Project-based learning is often organized around student teams that work collaboratively on a problem for a real business enterprise. Under the supervision of a faculty member, a student team has the opportunity to apply what they have learned in a meaningful context. When properly designed, students develop desirable soft skills as they learn to manage the needs and expectations of a business client by working through the steps of defining a scope of work, parceling out tasks and performing the work needed to reach a successful conclusion.
An example of a guided experience might include Voice Z Digital; Paul College’s new student run digital marketing agency. Rather than having a student intern at a functioning agency under the tutelage of its employees, the student is instead a principal or team member of an active agency functioning in an important and significant role. Instead of shadowing an employee or working on an ancillary task, they are performing that role for an actual client. Putting into practice what they have learned as part of the established curriculum while simultaneously developing new knowledge and skills. Rather than sending students out to a company, the company is instead on campus where it is providing real services to actual clients.