If you're studying at Mount Royal University and registered in ENTR 2301 in Winter 2012, you're in the right place. This is the main page for that course. In addition to this page, you need to consult your official course outline that will have been made available to you by your teacher.

Teaser and Sneak Peak Tour

This is the first course in a renewed entrepreneurship curriculum at Mount Royal.

Before you do anything else, check out the teaser and a sneak peak tour for an introduction to what you can expect in this course. You can also access the full course content. This drills right down to the individual topic and activity, including topics like this one, and activities like the Venture Design Studio and Innovation Tournament.

Contents

Course Description

Summary

This highly experiential course develops an understanding of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and builds awareness of the experiences entrepreneurs have in the real world. Students will be exposed to industry practitioners and participate in entrepreneurial activities and competitions. A framework of entrepreneurial attitudes, behaviors and skills will be examined based on current research and practices observed in industry. Entrepreneurial experiences are explored in developing and industrial nations, in new and existing companies and in non-profit settings.

This course is intended for students in all disciplines. Guest entrepreneurs will share their experiences in a variety of industries from high technology to the creative industries.

Prerequisites: None

Context and Motivation

As the title implies, this course provides an experience. It's dynamic and highly engaging. It's interesting and current. It's challenging and exciting. And it's designed to be relevant to your career - no matter where it may take you and whether or not you want to become an entrepreneur.

Through leading-edge teaching and learning methods and newly-designed experiential activities you'll develop a first-hand understanding of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and build an awareness of the experiences entrepreneurs have. You’ll explore entrepreneurship in developing nations and right here in our own backyard, and look at the role of creative, innovative and entrepreneurial thinking in new and existing companies and in non-profit settings. Wherever possible, guest entrepreneurs will be invited into the classroom to share their experiences in a variety of industries from high technology to the creative industries.

An example of the regional economic rationale for this course is found in the 2007 report by the Alberta Government's Value-added and Commercialization Task Force. Recommendations in that report include the need for post-secondary institutions to engage experienced entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and work with new entrepreneurs … to create the "ideal training ground and launch pad for [the] new entrepreneurs who will help shape Alberta's economic future and sustainable growth."

Topic Schedules

Winter 2012

Required Course Materials

The readings for this course are available electronically through this web site. As such you will need a reliable internet connection. You're welcome to print relevant portions as you wish to support your own learning style.

Learning Activities and Methods of Assessment

For the purposes of formal feedback and grading, you will be assessed based on your performance in each of the following tasks:

Topic Quizzes

Instead of a midterm exam, quizzes and/or in-class exercises will be used to provide regular feedback on how well you are meeting the learning objectives of each topic. Directions and timing will be announced in class.

The Innovation Tournament

In this tournament you and your teammates are required to create, measure and communicate as much value as you can from an everyday object using only the limited resources that will be made available to you. Detailed directions will be given at the time the competition kicks off, but you can expect an immersive entrepreneurial experience in its own right throughout which you will need to put your knowledge, skills, attitudes and networks to the test. The finale for the tournament takes place at an event at which teams representing all sections of the course will compete to be recognized as having created the most value, and for the title of Tournament Champion.

This tournament is modeled in part after well-known challenges such as Stanford’s Global Innovation Tournament and Google’s Change the World Idea Challenge (Project 10¹⁰⁰).

Venture Design Studio

A lot has been said recently about how collaborative technologies are changing the way business is done, and thanks in large part to younger workers, more and more companies today are using social networking tools to boost collaboration and foster innovation and growth. Despite this, and although we've all used Facebook and Wikipedia, the collaborative web phenomenon has not yet enjoyed mainstream adoption in the realm of education, either as a topic or as a teaching method. That will change for students of this course who will use modern, simple collaborative web tools to implement a so-called Venture Design Studio. To make the classroom experience more relevant, your knowledge, skills and attitudes will be put to the test in this team project in which you will design and pitch a highly innovative and feasible venture. With new tools, skills and a bold entrepreneurial mission in hand, you will find yourself working at the leading edge of today’s business world. Teams will be formed in class, and directions and a clear assessment methodology will be provided when the activity kicks off.

Personal Practice Project

A major outcome of this course is your own personal growth throughout the learning experiences and how you foresee that enabling your personal practice in the future. Whether or not you find yourself to be well suited to entrepreneurial pursuits (and you don’t have to!), you are required to reflect on your findings in a constructive way. Guidance and a clear assessment methodology will be provided in class.

Attendance and engagement

There are a number of outside of class events in this course (see the Topic Schedule). These are critical to how the course runs and to your ability to meet its learning objectives, especially because each section competes against the others sections on several occasions. For that reason, a portion of the mark is assigned to assess your level of attendance and engagement in class and at the events that take place outside of class. University calendar-excused absences are considered acceptable if your teacher is notified in advance. Further details will be provided in class.

