There have been calls to incorporate more experiential learning activities such as problem-based learning and service-learning in business and management program curricula. Although there has been greater implementation of such pedagogies and more research on the effect of these pedagogies on learning outcomes, there still are gaps in our understanding of how to use them. One form of problem-based learning that has increased in popularity involves incorporating consulting projects in a variety of business courses. Students, in such courses, typically are organized into teams and act as “consultants” to local non-profit or for-profit businesses. Despite the growing popularity of student consulting courses and their potential advantages, few studies compare experiences when consulting with for-profit organizations with experiences when consulting with non-profit organizations. This article sought to identify the differences in the two and offer suggestions for instructors designing a project-based course, to maximize student learning and the likelihood of success. We draw from our own reflections in teaching courses that have incorporated these projects over the course of nearly two decades. Our experience indicates that projects with non-profit organizations require greater instructor preparation in advance of the project start date, more active management from the instructor during project completion, and more time for reflection after the projects are completed. We explore the implications for research and practice and offer suggestions for future research.

有人呼吁在商业和管理课程中纳入更多体验式学习活动，例如基于问题的学习和服务学习。尽管此类教学法得到了更广泛的实施，并且对这些教学法对学习成果的影响进行了更多研究，但我们对如何使用它们的理解仍然存在差距。一种越来越受欢迎的基于问题的学习形式涉及将咨询项目纳入各种商业课程。在此类课程中，学生通常被组织成团队并充当当地非营利或营利性企业的“顾问”。尽管学生咨询课程及其潜在优势越来越受欢迎，很少有研究将咨询营利性组织的经验与咨询非营利组织的经验进行比较。本文试图找出两者之间的差异，并为教师设计基于项目的课程提供建议，以最大限度地提高学生的学习和成功的可能性。我们从我们自己在近二十年来结合这些项目的教学课程中得出的反思。我们的经验表明，与非营利组织合作的项目需要在项目开始日期之前进行更多的讲师准备，在项目完成期间讲师更积极的管理，以及在项目完成后有更多的时间进行反思。我们探索对研究和实践的影响，并为未来的研究提供建议。