Publication

Abstract : Travel offers a bit of the best and the worst that life has to offer. The anticipation of new sights and the enjoyment of visiting old familiar settings contrast with the dread of leaving the comfort of one’s home. Travel promises wonderful experiences but getting there often means cramped seats, long-winded seatmates, and delays. Still, most of us enjoy visiting new places and finding romance in the sights, sounds, and surprises that arise on a journey. We use a fresh approach in this paper (a travel analogy) to convey the idea of experimenting with different pedagogies to enhance nonprofit education at the university level. Such education is now delivered through premier programs, including American Humanics, and a variety of models, including certificate programs, academic minors, academic majors, and others (Dolch, Ernst, McClusky, Mirabella, & Sadow, 2007). Professional organizations such as the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) and the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC) also offer guidelines to help nonprofit educators. Regardless of how the education is offered, however, the goal is to ensure that nonprofit students are provided with a relevant education that includes quality instruction. Felder and Silverman’s (1998) learning theory was used as an analytic framework and justification for adopting a variety of different teaching styles that can be used in any of these models. In addition to this framework, we also drew on our 18 years of combined teaching experience in the classroom to demonstrate that a thorough understanding of learning styles is crucial for successfully implementing a new pedagogy. Just as travel helps break monotony, create motivation, and inspire creativity, so too can infusing the classroom with a new pedagogical style.