Experiential learning and assessment in first-year undergraduate marketing units: an exploratory study

The trend toward more active, experiential learning pedagogies has found increasing interest. With its emphasis on creating solutions to consumer problems, such as through the marketing plan, the marketing discipline offers an ideal context for these pedagogies. This paper examines the extent to which experiential learning assessments have been adopted in fifteen Australian universities’ first year undergraduate marketing units within a Business program. Results of the analysis show that developing a marketing plan is the most commonly used experiential task to assess student learning outcomes. However, the relative contribution of these assessments is low. Further, only in half of cases does it involve collaborative learning. More emphasis on carefully designed experiential learning and assessment is suggested as a means to achieve more employable graduates.