Abstract
Team projects allow students to apply their technical skills to a real-world context and build twenty-first century competencies, including teamwork, project management and communication skills. However, the complex challenges that such experiential learning projects present for students and faculty can limit the scale of implementation. This article argues that Virtual Business Projects (VBP), a model of team-based experiential learning where teams of students complete a virtual business project for an industry sponsor, can mitigate these problems by leveraging instructional technology and learning analytics. The VBP model is deployed in multiple universities, which have provided more than 2500 Virtual Business Projects since 2015. We will discuss how innovative technology, embedded in thoughtful learning design, supports experiential learning by taking advantage of features such as customizable scaffolding, automated reflection and feedback loops, and learning analytics.
Highlights
The 4th industrial revolution, an era of human and machine augmentation (Bonciu 2017), presents complex challenges for educational institutions charged with preparing students for success
In 2015, the World Economic Forum (WEF) developed a twenty-first Century Skills framework that identified foundational literacies, competencies, and character qualities required for a successful career as we transition into the 4th industrial revolution (World Economic Forum 2015)
We explore the challenges of delivering Team Projects, and how these challenges can be addressed by the effective use of the emerging technologies of the 4th industrial revolution (Almeida and Simoes 2019)
Summary
The 4th industrial revolution, an era of human and machine augmentation (Bonciu 2017), presents complex challenges for educational institutions charged with preparing students for success. We refer to them as Team Projects, and we use the term Virtual Business Project to refer to a technology-enabled Team Project These Team Projects are immersive, providing real-world contexts in which students have the opportunity to learn. It is a complex undertaking to step each student through the four learning modes at key learning moments, while simultaneously facilitating feedback from industry sponsors, peers and educators in order to inject valuable insight into students’ knowledge extraction process. The complexity makes this type of learning experience costly to deliver. The VBP model was developed through collaborative technology, pedagogy, and course design, and has been provided at scale to more than 6000 online and distance education students
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