Tip #142: Masters Degree Program in Entrepreneurship

I was very busy when I returned to Osijek in July of 2000 working on the Masters Degree program in Entrepreneurship:

My Schedule of Activities

  • meeting with Economics professors to design interactive curricula for core and elective courses in the second, third, and fourth semesters;
  • designing a 90-minute orientation session for incoming students;
  • auditing all first semester classes currently in session at least once;
  • creating coordinated course schedules for the first and second semesters;
  • advising professors with elective courses to develop marketing blurbs
  • making provision to have students rank their elective choices to ensure that all courses have sufficient attendance;
  • discussing the program web site and making plans to include information about adjunct professors;
  • planning to create consistent and reasonable student evaluation methodology;
  • planning to create a first semester progress report format to give students useful feedback about their performance; and
  • making provisions to provide ongoing e-mail assistance and support. This is for the instructors as they continue to design their courses. In addition, as well as to review the marketing blurbs for the electives.

Experiential Activities

It was incredibly exciting to find that the students were enthusiastically and actively participating in all interactive activities now part of the Masters Degree program in Entrepreneurship.

These included:

  • case studies,
  • mind mapping,
  • group problem solving,
  • group discussion,
  • personal assessments,
  • questionnaires, and
  • role playing.

The students said that the assistant dean, Sanja and Ljerka had set a very high standard of teaching for the other professors to meet.

All of the first semester instructors were excited about their curricula and delighted with student interaction. Sanja mentioned that her lessons had exceeded her expectations.

Classroom Management

It became apparent that the professors needed to learn techniques to manage class activities. This include group work as well as guest lecturers. They needed to know how to maintain student enthusiasm yet exert necessary control to keep on schedule. In the meantime, a kitchen timer was suggested as a way to end group activities on time.

The work accomplished with the various professors ranged from:

  • the review of one lesson plan,
  • to the creation of several plans,
  • to the discussion of all content planned for the entire course.

All of these professors were open to, and generated their own, very creative ideas. They kept in mind the need to ensure that the students receive practical tools to use in business.

It was extremely gratifying to see the interactive training techniques in successful use, both in the current sessions as well as the planned sessions.

How I Audited Classes in the Masters Degree Program in Entrepreneurship

I managed to audit the courses, despite a lack of fluency in Croat or a translator. My secret is very simple. I used the Mastery Teaching Model to determine if learning was occurring. This involved auditing the training decisions on content, learner activity, and trainer activity. First, I watched for the content decisions. Was there a clear and logical progression? Were the students set up for success? Next, I observed the learner activity decisions. What was the ratio of lecture to interactive exercises that checked student comprehension and application of the content? Finally, I noted the trainer facilitation decisions to see if the trainer:

  • engaged the students in dialogue,
  • coached to correct answers, and
  • provided sufficient clarify when making assignments.

Occasionally, I would ask a student fluent in English to explain anything that was unclear to me.

My son would explain that his mom spent the day sitting in classes where she didn’t understand the language. Perhaps I didn’t understand Croat, but I definitely could understand when learning was happening!

Also, as a wonderful side note, I also saw that these students, who had spent a lifetime in lecture classes without any interaction with the professor, were now unwilling to sit and be lectured to! When guest lecturers were brought in, they would sit patiently for about ten minutes and then raise their hands to make comments or ask questions. Once they had a taste of being an active partner in their own learning, they were eager for it to continue!

If you would like to learn how to create and facilitate experiential skill-building learning, please book a call to discuss a tailored train-the-trainer program. https://laurelandassociates.com/contact/

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