Radiography

Objective:

• The participants will interact and have to use thinking and describing skills
• To generate enthusiasm and motivation in Idea generation
• Build confidence in communication 

Overview:

This icebreaker/ energiser can be done at any time, it is ideal to be done the beginning of the training session to get everyone communicating and thinking in a fun/ positive way. This can be done with groups of any age, any level and can be used as an entirely generic activity which builds skills, or the task can be tailored by the tutor to build confidence in topic/programme area.

Activity:

This activity is fun and excellent exercise to get to know one another or to energise a team.It doesn’t take up a lot of time and requires a few simple materials (a pen and piece of paper for each participant).
Steps:

1. The group facilitator will ask each individual to write down on a piece of paper a positive word for every letter in their (First Name) to describe themselves in a positive way.
2. Once complete, the trainer should ask participants to swap answers with the person sitting next to them and ask them to read out each other’s positive words that they used from each letter in their first name to describe themselves.

AMENDS  This generic task can be focused upon subject or sector/industry activities rather than individuals.  Each person could take (at random or prescribed) the name of a competitor in the market, or a product that they are exploring – or even create a new product name for a specific target market/to address a specific need and indicate its qualities through its name.

Such an activity creates positive word for every letter in their first name in relation to the organisation they work for/ wish to work for / or a new product or idea - in order to describe the company culture/ mission or values, in order to reinforce these values and positives and help with retention.

This exercise will encourage communication, creativity, motivation and enthusiasm among the participants, whilst also improving retention of ideas.  It will also encourage teamwork as interacting with the other team members is necessary and can be deepened in more complex game play that might require more knowledge or research.

Skill Development:

This fun exercise is built upon ground rules of positivity and develops effective individual and team work as well as create a positive experience of communication.  The engagement in this task can be deepened through reflective feedback which explores the emotions inherent in undertaking a creative, time pressured task which involves presentation skills.  Exploring this with the group and seeking “lessons learnt” for future presentation and creative thinking tasks.  Explore blockages and tensions with the groups and how they were overcome in order to deliver.  It can also be useful to draw out the emotions of presenting, recognising that most people have an emotional response to presenting which they need to overcome to be effective.

Resources:

A sheet of paper and pen for every person.

Objective:

• Cultivate an entrepreneurial mind-set.
• Recognize limitations of entrepreneurial thinking (what holds one back).
• Practice improvisation for idea generation and creativity.

Overview:

This series of three short improvisational exercises offers students the opportunity to identify personal limitations to idea generation and reflect on situations where creativity may have been stifled. Students will consider their personal abilities and reactions to their improvisational abilities, as well as approaches to incorporate improvisational thinking in entrepreneurial endeavours. The overall goal is to demonstrate how students can develop an entrepreneurial mind-set through improvisation. Such exercises are routinely used for developing improvisational actors as well as for pre-show warm- ups for the actors. This methodology was created in the 1960s and remains the standard by which individuals learn to improvise. Improvisation is an important component of the entrepreneurship method because idea generation and the ability to incorporate relevant, timely information are critical skills for developing new ventures that will not only survive but thrive.

Usage Suggestions 

These exercises work for all audiences, undergraduate, graduate, or practitioner. It is particularly relevant for new venture creation courses, entrepreneurial creativity and/or leadership courses, entrepreneurship boot-camps, and workshops.

Activity:

Pre-Work Required by Students

The optional readings may be used for pre-work or post-work, depending on the audience (see ‘Theoretical Foundation in ‘References’).

Time Plan (1 hour)

This exercise can be extended to longer sessions so that students can begin brainstorming entrepreneurial ventures. For the purposes of an initial introduction to improvisation, this teaching note has been written so that the exercise requires at least 60 minutes.

Introduction 0:00–0:05 (5 minutes)

Begin the exercise by introducing the concept of improvisation: Ask students generally if they know what improvisation means. Opening questions for the discussion can include:

• What does improvisation mean to you? 
• Where have you seen improvisation? 
• Has anyone performed improvisation? Seen it performed?

Overview 0:05–0:15 (10 minutes)

Explain how the students will learn the basics of improvisation and see how they could apply it to entrepreneurship, in particular idea generation and creating new ventures. The instructor can show examples of comedy improvisation performance (either live or through video clips from YouTube. Some good short examples include scenes from the ABC show Whose Line Is It Anyway? An example clip can be found at http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v5Qd8bvNW9_h4).

After sharing an example, discuss how performing improvisation can be learned: there are lessons offered for comedy improvisation and improvisational acting performance in improv theatres worldwide. An established framework exists to learn how to improvise. For this class, improvisation equals thinking on your feet. They will now be “in” an improv classroom, and every improvisation theatre class begins with warm-ups. In order to think on their feet, they have to get up on their feet.

Warm-Up 1 0:15–0:20 (5 minutes)

• Tell them to begin walking around the classroom and to observe every single object in the room.
• Then tell them to point at objects as they walk past them.
• As they point at each object they are to say what it is out loud – only they cannot call it what it actually is. They are to label it something it is not. And they are to do it quickly. Provide a quick example by pointing to an object in the room like the board and then say out loud “dog,” and then point at another object like the desk and call it “potato” or whatever comes to mind.
• After one to two minutes of them walking and pointing and labeling out loud, ask them to stop and be silent wherever they are for a group discussion. When they stop, have them discuss how the experience of labeling objects was for them. Try to push them to explain what they were feeling. Some of the following questions can be used for this debrief: 
• How was this experience?
• Did you find this exercise difficult to do? Why?

Summary of Warm-Up 1

Students should experience and be able to articulate:

• How difficult it is to break away from known “answers”;
• How frequently they can get stuck in known patterns of thinking;
• The ease with which they start creating patterns with a known grouping (e.g. eggplant, cucumber, tomato, lettuce), which is a way to make the experience easier (get the “right” answer) as opposed to pushing and fostering creativity;
• The need for students to want to be in control, rather than searching for newness or playing;
• Feeling the sense of awkwardness in saying the “wrong” label out loud, but having others around doing a similar activity makes the exercise less awkward;
• How easy it can be just to listen to others and follow their answers rather than coming up with their own new idea.

