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New Entrepreneurship Course at Chico State for Incoming Freshmen (Blended Learning Strategy)

  • 1.  New Entrepreneurship Course at Chico State for Incoming Freshmen (Blended Learning Strategy)

    Posted 08-18-2015 13:39

    Dear ENTREP colleagues:

    Next week, my colleague, Dr. Kent Sandoe, and I will begin teaching a new course at CSU, Chico. It contains 100 incoming freshmen, and we are using many of the techniques used by Doan Wankel (thanks, Doan!). Below is the email we sent to all registered students yesterday. If anyone wants to see the syllabus (note: it's 2MB; colorful, and unique!), please send me a personal note and I will send the syllabus to your personal email address. Have a great semester, everyone....Curt DeBerg

    _________________________________________

    Dear Student:

    Welcome to this exciting U-Course! We call this course, "The Digital World." We are your professors this semester: Dr. Curt DeBerg and Dr. Kent Sandoe.

    I, Dr. DeBerg, have taught at Chico State for 25 years. My specialties are financial accounting and entrepreneurship.

    I, Dr. Sandoe, have taught here for 20 years. My specialties are management information systems and education innovation.

    This class will probably be unlike any class you have ever taken in high school, for two main reasons.  First, you will receive a total of six units of credit for the course: three units of general education math and three units as your first business course.

    Second, we will use a concept called "blended learning" to teach the course.  Blended learning is a formal education program in which you will learn from us, your professors, but you will also learn a great deal from digital, online media, and from one another. As your professors, we won't do much lecturing. Instead, you will:

    • Build relationships with fellow students and becoming part of the U-Course community,

    ·        Experience a flexible, non-traditional learning environment; notice the classroom is not designed for standard lectures; instead, they are designed for you to learn by doing,

    ·        Participate in creating artifacts and interactive exhibits,

    ·        Go beyond the classroom, into the Chico community, and

    ·        Work closely with us and experienced college students who will serve as your mentor. (Each group of ten students will have one junior or senior business major hired to be your mentor.)

    Allow us to explain a few of the key features.

    First, this course has 100 students, and the class will be divided into ten well-functioning teams. Each team will identify a REAL business to start and operate this semester. The business can be a commercial enterprise, a social enterprise, or a not-for-profit organization.

    Second, much of your homework coming into class each day will be videos and small assignments, where you will keep a running journal reflecting on the required assignments each week. The only required books to be purchased for the class is Running Lean and All In Startup, with the cost about $50 at the bookstore or less if you order directly from Amazon. You are also required to buy a license from a software company called Top Hat (see below). All other materials are provided free of charge.

    Third, at the end of the semester, we will select the top one or two businesses and do our best to help these businesses find startup funding.

    In the next 24 hours, you will receive three invitations by email. THESE ARE NOT JUNK MAIL! Each invitation is from an organization that is providing a critical service for the course. The three companies are:

    CATME.ORG – This is an organization that we are using to form balanced, high-performing teams. After you respond to this invitation, you will be asked to complete a brief survey. You must complete this survey no later than August 26th. There is no cost for this service.

    GROVO.COM – After you respond to this invitation, you will be asked to complete a set of onboarding training. The purpose of this training is to familiarize you with the Grovo platform and to welcome you to the course. The sooner you complete your onboarding, the sooner you'll be ready to start learning! There is no cost for this service.

    TOPHAT.COM – This is the service that allows for our daily check-in and check-out. We will begin using this service on September 2nd. The fee for this service is $24 per semester if purchased directly from Top Hat online (or you may buy it from the campus bookstore for a slightly higher price.)

    If you have not received your invitations in a few days or are having trouble responding to them, do not worry: we will be working with all students during our first day of class on Wednesday, August 26th to assist you with any technical challenges you are having.

    This is an exciting course for us to teach, and we hope to excite you into learning the material that will help you  not only get a good grade in the course, but to obtain lifelong knowledge and skills that will help you become successful in your professional careers.

    Again, welcome!

    Dr. DeBerg and Dr. Sandoe

     

    ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu). Ventures HO!


  • 2.  New Entrepreneurship Course at Chico State for Incoming Freshmen (Blended Learning Strategy)

    Posted 08-18-2015 15:09
    Hi

    Good stuff Curtiss - best of luck and let me know how I can help.

