For the second consecutive year, Syracuse University's Martin J. Whitman School of Management will host The Experiential Classroom, a national program that aims to increase the skills of those who teach entrepreneurship. The conference, to be held Sept. 18-21, is sponsored by SU and the Lifelong Learning for Entrepreneurial Education Professionals (LLEEP) Partnership.
It is presented by SU, the University of Colorado, the Kauffman Foundation and the Beyster Institute.
"We are very proud to host this program at SU. We believe it is the preeminent program of its type, involving some of the true master teachers, and affecting generations of students," says Michael Morris, Witting Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Whitman School.
Morris explains that teaching entrepreneurship is substantially different from teaching most other subjects. "It is different most basically because one is teaching something that is fundamentally cross-disciplinary and something that has applicability in a wide variety of contexts: start-up, small business growth, corporate and social entrepreneurship. There is a diverse mix of courses, and the curriculum models in this area are just emerging - the curricula at any two schools will look different."
The Experiential Classroom is limited to 36 participants. It is intended to train faculty members from any discipline who are retooling so that they can teach entrepreneurship; entrepreneurs returning to the classroom to teach for the first time; adjunct faculty teaching entrepreneurship; and new faculty in the field.
Facilitators will include Morris and Peter Koveos, a professor of finance at the Whitman School, as well as faculty members from such institutions as Miami University, Babson College, Ball State University and the University of Washington. Experts from the Beyster Institute, the Kauffman Foundation and other groups will also participate.
The conference will include such topics as "Combining Experience and the Experiential: The Entrepreneurship Classroom Brought Alive," "Using Simulations to Teach Entrepreneurship in New and Different Ways, " "Landing on an Alien Planet: Experiences with Teaching Entrepreneurship When You Come From a Completely Different Background" and "Exploiting Creativity in the Classroom."
The LLEEP Partnership was formed in 1998 when a small group of academic leaders gathered in St. Louis to explore the future of entrepreneurship education. These experts decided that future entrepreneurs could be better prepared by improving the teaching skills of their professors.
