ProQuest Collections Support Experiential Learning for Student Success

There is no doubt that experience is the best teacher. And today’s business students are expected to enter the workforce with the ability to apply critical thinking, analysis and synthesis of information and data, and have strong communication and team skills. To meet this demand, academia is increasingly incorporating Experiential Learning and Project-based Learning into undergraduate and MBA programs.

Through Experiential Learning, students gain relevant work experience, while being mentored by faculty, company leaders or other business professionals. This ensures that students actively engage in, and learn from, work related to their course of study.

Scanning dozens of business programs, we’ve identified emerging themes in the types of Experiential Learning opportunities available to business students. These themes include:

• • Student consulting whereby teams of students work with real companies to solve real business challenges
  • Global field experiences where students can work within an international organization as interns or managing a specific problem-based project
  • Marketing and market research projects to help small business owners and entrepreneurs launch their business
  • Venture projects where students develop their own business ideas and work to gain venturing funding through competitions to bring their concept to reality
  • Management of an on-campus investment club to gain exposure to various financial fields including portfolio management, hedge funds, equity research, private wealth management, and stock sales and trading.

Experiential Learning requires that students become capable of finding, synthesizing, analyzing and creating actionable outcomes from information and data – all critical research skills needed by employers. Instructors and business librarians collaborate to ensure that the Experiential Learning process integrates information resources into these experiences.

And, ProQuest Business products and ProQuest Central provide key resources to support students in their project-based work and improve their information literacy. With the help of ProQuest resources, students can:

• • Learn to find information supporting their assumptions and recommendations with both scholarly and trade research using ABI/INFORM Complete
  • Develop portfolio investment strategies by researching industries, companies and investment options using analyst reports, annual reports and news from ABI/INFORM Complete and JP Morgan Research
  • Utilize key financial services wires, blogs and news, such The Wall Street Journal, PR Newswire, Fair Disclosure Wire, Newstex and News Bites to develop investment strategies using ABI/INFORM Complete
  • Develop marketing plans using various ABI/Inform Complete market research sources, including: Business Monitor International Industry Reports and Regional Insights; Oxford Economics; Economist Intelligence Unit; EIU Viewswire; Oxford Analytica Country Profiles and Daily Brief Service; Reportal annual reports; Euromonitor industry sector reports; Experian company records; First Research (D&B) reports; and more!

Plus, for the researcher and instructor looking for the latest research and scholarly works on experiential learning, or for ideas on new ways to incorporate experiential learning into your business program, ProQuest Central has what you need. Key publications offer research, reports and articles on experiential learning.

• • Key scholarly journals and resources: The Journal of Experiential Education; Journal of Management Education; International Journal of Information and Education Technology; International Journal of Social Science and Humanity; Education & Training; The journal of Management Development; Journal of Education for Business; The Learning Organization; Management Decision; Training & Management Development Methods; Education; Journal of College Student Development; Leadership & Organization Development Journal; PLUS dissertations, conference papers and proceedings, working papers and more!
  • Key trade publications: Education Letter; Training Journal; The Chronicle of Higher Education; Training; Management Learning; T+ D; and more
  • Key news sources: PR Newswire; Business Wire; Targeted News Service; US Fed News Service (Including US State News); University Wire; McClatchy – Tribune Business News; and dozens of global newspapers and news sources covering experiential learning

From student to instructor to researcher, ProQuest has the breadth and depth of resources that can help you every step of the way.