Pedagogical Innovations - Experiential and Participant Centered Learning

Abstract

Today’s aspiring MBA students have very little patience to sit in a class and listen to what the professor has to speak and even less to read the textbooks prescribed by the faculty. Innovative ways of delivery and learning is the only way the facilitator can make the class engrossing for the students. Book reading are useful in enriching a course and reinforcing classroom teaching. This case describes a methodology of teaching developed by the author for Retail management course of an MBA program. The book reading offers a business context for reinforcing classroom learning by intertwining roll plays and the participants can be evaluated on their performance. Participant’s feedback that such a methodology enhances their practical understanding of the topic and develops the right skills to make them industry ready. This can be adopted for other business courses taught at the post-graduate level. Participants can be given two weeks to study the book, followed by 2 hours of role play, 1 hour of open book exam and 1 hour of debriefing time.

Keywords: Book Reading, Goal, Retail Management, Open Book Exam

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