Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research

Objective:

• To get students engaged in networking
• To get students to understand what networking is
• To get students to see the value of networking
• To get students to acquire networking skills and techniques

Overview:

It goes without saying that networking is a really important activity. Yet students are often reluctant to engage in relationships beyond their immediatecircle. They have powerful aversions to networking partly based upon fears and misconceptions about what it is: selling (it's all about selling yourself and pitching), that it is about being an extrovert (sociable and bubbly), that they as students have nothing to offer (‘who would want to talk to me?'), that it seems pointless (students will have stories about going to events collecting business cards and nothing ever happening). They will have a multitude of good reasons why they can't and shouldn't do it. The challenge is to turn round these misconceptions and show students that networking is valuable, doable and indeed enjoyable.

Activity:

The first task is to get the misconception and fears about networking out into the open and to introduce different versions of what networking might be. This can't be done by asking students about their fears and why they don't currently engage in networking: this is sensitive and students may feel embarrassed talking about it.

The session begins with the value of networks and networking. This should be interactive, talking to students about their networks, how they found opportunities, but also using statistics about how many jobs are filled via networks rather than open advertising. This part of the session functions as a warm up and should get students feeling positive about networking.

The second activity is to get them into groups and ask them to draw a 'good' networker. This will bring out some of the negative misconceptions about it:students will draw someone who is extroverted, experienced, knowledgeable, valuable, confident, good at pitching – all the things they may not be good at. This is your opportunity to demonstrate that a good networker is someone who is good at listening, (not talking), it is someone who is genuine and open (rather than focussed on their own agenda) and that it is about building trust and rapport leading to a lasting relationship.It's an opportunity to discuss their value as students – which they are very anxious about as they have little work experience. Here a discussion about their value in terms of innovation, fresh thinking, new ways of doing things is important.

The third activity is a group brainstorm around how to create rapport with someone: suggestions will include, smiling, shaking hands, complementing people, being helpful, listening to what people have to say. This section could include a listening activity, for example where individuals have to listen to partners and paraphrase.

The final session involves practical activity. The students will network amongst themselves. It's important that they shake hands here: this is partly about creating the rapport, discussed earlier, but also about adopting a more professional outlook and attitude. The students will find this both fun and challenging and some students will become anxious about it so it is worth doing a bit of role play to try it out: i.e. demonstrations of how to shake hands and introduce yourself. The result is that students will feel more professional.

The assignment is:

Find a person, introduce yourself: impress upon them your integrity and openness.

Reflect on what you did and report:

One positive technique; One negative technique

The feedback will draw out feelings about handshaking, observations about body language, about personalising conversations by using the other person's name.

Skill Development:

This activity has been delivered with 3rd year Design and Visual Arts student, 2nd year Photography students and MA Contemporary Art students at Coventry University.

Through a clear group debrief, students' misconceptions about networking are reversed.

Students understand the networking is a skill that they can practice and develop. They learn the importance of networks and collaboration. They learn that networking and professionalism is a 'performance' which they can adopt when necessary – in this context it can be useful to talk about wearing different hats as they often think of themselves as 'students' which can carry a lot of negative connotations.

They feel more comfortable with the idea of networking – they thought it was all about sales and the pitch but find it is actually something they could do. Some students struggle with the handshake, they find it very unusual but with a bit of practice and shift in attitude, do get it.

A group of students who know one another is not as good as a mixed group where they might be introducing themselves to strangers. However, the practical element can be modified by asking students to find out something new about their colleagues, or to find out a shared interest they didn't know they had with a colleague which will help build rapport.

Objectives:

• To understand team dynamics and how teams come together to achieve a goal
• To explore and establish methods of production for a simple products
• To understand the power and necessity for review and reflection of a task or situation
• Understanding processes and procedures
• Replicating methods

Overview

This task focuses a group of people to organise themselves to set up a production line to exactly replicate an existing product as many times as possible in set amount of time. They are giveqaan the opportunity to reflect on and improve their approach twice to increase efficiency, quality and productivity. This gives participants and others the opportunity to see how their own and other behaviour, ideas, approach affects the development and outcome of the task and how by working together and reflecting and analysing a situation it can be adapted and improved going forward.

Activity:

This activity could take from 30 minutes to a couple of hours depending on how much review, reflection and analysis takes place at the end of the session.

Group gathers around a table with all the resources on it. There is a sample product : a booklet with 13 squares of paper 10cm x 10cm, secured with 2 staples in a x shape in the top left hand corner of the booklet.

The group is asked to put together a production line replicating this booklet. They will have 2 minutes to discuss how they think they could best do thisand to allocate roles. Then 3 minutes to put this into practice and produce as many booklets as possible. When the time is up the facilitator then countsand inspects the finished products, looking for quality and accuracy ie:

• Correct number of sheets
• Correct size
• Cut lines are straight
• There are 2 staples
• Staples are in the right place
• Staples are crossed correctly

The group then gets 2 minutes to discuss and review their methods, systems and procedures and come up with improvements or a different approach. They then get another 3 minutes on the production line to best their last score.

The above process is then repeated for a third time.

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 wouldbe between 6 and 10, however multiple groups could 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:

• Imagination and creativity
• Communication and Strategy
• Problem solving
• Teamwork and organisation
• Leadership/Persuasion
• Decision making
• Logistics/Systems
• Efficiency/Productivity
• Quality Control
• Speed/Precision/Efficiency
• Reflection/Review/Analysis
• Feedback

As has been described this task involves many different skills and objectives on all different levels and can be assessed and analysed either briefly or in great depth across some or all of the objectives. For example, if this is an exercise for managers or recruiters to assess staff skills and abilities it can be finished there at the end of the last count. However it can be extended further, so each team then breaks off with a facilitator to analyse what happened at each stage and why.

