Behind the Scenes at the Olympic Games: Sports Management Professor Lisa Delpy Neirotti leads students to the Games to meet with stakeholders—from International Olympic Committee members and sponsors to media, volunteers, and athletes—while gaining access to key sport, media, and hospitality venues.
Short-term experiential programs at GW Business combine classroom learning with immersive off-site experiences to give students practical, real-world insight. While each program is unique, most share common structural elements that make planning and participation manageable and effective.
Programs can take many forms, from cultural and industry-focused site visits to research projects or service-learning initiatives. Understanding these core structures and approaches can help faculty envision a program that is both academically rigorous and logistically feasible.
Below, you’ll find examples of common off-campus program models, each with its own strengths (and challenges) and opportunities for student engagement. These models can be used individually or blended together to design a program that meets your learning objectives and enhances the student experience.
Experiential Learning Approaches:
All models include relevant cultural or site visits to enrich students’ knowledge and experience of the location, including programs within the United States. They also incorporate campus-based classroom instruction in theory and practice, which prepares students for the off-campus portion of the course. This classroom component helps students synthesize what they have learned through direct engagement and observation.
Business and Society
Primary focus is how business is embedded in society, specifically through the lens of Washington, DC.
Students learn various ways that private, public, and citizen/NGO sectors cooperate and compete.
Incorporates speakers, site visits, partner meetings and/or service-learning projects to tap into a wealth of resources in Washington, DC.
Business Immersion
In person site visits to relevant organizations and business meetings with thought leaders in the field of study are used to augment the classroom-based learning of the course.
Often thematically focused around a driving question, or series of driving questions.
Where possible students have the opportunity for authentic application of content and skills learned.
Research Project
Students work (often in teams) on a research project related to a particular organization or industry in advance of the travel portion.
On-site students meet with industry leaders or a particular organization to present and report their findings.
Students may or may not use partner feedback to modify their research report.
Global Business Project
Partners are identified that become the primary driver of the pre-travel and on-site experience.
A specific actionable issue is identified by the faculty leader in conjunction with the host; Students work to establish the scope of work and partner recommendations.
Interactions with the host partner are iterative, generally beginning well in advance of student travel.
On-site students contextualize the issue, integrate partner feedback, and synthesize content in final reports for the benefit of the partner.
Embedded Consultative (includes CAP)
Students work under faculty mentorship prior to travel with their host partners to address a specific partner issue.
On-site students are embedded with the partner for the traditional workday and shadow employees.
Information gained through direct immersion is used to redraft or strengthen a final deliverable to the partner.
Service Learning
Students pair textbook study of an issue or problem with volunteer service at an organization in the field of study.
Programs are generally longer in duration and often mission driven.
Now that you’ve explored how short-term programs can be structured, the next step is to design your own course—shaping its content, destination, and logistics to create a meaningful experience for students.
