Student reflections, industry feedback, and my own observations lead me to the conclusion that the industry partner’s participation and feedback had a significant impact on all of the participants.
Students responded positively to and appreciated the partner’s critique.
I witnessed a definite increase in the amount of time and effort that students put into their capstone projects and presentations when an industry partner participated, and in my judgment, it enhances the quality of the resulting product. The partners themselves enjoyed the process, and I as an instructor learned a tremendous amount and improved my teaching as a result.
Though my student demographic and teaching context are very different from those in Tenenberg’s initial implementations of Industry Fellows, I found Industry Partners to be an adaptable strategy for bringing the expertise of an industry practitioner into the classroom to create a unique and motivating learning environment.