• 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 review and analysis go, who took the lead, someone different? How were news ideas taken on board.
• What changed the next time, was there an improvement, if so why
• How did the dynamics between the members of the group change as they went through the different stages
• Were more people involved, less people involved How did people participants feel at each stage, did confidence grow or recede
• What skills were employed by the task
• How are these important to a task/team

For example : the focus could just be on the outcomes, ie the quality and quantity of the finished products. Often the first time, people are rushing and slapdash and may do quite a few but get a lot rejected, so need to slow down. Or get them all passed but do a small number, so need to speed up. So it's finding that balance between speed and quality/accuracy.

Or the focus can be on the review and reflection, how the method was changed or improved each time to give better results.

Or the focus can be on the team dynamics how they evolved through each stage, or on the leadership and management of the task and how that changed and fluctuated at each stage, how the balance of power shifted as the task went along.

Or it could very much focus on the individual, the role they played, how this evolved, how they felt, how they were affected by the different characters,how they affected other members in the group, positively or negatively what they would do differently next time.

Depending on whether the focus is on 1 or 2 of the objectives and skills or all of them, all of these and more angles can be identified and explored after the task.

Resources:

Large sheets of paper (A3 or larger, could use old newspapers) minimum of 60 sheets per team, pens, pencils, markers, rulers, scissors, staplers.

Objective:

Effective engagement of Alumni seeks to support the students to become:

• be flexible and adaptable, seeing alternative perspectives and offering a choice of solutions
• review and evaluate multiple solutions in contexts that anticipate and accommodate change and contain elements of ambiguity, uncertainty and risk.

Overview:

With the pre-arranged (and prolonged) support of alumni (now professionals) this approach of continued access to external professionals (ideally programme/course Alumni) is designed to prepare students to be able to engage with real clients and better enable them to respond proactively to change.

Externals are invited to engage with the current student group as they undertake a task, using social media (facebook; twitter etc) an/or Skype. This creates either incremental weekly instruction that builds into an overall assignment or regular support or feedback on course work from externals.

Activity

This approach needs pre-agreement and commitment of externals (ideally Programme/course Alumni) who commit to short, but regular interaction through social media or Skype.

This activity can either be driven by a live brief or challenge identified by the external (higher level of engagement) or as comment and support to those undertaking the programme, through sharing expertise and current work experiences. If the students are working on a live brief or task given by the external, this high level of interactivity can mean that summative deadlines can changedand information updated, and the newsworthy or other high profile influences can be included throughout the module. (The assignment usually mirrors an actual assignment undertaken professionally by an Alumni professional).

This engagement can be “managed” by the tutor – to pre-plan some ambiguity or pre-agreed change of brief/scope with the Alumni contact, or left open to allow access to externals as an organic relationship, where advice may be sought by the students or experience/daily practice shared by the Professional as they see fit.

In addition, any presentation /show case or final assignment submission can be shared with the external and their input made part of the summative or formative feedback (assessment strategy).

Note that the choice of social media will impact on the type of engagement between alumni and students, but ideally something that the Alumni member uses regularly will ensure more regular engagement. Even small inputs (as typically seen in social media such as Twitter) can guide student approach and ensure that they are able to ask private questions, and that other students can also learn from the mentor/alumni generic comments or insights.

Skill Development:

Depending upon the level and type of engagement, students can benefit from insights from a ‘typical day/week’ of a professional working in their area, or be pushed to develop their tolerance to ambiguity (through changing deadlines, or unexpected changes to the brief or additional information). This can build resilience in the students but there needs to be clear expectations of this relationship, as well as additional tutor support.

Students typically respond well to changes and additional insights from professional Alumni and can develop their understanding and judgement, in their chosen field, whilst gaining further insight regarding professional practice.

Students should be bought together to share their experience of virtually engaging with their Alumni contact and explore their emotional responses to the changing briefs or additional information. They need to explore, and develop strategies, for coping with ‘real world’ brief/challenges and exploringthis together, and sharing how they dealt with it, and could deal with it in the future, builds their confidence and resilience to change. Using reflective practice to consider the learning across the group can draw out a range of key lessons for preparing for future challenges.

Resources:

Access to, and ongoing (committed) virtual engagement by appropriate alumni – determine brief/project or to commit to regular updating/comment for a pre-agreed period of time.

References:

Penaluna, A., Penaluna, K and Diego, I. (2014) The role of education in enterprising creativity. In Sternberg R and Krauss, G. (2014) Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship and Creativity. Cheltenham / Massachusetts: Edward Elgar).

Scott, J., Penaluna, A., Thompson, J & Brooksbank, D. Experiential entrepreneurship education: Effectiveness and learning outcomes. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research (Forthcoming)

Jones, C., Penaluna, A., Matlay, H., Penaluna, K. Discovering the Soul of Enterprise Education. Education +Training, Emerald Publishing (Forthcoming)

Penaluna, K., Penaluna, A., Jones, C. and Matlay, H. (2014) ‘When did you last predict a good idea?: Exploring the case of assessing creativity through learning outcomes’, Industry and Higher Education, Vol.8, No.6, December 2014: 399 - 410

Penaluna, A., Coates J. and Penaluna K., (2011) Creativity-Based Assessment and Neural Understandings: A Discussion and Case Study Analysis. Education + Training, Emerald Publishing, Volume 52, Issue 8/9, pp. 660 - 678

Objectives:

To think towards the future strategically

To work together as a team providing input

Could be used for branding, re-branding and cultural development or change management, future planning or scenario building

Overview: 

Learners are encouraged to get into small teams and are asked to address a future orientated task – either related to their own development or if you are seeking a more discipline focused task, their subject, or industry/sector.

By spending time exploring the subject together they are invited to create a future, and depict this within visual mood boards.

(for example, a group may have an area of the business to create, address change and how they want it to look, or be asked to visualise 1, 3, 5 years down the line)

They are each given a board or flip chart and a series of magazines, materials, catalogues etc and asked to create a mood board (or visual reflection) to reflect how the future or ‘task’ will look.

Activity:

This activity requires preparation (souring materials, or subject relevant magazines or images or similar as well as pens, glue, paper etc) and then requires the tutor to allow time for the group to work through this challenge.  Typically the group may be “stumped” by the future orientation of the task and may require prompts to help them explore their thinking and assumptions.  It can be hugely personal to create an individual vision board of the future you wish you have and will take time, and equally considering industry trends or movement within the sector can require pre-research by the groups or time to explore specific elements of future change.