Mark Allocation and Assessment Schedule

Your final mark for the course will be computed as a weighted average of the marks you receive in each of the above assessment tasks. The weights used to compute that final mark and the approximate due dates of the assessment tasks are given below. You should consult the topic schedule for your section for exact due dates.

Methods of assessment (above)	Weight	Scheduled due date*
Topic Quizzes	10%	To be announced ahead of time in class and via the Topic Schedule
Innovation Tournament	20%	Mar 5 - Mar 15 Semi-finals take place Mar 14 or 15 (depending on your section) Final event takes place Mar 15
Venture Design Studio Final pitch (20%) Final business model (20%) Self-assessment (10%)	50%	Weeks 4-14 Semi-finals take place Apr 4 or 5 (depending on your section) Finals take place Apr 10
Personal Practice Project	15%	On or before Apr 15
Attendance	5%	Throughout the term and at outside of class events
Total	100%

* Changes to this scheduled, if needed, will be announced in class. You should consult the Topic Schedule for your section for detailed scheduling information.

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives and methods of assessment for this course are given in in the table below.

Four areas of focus have been identified for the objectives that you should achieve during your time in Mount Royal’s entrepreneurship program. The course objectives below are categorized according to these areas of focus that are common to all courses: 1) entrepreneurial toolset, 2) personal mindset and brand, 3) experiential and knowledge construction, and 4) team, networking and communication.

Mount Royal has identified six institution-wide learning outcomes that describe the core abilities you should develop during your studies, regardless of your academic program. These outcomes and abilities help prepare you for a life of continuous learning, and have been identified as critical to success in the workplace. The relationship between the course objectives and the college outcomes is also shown below.

Outcome thread	Student learning objectives	Methods of assessment (above)	Link to institution wide outcomes
Entrepreneurial toolset objectives	Demonstrate understanding of and ability to apply fundamental knowledge and skills related to the creative, innovative and entrepreneurial experience, e.g.: the entrepreneurial process for profit and non-profit ventures enabling factors in the environment analysis and interpretation of financial data fundamental skills in marketing, human resources, operations and strategy awareness of and sensitivity to different cultures innovation and entrepreneurship in developing and industrial nations ethical constraints the value of failure Recognize and demonstrate the attitudes, behaviors and personal characteristics required of successful entrepreneurs	Topic quizzes Venture Design Studio Innovation Tournament	Thinking Ethical reasoning
Personal mindset and brand objectives	Explore and reflect upon your own entrepreneurial attitudes, behaviors and personal characteristics Demonstrate reflective ‘habits of mind’ and ongoing commitment to developing your entrepreneurial practices	Innovation Tournament Personal Practice Project Big Room Lab	Thinking Communication
Collaborative knowledge creation objectives	Create as much value as possible using limited resources and your developing social network Establish a suitable team for creating value under resource, ethical and other constraints Develop a first-order business model that would enable your idea Conduct secondary and primary research to test and validate your approach Vet the entrepreneurial framework explored in class against experiences shared by guest speakers and the interviews presented by peer groups	Innovation Tournament Venture Design Studio Personal Practice Project	Thinking Information retrieval and evaluation Communication Ethical reasoning Group effectiveness
Networking, team and communication objectives	Carry out a face-to-face interview with a lead entrepreneur in order to examine how his or her characteristics and experiences compare with those of the ‘ideal’ entrepreneur Develop and strengthen your personal entrepreneurial network to support your learning objectives Work effectively as an individual, in peer groups to meet your objectives Use multimedia software to develop videos to be presented to your peers and to a judging panel	Innovation Tournament Big Room Lab	Group effectiveness Computer literacy Communication

Course authors and contributors

Role	Name(s)
Author	Alex Bruton
Contributing teachers	Stephen Kenny Carolyn Sterenberg Vance Gough Laurie Jensen  Patricia Derbyshire Douglas MacDonald

License

This work is made available to Mount Royal University students as part of their coursework to provide them with the current and relevant resources they need to succeed in their program of study.

The work and intellectual property contained within it are licensed under the Creative Commons in order to invite feedback and allow for further contributions. To view a copy of this Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca. Under this license you are welcome to copy, distribute and build on this work for non-commercial uses, under the conditions specified in the license, and provided you give credit as follows:

• Title of work: The Entrepreneurial Experience Course
• Author of work: Dr. Alex Bruton
  
• Attribute work to URL: http://resources.talcie.org/courses/the-entrepreneurial-experience

If you have any questions please contact licensing@talcie.org, or to provide feedback please contact Dr. Alex Bruton at abruton@mtroyal.ca.

Notes

In the event that the content on this page differs from what is found in your course outline, your course outline is deemed correct.