Learning Objectives and Expected Outcomes
SPAD and Commerce Faculty adopt a wide variety of experiential education techniques, including case-based learning (Harvard/Ivey-style), interactive discussion, applied projects, individual and group presentations, internships, and the fourth year Field Trip.
The goal is to develop key skills that are necessary to succeed in real-world business situations. Case studies are used to introduce theory through problem solving activities by presenting real business problems that companies face during their day-to-day operations. Once the standard case format is practiced and understood by the students, classes become interactive discussions where students debate varying perspectives about how a problem can be resolved. These discussions facilitate problem solving, teach the many ways in which a problem can be perceived and gets students to think “outside of the box.” Case studies are also used to evaluate students through projects and presentations. This allows students to develop public speaking and teamwork skills that are essential to succeed in the business world.
The core year of the SPAD and Commerce programs is a scholastically demanding year that encompasses courses in all aspects of business from a management perspective. Management Accounting, Marketing, Corporate Finance, Operations Management and Organizational Behavior are the compulsory courses for the year that includes an applied project called Venture. This project involves forming student work groups at the beginning of September to develop and market a new product or service. A business plan that incorporates the theories and practices learnt in all five core year courses must be developed. At the end of the school year (April), each group must present their business plan to their peers and to a group of professors as venture capitalists. The students are forced to take the business knowledge they have gained throughout the year and apply it to a real world situation. Many Commerce students aspire to open their own business and this project teaches them the essential skill of developing a business plan.
In third year SPAD and Commerce students are given the opportunity to seek internships with a corporation in their field of interest. SPAD students do their internships with sports organizations of all varieties, such as Ryan Belec who had an internship with the Tampa Bay Lightning and is now the assistant to the General Manager for the Lightning. The internship opportunities are also very useful in developing the “real world” business skills that cannot be taught in a classroom.
The final experiential education technique is the SPAD Fourth Year Field Trip. The destination is chosen by the class and is funded by student fundraising done in an Event Management course in third year. The trip’s goal is to allow students to visit a sports organization, where they are separated into groups to solve real issues that the organization has faced in a short time frame.
In summation, it seems evident that SPAD emphasizes an active learning approach. The goal is to develop graduates who are skilled in business and knowledgeable about sport so that they will be prepared to secure employment in business or the sport industry.