The minimum time for such an activity with a well organised group would be 1 hour but it is important that this work is displayed and that time is taken to showcase the activity.

Ideally the reflection will form a key part of the activity and that time for this important activity is given to the group as a whole, as well to those working as a group to consider their work in light of others as well as well they operated as a group.

Skill Development: 

Reflection can draw out key learning from this task.  With potential for subject learning, team work and reflection, this task can be powerful in terms of creativity as well as considering and evaluating opportunities or options.

It is important that as a group they understand the process that they undertook and review how well they worked to hear all the ideas, consider opportunities and move forward together in agreement.  This process can be achieved through a few key reflective questions based on the process itself that can explored as a team and then discussed as the wider group.  These may include:

•How did you get into groups? – did you consider skills and knowledge for the task or did you prioritise friendship groups (and team working) over task?

•How did you tackle the task?  - was their a leader? How were ideas heard? Who developed ideas? How did you decide to move forward?

•Were you influenced by the activity in the room/other groups?

•What subject knowledge or prior experience did you bring to this?

•What issues of group work were apparent – time management; leadership; identifying strengths of team members

•How would you tackle it differently next time?

•What do you need to find out to improve on this? (setting actions)

Resources: 

• Board for each team
• Selection of magazines, journals, glue, scissors, pens , access to internet and printers (optional).

Objective:

• Practice and learn the concepts of effectual versus causal logic.
• Illustrate when planning is appropriate versus action.
• Employ experimentation techniques.

Overview:

Groups of students compete to see who can build the tallest freestanding structure supporting a marshmallow on top out of 20 pieces of spaghetti, three feet of tape and three feet of string. This exercise is used to illustrate that under conditions of uncertainty, entrepreneurs rely on experimentation and iterative learning as a means to discover information about their environment.

Students are often taught and are familiar with traditional methods of planning and analysis, which work well in stable environments where the future is likely to be similar to the present. In these cases the future is fairly well known and understood. While some uncertainty exists, it can be categorized as risk.

However, if the future is unknowable, the only way to learn what may work is through experimentation. Typically many of the students spend a large portion of their time designing and planning the structure and only start to build it at the end to find out at the last moment that it cannot support the weight of the marshmallow, and they then go into “crisis” mode. The teams that perform the best are usually those that just start experimenting, learning what works and then modifying their tower based on what they learn. If you are using lean start-up concepts it is also a good way to illustrate the value of market tests.

Usage Suggestions

This exercise works for all audiences, undergraduate, graduate, executive, or practitioner. It is appropriate for new venture creation courses, entrepreneurship boot-camps, or workshops. The session is best positioned early in the course for discussions around planning versus action.

Activity:

Pre-Work Required by Students

• None.

Time Plan (45 minutes)

Step 1 0:00–0:05 (5 minutes)

Hand out the kits (see resources) to each of the teams. Introduce the challenge. Be clear about the goals and rules of the Marshmallow Challenge. It is also helpful to tell them that this has been done by tens of thousands of people around the world from children to CEOs. The rules and goals are as follows.

Goal

Build the tallest freestanding structure: The winning team is the one that has the tallest structure measured from the table top surface to the top of the marshmallow. That means the structure cannot be suspended from a higher structure, like a chair, ceiling, or chandelier.

Rules

• The entire marshmallow must be on top: The entire marshmallow needs to be on the top of the structure. Cutting or eating part of the marshmallow disqualifies the team.
• Use as much or as little of the kit as you choose: The team can use as many or as few of the 20 spaghetti sticks, and as much or as little of the string or tape, as they choose. The team cannot use the paper bag as part of their structure.
• Break up the spaghetti, string, or tape if you choose: Teams are free to break the spaghetti or cut up the tape and string to create new structures.
• The challenge lasts 18 minutes: Teams cannot hold on to the structure when the time runs out. Those touching or supporting the structure at the end of the exercise will be disqualified.
• Ensure everyone understands the rules: Don’t worry about repeating the rules too many times. Repeat them at least three times. Ask if anyone has any questions before starting; a good idea is to provide a handout with the instructions in the kit.

Step 2 0:05–0:25 (20 minutes)

• Begin the challenge by starting the clock.
• Walk around the room and note the process that different teams are using.
• Remind the teams of the time: Increase the reminders as time gets shorter (for example, you might remind them at 9 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds and then a 10- second countdown.
• Call out how the teams are doing: Let the entire group know how teams are progressing. Build a friendly rivalry and encourage people to look around.
• Remind the teams that holders will be disqualified: Several teams will have the powerful desire to hold on to their structure at the end, usually because the marshmallow, which they just placed on to their structure moments before, is causing the structure to buckle. The winning structure needs to be stable.

Step 3 0:25–0:30 (5 minutes)

• After the clock runs out, ask everyone in the room to sit down so everyone can see the structures. Usually only about half the teams will have a standing structure.
• Measure the structures: From the shortest standing structure to the tallest, measure and call out the heights. If you’re documenting the challenge, have someone record the heights.
• Identify the winning team: Ensure they get a standing ovation and a prize (if you’ve offered one).

Step 4 0:30–0:45 (15 minutes)

Start by asking some of the teams about the process they used to go about building their structures. You can choose based on what you observed during the challenge. You will generally notice as you go around the room that teams that spend most of their time planning will fail to have a standing structure in the end. Those who experiment and learn through trial and error tend to do much better. It is usually best to start with some of the teams whose structures collapsed.

What process did you use in building your structure?

Focus on whether they spent a lot of time planning and drawing their structure or trial and error.

What went wrong?

• This often highlights issues around unknown factors such as how much weight the spaghetti could support or how much the marshmallow weighed relative to the structure.
• How did you deal with that?
• This will often point out the fact that extensive planning leaves little time for adjusting and learning from experience and results in a “crisis.”

