TY - JOUR A1 - Mejía, Kevin AU - Baena Graciá, Verónica AU - González Cuevas, Gustavo T1 - Experiential learning: How to develop professional skills in communication and advertising students Y1 - 2018 SN - 2340-1079 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11268/10090 AB - One of the challenges in higher education is for students to learn how to apply the theoretical concepts, methods and techniques seen in lectures to real life professional situations. In order to overcome this challenge, professors should encourage values such as confidence, culture, communication, creativity, commitment and technical skills. This article analyzes experiential learning as a methodology for educational innovation that provides students with a space in which they obtain hands on experience and self-reflection, rather than the theoretical information, allowing for personal and professional growth through the teaching process. This research was performed with two groups of students enrolled in the degree of Communication and Advertising at UNITEC (Universidad Tecnologica Centroamericana). Students developed practical abilities such as: problem identification in communication, city brand design and advertising planning. Through this process, a tourism marketing project focused on the promotion of the city of Santa Lucia, in Honduras, was developed. The results of this initiative suggest that experiential learning can improve the development of leadership, decision making and problem solving skills in university students. KW - Enseñanza superior KW - Innovación educacional KW - Método de aprendizaje LA - eng PB - IATED ER -