Entrepreneurial Education: Y-Campus and Proacademy (Tampere-FI)

Entrepreneurial Education: Y-Campus and Proacademy 

Visiting Y-Campus

The experience we had on Fe 18^th was really amazing. We had the chance to visit two campus of HAMK University of Applied Science, in Tampere. The first one was Y-Campus and the other one was Proacademy.

The most meaningful situation I had there was at Proacademy, when the VET Teachers had the change to interview some students of Business Administration. What caught my attention during the conversation were:

• In order to get their degree in Business Administration, students must have credits, which are achieved though the attendance or promotion of some workshop, lectures, projects (that they must get funded) etc. To help them manage their studies, they have to organize what they are doing in a “Study Plan”, in an Excel spreadsheet.

• Trust is solid. Students do not have to prove though certificates the courses and lectures they attended. They only register what they really have done.

• Students are given responsibility on their own learning and study management – they are giving opportunities to make choices, they lead workshops and solve their problems together during the learning process. That really makes the difference. Students are really entrepreneurs. 

• Teachers are called coaches and they guide, support, help students through the course, but they are not heading the process. Students organize themselves so that they select materials and deliver their workshops. Coaches may be present as well as other guests. 

Team office  - Every team has an office (Innovative classroom)

• Students are independent learners, autonomous, critical, engaged, and focused. 

Learning environment - learning can happen everywhere, classrooms can be then recreated.

https://vimeo.com/34897877 (ProAcademy video)

Dialogical Methods

  

Constructing learning communities through Dialogical Methods

"…language is the main tool that promotes thinking, develops reasoning, and supports cultural activities like reading and writing" (VYGOTSKY, 1978)

Highlighted topics:

• Socratic Questioning

• Dialogical Method

Socratic Question

As teachers we must help students to develop their critical thinking skills, thus it is important to create opportunities for that. Teachers cannot simply “pass the knowledge” by lecturing only as if he owns “the box of knowledge”.  Lecturing in a classroom may be efficient when it is combined with a variety of teaching strategies. 

Socratic questions might be used in classroom as a means of creating this challenging learning atmosphere. Thoughts, ideas are discussed in a distributive way of learning and teaching.      The process becomes democratic and no-one possesses the “box of knowledge”, instead it is cooperatively built. 

The teacher must be aware of the lesson outcomes and, of course, how to use Socratic questioning appropriately. Questioning must never be used as a way to punish or embarrass students but as a way of instigating the pursuit of knowledge. 

• Use of conceptual clarification question
• Probing assumptions
• Probing rationale, reasons and evidence
• Questioning viewpoints and perspectives
• Probe implications and consequences
• Questions about the question

Questions, questions, questions…

• What kind of strategies can we use to develop high thinking skills?
• Have we been giving students clear instructions?
• Have we been making information too difficult to understand?
• Have we been able to listen to our students carefully and considerably?
• Have we been using questions to instigate and build knowledge?
• Have we been using intelligent questions which require thoughtful answers?
• As teachers, do we know how to be humble in a classroom?

Dialogical Method 

  A dialogic attitude is a state of mind. Working in a dialogical approach means to be open to transformation and to collective construction. It comprehends a lot of traits such as: empathy, kindness, reciprocity, honesty, trust, participation, respect, engagement etc.

• Body language plays an essential role in a dialogue. 
•  For more information on Dialogical Method click on www.hamk.fi/diale

Here is an excerpt which best explains the relevance and effectiveness of methods which empower critical thinking skills through the use of a dialogical learning approach/ Socratic questioning:  

Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers. The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow. In this process, arguments based on "authority" are no longer valid; in order to function authority must be on the side of freedom, not against it. Here, no one teaches another, nor is anyone self-taught. People teach each other, mediated by the world, by the cognizable objects which in banking education are "owned" by the teacher (1993, p.61)

PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED by Paulo Freire. New York: Continuum Books, 1993 – available at: http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/philosophy/education/freire/freire-2.html Acessed on Feb 2015).

Teachers play a fundamental role as a facilitador for communication and interaction in a classroom.They can they can foster knowledge construction by building active learning communities through the use of socratic peer discussions and dialogical methods.

Entrepreneurial Education

Highlighted topics:

• Creating competence-based learning environment;
• Entrepreneurial Teacher;
• Rocket Science; 
• Pitching;
• Entrepreneurial University;
• Idea Mill.

Creating competence-based learning environment – integration of RDI (research, development, innovation) and learning.

A competence-based learning environment is built through the integration of knowing, doing and being. 

 

The social-cultural knowledge was presented to us as part of the “being” constitution. 

Therefore, UNESCO’s four-pillars of Learning must be integrated in the curriculum.

   

Entrepreneurial Teacher 

Concepts of entrepreneurship, innovation, change and services for business were extensively discussed in pairs, and then in whole group.

As an educator, it was interesting to analyze the strategies used by the lecturers. Their starting point to discuss those topics was by applying a strategy to survey our prior-knowledge. 

All concepts raised were valued and somehow weaved.  

Rocket Science 

Though the use of a group work, we  had to create a service/product to beat our “supposedly strongest competitor”: Virgin Galactic http://www.virgingalactic.com/. 

