Objective:
- Understanding entrepreneurial experience and unpacking the expertise of the learners/participants
- Benchmarking the group to plan development and awareness activities
Introduction:
This activity is a great start to a business planning or business start-up module, as it works well as an ice-breaker in any group seeking to explore the spectrum of activity and can be repeated at the end of teaching programme/input to see how the levels of student confidence in the topic have changed.
Activity:
At the very start of an activity as an ice-breaker, students are asked to line up (single-file) in a continuum of entrepreneurial experience (from âI have never heard of entrepreneurshipâ to âI am running, or have ran my own businessâ. They have to talk to one another in order to position themselves. A selection of willing group members from various stages of the link tell the group why they are standing where they are. After each one, individuals are asked if they would like to reconsider their position in the line. Teaching and activities follow that unpack the entrepreneurial mind-set, and ways of developing the characteristics, drawing equally on entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, and then the line-up is repeated. If you have the opportunity for multiple interventions, the line-up can be repeated at any point (formatively or summatively), to help students learn from each other and the teacher/facilitator to learn more about the needs of the cohort as a whole.
Impact:
It also denotes a significant change in teaching style â and therefore student learning and engagement â will be required for this module. It signifies that there will opportunities to share experience, and pitch own expertise or ideas.
It allows the students to benchmark where they are in the context of peers and understand where they may gain further support from during the programme.
It builds confidence by drawing out smaller examples of entrepreneurial endeavour, particularly those that have taken place through involvement in clubs, societies or outside education.
Learner outcome:
For a short ice-breaker, or reflective activity this group tasks alerts students to the approach being taken within this area of teaching - âI knew this class was going to be different when we all had to stand up before the PowerPoint had even been turned onâ.
Students âhuddleâ together and start discussing their experiences in the area and this forms bonds and provides insights to potential future group members. The outcome is a powerful ice-breaking activity that builds confidence in the group as a whole.
References:
Link to HOW TO GUIDE _ Interpersonal Icebreaker: Line of Evaluation