with stakeholders:

Explaining was a huge thing, but especially with the stakeholders’ part. Our knowledge is not to their level and we’re coming at it from more of a passionate side. We’re like, “Well, we think this great, this thing would be so great here.” But having them kind of analyze everything and be like, “Well, did you really factor in this? Did you really think about this?” Like, it’s just, there’s a lot more to think about than just passion. Like the passion is great but you also need to figure out how you’re going to implement it. (S6)

Discussion

In light of the growing demand from students for more experiential learning activities, we have evaluated the impact of integrating entrepreneurial pitches for global health pedagogy through applying the experiential learning theoretical framework in the analysis of the results of the study.

With regard to the first stage of the experiential learning cycle (concrete experience), a number of key lessons can be drawn. First, students reported that the entrepreneurial pitch experience was good preparation for job interview scenarios, where they may be required to think on their feet. Moreover, students saw a connection between the project and the workplace as they had the opportunity to interact with personnel in the field and beyond the classroom. Pittaway and Cope (2007) explained how the opportunity for students to work in unfamiliar situations and challenging group dynamics contributes to “emotional exposure” (p. 213), which allows students to form more emotional connections and enhance the overall experiential learning experience. Second, the process of preparing and delivering entrepreneurial pitches by the students to an external panel was a concrete experience that mirrors activities encountered in the public and global health workplace. Some students would have been exposed to scaling interventions in previous courses; however, this course allowed them to actively engage with these concepts in a concrete manner. Various experiential learning researchers have made reference to individuals applying knowledge and theories learned in coursework, (Cashman & Seifer, 2008; Hu et al., 2016) and gaining exposure to the workplace (Chorazy & Klinedinst, 2019; Marriott et al., 2015; Maudsley & Strivens, 2000; McIntire & DiVito, 2017). Third, we acknowledge that the process leading to entrepreneurial pitching could be strengthened and made more practical as students were not placed in the field. One way to strengthen this learning activity might be to have two concurrent projects, one in which they create a proposal and a second where they help solve scaling challenges of existing interventions, thereby gaining a more complete understanding of the challenges to scaling interventions.

Reflective observation was not fully demonstrated through the results of this study. However, several students highlighted that finetuning their Entrepreneurial Pitch presentations allowed them to self-identify strengths and areas of improvement.

In hindsight we realized that the only opportunity for students to self-reflect was through the processes of refining their pitches when they had the chance to make corrections and redraft their proposal in preparation for another pitch. Specifically, students had the opportunity to present their pitch to the instructor and receive helpful comments and feedback on their innovations prior to the final entrepreneurial pitch presentation. Based on these results, time for personal self-reflection could be better integrated into the course. For example, entrepreneurial pitches could combine student self-reflection and evaluation with feedback from the panelists and the course instructor. According to a longitudinal study on clinical experiential learning with medical students, self-reflection during experiential tasks can lead to increased problem-solving skills (Pai, 2016). It is hypothesized that the benefits of self-reflection could also translate to disciplines outside of medicine. Various experiential learning researchers have made reference to individuals gaining interpersonal skills (Chorazy & Klinedinst, 2019; Hoffman & Silverberg, 2015) and providing opportunities for self-reflection (Cashman & Seifer, 2008).

With regard to the abstract conceptualization phase of the experiential learning cycle, the results of the study showed that students can logically analyze information being presented and form new conclusions. 80% of students reported that entrepreneurial pitch projects allowed for the application of global health concepts to real-life situations. Students were able to identify gaps in research or research barriers related to their country of choice, but some were able to make the connection to global health more generally. To illustrate, many students learned about cultural barriers in implementing interventions, and the importance of increasing their cultural awareness within the field of global health. Though cultural awareness is an abstract concept, some students witnessed how this could be applied in real life. For example, a student who researched mental health interventions in Rwanda commented on the difficulty of addressing the cultural and historical context when designing their health intervention.

Furthermore, students gained a deeper understanding of the cultural considerations related to global health, where it is important to address the political, social, and historical factors in scaling interventions. The ability to take into account different contexts and to understand that cultures are inherently multifaceted is a critical aspect of the global health education (Eichbaum, 2015). Through their interaction with external stakeholders, students developed workplace professionalism skills related to communicating with others in-person and via email. Moreover, students gained valuable interpersonal skills related to public speaking, team management, and creative thinking. Other researchers have also outlined the importance of teamwork in experiential learning. For example, one study examined experiential learning in teams, highlighting that teamwork allows individuals to develop “executive consciousness” (p. 330) or team management skills, where members are able to manage tasks effectively while functioning well as a group (Kayes et al.,2005).

