Three years into her double major in management consulting and analytics and marketing, Gabi Rolader has spent countless class hours solving problems for businesses.

But the businesses never know it. The exercises are case studies.

This spring, in Steve Matuszak’s marketing communications class, Rolader got her first crack at working with an actual client: a bona fide small business whose owners shared their backstory (and minimal marketing budget) with students at their Christiansburg home. In return, Rolader and her team of passionate Pamplin students presented them with a fully fleshed-out integrated marketing communications plan.

In the end, there’s nothing like the real thing. “I felt so much more connected to [the project],” said Rolader. “I really wanted to provide a successful sustainable solution, rather than just come up with the answer that I think the teacher wants. It's about, what is best for the client?”

This kind of hands-on approach is called project-based learning, and it earned Matuszak, an assistant professor of practice in the Pamplin College of Business, the 2024 Teaching-Scholar Award from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL).

More importantly, it gave his students invaluable preparation for the world of work.

“If the Virginia Tech football team is just running the plays in their head, they will never beat another team,” Matuszak said. “There has to be a time where you really run the play.”

The nuts and bolts

Matuszak got fired up about running the play in his MKTG 4304 class after enrolling in CETL’s Project-Based Learning Institute. Quickly he was sold on the approach’s benefits, from improved collaboration and critical thinking skills to more innovation and motivation.

“Project-based learning is being used in college classrooms as a way to engage students and provide them with exposure to challenging real-world problems,” said Catherine Amelink, associate vice provost in the Office of the Executive Vice Provost and interim director of CETL. “Added value comes from having students work in teams and interact with external partners in industry and community settings.”

With CETL’s help, Matuszak redesigned his class to include the following hallmarks of project-based learning:

  • Real clients. In the past three years, teams in the class have worked with over 70 businesses and organizations, among them the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, Slate Creek Builders, Rainbowl Restaurant, and Nest Realty. When he’s not teaching, he’s lining up client partners for the next course. “I just stop in businesses and talk to people,” he said. “I have almost never gotten a no.”
  • Team coaching. Knowing that group work can be the bane of an undergrad’s existence, Matuszak teaches them how to create high-functioning teams by developing a team charter that defines expectations around things like attendance, communication, and conflict. Teams also do asset mapping to identify members’ strengths and opportunities for growth.
  • Regular feedback. “Feedback is everything,” said Matuszak. “It’s the gold of this whole class.” After each of the two client presentations that teams make during the semester, he dedicates several class sessions to 15-minute in-person feedback sessions with teams.

What clients say

Clients who participate go into it knowing that they’re working with undergraduates. Mistakes are possible. In fact, to Matuszak, that’s one of the primary benefits of project-based learning. “They make all kinds of missteps, but they make them in my class, so they don't make them out there. This project is designed so they do that now, and they'll probably never make that mistake again.”

For most, however, the work feels as professional as if they’d hired a full-time marketing agency. “It was a real game changer for us in a lot of ways,” said Paula Tompkins, whose employer, Balance Wellspace Integrative Medicine in Christiansburg, was a client this spring.

The business is already making plans to implement many of the students' ideas, like connecting with local health food stores and posting more photos of mascot dogs Teddy, Bentley, and Finley on social media. “They were able to recommend things that we would have never thought of," said Tompkins. "Steve had encouraged them to think outside the box.”

How students benefit

As a former corporate trainer and consultant, Matuszak knows that employers want new hires who can hit the ground running. Project-based learning gives them a bridge experience that prepares them to transition into internships and careers by acquainting them with unfamiliar industries and giving them a chance to interact with clients.

At the end of the semester, as Rolader headed to an internship with an executive search firm in her hometown of Atlanta, she talked about the confidence the project gave her. “I really learned how it felt to work with a client,” she said. “This client and relationship — it’s personal. We were able to hear from him afterward that he appreciated it, and he thanked us for our time. It feels like what we did was worth something.”

For more information about project-based learning, visit the CETL website or email teaching@vt.edu.

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