There are many impressive people on the campus where I teach - one I'll mention today is, Adria, who teaches a variety of art classes. I often see her students outside with their canvases turning empty space into colorful visions ... the students' active presence on walkways and in courtyards makes our campus feel like a place for creative acts. Even if we don't get to add a brush stroke, there is a strong implicit message to all of us passersby that our campus is a place for creators.
With that in mind ... what if students in Adria's painting classes were confined to their desks listening to Adria lecture about painting? What if the students never got to paint? Even if they were allowed to openly discuss whether they prefer Winsor & Newton, Schmincke or Holbein paints, none would accept this as reasonable course design for a painting class. Yet, in many of our entrepreneurship courses and initiatives, we're not even inviting students to pick up a brush.
If employers are asking us to send them more proactive solution creators, how can information/content prepare a college student for their post graduation life? How can they get past conforming to years of passive learning and magically become an intrapreneur or entrepreneur once they move their tassle to the other side? It's unlikely ... or, if they do become intrapeneurs/entrepreneurs, it is likely in spite of us rather than because of us. We need to get them out of their seats, out of their comfort zones and into entrepreneurial experiences so that we offer transformational learning opportunities that become woven into students' identities and ways of being. Entrepreneurship isn't a learning module, it's a way of life.
"But, they need to know our content - they need to know about business planning, profit, loss and venture capital, " the academic scoffs. Yes, of course they do and content will always be part of our courses. But, proactive individuals with high self efficacy can google that information for free on their own schedule and they can network - which is likely a better time investment than 8-16 weeks of lecture & discussion or a multi-semester, content based certificate program. Well controlled college students can know all of the right answers on a test of concepts, but if they do not have the identity or self-efficacy underlying self-directed action, we are disabling them and slowing their careers with outdated products overloaded in expensive information. Just because we can sell an obsolete product does not mean that we should.
The academic continues, "And, we have a pitch contest every year - that's active learning!" True, but if we are only letting a few out of their seats for an occasional pitch contest, then we are taking a common and troubling academic approach to professional back patting masquerading as meaningful results. We take a few students, likely already on a success trajectory, and hold them up as examples of our "wow" programs that serve only a select few. If community colleges simply take credit for a few speaker events and anecdotal student success stories, we are certainly not meeting the broad missions our communities are funding. We must do better and build entrepreneurial ecosystems!
There is hope for more!
Entrepreneurship is still relatively new to us so we need to keep challenging ourselves to greater and greater results - better quality and quantity. Our students, organizations, communities and country are counting on us.
Look for inspiration - far and near!
Through organizations such as NACCE and the Innovation League, there are many stories of entrepreneurial campuses building entrepreneurial ecosystems for students across disciplines, staff, faculty and the community ... and, on all of our campuses, I know we have inspiring individuals such as Adria who can remind us at the most local level, "Let (all of) the students paint!"
Pictured: Content is Free.
Happy Commencement Day at PVCC ... see the tassles move! May 12, 2017
