Reflection

It is quiet at my desk. The India trip is last month's news, our research papers are handed in, and the class is just waiting to see the fruits of our research and field work manifest into that 'A'.

Before this trip, I was really not sure of what to expect from an MBA level course with a travel component. I knew that the course was designed to meet the elective requirements of a few different concentration areas at Rutgers Business School: Marketing, Supply Chain, and Global Business -- but unlike other courses there weren't traditional metrics to help me judge how I was doing and if I was learning what I needed to be learning.

But a few things helped to eleviate this predicament. There was reading to be done, news to catch up with, and we had to also research the companies we were going to see. During the course of the trip, being in a small, close knit group helped because we were able to bounce ideas off of each other and learn from other people's questions. Pictures, videos and diligent note taking also helped to keep us in check and to remind us of what we saw as we traveled. (Note: for anyone traveling through school, I highly recommend investing in a recorder, or an app on the iPhone. It is worth it when you are trying to remember details from the various meetings and encounters and also much easier to take voice notes than to write out your thoughts.)

When we got back from India, our class reflected on what we saw and how we viewed India. At a few points during our presentations, it was hard to believe we were all on the same trip: everyone had something new to add to the discussion and had viewed India in a completely different light. This was definitely the benefit of a travel based course such as this. We were not bound to text-book learning and could focus our learning on what interested us. I was happy to be able to apply concepts from other classes to what I saw in India. Other students choose to focus on ideas related to their profession.

My suggestion for anyone taking this course, or one similar to this, is to make sure to spend a lot of time reading and preparing for what you will see. But when you are there, just look out the window and take it all in. Try to have a few ideas in mind before you go, as to what lens you may want to see the country in. I knew before the trip that I wanted to look into innovation, science, and entrepreneurship. While I may not have seen all of what I expected to see, having an small idea helped to focus my thoughts during the trip.