The Mlab Year at Mitchell College
Project Background
In 2022, the chief academic officer at Mitchell College gave me a charge to create a business program, and to incorporate a business learning lab associated with the college's Michael's Dairy Ice Cream Shop.
Quickly scaling beyond Michael to include more than 10 clients, I designed and implemented an innovative experiential learning program, now required in three bachelor's programs at the college.
Design for America at Mitchell College
"I am super grateful I was able to take this class and learn so many good lessons on how to operate with a business."
Business Management Student
How It Works
Full year engagement. Complicated client projects. Student teams. Autonomy.
Emphasis on using DESIGN THINKING to SOLVE a client problem or realize a client opportunity.
Teamwork + Accountability
Mlab teams form in the first few weeks of The (sophomore) Mlab Year, with clear expectations around autonomy and self-direction. Student teams are quickly introduced to their clients, non-teaching professionals and leaders with real problems or opportunities to be addressed. Students learn about their clients, using empathy to explore their needs, and developing a solution to satisfy their client's needs. Students build professional relationships with each other and with their clients, and pitch their solution to their clients late in the Fall.
When students return to class in January, they are given a funded brief from their client, and move rapidly into delivery mode, building assets and implementing the solutions they pitched, and taking full accountability for the process.
Client Engagement
Mlab clients are local professionals and business owners, who have real world businesses, and real world problems to solve. They bring their whole selves to the Mlab, treating their student team as a group of professionals, and holding them accountable for real world results.
Clients are coached to act like students are consultants, to engage them as professionals, and to treat them like adults. This can sometimes be tricky, since they know the students are in college, and might be a little softer on them in difficult times. The lessons of real world accountability are enormous, and the hidden agenda of students learning "adulting" is very powerful.
Students are also supported by professional mentors who work with student teams to help guide their work and reinforce their learning. The combination of engaged clients and inspirational mentors is foundational to the experiential learning in this program.
Learning from Success & Failure
It is a truism that failure is an incredible source of learning. In the Mlab, we treat success and failure as the beginning of the learning process. Students do work, then they present their work, and hear honest professional feedback from their clients and their mentors. Like young employees, they might well be told to go back and do it again, or to change what they did to make it more useful to the client.
At several important junctures during the program, students are asked to reflect on their learning and present what they learned to the class, enabling peer learning and growth, and forcing students to articulate what they are struggling with, and to be given specific guidance on how to do things better next time.
Pricing Information
Free consultation available
Contact Me now for a free consult and fixed price quote for your project.