Warm-Up 2 0:20–0:25 (5 minutes)

• Tell them to begin walking around the classroom again.
• When they come up to another student, they are to point at another student and name an animal, any animal that comes to mind, e.g. two students face each other and one points at the other and says “horse.”
• Then tell them that the student who has been pointed at and labelled with a type of animal has to make the sound of the animal. If they do not know what sound the animal makes, they are to make it up and make some sort of sound.
• Then they switch, and the student who just produced the animal sound – in this example, the horse sounds – points at the first student and names an animal, e.g. “cat.” This student then makes the sounds of whatever animal he or she was given.
• Once the interaction is completed, and both students in the pair have completed their animal sounds, they are to find new partners and repeat the warm-up exercise with two or three other students.
• After two to three minutes of animal sounds, ask them to stop and be silent wherever they are for a group discussion. Have them discuss how the experience of making animal sounds was for them. Try to push them again to explain what they were feeling. Some of the following questions can be used for this debrief:
• How was this experience? Did you find this exercise difficult to do? Why? 

Summary of Warm-Up 2

Students should experience and be able to articulate:

• Feeling a great sense of awkwardness – they are doing something they would normally be comfortable doing with children, but typically have never done in a classroom of adults or peers;
• Not knowing the right “answer” or sound a particular animal makes, they would feel very frustrated, and then forget the instruction they were given to just make it up;
• Once again, the ease with which they follow patterns – patterns offer a way to make the exercise “easier,” as they offer a means to come up with an answer or a label quickly rather than pushing creativity;
• How difficult it is for them to have no control as to what they have to do, rather than stepping back, enjoying the ambiguity, and searching for newness or playing;
• The fear they have of being “foolish” in a professional setting, how they do not want to be embarrassed by acting silly in front of others, and, in addition, the fear of feeling guilty, foolish, or rude for labelling others as certain types of animals with distinct connotations;
• This fear leads to self-judging and/or editing before they label their peer with an animal or before making the corresponding animal sound.

Warm-Up 3 0:25–0:35 (10 minutes)

• Tell them to form groups of four wherever they are in the room.
• Then instruct them to play a game of word association, where anyone can go first, say a word, whatever word comes to mind.
• The person to the left listens to the word and then says a word that comes to mind based on the word he or she just heard.
• They continue in this way until you stop them, and they are to go as fast as they can (tell them to listen for further instruction).
• Once they get started, let them go for a minute or so, and then very loudly instruct them to “Switch directions!”

After another one to two minutes of word association, ask them to stop and be silent. You can have them return to their seats at this point or have them stay where they are for the final group discussion. Now have them discuss how the word association experience was for them. Most will say this was easier to do, as they were in a group setting. So push them to explain what was happening rather than what they were feeling. Some of the following questions can be used for this debrief: 

• How was this experience? If this was easier than the last two warm- ups, why?
• If you found this exercise more difficult than the last two, why?
• What happened when you were told to change directions? Why did this happen?

Summary of Warm-Up 3

Students should experience and be able to articulate:

• The ease again they experienced of getting into routines or patterns – how much they wanted to “control” the situation and outcomes;
• How much they were trying to be clever, or funny, rather than just coming up with any word that came to mind and following the exercise;
• Typically they do not enjoy the ambiguity and opportunity to play and explore newness;
• Self- judging occurs again, they feel limited in the direction for the exercise, and what words they allow themselves to say owing to their need to feel included or pressure to continue established patterns rather than pushing creativity and undefined randomness;
• Students typically are not listening to the last word they just heard, and instead they focus on the words that people two ahead of them in the exercise are saying, as this way they can plan their response (this is highlighted with the change directions instruction).

Discussion 0:35–1:00 (25 minutes)

Once the students return to their seats, have them form groups of three to four and discuss what might be preventing their idea generation efforts related to initial new venture concepts. They should explore what holds them back when considering what they might do. Have them discuss the specific difficulties they experienced personally during the improvisation exercises and how they might get past these limitations to develop a more entrepreneurial mind-set. Have a member of each group report out one recommendation for fostering creativity through improvisation. A closing discussion should include how to incorporate improvisation in their idea generation practices.

Teaching Tips

It is important to keep the warm-up exercises moving fast. It might be helpful to tell the students before they begin the exercises that they will feel really uncomfortable, but feeling uncomfortable is the point of the exercise. In the debrief discussions, some students will genuinely enjoy the exercises and will say they found nothing in them difficult. Asking for a show of hands of those who found the exercise difficult to do first is often a better way to begin the debrief, before asking about how they found the experience (in case the students who enjoyed the exercises stifle the discussion). In warm- up 3 it is very helpful to move around the room encouraging groups to speed up their words so that there are no long pauses. It is important for them to think quickly and see how to come up with new ideas rather than thinking or planning and judging their ideas before they see where the new ideas can take them.

Skill Development:

Key Takeaways

• How to incorporate improvisation to develop an entrepreneurial mind-set: being quick on your feet and adapting or reacting rather than planning and pre-judging.
• Identifying and recognizing personal limitations to entrepreneurial thinking (why students are held back from creativity in idea generation, what their personal pitfalls are).
• How to develop an entrepreneurial mind-set by incorporating tenets of fast and free thinking through improvisation for idea generation and creativity.

Resources:

The full text ‘Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach’ can be purchased here > http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Entrepreneurship-A-Practice-Based-Approach/dp/1782540695

References:

This exercise is taken from;

• Heidi M. Neck, Patricia G. Greene and Candida G. Brush, 2014. Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach (pp.118 - 124). Edition. Edward Elgar Pub.

Attribution

• These exercises are based on foundational exercises used in improvisational training, widely taught in improvisational theatre courses worldwide.

