1. Nifty Assignmentsin Entrepreneurship EducationNCIIA 2011 organized by Clif Kussmaul & Trish Boyles Muhlenberg College

2. Every educator wants to find good materials to adopt or adapt. Conference sessions describe programs, courses, and materials, often at a high level. Colleagues describe individual experiences. Good ideas may go unreported or lack sufficient detail.

3. Nifty Assignments help us to share these ideas & experiences. A great NA is: easy to adopt & adapt relevant in many settings thought-provoking fun for students & teachers NA sessions are popular at other conferences,and NAs are archived online.

4. This session seeks to share NAs & encourage more in the future. 8 Nifty Assignments 5 minutes each plus questions spontaneous NAs from attendees simple format: title, keywords, author info, bullet points please pass them to Clif or Trish general discussion & more sharing

5. Team Triangle Count team dynamics, decision making, problem solving Clif Kussmaul clif@kussmaul.org Muhlenberg College(from Carol Wellington @ Shippensburg Univ.) Student teams spend 5-10 minutes counting the triangles in a complex figure. Teams consider team roles & strategies. Teams report conclusions to class & discuss.

6. Team Triangle Count

7. Golden Rolodex networking Michael Lehman mslehman@katz.pitt.eduUniversity of Pittsburgh Each student picks 5 people they don’t know. engineering, law, health sci, industry, etc. Interview each person face-to-face. Write 2 page reflection paper.

8. Shooting Video to Discover Unmet Needs perception, opportunity recognition, customer needs analysis Jonathan Weaver weaverjm@udmercy.edu Univ of Detroit, Mercy, Mech Eng Dept Show selective attention video (next slide). Each student compiles a 10 minute video of people in typical activities. Identify & list unmet needs or opportunities. Share videos with class to identify more.

9. Shooting Video to Discover Unmet Needs

10. Just Do It: Accelerated Startup Exercise teamwork, opportunity identification, action-orientation, bootstrapping Trish Boyles tboyles@muhlenberg.eduMuhlenberg College Students teams develop, launch, & operatea startup idea with minimal funding (<$5). Summary presentation one week later onidea, process, obstacles, lessons learned.

11. Back of the Envelope Calculation technical calculation, approximation Susannah Howe showe@smith.edu Smith College Each student gets an envelopeand uses it to make a rough calculation,often very early in a project.

12. The Melting Pot brainstorming, creativity Michael Lehman mslehman@katz.pitt.eduUniversity of Pittsburgh Each student lists 5 things they like to do. Teams of 3 combine 1 idea from each listand blend them to form a business idea. Teams share their idea with the class. Teams define target market, competitive advantage, business name, & logo.

13. DeBono’s 6 Hats: Innovating on the Common Water Bottle idea/concept generation, parallel thinking, team dynamics Jonathan Weaver & Darrell Kleinkeweaverjm@udmercy.edu Univ of Detroit, Mercy, Mech Eng Dept Instructor introduces DeBono’s 6 Thinking Hats (next slide). Student teams practice each hat to identify innovations related to water bottles.

14. DeBono’s 6 Hats: Innovating on the Common Water Bottle White hat Facts & Information Red hat Feelings & Emotions Black hat Caution Yellow hat Positive and Optimistic Green hat New Ideas Blue hat The Big Picture

15. Transfer Map transferable knowledge/attitudes/skills, professional development Susannah Howe showe@smith.edu Smith College Each student identifies & lists their own transferable knowledge/attitudes/skills. Student teams aggregate the listsand make a visual map.

16. Transfer Map

17. Other Nifty Assignments?

18. Newspaper Challenge teamwork, opportunity recog, skill recog Frances Mitchell, Innovation Academy, TCD/UCD Give newpaper to mixed discipline teams. Use contents of pockets/bags to create valuefrom something in the newspaper. Present result at end of day.

19. Reframe the Problem redesign Tina Seelig, Stanford Univ. Students walk around finding problems. Analyze & redesign nametags. What are the real goals? Reframe problem, prototype. (see also Wallet Project)

20. Elevator Pitch communication, networking, marketing Dean Chang, Univ of MD 1-2 min elevator pitch about yourself basic info, e’ship experience, unique features Watch recording of yourself 3 good things, 3 improvements, 1 borrowed idea Record yourself on cell phone