Much of the success of the Communication and English teaching team is due to excellent working relationships with colleagues cross college. A project that we are currently involved in is with the NQ Intro to Business group. The project was a success last year and involves input from Communication, IT, Numeracy and Business lecturers.
The theme of the project is 'Be your own boss - creating your business plan.'
Students enrolled on the Core Skills (Communication) Unit are assessed on their ability to read and evaluate a newspaper article, write a business plan and present their business plan as contestants would in the critically acclaimed BBC television programme, Dragons' Den.
Student feedback has been positive and although we aren't quite at the half way point, the students have successfully negotiated a newspaper article (summative task) entitled 'Young entrepreneurs are cooking with gas' which included recent research that contradicts the idea that young people are often seen as troublemakers who lack ambition, drive and commitment. The article highlights the fact that a significant percentage of young people want to set up their own businesses in the near future and provides useful references and links to support organisations for those young people wishing to go down this route. It is well written, appeared in The Scotsman and is a good example of positive journalism that addresses contemporary issues.
The students enjoyed reading this as they could identify with the main points raised in the article. I had already established from the first session with them that the main reason for them being on the course was to learn the skills necessary to sustain a business of their own. When students know why they are enrolled on their Programme of Study, it does make things less stressful for the lecturers!
The final two tasks require a lot of planning, goodwill, application and understanding and that is just with reference to the lecturing staff! Carole Paterson, course tutor and Senior Lecturer in Business met with representatives from Communication, IT, Numeracy and Business before the start of semester one to explain the premise of the project, supported by the Communication lecturer who taught the class with great success the previous year.
What the project entails is for the students to identify what their proposed business is about, what they would like to call it, details on the location, type of business (sole trader or partnership), what the WOW! factor is, USP, Marketing Plan and many other aspects besides, too numerous to mention.
This involves teaching and learning from four lecturers. These lecturers help the students with Communication Skills (writing formally, structure, form, content and presentation techniques), Business acumen (learning about Business discourse, Marketing principles and Business Management), IT knowledge (learning how to apply principles of spreadsheets, blogging, general word processing skills) and application of Numeracy skills (to discuss the financial plan, cash budgeting, profit and loss accounts etc.)
The final part of the jigsaw culminates in the students delivering a presentation on their business plan to a cross section of lecturing staff. The Communication lecturer assesses the talks using a checklist in line with SQA guidelines joined by up to three other members of staff to authenticate the process. It has been rumoured that bundles of cash will be available for the pitches, but alas, they won't be real! The students will be asked to pitch for investment from the lecturing 'dragons' with prizes going to the best two presentations.
In terms of what this collegiate educational project can add to the student experience, I genuinely believe that we are adding value to their learning. The project promotes the ideas of enterprise, employability, citizenship, entrepreneurial activities, career development, self-awareness and improvement, problem solving, communication and literacy, application of numeracy, application of IT, joined-up thinking, participative working and reflective practice.
It is clear that the lecturers understand the roles they play in this process and the students are keen to impress with their ideas. Some of the business proposals include a traditional tea room called Eden and Eve, developing and manufacturing covers for the iPad 2, running a mobile beauty therapy business, an idea for a non traditional milkshake bar and a sports and fitness business for disadvantaged young people.
I look forward to the pitching in December and will probably assume the role of Theo Paphitis rather than Duncan Bannatyne on the day!
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