A change to last year that added the most value
There was something I wasn’t too happy about. After my course Entrepreneurship in Water Sports and Travel of last September I felt there was something missing.
When teaching, the subjects adressed are normally somewhat general and it’s not always easy to help students on an individual level. During this course for the Universidade de Coimbra, students team up to work on an entrepreneurial idea. Last year I noticed that it was challenging to either provide much input on an individual level (around the entrepreneur), nor on a company-level (as they all form groups to work on a business case/company).
This year 1-on-1 sessions were implemented. After the 8th class (out of 10) I sat down with all teams individually (up to 75 minutes) to really focus on their business model, the value they created, and their target group whilst also sharing my experiences (relevant to them). Here it was more about really helping them forward, based on my knowledge and experience, rather than trying to make them think in a certain way (which is done throughout the course anyway).
During these sessions I could also focus (somewhat) on the individuals by asking them what was actually holding them back from taking the leap.
The feedback I got was actually very satisfying. Like I had hoped for, it turned out: students found these meetings very insightful and this really helped them further. During the final presentations I did see a lot of the things discussed back on the sheets and throughout their explanation.
Plan worked well!