Repeat this with one or more of the more successful groups and try to capture differences and commonalities between them.
You can draw comparisons to various other groups who have done this challenge. The creator of the challenge, Tom Wujec, has
performed this challenge numerous times with a variety of different groups and has found the following:

• The best performers tend to be engineers (good thing). They understand structures and stresses, so this is a more certain environment for them.
• The worst performers tend to be recent business school graduates. They are in a very uncertain environment given limited knowledge about structures. However, they have typically been taught to plan, plan, plan. They spend most of their time planning and then try to build the structure at the last minute. When they put the marshmallow on top it weighs much more than they anticipated and the structure collapses, creating a crisis.
• After engineers, the best performers are recent kindergarten graduates. They are also in an uncertain environment, but they tend to experiment to see what works, learn from that, and build off it to create much more interesting structures.

Emphasize the importance of market tests and experimentation when entering a new, unknown environment. If your students are already working on business ideas, this can be a good place to have them try to think about low- cost ways they could experiment with their concept before making large investments. As an alternative debrief, you can show the TED talk by the creator of this exercise by going to http://www.marshmallowchallenge.com.

Teaching Tips

Be very clear about the goals and rules of the challenge. Generally, you’ll want to repeat them three times and reinforce them visually. In almost every challenge, there is at least one team who will want to cheat or bend the rules in their favour. The clearer you are about the rules the better the results.

Skill Development:

Key Takeaways

• In an unknown environment, it is better to take action than to plan.
• Learning from small experiments and trials can produce more unique solutions – particularly if the future cannot be predicted.
• Failure can provide important insights to improving products or services.

Resources:

Materials List

• Create a kit for each team (about four people per team), with each kit containing 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of masking tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. These ingredients should be placed into a paper lunch bag or manila envelope (excluding the masking tape), which simplifies distribution and hides the contents, maximizing the element of surprise. The masking tape should be hung on the desks or on the wall for distribution, as putting it in the bags generally causes problems.
• Ensure that you use uncooked spaghetti. Avoid spaghettini, as it is too thin and breaks easily. Fettuccine is too thick.
• Include string that can be easily broken by hand. If the string is thick, include scissors in your kit.
• Use standard- size marshmallows that measure about 1.5 inches across. Avoid mini or jumbo marshmallows. Also avoid stale marshmallows – you want squishy marshmallows that give the impression of lightness.
• You will also need a measuring tape and a stopwatch or countdown application.
• Having a countdown application projected on the screen where they can see the time counting down is preferred (use an online stopwatch on your computer if convenient).

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.125 - 130). Edition. Edward Elgar Pub.

Attribution

• This exercise was originally developed by Tom Wujec for teaching collaborative design. His website containing the instructions, a TED talk about the exercise, and other supporting material can be found at http:// marshmallowchallenge.com

Theoretical Foundations

• Kiefer, C.F., and Schlesinger, L.A. 2010. Action Trumps Everything: Creating What You Want in an Uncertain World. Duxbury, MA: Black Ink Press.
• Ries, E. 2011. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. New York: Crown Business.
• Sarasvathy, S.D. 2001. Causation and effectuation: Towards a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 243–88.

Author:

• This exercise is taken from, Heidi M. Neck, Patricia G. Greene and Candida G. Brush, 2014. Teaching Entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach (pp.125 - 130). Edition. Edward Elgar Pub, and is reprinted with the kind permission of the authors. 

Objective:

• To provide students with an opportunity to reflect upon and identify their own skills.
• To provide students with an opportunity to identify how each of these skills presents opportunities.
• To improve student’s knowledge, understanding and implementation of effective problem solving strategies.
• To encourage students to apply theoretical problem solving strategies within a real world context.

Overview:

The ability to identify solutions to problems, the creativity to identify the skills and resources needed to achieve these solutions, and the insight to identify the new opportunities these skills and resources can present are essential for the enterprising student.

Breaking Problems Down and Putting Solutions Together is a workshop designed to nurture these skills in students: presenting them with opportunities to reflect on their own skills, and think creatively about their applications, to explore and implement problem solving strategies in a variety of contexts, and to apply the above to real-world contexts, in their own lives and their own enterprises.

The workshop is designed to last for approximately 90 minutes, with ample opportunities for extension activities, further research and discussion. The workshop is suitable for a group of any size, through best works where space is available for students to engage in practical activities.

No preparation is required from students, and preparation time for workshop leaders in minimal (ensuring AV presentation is working correctly, ensuring basic materials for practical / extension activities have been sourced etc.).

An AV presentation, and full lesson plan, to accompany the delivery of this workshop is freely available online, and can be downloaded via the links provided in the Resources / References section of this document.

Activity:

(See Resources / References for materials to accompany the delivery of this activity). 

Part 1: Introduction

• Students are introduced to the themes to be covered during the workshop.
• As a warm up / ice breaker activity, a simple, practical challenge may be set to students at this point (For example – challenging students to cut a whole in a piece of A4 paper which is large enough to climb though – something which can be done with some lateral thinking!).
• The group discuss what businesses do, at the most basic level. I.e. provide products and services to meet the needs of customers. It is proposed that we may think of ‘needs’ as ‘problems’ for our purposes, and so can think of businesses as ‘problem solvers’ of various guises.
• Students are instructed that the workshop will be delivered in reverse order, i.e. Putting Solutions Together first, and Breaking Problems Down second (for good reason!).

Part 2: Identifying Skills

• Students are asked to list all the skills they feel that they have. Several examples may be offered to the group to stimulate thought. Students may do this alone, or confer with their colleagues.
• Students are invited to be bold (i.e. not too modest) in this process, and are invited to share their ideas with the whole group.  
• The amount of skills possessed by each individual, and by the group as a whole, is stressed.  