Theoretical Foundations

• Spolin, V. 1959. Improvisation for the Theater: A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. Johnstone, K. 1999. Impro for Storytellers. New York: Routledge/Theatre Arts Books.
• Hmieleski, K.M., and Corbett, A.C. 2008. The contrasting interaction effects of improvisational behaviour with entrepreneurial self-efficacy on new venture performance and entrepreneur work satisfaction. Journal of Business Venturing, 23(4), 482–96.
• Neck, H.M. 2010. Idea generation. In B. Bygrave and A. Zacharakis (eds.), Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship (pp. 27–52). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
• Balachandra, L., and Wheeler, M. 2006. What negotiators can learn from improv comedy. Negotiation, 9, 1–3.

Author:

• This exercise is taken from, Heidi M. Neck, Patricia G. Greene and Candida G. Brush, 2014. Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach (pp.118 - 124). Edition. Edward Elgar Pub, and is reprinted with the kind permission of the authors.

Objective:

• To encourage students to work effectively in teams.
• To develop students' abilities to delegate tasks, make decisions quickly, and deliver results under pressure.
• To develop students creative thinking and problem solving skills.

Overview:

The Egg Challenge is a fun activity, ideal to stimulate effective team working, creativity and effective problem solving with any group.

Split into small groups, learners are each given a real, raw egg, and a simple challenge: to prevent the egg from breaking when dropped from a height of 2 metres!

To assist them, students are given a small number of resources, and set against the clock to complete the challenge.

The activity works well as an ice-breaker, or as the introduction to a larger topic. It takes approximately 20 – 30 minutes to complete.

N.B. This activity uses raw eggs, and will not be suitable for learners will egg allergies.

Activity:

1. Organise the group into small teams (2 – 3 per team is ideal)
2. Provide each team with a raw egg (stress that the egg is raw, and should be handles carefully!)
3. Instruct teams that their eggs will soon be dropped from a height of 2m, and their challenge will be to prevent their egg from breaking. (You may wish to drop eggs from a different height, based on accessibility, and the space available. For example, if safe and appropriate, you may wish to drop eggs from an upstairs window, or in a stair well, to provide a considerable height. The higher the eggs are dropped from, the more exciting the challenge becomes!)
4. Inform teams that to complete the challenge, they will be given a set of materials (2x pieces of A4 paper, 4x drinking straws, 1m of string, 1x balloon and a role of sticky tape).
5. Using these, and only these materials, they must construct something around their egg, to protect it as it as drops.
6. Instruct the group that successful teams will be those whose eggs survive without a crack, and that they have 20 minutes to complete their constructions!
7. As groups work, ensure all stick to the rules that have been set, and provide regular time checks. (You may wish to play fast-paced music in the background as students' work, to add additional energy and tension to the task).
8. To add an element of silliness, you may wish to encourage teams to come up with team names (egg puns always prove popular), or provide felt-tips for teams to draw character faces on their eggs!
9. When time is up, instruct all groups to pass their constructions (eggs included) to the testing area. (In view of the whole class, set up an appropriate area for testing. You may wish to ensure the floor is appropriately covered to cater for any mess if eggs break!)
10. One by one, invite teams to explain to the group the reasoning behind their designs, before dropping their constructions from a height.
11. Retrieve the egg, and announce to the group whether the team have been successful, inviting applause.
12. Finish the session by inviting students to identify the skills they have developed through the activity, and how these apply to their academic and business practice. What was the difference between successful and unsuccessful teams? (Team work? Build Quality? Etc.).

Challenge Solution

There are numerous ways of successfully completing this challenge. Design ideas include;

• Using the paper to make a parachute
• Shedding the paper and using as padding
• Using the balloon as cushioning
• Constructing a basket for the egg using straws.

Successful designs tend to be those where weight is well balanced, where the egg resides near the centre of the construction, and where there is no way of the egg making direct contact with the floor on impact!

Skill Development:

After this activity, students will have a greater appreciation of how they work as teams, and how well they can perform in completing a time-limited challenge as a team under pressure. They will have stimulated their creative and problem solving capacities, and be better equipped for creative thinking, team-working, and problem solving based activities going forward.

Resources:

For each team;

• 2x pieces of A4 paper
• 1m of string
• 4x drinking straws
• 1x balloon
• 1x roll of sticky tape
• (Additional items may be added if desired to make the challenge harder / easier)

For the facilitator;

• A bin bag / floor covering for the testing area (just in case!)
• A step or footstool (if required).

Objective:

• Break the ice and build energy in a classroom setting.
• Encourage students to think more creatively when problem- solving.
• Feel how movement can be an active component of the learning process.

Overview:

How do you make rain inside a room? This is the opening question for a playful, kinaesthetic, exercise that can help students begin to think more creatively and collaborate as a group. In a round circle of 15 or more, participants work together to create the sound of light rain that then escalates to a powerful storm and back to light rain. 

Usage Suggestions

This exercise works for all audiences, undergraduate, graduate, and executive. The exercise is best positioned at the start of a session or a class as a non- traditional opener. 

Activity: 

Pre-Work Required by Students

• None.

Time Plan (15 minutes)

Exercise 0:00–0:08 (8 minutes)

The instructor should begin with the following challenge: "If we wanted to make it rain in this classroom right now, how could this be accomplished?"

Students will offer the more obvious solutions such as: light a fire so the sprinkler system will go off; bring in a bucket of water and throw it up in the air; shake a closed bottle of carbonated water and then open it. Note that many of these solutions are individual based, and they are neither realistic nor innovative. When there are no more ideas, ask the students to form a circle (shoulder to shoulder) in the room and announce the following: “We are going to make rain together as a group. Only do what the person to your right is doing and don't start until the person on your right starts.” The “rain” is made during a series of seven rounds. The instructor begins each round, and then the person to the left will do exactly as the instructor does. The rounds flow into one another; there is never a break in the flow of making the rain.

• Round 1: rubbing hands together. The instructor begins by rubbing his or her hands together palm to palm. The person on the immediate left should immediately follow. Eventually the entire group will be rubbing their hands together. When hand rubbing reaches the person to the immediate right of the instructor, it's time for round 2.
• Round 2: snaps. While everyone is still rubbing their hands together the instructor then begins snapping his or her fingers of both hands. The person on the left should immediately follow. Eventually the entire group will move from rubbing hands to snapping fingers. When the snapping of fingers reaches the person to the immediate right of the instructor, it's time for round 3.
• Round 3: slapping hands on thighs. Repeat the format of the previous rounds. Transition to round 4 when thigh slapping reaches the person to the instructor's immediate right.
• Round 4: stomping feet while slapping hands on thighs. The storm is at its peak during this round. Repeat the format of previous rounds.
• Round 5: return to slapping hands on thighs. Repeat the format of the previous rounds.
• Round 6: snaps return, and the storm begins to subside. Repeat the format of the previous rounds.
• Round 7: rub hands together so the light rain returns, and then end. Repeat the format of the previous rounds.

