January 25, 2017 Reading Time: 2 minutes

While students were occupied with their research projects during our new Winter Program, their professor, Lorri Halverson, and I were working on a paper summarizing our experiential learning approach, which is the basis for educational programming at AIER.

The key idea of this approach is to blend learning within the academic classroom and learning within the world of practitioners. We studied scientific evidence of the effect of experiential learning on students’ cognitive development. We discovered that the intuition and management literature, the literature about engaged learning and pedagogy of experience, and the literature about social skills’ importance in the labor market all agree that experiential learning contributes to the development of content knowledge and soft skills and to bringing intuition to a higher level. The synergy of expertise and intuition in time produces an intuitive leader and a successful executive.

The collaborative project undertaken by AIER with the University of Sioux Falls accomplishes exactly these outcomes. Our Winter Program provided opportunities for students to go beyond the application of economic theories that they learned in college. When at AIER, students gained an understanding of research methodologies, proficiency in digital literacy, and advanced skills in data management and analysis. In addition, students enhanced (and in some cases just discovered) soft skills such as working in a team environment, problem solving, communicating, and collaborating. These skills are transferable and will benefit them through their entire careers.

Students in university classrooms today are the employees and researchers of the next decade. We argue that by investing time to develop partnerships among academic institutions and practitioners, we are integrating the academy and the workplace, broadening the pool of potential employees, and striving to advance economic research capabilities throughout the country.

At the end of the Winter Program, students evaluated their experience and we collected data on the effects of the program on students’ learning outcomes. AIER received top marks for the program. Students self-assessed that they have learned a lot in both content and soft skills. Further analysis of their evaluations will become part of the evidence to be put forward in our argument for the value of such collaborations. This evidence will be part of the paper that Lorri and I are still writing as well as the basis for further enhancement of AIER’s education programs.

Natalia Smirnova, PhD

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