Part 3: Skills to Products

• Students are asked to consider each skill on their list, and for each skill consider what it allows them to do, i.e. a service it allows them to deliver,or a product it allow them to produce. (For example, skills in painting may help me to produce portraits, make prints and postcards, or tutor a person in art).
• Again, students may work as individuals, or confer whilst doing this, and again, students are asked to share their thoughts with the whole group. 
• As students share ideas, a full list of products and solutions can be noted at the front of the class, demonstrating the products and services at the group’s disposal.  
• It is suggested to students that these products and services are the basis of solutions to countless problems, and the basis for countless new opportunities.  

Part 4: Real World Example  

• Students are offered a real world example, where a focus on creativity and solutions (as opposed to problems) has led to a novel and unexpected outcome to a problem.  
• Contained within the AV presentation linked to this workshop, is a short film clip of Physicist Richard Feynman, discussing the story of how he came to win his Nobel Prize, and develop QED, in this very way!

Part 5: Breaking Problems Down

• Students discuss the nature of problems (Are they fundamentals, or can large problems be broken down into smaller problems?).  
• Students are presented with an example of a ‘difficult problem.’  
• Contained within the AV presentation accompanying this workshop, is an example question from a job interview for a position with Google.  
• To be solved, the problem must be broken down into a series of smaller, simpler problems. The group are invited to do this, and an answer to the problem is proposed as a group.
• If time permits, further activities may be offered at this stage (see How To Guides for inspiration on problem solving challenges).

Part 6: Problem Solving in a Real World Context

• Students are asked to reflect on a problem they have encountered (this can be something as basic as needing to meet an upcoming essay deadline, or something more substantial).  
• Students are asked to take this problem, and break it down as far as possible, into a series of smaller problems.
• Students are asked to reflect on the services and products they earlier identified as being at their disposal, and see how each provides a solution to each of these smaller problems, reflecting on any gaps.
• If desired, students may wish to share the examples they produce at this stage.

Part 7: Conclusion

• The group reflect on the merits of breaking problems down, and focussing on the solutions at their disposal, as a problem solving strategy.
• The key themes covered in the session are re-capped.

Skill Development:

Through participating in the workshop, students will be better adept at identifying their own skills, and seeing how these skills can be applied, in a wide variety of contexts, to solve problems and create opportunities. The will be better adept at breaking down and categorizing problems they encounter, and producing strategies to solve them quickly and efficiently. Through reflecting upon, documenting, and sharing their skills, abilities and the solutions at their disposal, they should have greater confidence in their capabilities, and better equipped to identify the specific areas of their skills set which they wish to develop.

Resources:

• Lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations to accompany this activity can be downloaded via > https://moodle.glyndwr.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=37§ion=11
• For activities on a similar theme, see How To Guide 'Creative Problem Solving'
  

References:

Zone Enterprise Hub, Topic: ZONE Resources. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: https://moodle.glyndwr.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=37§ion=11. [Accessed 30 July 2015].

Author:

• Originally delivered as an ‘Empower’ workshop, for the North East Wales Youth Entrepreneurship (YES) Hub, funded by Welsh Government.

Associated Case Studies

• Workshop: Breaking Problems Down and Putting Solutions Together (QAA 1, 2, 5)

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Objective:

Key Points;

• Coding skills learned and applied to a student led ‘real world’ context.
• Large group teaching and a flipped classroom approach enables knowledge and attribute development for employment.
• Enterprise successfully embedded in a compulsory 20 credit mathematics module

Introduction:

Computing for Mathematics is a first year 20 credit module that is core to all first year Mathematics students at Cardiff University. It was delivered for the first time in 2013-2014 over both semesters to in advance of 150 students by Dr Vince Knight of the School of Mathematics and Neil Coles from Cardiff University Enterprise. This module was in essence delivered in two consecutive halves. The first half aimed to give all future mathematicians relevant programming skills needed in the modern world. The second half sought to address the frequently identified need for mathematics graduates to recognise and engage in agendas of practical application for employment or enterprise.

Employers are in need of graduates who can articulate and contextualise their mathematical understanding for employment. The QAA subject benchmark statement for mathematics (2007) identifies the subject as fundamental to scientific and technological development and indeed any form of discipline requiring an analytical model-building approach. In addition The Institute of Mathematics references a career advice leaflet Mathematics Today (2008) that highlights business and commercial awareness as a key skill regularly flagged up by employers as requisite skill often lacking in mathematics graduates. Additionally the document flags up a range of enterprise competencies employers seek graduates to evidence.

There is a perception that Mathematicians are not able to translate their high level capacity to solve problems, discuss and develop complex idea and theorems and relate to ‘real world’ situations. This module sets out to highlight to students how they themselves can begin to contextualise their academic learning through innovative real world applications.

The foundations of the discipline are often abstract theory, so it is particularly important for students to engage in consideration and analysis of how their disciplinary knowledge can be applied. An awareness of how mathematical implementations applied in industrial and commercial contexts aids students in understanding the practical benefits and value they themselves can offer future employers as well as highlighting previously unconsidered potential career paths.

Activity:

Firstly a philosophical question needed to be addressed, ‘Should a modern mathematician know how to write code?’ Historically this question has been very subjective, however it is argued that through the coupling of coding skills and pedagogic practice that allows for a ‘real world’ application students will not become isolated, but be able to explore coding as a vector for solving real problems.

The autumn semester is taught using a flipped classroom framework encouraging students to develop coding skills. The methodology not only allows for self-directed learning, but prepares students for an entrepreneurial context by offering elements of uncertainty, thereby building key competencies’ for employment or enterprise.

Alongside formal lectures on areas in areas of innovation and project management during the spring semester, guest speakers are used to influence and persuade students’ to look beyond the class room as they are expected to self-select ‘company teams’.

Through the company teams they are challenged with finding a societal value for their newly acquired coding skills. Each company team elects a leading Director and Company Secretary. Each role has differing duties including feeding back to the module leader through weekly company minutes and explaining their idea through ‘lightening pitches’ to all teams which forms part of the ‘General Council Meeting’. The minutes allow for weekly academic led feedback, whereas the pitches gain immediate peer to peer feedback via a live web form.  

Projects have included the building of smart phone application that calculated distance travelled in a taxi and the accurate resulting fair for each passenger (who may or may not have left the vehicle before the final stop) to websites that judge contests using a statistical technique called Game Theory.