Congratulate the students for making rain and creating a storm and initiate a round of applause.

Debrief 0:08–0:15 (7 minutes)

The following questions are suggested for debriefing:

• When I asked the question about creating rain, why did your answers not consider “sound” or other ways to create rain?
• What does this mean for how you think about creating opportunities? Problem solving?
• What was your reaction when I asked you to get into a circle?
• How did you feel before, during, and after the exercise?

Teaching Tips

Here are a few tips to ensure a true rainmaking experience:

• Every round must flow into the next without stopping.
• The instructor sets the tone for each round because he or she is the first to go. For example, it's important to slap hands on thighs rather hard to get the sound needed. The same can be said for stomping.
• Students have a tendency to want to all start rubbing their hands together when the first person starts. It's important that each person waits to start (or change) until the person to his or her right starts or changes. The instructor may have to start, stop, and restart in the first round to make the point regarding who does what activity when.

Skill Development:

Key Takeaways

• Our frames of reference are the starting point for problem solving and creating, yet these frames are limiting.
• There is usually uncertainty associated with asking students to get into a circle, but through collaboration this uncertainty is diminished and something completely unexpected is created.
• Entrepreneurship requires action. Simply moving your body can have an immediate impact on emotions, motivation, and confidence to continue.

Resources:

• The following YouTube video illustrates the power of the exercise: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v5LKDGCgXtETc.
• The full text 'Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach' can be purchased here > http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Entrepreneurship-A-Practice-Based-Approach/dp/1782540695

References:

This exercise is taken from;

• Heidi M. Neck, Patricia G. Greene and Candida G. Brush, 2014. Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach (pp.114 – 117). Edition. Edward Elgar Pub.

Attribution

• This exercise has been used by teachers of all levels, though it's not clear who created the exercise. See http://www.teampedia.net/wiki/index. php?title5Make_it_Rain.

Theoretical Foundations

• Gardner, H. 2011. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Author:

• This exercise is taken from, Heidi M. Neck, Patricia G. Greene and Candida G. Brush, 2014. Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach (pp.114 – 117). Edition. Edward Elgar Pub, and is reprinted with the kind permission of the authors.

Objective:

• To understand team dynamics and how teams come together to achieve a goal
• Listening to other members of the team  
• Idea generation and creativity
• Understanding the importance of careful research, discussion and planning

Overview:

This exercise is a fantastic way to get people working together to complete a simple challenge. The idea is that they are given a pack of spaghetti, a pen, scissors, a reel of cotton, two chairs and a bar of chocolate for each member of the team. They are asked to build a bridge using the equipment provided that will hold the bars of chocolate. The first team to do this wins.

Activity:

This activity could take from 30 minutes to complete, reflection and analysis takes place at the end of the session

An example of the tools they will be given is laid out on the facilitators desk where the spaghetti packet is opened and the cotton is cut into a few lengths, providing visual example of what is possible (if potentially misleading!).

The chairs are spread two feet apart and cannot be moved (ideally these will be away from other groups to stop cheating) items are given to the group and they are advised that they are to have a 5 minute team talk to prepare before they start, however the first one to build the bridge wins (and invariably they race ahead and start to build the bridge, but you can reflect upon this approach with the whole group at the end).

Typically the further they race ahead (without planning and discussion) and open the items, the more problems they will face. For example, once the spaghetti is opened it becomes a lot harder but the more creative constructions emerge. The best solution is to leave the packet closed, pierce the ends and use the cotton to secure the packet to the chair and rest the chocolate on the packet of spaghetti. However it is still possible to complete the task once the spaghetti is opened, but they will do well not only to hold the chocolate, but complete the task in 30 minutes.

At the end of the 30 minutes, the groups get a chance to see what the other teams have done and see how creative they have been in creating a bridge.

This could be done with any size group as long as there are sufficient facilitators to split into smaller groups. The optimum numbers in each group would be 4, however multiple groups will be working at the same time. They would have to work at the same time so as not to hear the discussion of other groups.

Skill Development:  

This activity can develop a wide range of skills including the following:  

• Imagination and creativity
• Communication and Strategy
• Problem solving  
• Teamwork and organisation 
• Leadership/Persuasion 
• Individual and team decision making 
• Logistics/Systems 
• Speed/Precision/Efficiency 
• Reflection/Review/Analysis
• Feedback to other team members and at the end of the task

It is useful to spend additional time reviewing the group process and explore how the task was tackled as a group.  Ask the groups to reflect on the following within their team process:

How the initial discussions went, did someone take the lead, was it a bit of a shouting match, was it chaos, was there a lack of ideas/too many ideas 

• Whose ideas were listened to the most and why 
• Who was ignored and why 
• Whose ideas were taken on board and why, was a consensus achieved 
• Who allocated roles 
• Who put themselves forward for roles 
• How did the actual production go, smooth, chaotic, who took the lead, who organised, how did it progress, how was the mood of the team? 
• Was everyone involved? Did everyone need to be involved? 
• How did the dynamics between the members of the group change as they went through the different stages

Resources:  

In advance you need to purchase resources.

Each team will need a pack of spaghetti, scissors, reel of cotton, two chairs and a chocolate bar for each team member. Someone will need to watch the time or you can add time keeping to their responsibilities.

Objective:

• To expose students to working within a high pressure, novel, real-world environment.
• To develop students presentation and communication skills.
• To develop students teamwork and interpersonal skills.
• To develop students ability to communicate information effectively to diverse audiences.

Overview:

The ability to work well as a team, to develop and manage effective relationships with a diverse range of audiences, and to be skilled in communication are essential for any student, irrespective of their programme of study, or future career aspirations.

