Giving Voice To Site Visits: Experiential Learning Reimagined In Management Higher Education

Despite calls for outcome-aligned and authentic learning, site visits in management education remain pedagogically marginal. In response to Tertiary Education and Standards (2024), demand for curriculum transformation amid generative AI disruption, this paper argues that integrating field-based learning is no longer optional, it is a curricular imperative. We propose a reconceptualization of site visits through Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle anchored in Dewey’s occupational learning and layered with ventriloquial authority to foreground the multi-voiced, identity-forming nature of these experiences. Unlike traditional “field trips,” we argue that curriculum-integrated site visits, designed with clear learning roles, dialogic environments, and structured reflection, cultivate student identity, deepen conceptual transfer, and foster critical engagement. We present a structured model that embeds occupational framing and dialogic co-authorship within each experiential phase, offering propositions and mechanisms for how learning unfolds. This model distinguishes site visits from other experiential modes like simulations or internships and articulates how they uniquely transform management education. Implications for course and assessment design, educator training, and institutional strategy are discussed.