There were 4 members in our group: Regina, Emily, Torsten and me. 

 

We created what we named “GEM” – Galatic Experience Module. I had to be the team leader, since the lecturer demanded a Brazilian had to. As a team leader, I thought that the first thing I should do was to survey my team’s interest to build a rocket and if it would have any relation to their “dreams”. 

At first, two of them were interested and would pay a large amount of money to have a space trip.

We then started brainstorming about our “dream spaceship”. Very interesting ideas came up. At that point, our ideas originated another acronym that defined our project: SWEEP – Space Wellness and Experience Event Project. Our GEM would sweep you off the ground and would provide you a lifetime wellness experience.

Our concept of wellness was based in six pillars: physical, occupational, social, intellectual, spiritual and emotional wellness. Accordingly, inside the spaceship there would be a room for each area, and all of them would intersect. In the entry, our user would be “scanned”. His personality, likes, dislikes and unconscious wellness desires would be reveled and a customized experience would be programed.

Our project was based on the Quantum Physics. All wellness experience could be carried out, but not all of them could be seen by everyone, only the individual could see and experience. Most of the events could be virtual inside the spaceship, and some would really happen.

Our marketing man, Torsten presented our spaceship. After the construction and presentation, we assessed our process of conceiving the idea. The good points raised were mainly about the teamwork itself: process of creation and construction. Everybody enjoyed the process. The not-so-good points raised were: communication obstacles and the fact that not even one member could get really involved in all steps: 1. Brainstorming, 2. Making it real (constructing), 4. Presenting to the audience. Of course I played a very important  role as a team leader, so I myself took those not-so-good points  into my account.

 

 Pitching Experience

I enjoyed learning about the “Pitching event”. It consists of a brief oral presentation of an idea, in that case it was specifically about an entrepreneur idea.

Although some ideas presented sounded a little naïve, some were really interesting and I guess the main purpose of that kind of event is to encourage students to innovate. Furthermore, the expertises' feedback were truly valuable and will certainly teach a lot to those participants.

 

Lecture: The Entrepreneurial University – Paul Coyle

The lecture presented by Paul Coyle was really interesting. While he was lecturing, I was trying to identify through the probable solutions presented their challenges. 

I guess most of them are somehow similar. 

How can leadership move their institutions to a more entrepreneurial mode? 

Actions must be, again, integrated.

Idea Mill

The Idea Mill was presented as a project in which teams would have to come up with at least 90 ideas. At first, that sounded as something really hard, but the strategies to develop those ideas were then presented.

The following guidance was given:

1.   We had to answer some questions related to: our main services, our users’ needs, what I can do to help users, partnerships I could establish to improve/expand my institution’s services.

2.      After that, we were expected to create questions related to our previous answers.

3.      The group had to discuss the questions and select one single question.

4.      Then, answer the questions - creating ideas/solutions regarding four areas: institution, staff, students and user. 

5. Each member of the group had to write at least 4 ideas (solutions) for each area and pass each sheet (of 4) clockwise on to the next member (As in our group there were 5 members, we had to come up with at least 80 ideas!)

6.      Come up with the ideas.

7.      Select the best ideas.

8.      Select again in groups. Discuss and come up with one single idea to the question.

9.      Through the use of NABC model, we had to create a service/product .

10.  Present the service/product created to the audience.

11.  Audience had to ask questions/give feedback (unfortunately, we did not have enough time for that).

Our question:

• How can we offer services that can increase human capital for social innovation?

Our answer:

• Developing practical social projects and Professional Development Projects which aim to establish a cooperative, creative, problem-solving and innovative environment regarding social issues.

 Our Idea:

• Project Factory

Everything turned out to be a learning experience...

 

Experiencing culture through food, music, dressing, routine, households and so forth was important to get the picture of my learning surroundings.

 

My first week in Hämeenlinna was full of good surprises! 

I was lucky to bump into a beautiful and sweet dog.

When I was walking by a park with my friend Giselda, we experienced a funny situation.  I was tired and willing to take a seat  and also take pictures.

As I was taking a seat,  music suddenly started playing and I was frightened by the sound.

 I realized I was at Sibelius Park.  I learned at that time that the benches are equipped with motion sensors which launch music players as people sit. 

That was a beautiful surprise. It wouldn't have been the same if I'd already known about it. I'm glad that happened! After overcoming the initial shock, I relaxed and appreciated the sound.

 

I met my colleagues with whom I will be learning and living  for the following 5 months and also some brilliant lecturers. 

 

Learning Diary

A very meaningful sentence I heard in my first week was that in Education it is important 

 “to be local and global at the same time”. 

I also appreciated learning about the acronym CLIL – Content and Language Integrating Learning, which is basically an approach for learning different contents through a foreign/second or additional language. That made me think of offering some courses on Oral Communication for Academic Purpose, Academic Writing etc. and team work with workmates from different subject areas - using the approach in my classes. 

 

 

Finally, a really relevant learning experience was to attend all my colleagues’ presentation as well as presenting the following topics: where I’m from, my organization, my education background, motivation to come to Finland/to this course, expectations to the program  and how I see myself when I return to Brazil (my learning goals).