"STUDENTS IN FREE ENTERPRISE" AS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 “STUDENTS IN FREE ENTERPRISE” AS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Arthur K. Fischer, Pittsburg State University June M. Freund, Pittsburg State University Thomas J. Payne, Students In Free Enterprise ABSTRACT This paper shows how Students in Free Enterprise groups can be used by universities to provide valuable experiential learning in all phases of management, marketing, accounting and economics. It presents a few of the thousands of projects, which actively involve students in their communities to solve problems and create better working environments. While doing so, these students are practicing important skills first presented in their classrooms. INTRODUCTION There are many ways for teachers to provide experiential exercises as student’s progress through their academic careers. Most of these are developed by a teacher and are associated with a particular course. This proposed discussion describes a longer program which students usually follow in their junior and senior years, but which some continue while in an MBA program. SIFE is a national organization, which sponsors student programs in colleges and universities throughout the country. Students in SIFE chapters conduct a wide variety of learning projects in support of community programs. This discussion presents a brief background of SIFE, then shows how student projects function both as valuable experiential learning and community support programs. WHAT IS “STUDENTS IN FREE ENTERPRISE” Students In Free Enterprise is a national, “not-for- profit organization supported by individuals, foundations, and corporations whose mission is to build collegiate SIFE Teams who teach free enterprise in order to better individuals, communities, and countries.” (SIFE) Composed of more than 30,000 students in over 500 university chapters across the country and around the world, SIFE students gain valuable experience in planning and managing business enterprises, and in teaching others about the free enterprise system. Not just another student group, SIFE is university students involved in teaching and practicing free enterprise. (SIFE) SIFE AS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SIFE has a learning philosophy, which seems to exemplify the goal of experiential learning: “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I might remember, involve me and I will understand.” (SIFE) Although most planned experiential learning takes place as a result of classroom projects, many educators and most employers realize that learning takes place throughout students’ academic careers. Experiential learning is so important because educators know that it is very difficult to “teach” many concepts and most skills in a classroom. McKnight (1995, p. 192) has said that “skills can be learned only from experience,” while Payette (1993, p. 440) restated the paradox that most management teachers have long felt: “management is learned mainly from experience, but it is impossible to teach experience.” SIFE students in hundreds of colleges and universities are involved with thousands of projects, which support their communities. A few of the many award-winning projects include: 31 Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 1. Working on a project with the university’s school of nursing to take clinical students out into the community. The nurse practitioner program wants to have nursing students do free health screenings and health education programs, but no one knows how to set this up. SIFE students are involved in setting up the non-profit organization, checking with state agencies regarding licensure, and helping to determine liability coverage issues. 2. Working with local banks in helping secondary students set up and learn about checking and savings accounts. 3. Sponsoring an Investment Challenge where high school students are taught to choose stock and invest assets in a competitive atmosphere where high school teams are pitted against other teams in their regions. This project involved local business people in providing the funding and speaking to classes. 4. Creating a Free Enterprise Foundation, raising $15,000, and then using the money as mini- grants to support teachers in secondary schools in developing projects, which usually cannot be funded through the normal channels. 5. Developing a project to create greater public awareness of free enterprise concepts through media (print and television) advertising and programs. 6. Working with local agencies in helping adults in the 25-40-age range understand retirement planning. 7. Conducting a Community Career Fair where local business people set up booths and talked with high school students about the skills needed to get and keep a job. CONCLUSION “SIFE is an active learning program. By getting students involved in SIFE projects, it reinforces their instruction in economics, management, marketing, education and communication” (SIFE) This discussion demonstrates the value of reinforcing classroom learning with a strong, on- going program of experiential learning such as conducted by SIFE chapters. “People support what they help to create” is the cornerstone of SIFE leadership training. (SIFE) REFERENCES McKnight, M.R. (1995) The nature of people skills Journal of Management Education, 19(2), 190-204. Payette, A. (1993) To teach experience Journal of Management Education, 17(4), 440-453. SIFE. What is Students In Free Enterprise? Students In Free Enterprise, Springfield, Missouri 32 Table of Contents Volume 24, 1997 Incorporating Computer Telephony into the MIS Course A Learner Oriented Infrastructure for videoconferencing Based Distance Education Courses The Identification of Temporally Related Structural Elements of the Experiential Component of Electronic Spreadsheet Tasks