Impact:

The module has attracted high attendance and positive feedback coupled with developed creativity and communication skills. The enabled students have become more able to apply mathematical theory to a real word context.

Allowing students’ to explore and define their own projects has led to concepts of mathematical theory being studied well in advance of when would be expected, so in future we can expect stronger grounding on topic introduction.

Academic feedback;

Professor Paul Harper, Deputy Head of Cardiff School of Mathematics;

“It is evident to me that the skills the students are learning in this module will not only serve them well throughout their degree, but also put them in an excellent position to apply them to the various environments that they will find themselves in after their studies. I’m delighted that this new module is now part of our core mathematics programme.”

Dr Vincent Knight, Module Leader;

“The fact that student work is motivated by real world problems ensures that they learn how to learn how to solve real world problems. The liaison with Cardiff University Enterprise has proved invaluable to the design and delivery of this module as I did not have the relevant expertise to put all this in place.”

Professional feedback

Dr Steven Lind, Manchester Metropolitan University and guest speaker

“As a lecturer in Mathematics the skills being taught in this module gives students an excellent foundation for their degree but also their future roles in the world.” -

Neil Cottrell, Founder of LexAble and guest speaker

"What I hope the students took away from the seminar is that setting up a business is a valid, challenging and fascinating career choice to explore."

Learner outcome:

Student feedback;

Matt Lunn, undergraduate mathematics student (2014);

“Why did I have to wait to wait until university to learn this?”

Full student feedback video - http://www.vincent-knight.com/news/whywaittolearntocode/

Unidentified undergraduate mathematics student (2014);

“I really liked the group work; it helped me learn what it’s like to work in a team. Found some of the lectures/talks given about computing very interesting and inspiring (especially computation fluid dynamics).”

The examples of curriculum development for enterprise related outcomes were originally outlined by Neil Coles at the International Enterprise Educators Conference under the heading 'From Archaeology to Zoology; an A-Z of enterprise in the curriculum'. For his work in contextualising enterprise for any subject, Neil won the 2013 National Enterprise Educator Award.

Resources:

• For a How To Guide on developing presentation skills, see ‘Workshop: How to Speak in Public.’
• For a How To Guide on utilising external presenters, see ‘Guest Lecture Guidance.’

References:

• Cardiff University Enterprise | Be Enterprising | Make Things Happen. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/cuenterprise/ . [Accessed 03 August 2015].
• Cardiff University School of Mathematics. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/maths/ . [Accessed 03 August 2015].

Objective:

To develop an interdisciplinary network of exchange which promotes innovation, design thinking, new-product development. Bringing together a students from across the University, who value innovative thinking, ideas generation and interdisciplinary working as part of their student experience.

• Developing problem-solving skills as team members
• Analysing information (and working with limited information)
• Negotiating and cooperating with one another.
• Listening and leading
• Group Decision making (consensus building)

Introduction: 

Interdisciplinary has been recognised as a key contributor in solving complex global social problems (BIS, 2009; 2009a; DIUS, 2008, QAA 2012). It therefore follows that graduates as societies leaders with a genuine interest in making the world a better place must have the ability and confidence to work across disciplines. In today’s global economy and in society as a whole, we are faced with many complex challenges which require new ways of working and graduates need to be prepared for this through the integration of interdisciplinary working within their under graduate (UG) curriculum.

Activity:

The 24 hour design challenge: Second year students from across 3 schools within the university were invited to register for this event, places were limited to 40 students, a maximum on 10 students from a single discipline area.

• Students were placed into interdisciplinary teams on arrival between 4-6 members.
• Students were presented with a list of rules of play (mainly that the judge’s decision was final, could not swap teams, shared IP)
• They were presented with an open “complex” challenge – eg: “future extremes”, “sustainable solutions to global challenges”, the ageing population”
• We provided a guest lecture to enhance the theme.
• The teams were given an information pack containing a pencil, pad, pen drive (with a template for presentation) and the title of the challenge
• During the remaining hours of the first day the teams were encouraged to brainstorm around the team using their team’s skillset, knowledge and understanding.
• At 3pm on the first day we provided a 1 hour expert drop in workshop – (invited staff from various disciplines to be available to discuss the students ideas), some student teams took this opportunity just to pop in and get some feedback.
• The teams had a print slot allocated in the morning of the next day, to print off their design board
• The team presented their ideas to a panel of judges in a dragons den format (5 minutes presentation, 5 minutes questions)
• Winning team’s announced, Certificate and Prizes.

Impact:

The impact on learning was evident through the student feedback, we categories it into skill development, Collaborative working, Entrepreneurial development.

 “There is never a stop-point in learning – there is always room for more”. (2015 student)

 “Competing in this design challenge was a thoroughly enjoyable process. As an engineer, it is important that I develop the ability to work with multiple disciplines and in the 24 hours we were given I have been given a massive insight into how completely separate skill sets can come together to generate an idea. I also find it incredible that after only a day, I came away with a team that I had formed a friendship with and now have an insight into demonstrating an idea to someone who has the means to make it a reality. Overall I cannot fault the opportunity of taking part and enjoyed every stress inducing minute of it. I would definitely do something similar again.” (2014 24 hour design challenge).

Skill-development:

“....in the 24 hours we were given I have been given a massive insight into how completely separate skill sets can come together to generate an idea” (student quote, 2013 challenge).

 “It was an enjoyable challenge, bringing in different skills we have learnt throughout our time here so far. I would defiantly recommend it to anyone and do it again” (student quote, 2013 challenge).

 “…enjoyed every stress-inducing minute of it. I would definitely do something similar again” (student quote, 2013 challenge).

 “I learned a lot from my peers in my team and this experiment will benefit me in future group projects” (student quote, 2014 challenge).

 Collaborative working:

 “....I really enjoined the challenge and it was good to start viewing things from different discipline angles” (student quote, 2013 challenge).

 “This design challenge was great. I love working with all of my team who were from different specialisms” (student quote, 2013 challenge).

