Teaching Entrepreneurship Skills for the 21st Century: Approaches and Assessment

1. Teaching Entrepreneurship Skills for the 21st Century: Approaches and Assessment

2. Abstract Everyone is talking about entrepreneurship and its importance to economic development. New courses and programs for would-be entrepreneurs are proliferating. But can entrepreneurship really be taught? This poster will compare traditional in-person courses, online and intensive, hybrid approaches. Assessing student learning will be considered as will technological and logistical issues.

3. I550 Legal and Business Issues in Informatics – Original course • “Entrepreneurship” course with a fancy title • Taught in face-to-face format • Fall 2003 – 3 students • Fall 2004 – 5 students • Most of our students work during the day and take courses in the evening • As an elective course, competed with core courses – enrollment always low • Guest speakers were a very popular feature of this course • Many of our students intend to start their own companies or join small, start-up companies, so a course on entrepreneurship was needed • Moderate workload for faculty member

4. I550 Legal and Business Issues in Informatics – Online course • “Entrepreneurship” course with a fancy title • Converted to online in Summer 2005 • Summer 2005 – 11 students • Summer 2006 – 8 students • Note enrollment growth by converting to online – convenience • Note enrollment growth by offering the course in a summer semester • No in-person guest speakers, only their PowerPoint slides • Some students missed the opportunity to meet each week and talk about their ideas • Extreme workload for faculty member – preparing all of the online content plus responding to weekly Discussion Forum postings

5. Entrepreneurship Boot Camp – Hybrid course • 5 weeks of online pre-work • One-week in-class session – 40 hours • Post-work due 4 weeks later • Summer 2006 – 15 students • Note enrollment growth – nontraditional scheduling • Hybrid model combined the best of face-to-face and online courses – convenience plus guest speakers and time to exchange ideas • Difficult to keep momentum going for 8 hours each day and to respond to student questions without time for research • Extreme workload for faculty member – preparing all of the online content plus the 40-hour in-class week

6. Assessment – I550 In-Person course • Preliminary business idea assignment and choice of business name • Secretary of State’s Office filings, Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws • Comprehensive business plan – due at end of semester - not enough time to prepare • 3-hour comprehensive essay exam • Used two textbooks – one on law, one on entrepreneurship • Most students did very well – lots of ongoing feedback • Concerns about final essay exam – students found this too difficult

7. Assessment – I550 Online course • Preliminary business idea assignment and choice of business name • Secretary of State’s Office filings, Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws • Discussion Forum postings every week – these were reviewed and summarized by the faculty member • Comprehensive business plan – due at end of semester – not enough time to prepare • For Summer 2006, given 4 weeks after end of the semester to turn in the business plan • Used two textbooks – one on law, one on entrepreneurship • Discussion Forum participation – best predictor of final grade

8. Assessment – Boot Camp course • Preliminary business idea assignment and choice of business name • Discussion Forum postings every week during pre-work period • Class participation and attendance • Comprehensive business plan – not due until 4 weeks after end of the semester • Used one textbook on entrepreneurship, supplemented by handouts • Having 4 weeks to complete the business plan was significant in the quality of the plans • Discussion Forum participation – predictor of final course grade

9. Conclusions – Technological Issues • Online and hybrid course material delivered using OnCourse • Considerable amount of time involved in preparing weekly course modules, PowerPoint presentations, etc. – many hours spent preparing and testing everything • Would like to add video to online course so that students could actually hear and see presentations by guest speakers • Online course included students from Hawaii and Japan • Used full features of OnCourse Classic, including gradebook, Discussion Forum, Course Announcements, email, etc.

10. Conclusions – Logistical Issues • Students were willing to devote one entire week to come to class – several took vacation time from a job • Lots of material to prepare for each day – an exhausting load for faculty member and no time for research on student questions – at school from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. and no time for lunch – all available time spent on research and preparation • Coordination of guest speakers • Difficult to maintain momentum for 8 hours • Conversational style preferred to lecture • Not all students completed pre-work beforehand • Not all students completed the preliminary business idea assignment beforehand

11. Conclusions – Assessment Issues • Discussion Forum participation remains best predictor of student success – need for faculty member to review posting for each week – include student names in summary – important feedback mechanism • Business plan – real-world assignment, students love it, several have used it to assess their career goals • Having 4 weeks after the semester to work on the business plan meant that students had time to prepare • Students are surprised by the rigor of online and hybrid courses – meet deadlines, post to Discussion Forum, etc. • Commitment to teaching entrepreneurship remains strong – there is a need for this in our school • Entrepreneurship can be taught successfully in a wide variety of formats to meet student needs