Does Involvement Influence Learning from Simulation Participation? Some Relationships with Helpfulness and Performance Outcomes Musings on Business Garne Performance Evaluation Performance on a TE Simulation: What does it represent? The Business Policy Game: An International Simulation - An Assessment Tool Students in Free Enterprise as Experiential Learning The Role of Computer Models in Wargames: A Practitioner's view Using Focus Groups as a Tool to Research Learning: A Demonstration and a Discussion Using Medical Simulations to Teach Multi-Cultural Diversity Using the World Game to Internationalize International Exchange Game Community Services Needs Assessment: An Innovative Approach Introducing Students to Potential Total Quality Management Ethical Dilemmas Privacy in the Workplace: A Situational Analysis Antecedents of Learning in Simulations Demonstrating the Learning Effectiveness of Simulation: Where we are and Where we need to go The Use of Computer Simulations as a Pedagogical Aid in Teaching Management Information Systems Evaluating Simulation Learning in a Distant Learning Instructional Model Financial Engineering of Global Investments The Labor History Game: Playing with the Past Perks Participation Assessing Negotiator's Proficiency with a Negotiation role-play The Art of Negotiating Enhancing Learning and Employee Development through the Assessment of Learning Pedagogy Preferences across selected Dimensions of Culture: A Preliminary Investigation Cooperative Learning: What are we Learning? Effective Use of Mastery Based Experiential learning in a Project Course to improve skills in system analysis and Design Simulations and Learning: Can we prove a relationship? (Seminar) Predicting and Reviewing NYSE Stock Prices by use of Basic Statistical Analysis and Logic Toy Car Depreciation Exercise ABSEL as Home Community: An Interactive Exploration Service Learning: Linking Academic Study to Community Development and Business Enhancement Ability of Efficient Evaluation of Knowledge-Based Management Strategies Corporate Ethics Training Programs Modeling Attributes in Demand Functions of Computerized Business Simulations: An Extension of Teach's Gravity Flow Algorithm Expert Systems Combined with Neutral Networks: Tools to Benefit the Marketing Researcher Computer Game Design: New Directions for Intercultural Simulation Game Designers Consistency in Simulation Performance over Time and Across Simulation Games The Impact of an Artificial Market Leader on Simulation Competitor's Strategies Business Plans, Case Studies, and Total Enterprise Simulations: A Natural Co-existence An Exploration into the Non-Use of Business Simulations The Market Game: Interactive Learning Through Market Simulation Plotting Brand Trajectories with the COMPLETE PPM package: A Market Segmentation Analysis and Positioning Tool Me and Mine Inc: An Exercise in Management Theory Learning to Differentiate Leadership from Managerial Position Business Ethics Survey: A Perspective from the Retail Industry Experiential Learning in Demand Analysis for an Agricultural Commodity Marketing on the Internet: A Pedagogical Exercise College Students Need Simple Computer Simulations, Especially for International Business Courses An Analysis of Student Attitudes, Performance, and Strategies in a Simulation Competition Based on a Controlled Product-Market-Entry Game Structure The Crystal Enterprise: Application of a Non-Computerized Simulation Model in a Process of Organizational Change Threshold: A Windows-Based Behaviorally Oriented Total Enterprise Simulation Coaching Business Game Teams Using a Decision Variable Optimizer Rock and Roll is here to Stay: Enhancing Experiential Pedagogy with Musical Exercises An Example of Business Process Analysis Simulation for Customer Software Support The Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Academic Institutions Using the Integrative International Simulation INTOPIA Mark 2000 in a Concentrated MBA Curriculum A Group Experience as an Integrated Part of the Core Management Course Empowered Learning in the Classroom The Inter-Group Interaction: An Innovative Approach to Cooperative Learning Courses that Utilize Student Team: An Approach to enhancing their Effectiveness Thoughts about the Measurement of Learning: The Case for Guided Learning and Associated Measurement Issues Measuring Student Learning Using Business Simulations: A Theory Based Perspective On the Use of PC Fingame in an Undergraduate Finance Course How Managers get Things Done: A Virtual Soundbite Internet Experiential learning in the Principals of Marketing Classroom: A Pedagogical Approach Current Student Perceptions Relative to Business Simulations Beyond Capitalism: Designing Business Policy and Social Justice The Use of Boards of Directors to Evaluate Reports and Presentations in an Undergraduate Business Policy Course Beacon Lumber: An Experiential Introduction to Financial Accounting The Application of Organizational Motivation Principles: The Experiential Business Simulation Motus Manufacturing Avoiding a Bogey: Grading Case Discussions Scientifically Communicating Consumer Behavior II: A Modified Exercise Using Personal Consumption Journals in Condensed Courses Designing Instruments for Assessing the Effectiveness of Simulations, (Seminar) 360º Performance Feedback: Appraisal vs. Assessment The Cafeteria Approach to Managing an Academic Career: Remaining Non-Perishable while Doing Your Own Thing An Experiential Exercise Related to Person-Organization Fit and it's Consequences For Today's Dynamic and Changing World, Business Simulations need to be expanded to encompass Much Greater Complexity: A Demonstration The Incident Process: A Case in Reverse Contextually-Anchored Business Simulations The Energy Factor: Building Motivation in the Simulation Gaming Environment The Design of an Internet Game