Experiential Learning And Management Education: Empirical Research And Implications For Practice In Higher Education In Slovenia

Abstract

Nowadays lecturers in higher education need an awareness of the experiential learning style preferences of students in order to develop and utilize effective and efficient teaching and pedagogical strategies and methods. The experiential learning styles literature has had a revival during last years, especially in the first decade of 21st century (Alban & Metcalfe 2002; Duff & Duffy, 2002; Kayes, 2003; Loo, 2004; Reynolds & Vince, 2007; Cowen & Kazamias, 2009). Upon reviewing the literature on experiential learning, the intense rate and growing interest is involved also in Slovenia, especially when analyzing the case of University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics (FELU; http://www.ef.uni-lj.si/en/) in Slovenia. In April 2010 FELU joined an elite group of institutions that have achieved business accreditation from AACSB International. Moreover, combined with EQUIS accreditation, FELU is ranked among 45 best business schools worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to offer a better insight into the experiential learning practices at FELU in order to develop appropriate teaching and pedagogical strategies for improving higher management education in Slovenia. The research objective of this study was to develop rather comprehensive inventory of experiential learning styles and methods, included both a descriptive and an exploratory perspective. In the theoretical part of the study the qualitative meta-analysis method was used to overview the literature background of the study. In the empirical part of the study the Principal Axis Factoring, using varimax rotation, was performed on the explanatory variables with primary goal of data reduction. The modified version of experiential learning style theory was used as research instrument in the questionnaire to determine Slovenian students’ experiential learning styles. According to the research process we can summarize research thesis that matching students’ experiential learning-style preferences with complementary course syllabus improve management education, academic achievements and student’s attitudes toward learning.

Facilitating Leader Tacit Knowledge Acquisition

“…With the choice of methods for tacit knowledge transfer and its teaching the importance of learning from experience is often emphasised -e.g. Penger, Znidarsic, and Dimovski (2011), Armstrong andMahmud (2008).…”

Vocationalizing Event Management Degrees

“…Some students appeared to prefer the passive transmission/reception mode of course delivery although this method does not stimulate the cognitive processes that would enable them to apply and make sense of their theoretical knowledge in the complex business world and certainly does not facilitate independent learning (Carnell & Lodge, 2002). It was evident that the live projects were more beneficial in terms of students' long-term employability skills, but some did not like it (Kolb & Kolb, 2005;Penger, Znidarsic, & Dimovski, 2010;Stevenson, 2004).…”

The Role of Grit on Students' Academic Success in Experiential Learning Context

“…For instance, the positive connections exist between grit and grade point average (GPA) and accomplishment (Chen et al, 2015 ; McDermott et al, 2015 ), and completion of homework (Bennett et al, 2013 ). Correspondingly, several studies have verified the efficiency of active learning (Benecke and Bezuidenhout, 2011 ; Penger et al, 2011 ; Maskulka et al, 2012 ) that they proved that EL significantly influences learning purposes that may have a prolonged effect on students as they get ready for progressive educational scholarships and professional provision. Although studies on grit, success, and EL have been carried out; just some have currently carried out reviews about the variables and they have not been investigated together so far; consequently, regarding this lacuna, this review makes an effort to consider them in education.…”