This simple activity encourages students to develop these skills, by inviting them to become the teachers, working in teams to develop presentations, and delivering them to a given audience.

The activity requires minimal presentation, can be easily adapted to suit any group, with ample room to extension activities, and also serves as an effective revision activity for students.

Activity:

Pre-Activity

• Set-up for this activity is minimal.
• You may wish to gather any resources or props in advance of the session, available for students to use in delivering their presentations.
• You may wish to invite in a particular individual or group, to serve as an audience to student presentations.
• You may wish to set students preparatory work to do in advance of the session.

Part 1

• Inform students that they are to prepare a presentation of a given length, on a given subject, for presentation to an audience.
• Provide students with information regarding the subject matter which must be covered.
• Provide students with information regarding the audience for their presentation – To enhance the 'real' element to this task, an external audience may be invited to receive these presentations. This could include students from other courses or year groups, school students, industry relevant professionals or otherwise.
• Provide students with a deadline by which their presentations must be ready to deliver - To provide students with experience of working under pressure, with risk and uncertainly, this deadline could be very tight (i.e. a matter of minutes or hours), with no prior warning of the task. If depth of research and quality of presentation takes precedence, this activity could be spread across a number of sessions, or students provided with advance warning in order to prepare appropriately.

Part 2

• Students organise themselves into teams.
• Within teams, students delegate tasks, and research and prepare their presentations.
• You may wish to allow students access to any appropriate props and resources, computers etc. to support them in this (as time and circumstance permits).
• You may wish to set additional rules to groups (for example, every individual within the group must speak during the presentation).

Part 3

• Students deliver their presentations to one another, and their invited audience.
• You may wish to allow the audience to ask questions to presenters and for students to assess one another as they present.
• You may wish for presentation to be recorded.

Post Activity

• Students can feedback on their experience of the activity (what did they enjoy? what did they find most challenging? what did the activity teach them?).
• If filmed, recording of presentations may be watched and analysed, or made available to students as revision tools.

Skill Development:

• Students will develop their team work and communication skills, be better equipped to work to tight deadlines and under pressure, and more adept at communicating information in an appropriate way for a given audience.
• They will have had opportunities to reflect on their own abilities as communicators, and considers means by which they could improve.
• They will have consolidated the knowledge they were set to present through the task.

Resources:

• An appropriate audience for students to present to.
• Assess to resources, for students use in preparing presentations.

Associated Case Studies

• Teaching the Teachers

Objectives:

After participating in this exercise, learners should be better-able to:

• Achieve higher assessment literacy
• Formulate and negotiate assessment criteria for a task, and undertake the task with the criteria firmly in mind;
• Think constructively about the weighting of assessment criteria;
• Undertake peer assessment of other teams’ performance;
• Undertake self-assessment by reflecting on their own group’s performance;
• Recognise the benefits of team work (and address some of the problems of working in teams);
• On the basis of a ‘fun’ exercise, take forward useful thinking on assessment design.

Overview

The task is for groups of learners to make a container to hold an egg that is capable of being dropped from a specified height and position in the room without the egg breaking. To do this properly you need about two hours in a large flat room, big enough to enable groups to work independently. This is a practice task to familiarise learners with the concepts of meaningful assessment criteria, weighting and agency of assessment and is particularly useful during the first six weeks of the first semester of the first year. It is presented as serious fun which improves learners’ assessment literacy. It’s also a good staff development exercise to get staff to think hard about assessment issues.

Learners in a class (16-70) are divided into groups of 4-6, at separate tables around the room, and provided with a range of everyday objects as resources, including an unbroken fresh egg. They are briefed to use the resources in a specified time to arrange that the egg can be dropped from a specified height and position in the room to ground level, and remain unbroken by the fall. They are to use the various resources in a creative way to achieve this. But first the groups must come up with around five assessment criteria, which will be used by the other groups to assess each group’s achievement of the exercise, and the whole group of learners must assign weightings to each of the criteria. One criterion is not negotiable: “The egg remains unbroken by the fall”.

Activity

1. Divide the learners into small teams (groups of about 4-6 work well). This activity can be done with a class size of up to 50, but for smaller classes the minimum group size is 3.
2. Advise the learners of the purpose of the task, emphasising that it is competitive but essentially fun, and that actually the discussion around the task is much more important to their understanding of assessment conventions than the task itself.
3. Issue the materials to the groups, instructing them that no other items may be used, including waste paper bins, people and furniture. Insist no one handles the materials and egg before the start signal. You may need to be very strict about this. You may also wish to ham up the rawness of the egg by chucking them to the learners or ‘accidentally’ dropping one. Get each group to check their egg is not cracked when they receive it.
4. Ask learners to brainstorm up to 5 criteria on which they should be judged (5 mins)
5. Collate the criteria on a flipchart or white board, and telling them that the egg not breaking is the non-negotiable criterion, get them to collectively prioritise their further criteria. Ask them to include both product and process in the criteria. (Typical criteria include effective planning, aesthetic beauty, sustainability (all items could be reused), using all items provided or smallest number of items, team all worked together well, everyone contributed to the task in some way, achieving the task within the set time, and so on). You shouldn’t need to spend more than 10 mins on this but if you get into discussing how you judge aesthetic beauty it could take 15 mins.
6. Explain the concept of weighting of assessment criteria. Tell them that the egg not breaking is worth 40% and ask them to propose weightings for the other four criteria that add up to 100% with the most important things being given the highest weighting. (5 mins).
7. Negotiate agreed weightings for the criteria for the whole group and put on flipchart or white board. (5 mins).
8. Get the whole group to think up who will actually do the assessmenti.e. agency for 5 mins. Forexample, most product items could be assessed by the tutor or the learners acting as peers rating other groups (inter-peer assessment). If they are judging items like how well they worked as a team, this will have to be rated within the group by four peers each rating the fifth, i.e. intra peer assessment. Self assessment might be used for example if a negotiated criteria is something like individuals contributing to the best of their capabilities or enjoyment. Even if you only use a couple of agents, its helpful to discuss the full range and mention that other possibilities on future group work might include employers, placement managers and clients. (10 mins).
9. Get the groups to talk for 5 mins about what they plan to do and insist no one touches the materials until you start the task. 
10. Start the task advising them they have say 8 minutes in which to complete it. You may wish to add to the sense of fun by blowing a whistle, setting a kitchen timer, phone timer or whatever.
11. Watch learners in action, talking no part in the activity but you may wish to record any breach of the rules which you can bring up in your moderation/summing up.
12. Stop the task exactly on time. Blowing your whistle loudly is fun! Notice any learners who choose to carry on regardless and decide whether to penalise them totally by giving no marks at all (this gives you a chance to mention things like plagiarism policies and rules on issues like mitigation) and the risks learners can run by ignoring the detail of assignment brief.
13. Allow each group in turn to come to the ‘dropping point’ and use their equipment to drop their egg from the specified height to the floor, and prove whether or not their egg has been broken, carrying out the assessment using tutors and peers as appropriate. If you have a lot of groups, this can take quite a while. Discuss the assessment of the first six or so in detail, and then tell learners that to do every one in detail would take ages and this is after all a game about assessment (but do drop every egg and check the egg isn’t broken or else learners will feel cheated).
14. It is really important to get the learners back into small groups after the assessment to discuss the assessment issues for at least five minutes (try to stop them having endless discussions about whether their design was actually best or whether they were fairly treated, and so on) and then have 5-10 minutes in plenary with you summing up the learning points.
15. You might then wish to issue to learners the assignment brief for the next actual assessment task that follows in their course or module, and get them to bring along to the next session any queries they have about criteria, weighting, agency or anything else, arising from their reflections on the egg game.

