Some good ideas for classroom activities:
https://venturewell.org/class-activities-inventor-entrepreneurs/
1) The “If I Knew…” Exercise
Aileen Huang-Saad
University of Michigan
“Each term, I end the class with the “If I knew” assignment. Students are asked to fill out a simple PowerPoint template that asks the following questions:
·
When I signed up to take this class, I was expecting…
·
This is what I got out of the class…
·
If I had only known…
·
This is what I would change…
Before class, I go through all of the student responses and aggregate the feedback into the themes. I then present the summary to the students for the last class and we discuss their
reflections. This summary presentation is then used to iterate on the course for the following year and is assigned as the first reading for the next cohort of students as their first assignment. This sets the stage for the next class.”
2) The Envelope Exercise
Pritpal Singh
Villanova University
“I like to use the envelope exercise developed by Tina Seelig at
Stanford University. In this exercise, the students are asked to plan for a two-hour activity to increase an initial, unknown investment provided to them in an envelope. The amount of money in the envelope is very small – around $2. The students are usually
surprised at how little money is in the envelope. Yet, every time I’ve done this exercise, the students have increased the investment money provided to them. The exercise helps students realize how easy it is for them to make money. I was particularly delighted
when the students at the Bluefields, Indian, and Caribbean University in Nicaragua came to this realization. These students are generally from relatively poor communities and lack confidence in their ability to make money. When they performed this exercise
and realized how easily they could make money, it was really eye-opening and thrilling for them. It was also a very rewarding experience for me.”
3) The Get Out of the Building Exercise
Rodney Boehm
Texas A&M University
“I provide exercises that get students out of the building. Nothing shapes a student’s perception about their idea or market better than talking
with a customer. Most students are uncomfortable when they start a conversation with a potential customer. Once they are comfortable with the skill, it transforms them and their way of thinking.”
4) The Defining Problems Exercise
Ruth Ochia
Temple University
“In my introductory course, I work on students developing a sense for defining problems. I show pictures that contain many potential issues. The students are asked to define the issues they can see and what questions they would ask or additional information
they would want to help define the problems. They always want to start with solutions, but the key is to get them to define the problem better, which is half the work of solving the problem anyway.”
5) The Flipped Classroom Exercise
Deb Streeter
Cornell University
“I think almost all entrepreneurship professors use techniques to create what is now considered to be a “flipped classroom.” I’m no different. Students in my courses work to develop
business ideas and concepts, go out to understand customers, pivot, pitch, and spend time outside the building to learn and practice Lean Startup concepts. I also try to spark interesting conversations inside my classroom. Sometimes I do that by using short,
focused video clips or the Startup podcast. I use the mishaps and adventures featured in the
podcast to illuminate important ideas and concepts. The episodes are a perfect match with so many concepts related to entrepreneurship and Lean Startup. The class becomes very invested and opinionated about the founders and the company.”
6) The Business Thesis Exercise
Jed Taylor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
“There is a simple business thesis exercise that we use in our I-Corps program that teaches teams to
articulate their value proposition and customer segment in a concise way. It sounds simple, but it always amazes me how challenging it is for students to do at first. I even crack out this exercise every time that I give a guest lecture across campus.”
7) The Soft Skills Exercise
Cheryl Bodnar
Rowan University
“I use a game-based exercise to help students develop their soft skills such as oral communication and teamwork, both of which are critical for entrepreneurs. Each player has a card with various symbols on it, and only one of the symbols on their individual
card is defined. Without showing their cards to other players, participants have to decode the symbols and reveal the message on their individual cards, using only oral communication. The end result: all players enter a color on a rainbow-colored game board
and the whole class wins.”
8) The Blindfold Exercise
Joe Tranquillo
Bucknell University
“In some classes I teach, I will hand out blindfolds and ask everyone to put them on. Then they pair up. Their task is to leave the second floor of the engineering building, navigate
the campus, find the library, stand in line at the café and order a coffee or tea. The pair only gets to take off their blindfold when they get their beverage. Afterward we deconstruct this activity. The most important insight is that we as educators talk
a lot about knowing your customer. Sometimes the only way to really understand a customer is to live in their world. After this activity the challenge is to find ways to become or simulate how to be your customer. Students seem to remember this activity for
a very long time!”
For many student inventor entrepreneurs, their first exposure to innovation and entrepreneurship happens in the classroom. That’s why it’s important to continuously develop and improve
upon creative approaches to teaching these concepts to ensure early stage innovators are well-equipped to solve the world’s biggest problems. Learning curriculum development ideas and best practices from other faculty in the ecosystem can help educators adopt,
implement, and refine their own coursework for maximum impact.
Neil Kane
Director of Undergraduate Entrepreneurship
Michigan State University
632 Bogue Street,
Room N120
East Lansing, MI 48824
Cell: 312-404-3507
Entrepreneurship Portal:
http://entrepreneurship.msu.edu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MSUEship/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSU_Eship
LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkane
Going from “Why I can’t” to “Why can’t I?”