Raising the Ceiling With Experiential Learning

Research shows that creativity rises with ceiling height. Smith professor Oliver Schlake considered this when designing a new course that challenges participants to develop retail products for outdoor enthusiasts.

Rather than staying indoors confined below a 10-foot ceiling, Schlake takes his undergraduate students into the forests around Washington, D.C., to test and refine their prototypes under the open sky.

The traditional university model requires students to pay for learning opportunities such as this. But Schlake wants to turn the paradigm on its head, designing courses with the potential to make money for students as they launch viable businesses.

Schlake also incorporates principles of competition and gaming into the curriculum, requiring teams to eliminate the weakest products until only one remains.

Business schools risk similar elimination if they fail to keep pace in the changing landscape of higher education. Those that want to stay viable must deliver meaningful, hands-on experiences that cannot easily be matched elsewhere.

Students still need theory, of course. But higher education no longer has a monopoly on specialized knowledge. People with smartphones carry entire libraries and massive open online courses in their pockets — along with up-to-the-minute news and commentary.

Survivors in higher education must transform themselves from knowledge dispensaries into innovation hubs using a variety of methods. Standing in front of a class and lecturing every day is not enough. A new generation already has grown up learning in different ways.

Even Harvard Business School, grandfather of the case teaching method, recognizes the need for new approaches. As a supplement to its hallmark case method, Harvard now embeds its MBA students in global environments and assigns them to work with real-world partners through a yearlong program called Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development.

The program’s tagline makes the mission clear: “Bridging the knowing-doing gap.”

The Smith School has made a similar commitment to connect students to the world around them. Our vision is to enrich the Smith experience with active, reality-based learning in every course.

Along the way, we are creating increased opportunities for alumni and other partners to get involved in the creative process as they connect with Smith students.

The ceiling has come off the traditional classroom, and everyone will benefit as innovation flows. 

Regards, 

ALEX TRIANTIS, DEAN