Skill Development:

• Assessment literacy
• Team working.
• Creativity and originality of design.
• Time and task-management.
• Learners formulating and agreeing assessment criteria for the task.
• Learners proposing and agreeing the weighting of the assessment criteria.
• Peer-assessment of other groups’ performances.
• Self-assessment and reflection on what happened in each group. 

Resources:

Flipchart of white board to display agreed assessment criteria.
Supermarket carrier bag, per group, in which you place:

• a pair of scissors
• a small roll of sellotape
• a selection of about 4 items from the following: a newspaper, a plastic cup, paper plate, tissue paper (or a tissue), length of string (about 2 metres seems to work well), cocktail sticks, wooden or plastic clothes peg, square of bubble wrap (if you want to make it really easy for them) or whatever is available.
• one uncooked egg in shell.

It is important that each bag contains more-or-less identical kit, otherwise appeals of ‘unfairness of assessment’ may arise (though of course you might wish this to be one of the matters which will arise, in which case allow some differences in the kit).

References:

• Brown, S. (2015) Learning, teaching and assessment in higher education: global perspectives, London: Palgrave-MacMillan.
• http://sally-brown.net

Author's Website:

http://sally-brown.net

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Objective:

To help Nurses understand the relevance of enterprise education  to their profession by  

• Providing a learning environment to enable them to develop enterprise competencies 
• Setting a challenge to solve with major community impact
• Providing the opportunity to pitch to major funders
• Providing opportunity to reflect on  their skill development and learnings

Introduction:

This example was delivered in a standard lecture theatre for initial interactive workshop, moving (after forty five minutes six tutorial rooms) used for group task in order to deliver to a class of 300.

Within this half day session, second year nurses were introduced to the concepts of enterprise and its relevance to the nursing profession. They had to debate its relevance within the lecture and work in groups to develop solutions to healthcare problems. They then faced a group challenge over a three hour period, which they ultimately needed to present to be assessed by a panel including a lecturer, nursing practitioner and a nursing entrepreneur (externals).

Activity:

Initial exploration of the concepts of enterprise and entrepreneurship allows for agreement to be formed over “what are the enterprise skills or competencies” being sought by nurses and within healthcare.

Using interactive and discursive techniques to allow for initial thoughts and fears to be shared in small group, it is possible to explore these personal skills and draw out experiences and expertise from the prior knowledge/background of the student group.

The next stage is to collate these responses to create a formal group response (see skill development through reflective practice HOW TO GUIDE ETC SKILL) and ask them, as a group, to debate their relevance to practical nursing. Once this has been explored as the full cohort, put the students into groups and ask them to identify student health problems (issues of personal health that they and their peers ought to consider) and brain storm how to solve or reduce the impact of this issue. Using resources, knowledge and materials they are invited to be ready to pitch to panel for 10 minutes (there is an option to submit group written report) where they will ideally pitch to a panel of externals.

Another option is to provide each team with investment money (monopoly money or similar) and invite them to “fund” the best idea. Once feedback has been given to the group, invite full group reflection and re-examine enterprise skills and behaviours and their confidence in them.

Impact:

The impact of this approach was clear, with over fifty unsolicited emails providing positive feedback (in addition to the module review). This was measured annually but with the initial 300 students tracked for ten years with their level of Enterprise competency development measure Comments included “the most relevant, best teaching in my entire Nursing degree” and “I now understand how enterprise relates to nursing and intend to make a difference through being an enterprising nurse”.

The students in particular enjoyed the interactivity, the focus on social enterprise and the use of fun and drama to get all students involved – and overall the module feedback was the highest for any teaching in the nursing degree.

The initial group of 300 filled in an “efactor” (Gibson 2006) competency questionnaire (both before and after the programme) and then two years five years and ten years afterwards. This clearly showed that all enterprise competencies had increased but in particular resilience, creativity and personal branding had shown the most significant increases over a ten year period.

Wider impact was also demonstrated as five student groups per annum received UNLTD funding and one group in year two won the University business pitch competition, competing against students from all disciplines.

Learner Outcome:

By exploring their own creativity within the context of how social enterprises work, all the nursing students were able to explore their enterprise competences and understand the link between enterprise and nursing. Discussions surrounding the changing Health Environment help to separate out an individual’s potential for creativity from perceived increasing corporatisation through privatisation and ensure that the student understand their role in patient care requires enterprising skills and behaviour, working within the NHS framework.

The students all enjoyed the opportunity for creative group work and exploring their profession in a new light.

