Working Alongside as Pedagogy W. Trexler Proffitt Jr., Muhlenberg College Presented at NCIIA Open 2014 San Jose, CA March 22, 2014.
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Working Alongside as Pedagogy
W. Trexler Proffitt Jr., Muhlenberg College
Presented at NCIIA Open 2014San Jose, CA
March 22, 2014
Problem StatementPremises
Academics with Ph.D.s teach in higher edAcademics in higher ed teach theory, researchTeaching theory and research is a full time jobEntrepreneurship can be a full time job
ConclusionsPeople who do entrepreneurship are not
academicsAcademics cannot do entrepreneurship
QED
Notable WorkaroundsDefine teaching entrepreneurship as non
academicCall it practical trainingNon tenure trackEase up on the credentials, pay less money
Allow field-specific outside consultingThe magical 20% ruleNot good for entrepreneurship
Declare field specific exceptionsEngineering, business schools
ContextSmall liberal arts college in PA, 2400 undergrads
Branding as “strong in the performing arts”
Long-standing business, economics, finance, and accounting majors. Business is silently the largest major on campus
Entrepreneurship is a concentration within business
10-20 students per year
Classes sizes under 15
What is Working Alongside?
Do the assignments concurrently with students
Share equally with them the excellent ups and frustrating downs
Give and receive critique on all the work, even yours
It is not necessarily:Lab assignmentsTeam projectsField researchAnything with delegation in it
Is Working Alongside Anything New? Yes and
No.Common in grad schools, science and engineering labs
POGIL 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)
Uncommon in business education (we focus mostly on large firms)
What about entrepreneurship education?
Motivations Blending liberal arts and business
Rethinking 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 it
The First Experiment8 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 itCan’t do the market research or financials without idea
Uncertainty, performance anxiety, and paralysis
Solution: Do it with them!
Roaring Brook MarketStarted modeling how to generate new ideas
Make local food systems more sustainable Formed a team outside of class (2 other students)
Showed how to ideate and iterate Many 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, conceptual
Typical Farm
Visible Traditionalism
Mapping “Local”
Roaring Brook asIntegrated Food Hub
StorageCookingProcessing
Grocery/Café Retail Cluster
Regional Institutional Distribution(schools, hospitals)
Proprietary Farms
Jobs CreationFresh Food AccessLocal BrandingAwareness and connection
PartnerFarms
Hospitality Businesses (restaurant, hotel, tourism)
Non-farm products
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.
Street View of Store
Sample Messaging
Explicit SustainabilityReward and encourage local food producers
New farmer entry with specialty cropsShift to grocery items by existing farmers Food business partners
Food System AccessUrban small city model for fresh food accessMultiple points of contactConnection to people and food supply knowledge
Explicit Transparency
Complete labeling and source identification.Promotion of all local suppliers.Promoting connection to people.
Results So FarStudents were more motivated
Clearer performance expectations
Open dialogue and discussion
All students put their new venture into the pitch competition
2 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”
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.
The Usual Next StepsSeems best for small class sizes, motivated
group
May 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 that
Assessment is difficult unless we agree on metrics
Thank you! Please Join Me!
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