THE TWO-STEP FLOW OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION Exploring Experiential Learning: Simulations and Experiential Exercises, Volume 5, 1978 13 THE TWO-STEP FLOW OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION Louis C. Mancuso Xavier University of Louisiana INTRODUCTION .J. Duane Hoover and Carlton J. Whitehead defined experiential learning in the following manner: Experiential learning exists when a personally responsible participant(s) cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally processes knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes in a learning situation characterized by a high level of active involvement. [1, p. 25] Thus, experiential learning has been used to mean anything from an encounter group experience to a “field experiment” in entrepreneurship. Xavier University’s Marketing area has used the experiential learning technique combined with the traditional teaching methodology, the lecture method, for the past four years. It was discovered that when students are exposed to the lecture- experiential learning teaching methodology and summer intern- ships, the students are more mature and more willing to learn when they return to school. Thus, the two-step flow of experiential learning consists of the following: 1) a lecture- experiential leaning teaching methodology and 2) an internship. THE TWO-STEP FLOW An example of the two-step flow of experiential learning is as follows: a student at Xavier University took a course in Marketing Research during the 1977 Spring Semester. The research class teaching methodology consisted of a lecture and an experiential learning exercise. The title of the exercise was, “Why Blacks Are Not Buying the A.M.C. Pacer in the Metropolitan Area of New Orleans”. This project was sponsored by a local A.M.C. dealership. During the summer of 1977, the student received an internship with the Dow Corning Corporation at Midland, Michigan. The task consisted of a market research project. The student’s job performance at Dow Corning was excellent and it has been observed at Xavier that he is more mature and more willing to learn. Similar experiences have occurred in other Marketing fields, Exploring Experiential Learning: Simulations and Experiential Exercises, Volume 5, 1978 14 such as, Retailing and Sales. During the 1976 Summer Session a class in Retailing was taught using the lecture-experiential learning teaching methodology. The experiential learning teaching methodology used was a field experiment. The students were required to make recommendations on how the performance of the Xavier University Book Store could be improved. The analysis of the book store consisted of every phase of the operation from receiving to traffic flow. The results of the study was presented to the head of the book store operation. A number of students have received internships in the retailing area. Most of these students receiving internships do better in school and appear to be more mature. One student having taken the Retailing course obtained an internship with a local retail establishment. The student has been promoted twice in her tenure at the store and the student’s grades have improved considerably since experiencing an internship. A third example of the two-step flow of experiential learning occurred last year when students were exposed to a Sales Force Management course. This course required the students to develop sales strategies and selling techniques. Two students taking the course received internships from Chesebrough Pond’s Inc. Their duties required them to travel a certain geographic area to sell specific accounts in the area. Upon completion of the internship program the students were notified that they had attained first and third place nationwide in sales. When these two students returned to Xavier University they were more motivated and more willing to lean. An interesting by-product of the internship program is that students not receiving internships or students not eligible for internships, because of class level, seem to try harder after hearing of the experiences of the students receiving internships. MEASURING THE EFFECTS The Marketing area at Xavier University has received over the last two years approximately thirty internships. Observation of the students has revealed that students appear to be more mature and their grades appear to be higher when the students return from internship experiences. Testing instruments are being developed in a pre- and pos t- test mode to ascertain student motivation in school, student interest, and the student’s feelings on attained knowledge. Also, testing instruments are being developed for the companies to ascertain their feelings on how the student accomplished the tasks assigned during the internship. Companies will also be queried to ascertain their interest in experiential learning. SUMMARY The two-step flow of experiential learning from a casual Exploring Experiential Learning: Simulations and Experiential Exercises, Volume 5, 1978 15 observation reveals that the student returns to school more mature and more willing to learn. Companies appear to like experiential leaning because it saves them money. The reduced time in training accounts for the savings. The students returning to school after internship experiences seem to affect their classmates by their accomplishments. This diffusion process motivates the students to do better in school so that they can obtain internships the following summer. Three ingredients are needed to have the two-step flow of experiential leaning 1) a professor willing to invest the time in the teaching methodology, 2) a professor willing to seek internship positions, and 3) companies willing to work with the school. When these three ingredients are brought together, the benefits to the students are considerable. REFERENCE 1. Hoover, J. Duane and Carlton J. Whitehead. “En Experiential-Cognitive Methodology in the First Course in Management: Some Preliminary Results,” Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, The Proceedings of the Second National ABSEL Conference, Bloomington, Indiana: April 9-11, 1975. Table of Contents Volume 5, 1978 Debriefing: The Key to Effective Experiential Learning A Kiss Before Debriefing Debriefing with Serialized Theory Development for TaskTeam Learning Insights Into Debriefing Experiential Learning Exercises The Two-Step Flow of Experiential Learning: A Preliminary Investigation Programmatic Experienced-Based Learning in an MBA Program The New Research Focus: An Analysis of the Simulation Game User An Analysis of Performance in Simulation Games Compared to Performance on Structured Course Criteria: A Case Study Le's Simplify the Administrative Requirements of Computerized Educational Simulations Assessment of Sex Stereotypes Within Task Group Simulation The Use of Program BAYAUD in the Teaching of Audit Sampling The Effectiveness of Progressively Complex Accounting Simulations in Increasing Decision-Making Performance The Natural Learning Project The Application of a US-USSR Trade Simulation to the Reaching of Business Russian The Use of Semi-Autonomous Work Group in Graduate Management Education: An Australian Experience Evaluation of an Experimental Course in Organizational Behavior for Managers of Japanese Banks Berkshire II: An Experiential Decision Making Exercise: An Exercise in Hegelian Inquiry Creating a Responsible Managerial Experience A Framework for Determining the Pedagogical Value of Simulation Gaming: Implications for Future Simulation Gamin Research Emergent Simulations in Administration Courses Measurement of Administrator Role for Feedback on Structure and Goals An Experiment in Assessing the Theoretical Recognition and Application Leaning Skills of Student Case Writers Some Game Information Systems Experience Using Job Control Language (JCL) for Group and Individual Simulation Considerations for the Use of Computerized Business Simulations Assessing the Effectiveness of Learning Styles as Predictors of Performance within Three Distinct Pedogogic Methodologies Learning Style and Performance A Psychometric Analysis of Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory Learning to Identify and Satisfy consumer Wants: A Classroom Game An Experiential Exercise in Product Benefit Segmentation Sales and Sales Management: A Case/Simulation Approach The SBI Case as Experiential Learning The Use of a Live Case in Teaching Organization Theory and management Principles to Graduate Students The Residency in Hospital and health Administration as Experiential Learning The Extended Live Case Approach to Teaching Marketing Research Experiential Learning in Marketing: Student Consultants The Brazil-Columbia Coffee Marketing Negotiations: An Experiential Exercise Aimed at Highlighting the Dynamics Involved in the International Business Negotiation Process Educational Values of Simulation Gaming Business Simulation Re-Revisited Simulation and Experiential Learning as Human Subject Research An Experiential Evaluation of a Didactic - Experiential Apporach for Teaching personnel Management Experiential Learning in Wage and Salary Administration Integrating Structured Experiences into Personnel Simulation Locus of Control and Performance in a Management Simulation Correlations Between Academic Achievement, Aptitude, and Business Game Performance Suggestions for Student Input of Decisions in General Management Simulations An Exploratory Investigation of Student Perceptions of Computer Simulation as an Educational Tool Time to Sell?: An Experiential Learning Approach to Stock Market Decisions through Interactive Gaming