Further support for the pitching/presentation elements could be have beneficial to some groups, had additional time been available. However the “common currency” of TV Programmes such as “Dragon’s Den” allows pitching to be introduced as a fast and effective communication/presentation method to any student group.

Resources:

• Post-its 
• Flipcharts 
• Optional: externals / Alumni 
• Optional: ‘fake’ money for funding/investment

Link to HOW TO ETC GUIDES on Debating Group work Building Reflective Practice by understanding Skill Development

References:

• Gibson, DA (2006) “The Efactor” Pearson Education http://davidgibsonenterprise.com/books/ Gibson, DA (2015) “The Efactor Workbook”. Achii Publishing. Website: http://www.davidgibsonobe.co.uk (request free case study)

Author/Contact Details:

• Professor David Gibson OBE, Head of Entrepreneurship Education, Liverpool John Moores university (d.a.gibson@ljmu.ac.uk)

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Objective:

• Develop an understanding of the benefits of producing a business plan, for them and  their business
• Develop an understanding of the costs and resource implications of producing a business plan to them and their business 
• Alleviate concerns and promote their ownership of the business plan 
• To evidence the power of group work as ideas and issues are considered from different perspectives and shared through small group work

Overview:

This activity is designed to provide an opportunity for students to develop their understanding of the purpose and benefits of producing a business plan as well as expressing any concerns or issues relating to the process.  

Activity:

As an individual task – invite each student to consider the opposing statement below (that preparing a business plan is ‘a waste of time’ and ‘a valuable exercise’ and to make a list of the reasons why someone may agree with each of the statements. 

Each point can then be researched, discussed in small groups, and challenged within the small group situation to create a consensus for presentation.

The activity should be concluded by asking the group to agree where they would rank themselves on the continuum and make their position to the wider group.

This will create a range of presentations, which will draw out of range of concerns and issues, that can then be discussed and explored across the wider group.

Preparing a Business Plan

A waste of time ......................................  A valuable exercise
0                                                                          10

This can also be repeated, following business planning work, to provide a useful reflection tool at the end of the business planning process, when students are invited to consider the statements again having completed the business plan.  This can provide an indication of any change in the entrepreneur / small business owner’s view.

Skill Development:

The decision making within this task is both individual and within a group and therefore develops consensus building through discussion and debate.  The discussion will build deeper understanding of the business planning process and build confidence around this area, whilst the presentation skills to the wider group will build confidence in public speaking and debate.

Objective:

• Reflect on the meaning and importance of the nine business model components. 
• Demonstrate how the ordering on the canvas categorizes components as generating value or creating efficiency to deliver value. 
• Discuss and debate the ordering proposed by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010).

Overview:

The Business Model Canvas (http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/ canvas) has become a popular teaching tool in entrepreneurship classrooms. It is not my intention here to introduce the canvas or illustrate how it works. Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) do a magnificent job explaining the canvas, articulating the theory behind the canvas, and offering many ways to use the canvas. This exercise is a quick game to help students reflect on the nature and ordering of the nine business model components found on the canvas as proposed by Osterwalder and Pigneur.

Usage Suggestions

This exercise works well for both undergraduate and graduate audiences. The exercise is best used in a course or class session where the Business Model Canvas is first being introduced.

Activity:

Pre- Work Required by Students - None.

Time Plan (30 minutes)

The Game Setup 0:00–0:05 (5 minutes) 

Before introducing the canvas, simply introduce that there are nine components of a business model. I typically show a PowerPoint slide with the nine components listed in random order. Tell the students that there is a particular order to the components, but they need to figure out what the order is. In other words, they need to determine which of the components should be considered first, second, and so on. What’s most important to start with and what’s least important? Separate students into teams of five (maximum).

The Game 0:05–0:15 (10 minutes) 

Give each team a deck of cards (see resources) and ask them to place them in order from one to nine (10 minutes). After 10 minutes, give each team a long piece of masking tape and have them tape the order of their cards to the wall or board, so everyone can see the differences across the team.

The Discussion 0:15–0:30 (15 minutes) 

Now it is time to introduce the ordering that Osterwalder and Pigneur use. Their book (see Theoretical Foundations) is quite helpful if you are not familiar with the canvas. I typically give out a copy of the Business Model Canvas to each student prior to disclosing the order. The ordering of the components is: 

1. Customer segments
2. Value proposition
3. Channels
4. Customer relationships
5. Revenue streams
6. Key resources
7. Key activities
8. Key partners
9. Cost structure

Usually student teams will have either customer segments or value propositions first and this creates a wonderful debate in the class. Introduce the order of the components one by one while also explaining what each component is. After walking through the components and discussing the differences in order created by each team I end the exercise with a brief discussion summarizing the order. At the end of the day, the ordering really does not matter because the canvas is meant to be an iterative, working document that will continuously change as you learn new information from every action taken or experiment conducted. What is most interesting about the design of the canvas and its ordering is found when you fold the canvas in half (left to right). 

According to Osterwalder and Pigneur, the right side of the canvas is concerned with creating and generating value. The left side of the canvas is concerned with generating efficiencies to deliver that value. As such, an entrepreneur needs to first determine or create the value and then develop the approach to deliver that value. Innovation, novelty, creativity, and competitive advantage are most often found in the value creation. So, start on the right!

Teaching Tips

The most important reason that I do this exercise is to get the students thinking about each component on their own in teams rather than just “telling” them about each component. Expect raging debates about customer segments versus value propositions as being first in the order. It is always a great conversation to have.

Skill Development: 

Key Takeaways

• It is important to think about the ordering of the components but not be wedded to one particular ordering. 
• A business model is about value creation, delivery, and capture – but start with creation and think about cost last. 
• Focusing too soon on cost structure and resources can diminish the innovativeness of new ideas. This can happen when we start on the left side of the canvas.

Resources: 

Materials List

Instructors will need to create decks of “business model component cards.” One deck is needed per team in the class. Each deck is comprised of nine index cards. On each card should be one of the nine business model components: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partners, cost structure. Given that this is the actual order recommended by Osterwalder & Pigneur, it is important that the cards in the deck are not in this order. You may also want to have copies of the Business Model Canvas to distribute as well, but after the game. A copy of the canvas can be obtained at http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas.

