W Trexler Proffitt Jr Muhlenberg College Presented at NCIIA Open 2014 San Jose CA March 22 2014 Problem Statement Premises Academics with PhDs teach in higher ed Academics in higher ID: 206985
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Slide1
Working Alongside as Pedagogy
W. Trexler Proffitt Jr., Muhlenberg CollegePresented at NCIIA Open 2014San Jose, CA March 22, 2014Slide2
Problem Statement
PremisesAcademics with Ph.D.s teach in higher edAcademics in higher ed
teach theory, research
Teaching theory and research is a full time job
Entrepreneurship can be a full time job
Conclusions
People
who do entrepreneurship are not
academics
Academics cannot do entrepreneurship
QEDSlide3
Notable Workarounds
Define teaching entrepreneurship as non academicCall it practical trainingNon tenure trackEase up on the credentials, pay less moneyAllow field-specific outside consultingThe magical 20% rule
Not good for entrepreneurship
Declare field specific exceptions
Engineering, business schoolsSlide4
Context
Small liberal arts college in PA, 2400 undergradsBranding as “strong in the performing arts” Long-standing business, economics, finance, and accounting majors. Business is silently the largest major on campusEntrepreneurship is a concentration within business10-20 students per yearClasses sizes under 15Slide5
What is Working Alongside?
Do the assignments concurrently with studentsShare equally with them the excellent ups and frustrating downsGive and receive critique on all the work, even yoursIt is not necessarily:Lab assignments
Team projects
Field research
Anything with delegation in itSlide6
Is Working Alongside Anything New? Yes and No.
Common in grad schools, science and engineering labsPOGIL methodology is similar (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry and Learning)Common in fine arts (painting), and performing arts (theater, dance)Common apprentice structure in craft and trade fields (plumbing, electrician, nursing)U
ncommon
in business education (we focus mostly on large firms)
What about entrepreneurship education?Slide7
Motivations
Blending liberal arts and businessRethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession (Colby et al., Carnegie, 2011)Business Majors, but with a Twist
(Light, WSJ, 2011)
Teaching content in classrooms is not enough
Wealth or Waste? Rethinking the Value of a Business Major
(
Korn
, WSJ, 2012)
“Business”
students need more liberal
arts
“Liberal arts” students need more business (Higdon, 2005;
Regele
& Neck, 2012
)
Maybe the entrepreneurial mindset is orthogonal to business the way we teach itSlide8
The First Experiment
8 students in first course in entrepreneurship“Create a new venture idea you like and develop it.”Immediate ChallengesDon’t know how to come up with a venture ideaDon’t know how to develop it
Can’t do the market research or financials without idea
Uncertainty, performance anxiety, and paralysis
Solution: Do it with them!Slide9
Roaring Brook Market
Started modeling how to generate new ideasMake local food systems more sustainableFormed a team outside of class (2 other students)Showed how to ideate and iterateMany paths to same goal
What I want to do, what I can do, and how it meets the market
Forced to get into the customer/rival research
Interviews with businesses, customers
Analysis of competent rivals
Estimates for costs, sales
Organizing issues: legal, conceptualSlide10
Typical FarmSlide11
Visible TraditionalismSlide12
Mapping “Local”Slide13
Roaring Brook asIntegrated Food Hub
Storage
Cooking
Processing
Grocery/Café
Retail Cluster
Regional Institutional
Distribution
(schools, hospitals)
Proprietary
Farms
Jobs Creation
Fresh Food Access
Local Branding
Awareness and connection
Partner
Farms
Hospitality Businesses (restaurant, hotel, tourism)
Non-farm productsSlide14
Create a new social purpose business in local food
Research is mixed on whether localism in food is good or sustainable.Work as a participant observer for 3-5 years to assess impact.Begin with a small urban retail grocery/café and build.Slide15
Street View of StoreSlide16
Sample MessagingSlide17
Explicit Sustainability
Reward and encourage local food producersNew farmer entry with specialty cropsShift to grocery items by existing farmers Food business partnersFood System AccessUrban small city model for fresh food access
Multiple points of contact
Connection to people and food supply knowledgeSlide18
Explicit Transparency
Complete labeling and source identification.
Promotion of all local suppliers.
Promoting connection to people.Slide19
Results So Far
Students were more motivatedClearer performance expectationsOpen dialogue and discussionAll students put their new venture into the pitch competition2 of 8 students behaving entrepreneurially today
Is this a lot in a year?
What will happen later on?
Move from “Sage on the Stage” to “Guide on the Side”Slide20
But is it better than that?
“Guide on the Side” connotes helping teams of students discover.
They work as a team, asking questions of the expert.
Expert is still giving hints and asking guiding questions.
Perhaps Working Alongside is even more powerful than that.Slide21
The Usual Next Steps
Seems best for small class sizes, motivated groupMay destroy formal content knowledge performances (exams)Prof has to try to start a new venture every year!!!!Key word is “try”!Resources might help with thatAssessment is difficult unless we agree on metricsSlide22
Thank you! Please Join Me!