Bringing Excitement to Learners Working With Real-Life Clients: Students Developing a Marketing Plan for Companies

Introduction

Since the 1980s the focus in the learning process has shifted from the instructor to the learners, giving and encouraging them to be more autonomous and active participants in their own learning process (Vighnarajah et al., 2008). There is evidence that many faculties in higher education are adjusting their teaching styles by moving them in the direction of a “learned-centered” teaching (Wright, 2011). A new knowledge-based society replaced the 20th-century technically-skilled one where some soft skills are now as important as the hard skills. Situational analysis, problem solving, teamwork, collecting, analyzing and evaluating information, and preparing and delivering a report are skills needed more than ever to help organizations face the fast-changing marketplace. Forced by this demand and driven by the emergence of new technologies gives the user, in this case the student, much more control over the information and even provides the opportunity to create and share content. “The classroom with information delivered through a lecture is no longer the unique centre of learning” (Contact North, 2020). Learners are much more active players in today’s educational stage than they were 40 years ago.

One way where students assume a more active role in their own process of acquiring knowledge is working with Real-Life Clients (RLC). Here we choose to use this term to designate any kind of activity that transposes the four walls of the classroom and puts students in direct contact with a real-life situation through an organization or company that presents real issues they need to address. This kind of learning experience has been referred to in many different ways, such as WBL (Work-Based Learning) (Clark & Whitelegg, 1998; Moise et al, 2013), CBL (Client-Based Learning) (Parsons & Lepkowska-White, 2009), Service Learning (McEachern, 2001), Live Business Cases (Kennedy et al., 2001), CAPS – Client Adaptive Problem Solving (Swan & Hansen, 1996), Experiential Learning Program (Cooke & Williams, 2004), Community Service Learning (Tucker et al., 1998), Client-Sponsored Group Projects (Razzouk et al, 2003; Bove & Davies, 2009), Live Case Studies (Elam & Spotts, 2004), Real-Life Lerning (Walsh & Clark, 2005); Industry-Integrated Learning Opportunities and Client-Centered Learning Experiences (Wolf, 2010).

Although there are conceptual and design differences among each one of the mentioned strategies, this work is using the Real-Life Clients (RLC) project as a learning experience “in which students are required to conceptualize and solve actual business problems with the application of appropriate business techniques” (Goodell & Kraft, 1991). What all the strategies have in common is the presence of a third element, that is being outside of the classroom. By partnering with the university or college, students gain an opportunity to apply their knowledge into something practical and, at the end of the project, they will have something concrete to present as an outcome of their work.

Also, the development on social media and on-line collaborative tools makes working with RLC even more feasible and suitable to a global marketplace (Taras 2013). Chats and on-line meeting digital tools are well available, usually free, and easy to use, providing a wide range of options for people working together from different places. A quick web search made by the author returned almost 100 different types of web and video conferencing software available, and some of them with free version offering limited resources that allows basic interactions between participants. These virtual learning environments give participants the opportunity to exchange ideas and resources and when used in groups with members from different geographic regions, might foster cultural exchange and understanding from different racial/ethnic groups (Al-Samarraie, 2019). The following reported project is done 100% on-line with students, professors, and company’s rep meeting though different web online platforms, which one is available to be used.