 “It has shown me what some of my lecture have been trying to tell us which is that collaboration and working with people from different specialisms is when design can really take off and become exciting” (student quote, 2013 challenge).

 “I really enjoyed the 24 hour challenge as I valued meeting new people and exploring different areas of study” (student quote, 2014 challenge).

 “It was really helpful to speak to the different tutors and pick their brains about our ideas, as I would never normally come into contact with tutors from these courses” (student quote, 2014 challenge).

Entrepreneurial development:

 “The challenge has made me even more interested in working with people I don’t know and also has inspired me to think about business ideas for my future career” (student quote, 2013 challenge).

 “It was a great experience, thank-you! It is a great insight to the business world that we are entering” (student quote, 2013 challenge)

 “Overall it was a great experience and I now have contacts and friends on completely different courses to me who I will no doubt be calling on for help on future projects as well as the one we started” (student quote, 2014 challenge).

Comment from external Judge: “Judging the 24-hour design challenge was a pleasure and revealed an impressive arsenal of talent the University of Huddersfield has amongst the students. Each multi-disciplined team presented well thought out and researched concepts which impressed the judging panel and stimulated much debate. Being spoilt for choice meant the pressure was put back on the panel when it came to us choosing a winner.  In my experience, great ideas occur when a creative person or team is constrained by time and/or budget. When placed under pressure, right brain instinct coupled with pragmatic decision making, causes inventive and exciting concepts and solutions. Events like the 24hr Design Challenge are a great example of where you'll see this in action.”  (David Bailey Creative Director UX&D, BBC Future Media). 

Learner outcomes:

The learning is not within the task objective, but within the team process, networking and cross-fertilization of skills and often the desire to complete the task can mask the transferable learning that has been gained. It is therefore key, that once the discussion of the challenge itself is complete, that the de-brief encourage the teams to explore the skill development within the task and team work itself. As a facilitator, it is important that you allow the teams to explore their team process and find the learning within that. Within the dragon’s den the teams are asked to reflect on this experience. 

Resources:

• Post-its or similar sticky pads
• Pens 
• Pads
• Pen-drives with template (if you want a professional finish) – for fun or shorter challenges flip charts works just as well
• Lunch on the first day works well
• External judges (or internal)

References:

BIS (2009). Skills for growth, the national skills strategy, Department for Business Innovation and Skills. Nov 2009 (pp. 1-78). Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228764/7641.pdf

BIS (2009a). Higher ambitions: The future of Universities in a knowledge economy, Department for Business Innovation and Skills. (pp.1-78).

DIUS (2008). A new ‘University Challenge’. Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. (1-20).

QAA (2012). Enterprise and entrepreneurship education: Guidance for UK higher education providers

September 2012. Quality Assurance Agency. Retrieved from http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/enterprise-entrepreneurship-guidance.pdf Page 1-32

Links to other information:

• Power, E. J.  (Dec 2014) The 24 hour challenge: creating a multidiscipline environment for, design and entrepreneurship in engineering and design. Enhancing Employability through Enterprise Education: example of Good Practice in Higher education HEA case study. P22, In Owens, J. and Tibby, M (2014) Enhancing employability through enterprise education: Examples of good practice in higher education. The Higher Education Academy UK.
• http://www.hud.ac.uk/news/2013/november/ice.php
• http://www.hud.ac.uk/schools/artdesignandarchitecture/placementsandenterprise/honeypotandice/

Contact details: Dr E. J. Power, University of Huddersfield

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Objective:

• Understand the factors to consider when producing a sales forecast for their business
• Understand the implications of variations from forecasts, particularly in terms of receiving payments

Overview: 

This activity is designed to provide an opportunity for the entrepreneur / small business owner to develop their forecasting skills and consider different scenarios of their business performance, specifically in terms of potential sales. 

Activity:

To consider and collate information to produce informed sale forecasts, gather the relevant information:

The Sales Forecast Checklist

1. Details of any orders secured
2. List all customers you expect to sell to over the forecast period, and how much you expect to sell to each.
3. Market research data to support or verify these forecasts. What information have you gathered from potential customers?
4. Supporting information such as examples from other similar ventures started recently, and drawing from company accounts and other sources.

Using this information prepare a sales forecast by value and volume for each major product group (e.g. for a hotel: bedrooms, restaurant) throughout the period of the business plan – at least 12 months.

Skill Development: 

This breaks down some of the key thinking and skills of the entrepreneur and allows the students to work through their assumptions.  This can be conducted in groups, or as individuals, allowing students to focus on start-up.

Objective:

To create a clear understanding of their competitors, using SW analysis.

Overview: 

A SWOT analysis is a useful tool for analysis, when actions and conclusions are drawn from it.  

Activity: 

Instructions

Invite the entrepreneur / small business owner to identify their key competitors (at least 3), and list the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Examples of strengths and weaknesses for a bicycle manufacturing business,

Strengths 

• Reliable products
• Well respected brand 
• Competitively priced
• Focussed on specialist market 

Weaknesses

• Limited capacity to produce 
• Outdated methods of production
• Lack of marketing expertise
• Low profit margin

Consideration should then be given to each of the competitors, and compared with the entrepreneur or small business owners’ view of their own business.

• What can be learnt from the competitors’ strengths?  
• What can be done better than the competition?
• Are there any weaknesses that can be exploited?

This analysis can then inform what approach the entrepreneur / small business owner takes to developing their own business and to understand how they can best create or sustain a competitive advantage.

The key to using SWOT is now determine a course of action from this analysis.

Students can be invited to present their work and comment to provide constructive criticism, which is future focused.  

Skill Development:

By placing a clear focus on future action, rather than analysis, this will build skills of evaluation, decision making and judgement which lend themselves to action.  

Objective:

Construct and deliver a focused and precise summary of their business proposal, that is attractive and engaging to a potential financer.

Prepare the entrepreneur for opportunities to present their business proposal, formally and informally, in a short space of time.

