New online course addresses the need for strengthening entrepreneurial and innovation skills.
“Covid has been a 'pause and reflect' moment for many people. At a time in history where a lot of invention is taking place, it may be a good time for people to reinvent themselves and explore their entrepreneurial appetite,” observes David Burt, Director of Entrepreneurship and lead of the UNSW Founders program.
Recognising this need, UNSW Online and AGSM had nominated a new course for development into a fully online offering: ZZBU6103 Entrepreneurship and Innovation as part of the Master of Management Program. Michael Crouch Innovation Centre (MCIC) were invited to co-develop the course. Between March and June 2021, David and Fi Tschaut (MCIC) collaborated with UNSW Online and Felipe Crisostomo and Martin Parisio from PVCESE Education Delivery Solutions (EDS) in bringing the course to life using the UNSW Online theme in Moodle.
The new course aims to develop students’ entrepreneurial skills, as they analyse and propose solutions to meaningful unsolved problems.
The perks of a collaborative development process
The team found that the UNSW Online weekly template helped scaffold course design, assessments and interactive educational tasks. Each had a clear purpose and instructions, as well as feedback options for each activity. They examined ways to encourage community building and peer-to-peer feedback, using tools like H5P, Padlet, Miro, Moodle Workshop and Calendly.
David comments, “There was a lot of learning for Fi and myself. [It was] fantastic working with Felipe and the team, tapping into their knowledge for design guidance, at the architectural level of the course and all the way down to very nuanced elements within individual activities." Fi agrees, adding that Felipe also helped them focus on the length and amount of content too, with “short digestible content and then exercises to put it into practice.”
Fi and David both describe the project as “such a great and truly deep collaboration" across multiple teams. “We hope we can get the opportunity to bring more subjects like this to life. With clear communication and strong collaboration across the team, we found developing the fully online course a joyful project to work on,” said Fi and David.
Opportunities for strengthening our students’ entrepreneurial skills
UNSW Founders program is seeing a stronger demand across the university for the development of entrepreneurship skills. MCIC has created the Entrepreneurial Endeavours - a suite of modules and workshops designed to help introduce students to the methodologies of entrepreneurship, innovation and creative thinking. They can help develop and implement small (or larger) modules into existing coursework, such as a 1-hour module for 1st year Science or a 3-hour module for 4th year Engineering students. Popular workshops include pitching and communicating ideas, rapid prototyping and design thinking.
ZZBU6103 Entrepreneurship and Innovation is due to run early next year. If you think this course might suit your students or programs, or you would like to discuss possible projects with UNSW Founders, please reach out to Fi Tschaut.
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For more information, see UNSW Founders and MCIC.
To explore new fully online offerings with UNSW Online, email: online@unsw.edu.au
To access course design or re-design support, reach out to the PVCESE Innovation team via this form.
David Burt is an experienced commercial advisor and the Director of Entrepreneurship at UNSW. David leads the UNSW Founders team which helps all UNSW alumni, staff and students to turn their ideas and research into a startup. David currently serves as a Non-Executive Director for the Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, as well as the deep tech incubator Cicada Innovations. David is a member on the Advisory Board of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) and advises several early stage startup companies.
Fi Tschaut is the Senior Manager of the Michael Crouch Innovation Centre (MCIC) at UNSW. She designs and leads large-scale/flagship innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives within the Australian University sector and beyond. Fi is passionate about working with students and lifelong learners to help them build entrepreneurial mindsets.
Felipe Crisostomo is an Educational Solutions Developer within PVCESE at UNSW. He possesses a PhD in Engineering and has more than 10 years of experience in delivering and managing projects in the engineering, research and education sectors.
Martin Parisio, AFHEA, is an Educational Solutions Developer within our PVCESE at UNSW. He has extensive experience in educational design within the tertiary education sector and an educational background in information technology, English as an additional language, teaching and educational innovation.
Nikki Hayes is an Education Solutions Developer in Educational Delivery Solutions, PVCESE. She has extensive experience in teaching and educational development and enjoys helping students and academics achieve their learning and teaching goals through great learning experiences.
Dr Emily Chandler is an Education Solutions Developer in Educational Delivery Solutions, PVCESE. She holds a PhD in Media, Film and Theatre and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is passionate about accessibility and equity.