USING COMMUNITY PARTNERS TO FACILITATE LEARNING

ABSTRACT The utilization of community partners to facilitate learning is beneficial for the institution as well as students. Advantages include making connections with industry, providing real-world experiences for students, allowing students to apply lessons from class to a real business problem, the development of written and oral communication skills and providing a venue for students to network with industry executives. This paper describes a recent experience of partnering with a corporation for a regional student retailing competition. Advantages of the program as well as lessons learned are outlined