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Creating the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

Teaching entrepreneurship is about encouraging students to dream big---but also showing them how to act on those dreams. Yet, are we realizing the real potential of entrepreneurship in our classrooms? Are we truly conveying the entrepreneurial mindset? Do students actually improve on key entrepreneurial competencies when they take entrepreneurship courses?

Now in its 16th year, the Experiential Classroom was created to address these questions. Over 900 faculty members from across the globe have learned best practices and leading edge innovations through the Experiential Classroom. These lessons are fundamentally changing the way entrepreneurship education is delivered.

Each year, 75 delegates are accepted to the program, which is coordinated by Dr. Michael Morris, the James W. Walter Eminent Scholar Chair at the University of Florida. He brings in twenty-four of the premier educators in entrepreneurship. The program is intensive, addressing everything from course and curriculum design and teaching creativity to a portfolio of exciting and high impact experiential learning tools (simulations, cases, entrepreneurial audits, business models, marketing inventions, and much more). A central thrust concerns connecting the classroom, co-curricular programming, engagement with the entrepreneurial community, and experiential learning.

Delegates range from those new to the entrepreneurship classroom to seasoned teachers. They include tenure track faculty with degrees in other fields, new Ph.D. program graduates, clinical faculty, adjuncts, center directors, and others. And through the Experiential Classroom, they form collaborative networks and share experiments and experiences. Many report that the exposure they receive is transformative for their teaching approaches, and gets them to rethink what they are trying to accomplish in the classroom and how they achieve it.

The Experiential Classroom XVI will be held from September 17-20, 2015 at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Some partial USASBE Scholarships are available for those who need financial assistance. To learn more about the program, and to apply, go to michael.morris@warrington.ufl.edu&job=1891196&ymlink=3651304&finalurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwarrington%2Eufl%2Eedu%2Fcenters%2Fcei%2Ffaculty%2Fexperiential%2F"> http://warrington.ufl.edu/centers/cei/faculty/experiential/.

Mike