SPARRING: A Deliberate Practice Pedagogy for Business Education

Many higher education institutions are calling for more experiential learning to improve learning outcomes and better prepare students for the workplace. The need for enhanced experiential education in business schools, and in the decision sciences, is especially important. However, there is a lack of common practical understanding of how to implement this type of learning in business education. We address this gap using deliberate practice as a conceptual framework. Deliberate practice is a proven training technique for developing high levels of expertise. In spite of growing evidence of its relevance to higher education, two obstacles inhibit its widespread adoption by business educators. First, due to its origins as a one-on-one coaching technique, deliberate practice is difficult to apply in traditional university classrooms. Second, because the curriculum must be designed from the start to implement deliberate practice principles, instructional design guidelines are needed to direct the efforts of faculty. To overcome these obstacles, we develop an eight-step instructional design model called SPARRING that incorporates all deliberate practice principles into one framework. We then discuss 13 pedagogical techniques that instructors can use in and outside of class to implement deliberate practice in business education. Using the SPARRING model, we show that these techniques can deliver an authentic and effective deliberate practice experience. We also discuss the application of the SPARRING model at the program and school levels. At a time of major disruptions in higher education, the SPARRING model offers a new pathway for traditional residential universities interested in teaching real-world skills valued by employers in a manner not easily replicated by artificial intelligence.