Relative Value of Experiential Learning Paper presented at the 2013 Southern Political Science Association Meeting.

Winthrop University used its location in the Charlotte metropolitan area to develop a course that combined academic content with an experiential component during the Democratic National Convention. This paper seeks to use a variety of measures of student performance to determine the relative value of experiential learning. Consistent with previous findings, the experiential component did not lead to new academic knowledge, or necessarily improve students' academic performance. However, the academic portion of the course did seem to provide students with the necessary context to understand the value of the experiential component. In addition, consistent with the literature, the experiential component did seem to be a meaningful and memorable experience that may encourage students to continue to be actively engaged citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]