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AbstractThis article explores the value of experiential learning about international negotiations through role-playing exercises. Simulations have been employed successfully in international relations courses since the late 1950s, but the end of the Cold War has prompted a renewed interest in simulations as interactive teaching tools that capture the dynamics of change in the international system. Building on the existing literature on simulations, I describe an effective role-playing exercise for the new era, the Global Problems Summit, which was originally designed for an advanced undergraduate Political Science course at The College of Wooster. This simulation is structured to fulfill clear educational objectives by providing an opportunity for experiential learning about international diplomacy and the complexity of global problems, an understanding of different national perspectives on these issues, and the development of negotiation and communication skills to promote international cooperation. Three years of successful application lead me to conclude that the Global Problems Summit and related role-playing simulations can truly enliven the international relations classroom and enhance the learning experience.

The university contributes instrumentally to society by preparing human service professionals in a broad range of disciplines for the betterment of individuals and families. Today, however, the multiple needs of families are becoming less amenable to technical or clinical solutions and appear to require a greater collaboration among human service providers. Experiential learning is one way for university programs to help students develop collaborative skills. A study of experiential learning activities at the University of Missouri-Columbia reveals how professional programs favor technical competency aimed at accreditation and tend to refrain from the development of interprofessional collaboration. If collaborative skills help build the social capital necessary for the effective functioning of civil society, then a new model of experiential learning is required for the university, one that explicitly teaches collaborative habits and skills for professionals who will provide human services to their communities.

Social work faculty and students from a university in the southeastern US participated in a 21-day exchange program with a university in Mexico. The experience involved 10 days of language and cultural immersion, concurrent exposure to social service agencies, and an additional week of visits to regional social work campuses. Goals included developing bilingual, culturally competent social workers. Objective measures for cultural competence showed gains in scores which were supported by qualitative data gathered through the use of journals. Results indicated gains in cultural competence with many gains for future efforts.

The needs of learners are changing rapidly and continually in response to an environment that is characterised by change at economic, political and technological levels. There is greater pressure on universities to work more closely with employers in contributing to the process of economic development through the creation of a skilled workforce. Universities are becoming increasingly flexible in their responses to meeting the lifelong learning agenda. Online experiential learning is an essential element in the move towards more situated and professional orientations and with the drive to providing students with real world working knowledge. Asynchronous communication tools and tasks are ideal conduits for the refinement of professional skills. This case study profiles an on-line approach to developing professional project management skills for multimedia developers and presents snapshot views of an online learning environment in which students developing real projects for industry clients.

To obtain optimum pay-off from an experiential exercise, close attention must be given to debriefing. The management educator must provide structure and ambiguity so that learners can personalize the learning-experiencing meaningfulness in its application-so that learning is truly relevant to the individual. An approach is presented to prompt participants to use new skills in the workplace based on a conceptual model for systematic and analytical debriefing, which is as rigorously planned as the experiential learning exercise itself.