Many ask why Westminster College chose the project-based approach in its Bachelor of Business Administration program as opposed to using traditional courses. Given the program's orientation to adult learners wishing to complete their degree, wouldn't it be easier to build a program based on courses and tests?

A major issue for adult learners is time; adults typically have full-time jobs, family lives, and other professional/personal commitments that limit the time that can be spent on campus. So, the adult learner has several choices: take time off work to attend traditional courses on a campus, or take an online program. But not all online programs are created equally.

Finishing the degree is the goal, but it is also important to get the professional skills one needs to meet one's career goals. Knowledge is important, but skill is more important - - what you can DO with what you know.



Benjamin Bloom is well known for his landmark 1950s research into education and thinking. The graphic above shows his taxonomy for thinking, where the highest-order levels of thinking are illustrated at the top of the pyramid. It is easy to see the significant difference between the bottom and top of the pyramid when one thinks in the context of "knowing" and "doing". At the bottom of the pyramid, one can "recall" and demonstrate "understanding" of concepts - most closely associated with reading a book, or attending a traditional lecture, and then taking a test to demonstrate that you recall and understand what was told to you. Consider, instead, the top of the pyramid where you not only know what you've learned, but can apply it, adapt it to a particular situation, and evaluate how to customize the concept to the particular circumstance.

Consider a business situation where an executive is deciding how to solve a problem. Which executive will be more successful: the one who has read and understands a textbook, or the one who has previously applied the knowledge in the textbook to real-life situations and knows how the information from that textbook must be combined with other techniques and how solutions must be adjusted in order to make them fit a particular market? Clearly, the executive in the second situation will have a higher likelihood of success and is therefore more valuable to the organization.

The Westminster College Bachelor of Business Administration program is built on this fundamental premise: applying knowledge to refine skill is far more valuable than merely taking courses. Orienting the program to projects, then, makes perfect sense. Projects are more difficult, from the student perspective, than courses - but the payoff in terms of skill, experience, and ability makes the investment well worth the work. Projects are about learning concepts, coupling them with what is already known, then applying all of it in a context important in business - building a financial model, for example, for a company considering a new product or a new venture. Or, analyzing a market to inform strategy that will get the company to the next level.

Deciding to build the Bachelor of Business Administration on projects rather than courses and tests allows Westminster College to break many of the "rules" of education.

The Westminster College BBA program is all about what you can DO with what you know. You can start the program at multiple times throughout the year, work with peers and faculty coaches and mentors, and be a part of a real College with a real full campus. And when you are done, you'll be able to talk about what you can DO, not just about what courses you've taken.