Business Projects and Authentic Learning

This paper describes our experiences working with two student-led team projects: an internship project and a volunteer project.Both projects involved the design, development, and implementation of a database management system.In these projects we have tried to simulate as much as possible the development of a database system in the real business world.Both projects followed a constructivist theoretical framework in which emphasis is placed on learning that is active, constructive, cooperative, authentic, and intentional.The presentation will address, from a student point of view, the learning outcomes of both projects, lessons learned from transferring/applying knowledge from the classroom to the real world, what did work, what did not work, internship versus volunteer projects, and suggestions for improvement.