This book began as a project during a spring semester sabbatical three years ago when my plan was to travel and concurrently write a book for Business students faced with an experientially-based capstone for a real client. The challenge of writing a book from scratch in one semester was met by beginning my research six months before the sabbatical. Once home I was able to dedicate the summer to wrestling chapters of “brain dump” into cohesive form.
I delivered a “usable” draft in late August to the Promotions and Sabbatical Committee and immediately began using the book with both undergraduate and graduate Business capstone students as optional reading. After two years of testing and small changes, I set a target publication date of January, 2021. The work of building diagrams, editing, creating numerous file types, cover design and website were all done in the summer and the fall semester, and it was published in late January. The pandemic only affected my project positively because in working remotely, I found that moving from teaching to book work was seamless, and I was able to capture small blocks of time that would have otherwise been spent in transition or traveling.
My work, Doing by Learning: The Business Capstone Experience of a Real World, Work-based Project addresses the challenges that both undergraduate and graduate Business students face when culminating their studies with an actual “capstone” project for a living, breathing organization.
Doing by Learning is a roadmap of what Business students need to know and do when faced with a field-based business capstone project by bridging the gap between Business courses and the integration of knowledge through an applied business research project. It does this by first, helping students understand the WHY of their journey through reflecting on their Business education. Next, groundwork is provided on HOW experiential learning processes will now guide learning from experience in a real project. Finally, the WHAT is presented through specific methods to successfully design, research and complete such a new learning experience based on structured and competency-based inquiry.
This book takes a very student-oriented and “hands-on” approach that captures how learning really happens in current organizations through social interaction and direct inquiry. It does this by using interactive and iterative tools of learning in today’s workplace such as Design Thinking, Action Research, Experiential Learning, Action Learning, Appreciative Inquiry and others.
Doing by Learning also includes thirty-five experiential activities that can be self-paced by the reader or used as assignments in a course or seminar wrapped around students’ field-based projects. Four case studies, inspired by real student projects, are also presented throughout the text.
The steps and tools in Doing by Learning match today’s fast paced academic environment and make it perfect for Business capstone courses that are increasingly offered over shorter timelines and in hybrid, remote or online modes.