Overview: 

An ‘Elevator Pitch’ is a succinct summary of business opportunity for example, 1 minute or in no more than 300 words. The term is typically used in the context of an entrepreneur pitching an idea to a potential investor.  This task invites the student to prepare for a minute pitch.

Activity: 

Invite the entrepreneur/small business owner to prepare a 3 minute pitch for their business The challenge for many entrepreneurs is how to describe their proposal in such a short space of time and what aspects of their business model and plan to focus on. A useful approach is to use Sahlman’s recommended four critical factors.

The People

Who’s involved?
What are their mission and aspirations?
What skills, know-how and experience do they have?

The Opportunity

What will the business sell?
Who are its customers?
What problem is it solving?
Why is it better than existing solutions (competition)?

The Context

What’s the bigger picture?
What trends e.g. economic, social, technological, political affect the business?

Risk and Rewards

What are the main risks?
How can they be mitigated?
What are the potential financial, and other, rewards?

Entrepreneurs/small business owners should be given time to prepare their pitch, either working independently at home or within a training programme. In a group situation this should take no more than 20 mins.

Entrepreneurs should then be invited to pitch their business with a strict time limit. This can be done in a number of ways depending on the environment, for example,

• For a small number of entrepreneurs, invite them to line up to encourage swift movement from one to another
• In large groups, invite entrepreneurs to move around the room to meet other participants who they do not know and pitch to each other
• In large groups, participants are invited to pitch to their neighbour, or others at a table/in their group
• In a competitive environment, where entrepreneurs are invited to pitch to an expert judging panel.

Skill Development:

This activity helps the entrepreneur to focus how they think about their business and provides a safe environment in which to develop their communication and presentation skills, whilst refining their business pitch. 

It can help the entrepreneur /small business owner effectively present their business proposal in both informal and unexpected situations and confidently to a potential financier.  Repetition of this type of exercise builds confidence and expertise.  

To provide formative experiences of pitching, before any assessment, you can create sub-groups within which the students pitch to each other, giving and receiving constructive criticism, before conducting the final presentation.

Resources:

VC Pitching

Objective:

• To provide students with an opportunity to identify and reflect on their own skills.
• To provide students with an opportunity to generate business ideas, and identify opportunities.
• To provide students with knowledge and understanding of how to write and structure a business plan.
• To provide students with an understanding of how to use a business plan effectively.
• To provide students with an awareness of the advice, resources and support available to them.

Overview:

A well-structured, well-research and well-written business plan is an invaluable asset to any new enterprise. Yet many students considering starting up report difficulty in developing business plans and in particular, plans which actively work for them and their business.

Business Planning is a workshop serving as an introduction to the subject, inclusive of opportunities to reflect on skills and generate ideas, and information regarding how to build a strong and cohesive plan around those ideas, and advice regarding using that plan, to turn those ideas into successful businesses.
 
The activity is designed to fit within a typical one hour lecture session, but inclusive of ample opportunities for extension, through practical activity, group discussion or independent research, and could easily form the basis of a more comprehensive scheme of work on the subject. It is designed to be appropriate for students of any level or programme of study. It was originally developed through the HEFCW funded pan-Wales Enterprise Support Programme.

Lesson plans and AV presentations for use in the delivery of the workshop can be downloaded via the link to the ‘ZONE Enterprise Hub’ webpages listed in ‘References’ and ‘Resources.’

Activity:

The activity follows the structure outlined in the ‘Business Planning’ PowerPoint presentation, inclusive of all links and examples.

_{Figure 1. PowerPoint presentation which accompanies this activity.}

Pre-Activity

Students are not required to prepare anything in advance of this workshop. For workshop leaders, preparation is minimal, other than ensuring supporting AV resources are displaying correctly.

Introduction

• Students are welcomed and introduced to the themes that will be covered during the workshop.
• The group may be invited to share their own business experience or business ideas.

Why Bother?

• Students are asked to discuss and share where they see their ideas and business endeavours 10 years from now.
• Students are provided with a basic definition of a business plan.
• Students discuss the purpose of a business plan. Points are suggested and debated.

What to think about?

• Students are asked to reflect on the skills which they possess.
• Students are asked to explore and identify the products and services they can offer, supported by their skill set.
• Students explore how, by reflecting on a particular product or service, they can consider pricing, branding, marketing and sales.
• An indicative example is offered within the PowerPoint presentation to illustrate this. If desired, you may wish to reinforce this by working through a real example offered by a member of the audience.
• (An activity allowing students to identify their skills, and explore opportunities in a greater degree of depth can be found in How To Guide ‘Workshop: Breaking Problems Down and Putting Solutions Together.’)

What to write down?

• The key elements of a basic business plan are covered step by step, with class discussion of the key points at each stage. Namely, the elements covered are; The Executive Summary, The Business Vision, Marketing, Running the Business, Finance.
• Students are introduced to SWOT analysis. If desired, a member of the audience may be invited to offer their own business idea as an example, which a SWOT analysis can be worked through for collectively.
• Students are introduced to cash flow forecast. Again if desired, an indicative example may be offered to demonstrate how the forecast works.

Help and support

Students are provided with links and information regarding the support, advice and assistance available to them as they develop their business plans.

Conclusion

The key themes covered in the workshop are re-capped, and students are invited to ask any outstanding questions which they may have.

Post-Activity

This workshop is intended only as an introduction to the subject of Business Planning. Following the activity, students may utilise the information provided to research and develop their plans independently, or each element of the workshop may be revisited and explored in more depth by the group.

Skill Development:

Students will leave the workshop with greater confidence in their ability, with a better understanding of their skills, and how these skills will support the development of their endeavours. They will have a better knowledge and understanding of business plans and how to develop them, and a greater awareness of how to use business plans to effectively support them in their endeavours.

Resources:

PowerPoint Slides accompanying this activity can be downloaded here > Business Planning [PDF]

References:

Zone Enterprise Hub, Topic: ZONE Resources. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: https://moodle.glyndwr.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=37§ion=11 . [Accessed 05 August 2015].

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If you would like to have your Case Study featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.

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