Learning From Failure: Barriers to Using Experiential Education in Graduate Nonprofit Research Training

Abstract

Experiential education techniques are increasingly being used as a method of training graduate students to research nonprofit organizations. However, little research focuses on lessons learned from experiential education programs that fail. This paper presents the case of a doctoral-level community development research practicum that aimed to evaluate a local microenterprise program in a distressed city. Although the project was discontinued, lessons pertaining to community-level and institutional challenges were learned. These lessons speak to literature on the challenges that may arise in the use of experiential education in nonprofit education initiatives. This research concludes that faculty members implementing experiential education courses work with offices that focus on experiential education to assess their feasibility before designing or implementing them. Subscribe to JNEL