Leadership Development of Technology Students Through Experiential Learning

Abstract

Numerous studies show that leadership is one of the factors that impact most on software projects’ success. But even with more than $14B spent yearly on leadership development, it is worrying that more than half of the organizations still believe they are not doing it effectively. One of the most efficient methodologies used in companies is David Kolb’s Experiential Learning, but still uncommon on universities due to the difficulty of simulating practical experiences. Many approaches have been tried with various results and little standardization. For this reason, this study proposes a model for using group activities to help technology students practice leadership skills. A first pilot was executed with positive outcome but more experiments are necessary to ensure its application on other skills and contexts.