    Doan

    Doan Winkel
    Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship
    Illinois State University
    @Trep_Ed

    Please forgive any errors - I totally blame the combination of big thumbs and small keys on this smartphone


    -------- Original message --------
    From: "DeBerg, Curtis" <CDeBerg@CSUCHICO.EDU>
    Date: 8/18/2015 1:40 PM (GMT-06:00)
    Subject: New Entrepreneurship Course at Chico State for Incoming Freshmen (Blended Learning Strategy)

    Dear ENTREP colleagues:

    Next week, my colleague, Dr. Kent Sandoe, and I will begin teaching a new course at CSU, Chico. It contains 100 incoming freshmen, and we are using many of the techniques used by Doan Wankel (thanks, Doan!). Below is the email we sent to all registered students yesterday. If anyone wants to see the syllabus (note: it's 2MB; colorful, and unique!), please send me a personal note and I will send the syllabus to your personal email address. Have a great semester, everyone....Curt DeBerg

    _________________________________________

    Dear Student:

    Welcome to this exciting U-Course! We call this course, "The Digital World." We are your professors this semester: Dr. Curt DeBerg and Dr. Kent Sandoe.

    I, Dr. DeBerg, have taught at Chico State for 25 years. My specialties are financial accounting and entrepreneurship.

    I, Dr. Sandoe, have taught here for 20 years. My specialties are management information systems and education innovation.

    This class will probably be unlike any class you have ever taken in high school, for two main reasons.  First, you will receive a total of six units of credit for the course: three units of general education math and three units as your first business course.

    Second, we will use a concept called "blended learning" to teach the course.  Blended learning is a formal education program in which you will learn from us, your professors, but you will also learn a great deal from digital, online media, and from one another. As your professors, we won't do much lecturing. Instead, you will:

    • Build relationships with fellow students and becoming part of the U-Course community,

    ·        Experience a flexible, non-traditional learning environment; notice the classroom is not designed for standard lectures; instead, they are designed for you to learn by doing,

    ·        Participate in creating artifacts and interactive exhibits,

    ·        Go beyond the classroom, into the Chico community, and

    ·        Work closely with us and experienced college students who will serve as your mentor. (Each group of ten students will have one junior or senior business major hired to be your mentor.)

    Allow us to explain a few of the key features.

    First, this course has 100 students, and the class will be divided into ten well-functioning teams. Each team will identify a REAL business to start and operate this semester. The business can be a commercial enterprise, a social enterprise, or a not-for-profit organization.

    Second, much of your homework coming into class each day will be videos and small assignments, where you will keep a running journal reflecting on the required assignments each week. The only required books to be purchased for the class is Running Lean and All In Startup, with the cost about $50 at the bookstore or less if you order directly from Amazon. You are also required to buy a license from a software company called Top Hat (see below). All other materials are provided free of charge.

    Third, at the end of the semester, we will select the top one or two businesses and do our best to help these businesses find startup funding.

    In the next 24 hours, you will receive three invitations by email. THESE ARE NOT JUNK MAIL! Each invitation is from an organization that is providing a critical service for the course. The three companies are:

    CATME.ORG – This is an organization that we are using to form balanced, high-performing teams. After you respond to this invitation, you will be asked to complete a brief survey. You must complete this survey no later than August 26th. There is no cost for this service.

    GROVO.COM – After you respond to this invitation, you will be asked to complete a set of onboarding training. The purpose of this training is to familiarize you with the Grovo platform and to welcome you to the course. The sooner you complete your onboarding, the sooner you'll be ready to start learning! There is no cost for this service.

    TOPHAT.COM – This is the service that allows for our daily check-in and check-out. We will begin using this service on September 2nd. The fee for this service is $24 per semester if purchased directly from Top Hat online (or you may buy it from the campus bookstore for a slightly higher price.)

    If you have not received your invitations in a few days or are having trouble responding to them, do not worry: we will be working with all students during our first day of class on Wednesday, August 26th to assist you with any technical challenges you are having.

    This is an exciting course for us to teach, and we hope to excite you into learning the material that will help you  not only get a good grade in the course, but to obtain lifelong knowledge and skills that will help you become successful in your professional careers.

    Again, welcome!

    Dr. DeBerg and Dr. Sandoe

     

    ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu). Ventures HO!
    ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu). Ventures HO!