The full text ‘Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach’ can be purchased here > http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Entrepreneurship-A-Practice-Based-Approach/dp/1782540695 

References:

This exercise is taken from;

•Heidi M. Neck, Patricia G. Greene and Candida G. Brush, 2014. Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach (pp.136 – 138). Edition. Edward Elgar Pub.

Theoretical Foundations

•Osterwalder, A., and Pigneur, Y. 2010. Business Model Generation. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Objective

• To reflect upon learning journey
• To acknowledge individual or team "learning gain" experienced over time (process; project; task; or period of learning/study)
• To articulate skill development (soft skills) and personal insights (in team dynamics, personal progression or learning)
• Option to support future development: to provide the opportunity to identify gaps in learning or development and create a personal action plan for personal development and future learning.

Overview

This task provides an opportunity to reflect on the learning gained during particular tasks for activities (ideally should be of "medium" length, such as intense induction programmes, week long activities or longer learning 'events' (modules or years of study). This can be particularly effective in terms of drawing out "change" or learning gain as identified by the learner themselves.

This approach provides an opportunity to reflect upon a wide range of individual development (including emotional development and confidence levels) as well as recognising improvement in the development of skills.

Traditionally physical diaries were issued to encourage students to write regularly and informally, however the wide range of multi-media (through smart phones and tablets) also allows students to select their own format (s) or trial the use of a new media tool for this purpose (ideally agreed in advance with tutor to avoid IT issues in viewing).

A learning diary is therefore a tool of reflection which can take a variety of forms.

Key considerations for the tutor include:

• media (format options include: written essay or report; video diary; podcast; voice memos; photos/collage; or a combination of approaches)
• structure (open; templates; prompts or based on prescribed reflective models and frameworks, or those sourced by the student)
• formalised base line (questionnaire or status review at the start, to review at the end)
• inclusive of theory and wider reading (whilst some learning diaries are entirely "personal" and seek to draw out the development of softer skills and personal 'learning gain' others seek the inclusion of wider reading and theory development to evidence change and thought)
• assessment (% within modules vary though typically it is used as part of an assessment strategy, though can stand alone when used to capture and review a full programme year or team task activity.)

NB: Consideration of how to create "value" is key in determining the role/purpose of this approach within an assessment strategy or within a programme. Typically students value activities that the tutor places a value on, and their currency is marks/assessment. However as diary is, by definition, a subjective view, and should reflect what the student has heard, learnt and reviewed, it is the student's own analysis and insights that count, and clear marking parameters and guidance need to be provided to ensure clarity.

Activity

Issuing this task should be done at the start of the activity that you wish the learners to reflect upon. Ideally you encourage (or set) answering a range of open-ended questions, delighted to understand their initial position as they approach this learning/task. This may include expanding upon their prior understanding or life experience, as relevant to this work.

Once the activities are being undertaken, reflective models can be issued or sourced by the students to support their thinking. However you may wish to provide a set of reflective questions at regular intervals as prompts to their developing thinking.

This activity can be highly prescriptive, with set timescales at which you expect stages of reflection to be completed (as relating to the task being undertaken) however it is also possible to make this an open task, where the approach and learning is with the student to design and undertake. This allows the learner to explore, source and select their own model for reflection and test its effectiveness as a tool for their development during the process. This additional skills of research, evaluation and comparative analysis but risks diluting the quality of the reflection if the students place the emphasis upon critiquing models rather than the task itself and their personal learning. It is therefore important that you reflect the emphasis you wish to seek within your assessment schedule.

To increase the synthesis, and the ability for personal and confidential reflection, you may wish to create a format in which the students regularly capture thoughts and feelings, but keep this as a personal document (diary, blog or video diary) from which the submission is created. This synthesised version of their learning and reflections build an understanding of their personal development over time and allows for honest and uncensored self-reporting and reflection. Again the structure/control of the format/questions can be loose and open (providing only sources and reference to guide) or highly prescriptive (working within a template or with specific tools/questions) to ensure that the key elements of learning (including emotional elements and confidence) are a required feature of the submission.

Skill Development

Personal reflection is a tremendous skill, but is often difficult for students to develop, particularly during a period of study, with little or no external reference points or practical application. It is therefore recommended that this is an assessed piece, so that the value of reflection is made clear. It is therefore important that you, as the tutor, place importance upon the development of this skill and take class-time to consider what is meant by reflection practice and how to ensure that reflection leads to learning.what is meant by reflective practice and how to ensure that reflection leads to learning. It is also important to consider the formative as well summative assessment within this process, as reflective skills are improved through regular practice, and this form part of your regular teaching. It is important that you 'model' a reflective approach with the students by including reflective questions onto your regular contact with them, and making reflection an explicit aspect of your activity/classroom debrief. Making this explicit within your teaching will reinforce the student's understanding of reflection as an activity to repeated and practiced, as well as help them see how reflective questioning or models can deepen their understanding, and build confidence in their abilities.

Resources

Three stem questions (Borton T 1970) were further developed by John Driscoll (1994, 2000, 2007)

• What?
• So what?
• Now what?

• Driscoll Reflective Questions (2000) - Download (PDF | 843KB)
• Gibbs's reflective Cycle - Download (PDF | 843KB)
• Atkins, S. and Murphy, K. (1994) - Download (PDF | 843KB)
• Task template for individual (adapted from Reflective Learning Diary Template sourced from Burns, T and Sinfield, S (2012) "Essential Study Skills" Third Edition SAGE (photocopiable; printable) - Download (PDF | 843KB)

References

• Burns, T and Sinfield, S (2012) "Essential Study Skills" Third Edition SAGE
• Gibb's reflective cycle: from Gibbs, G (1988) "Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods"
• Atkins and Murphy Model from Atkins, S. and Murphy, K. (1994) Reflective Practice. Nursing Standard 8(39) 49-56
• Driscoll, J (2000) Practising Clinical Supervision Edinburgh Bailliere Tindall

Associated Case Studies

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