The results of the study indicated how active experimentation was demonstrated by students as they prepared for their entrepreneurial pitches. Daly and Davy (2016) examined the characteristics of entrepreneurial pitches, illustrating that individuals gain valuable presentation skills through the process. Specifically, students learn to tailor the structure of their presentations and increase the clarity of their arguments in order to deliver an effective pitch (Daly & Davy, 2016). In this course, students received guidance and feedback regarding ways to conduct research and pitch innovations from the instructor. Through the process of presenting their pitches, actively conducting literature reviews, and responding to panelists’ questions on the spot, students developed research, public speaking, and future job interview skills by actively experimenting and engaging with course material.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Students today expect experiential learning activities to be incorporated into their curriculum; however, academia is still grappling with how to best integrate global health programs and practical experience opportunities for students (Asgary, 2013; Asgary et al., 2012; Eaton et al., 2011; Nelson et al., 2012). We introduced an entrepreneurial pitch project where students had the opportunity to design and present technological and social innovations to an external panel of judges. We then assessed the impact of incorporating entrepreneurial pitches on student learning in a global health course by applying the experiential learning theoretical framework. The results of the study indicate that the process of preparing and delivering entrepreneurial pitches was rewarding for students and enhanced their learning experience.

To maximize experiential learning for students in courses that integrate entrepreneurial pitches, we provide the following principles that course designers and instructors might consider. These guidelines emerged from the study and were framed by our experience with the entrepreneurial pitch project:

Seek research ethics approval for students to engage with potential stakeholders in the field, if possible. The process of having students interview stakeholders provided profound benefits for the students, as revealed in student comments. Furthermore, their results fed into their innovation, helping students make the link between research and practice. In lieu of students engaging external stakeholders, the use of cases of innovations (that have failed or succeeded) can also be an effective way in which active learning strategies could be implemented, as they are student centered activities premised on themes that demonstrate theoretical concepts in an applied setting.

Provide opportunities for students to refine their projects throughout the course. It is important to note that the course goes beyond the pitch and a lot of the work happens prior to the pitch. Therefore, students should be provided with multiple opportunities to iterate their projects and get feedback from the instructor and external experts. Formative assessments that can feed into their ongoing projects enhanced the experiential learning of the students. This also helps them make the connection between project and content learning.

Integrate multiple self-reflective activities throughout the course (we did not do this, which lowered the experiential learning level as revealed by our analyses). Such activities might provide students with ample opportunity to consider their own strengths and limitations and adjust their own approaches in refining their projects.

Consult with an external panel of experts in designing entrepreneurial pitch projects, so that the project mirrors what takes place in the field and considers the latest thinking in the field. It is also important to feature a variety of experts who are currently involved in scaling projects or supervising such projects. Students found this valuable and such interactions between students and experts prior to their pitch supplemented some of the theoretical aspects presented in the course.

Ensure that the learning outcomes for the course are experiential in nature and align well with the entrepreneurial pitch project and the intended learning activities. This will provide coherency for the course.

Provide students with the skills and experiences they need to feel equipped. For example, a project like this draws on a variety of research methods and concepts, general business concepts, qualitative interviewing, and budget costing—skills and concepts that were taught to students through workshops, readings, and talks from external experts.

Incorporate elements such as sustainability, gender equity, ethical, social, cultural issues in the project evaluation rubric to ensure that students are considering the broader social determinants of health as they design and develop a strategy for the implementation of their projects. This helps them approach their projects in a holistic manner.

Overall, the design and implementation of this course showcased how global health issues can be experientially taught through in-class activities. The process provided students with concrete experiences and demonstrated elements of abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. However, the results also illustrated that the entrepreneurial pitch process could be bolstered by the addition of critical self-reflection activities. The implementation of this course demonstrated how experiential learning activities can be introduced into a traditional classroom setting, although more thought must be given to incorporating reflective observations in order to maximize experiential learning for students.

Supplemental Material

PHP930723_suppl_mat – Supplemental material for Experiential Learning in the Classroom: The Impact of Entrepreneurial Pitches for Global Health Pedagogy

Supplemental material, PHP930723_suppl_mat for Experiential Learning in the Classroom: The Impact of Entrepreneurial Pitches for Global Health Pedagogy by Obidimma Ezezika and Jenny Gong in Pedagogy in Health Promotion

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Teaching Enhancement Grant, Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Toronto, Scarborough and Dean’s Experiential Education Fund, University of Toronto, Scarborough.

ORCID iD

Obidimma Ezezika

Supplemental Material

Supplemental material for this article is available online at .

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