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Case study: Developing the ‘Business Planning and Sustainable Entrepreneurship’ module

School for Business and Society
Claire Sinclair

Claire Sinclair provides an overview of the Business Planning and Sustainable Entrepreneurship module, a large and complex module with a current cohort of 370 students. The module involves students working in small interdisciplinary teams drawn from programmes across the school to come up with their own idea for a sustainable business aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They work together to fully research their business plans, carrying out detailed financial projections, obtaining quotes from suppliers, and doing their own primary market research.

Despite the size of the module and the numbers involved, learning and teaching is designed flexibly around the needs and goals of specific groups. A flipped classroom model is used with micro-videos focusing on key underpinning knowledge. These are designed for access before teaching sessions, and also to support ‘just-in-time’ needs as the group work process unfolds. A coaching approach is taken by the five module tutors in weekly group tutorials focused on the needs of each specific group as they develop their plans, and this also allows for targeted interventions where there are problems within groups. Skills development is also embedded in both VLE content and within teaching in collaboration with the school’s academic skills advisers, with a particular focus on reflective writing, presentation skills, and communication across diverse teams.

Summative assessment consists of an assessed group business plan (30%) and ‘dragon’s den style presentation (10%) along with an individual reflective assignment (60%).

Claire described the ways in which the VLE site for the module facilitates the approaches taken to the module design and delivery providing the ‘backbone’ for delivery of the different elements of the module. She finally provided some insights into the plans for future development of the module which will be focused on reducing the student workload to ensure parity with other 20-credit modules and incorporating the structured use of generative AI tools into the development process for the business plans.

To supplement the presentation, Claire provided a recording of a discussion with a student group reflecting on their experiences on the module. This can be accessed below the presentation.

Watch their presentation:

Business Planning and Sustainable Entrepreneurship (Panopto viewer) (8 mins 10 secs, UoY log-in required)

Transcript

I just wanted to give a bit of a flavour about what the module is all about really. So business planning and sustainable entrepreneurship.

I guess the main message from the first slide is just the sheer size and scale of it. It's a really large and complex module, which obviously has implications for the VLE. And I think in a sense where the VLE really comes into its own because we're so reliant on it. So 370 students, over 1500 workloaded hours for the five tutors that are working on the module. Over a million words of marking.

The module is basically about students working in teams to come up with their own business idea for a sustainable business aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and they have to then work in those teams to fully research those business plans. So they do the financial projections, they get quotes from suppliers, they do their own primary market research. So it's a really huge kind of experiential project. Um, and then they also pitch their business plan idea as well to, not to dragons, but to me and some of our other tutors in the boardroom at the school for Business and Society. And then they also do an individual reflective essay as well, where they really consider aspects of of what they've learned through that team experience, thinking about things like leadership and transcultural working and team roles and so on. So lots going on, a really busy module.

Um, it's fair to say in the, uh, kind of six years or so that I've been heading up the module we've seen it all, I think, within our teams managing student student groups. We've definitely seen some fall outs. Not amongst tutors You'll be glad to know but we've seen lots and lots of friendships made. We've seen love blossom in our teams, but no marriages. But I still held out hope that there might be a wedding one day that I'll take complete responsibility for. We've definitely, between the tutors and the students, had some sleepless nights over this module because of the complexities. Probably some hair torn out over the time, but it's a really fulfilling project to both work on from a tutors perspective. But also the students tell us regularly, not necessarily during the module, but after the module, and particularly when they come back from the year in industry, they say this module has really helped them get a flavour of what it's like to work either, in terms of planning a real life Start-Up or because of the team work experience it's really realistic in terms of that skills development. In terms of getting a flavour of what it might be like out in the workplace.

So lots going on in the module, and I guess I've explained the size and scale of it. Um, and what you might think is that, okay, that's a complex module with almost 400 students on it. It's probably - and students think this, they think they're going to come into a huge module where they can just kind of hide in a lecture theatre and they won't be seen, or perhaps they can just access the VLE and no one will ever know. But what we really work hard to do in the module, is to create a really rich learning experience where students, through the engagement with the VLE, through the engagement with staff, actually have a very bespoke learning experience with their particular team. And that speaks to, I think, the fact that every single team has really quite a different experience on the module. They have to work towards the same goals in terms of their assessments, and they get the same content, at least in terms of the formal content. But every team is made up of different people from different backgrounds, different programmes, and students - er tutors take very much a kind of coach um, facilitation approach to address the specific needs of that specific team and to work with them on on what they need at any particular time through the module. So it's a very unique experience for each team, in spite of the fact that it's such a huge cohort. So there's kind of some unexpected contradictions, I suppose, there.

So I've tried to list here all the different interconnected components of this module that make it that rich experience. Um, so it's a flipped classroom. We run small group tutorials weekly. So that's one tutor to each, um, team. They'll have the opportunity to go over to City College and on on a sustainability entrepreneurship field trip. Um, they, um, they have access to micro videos, um, through, um, through the VLE where they can access little learning nuggets that we hope they access before they come to the seminars, but are available for them at the point of need. That's a really important part of that learning, because they're not accessing as many lectures as perhaps on other modules. But also that idea of those sort of targeted interventions in terms of capturing where students or teams are engaging or perhaps not engaging, as much or perhaps in the quality way that we want them to. A really important thing that we did this year was start to much more heavily embed the teaching around skills on the module. So with a particular focus on reflective writing, on presentation skills and on communication across diverse teams. And we worked with our academic skills advisors to sort of embed that that teaching, not just in the VLE but also within the classroom as well.

When I - and you'll see it in the, in the supportive, in the student voice that I captured which is, there's a sort of 15 minute Panopto capture that supports this presentation that's available to you - Um, when I asked the students, you know, how does the VLE support your learning on this module? They just sort of shruggd their shoulders and they were like, I dunno, I dunno if it does really. I know that's not what you want to hear, but I think it was really interesting because when we sort of dug into it and when I, my take on that is that the VLE is just seamless. It's sort of seamlessly integrated into every aspect that you see in those green bubbles on the slide there. So every single one of these things exists because it's connected through the VLE. And so the VLE's the kind of backbone in terms of supporting us deliver each of these aspects and to help us create that rich learning environment.

Thinking about next steps on this module, so looking into, um, next year, students tell us that they find this work, find this module really challenging and I'm okay with that. But I think what they have raised in, in terms of some valid concerns that I want to address is around student workload. So we've got - we've identified some areas where we think we probably are asking a bit much of students in comparison to other 20 credit modules. And then secondly, we're looking at how we can, uh, incorporate generative AI as an entrepreneur would in actually helping um students use that tool in order to build their business plan. So that's a bit of a work in progress in terms of how we're going to do it. But what I think we're going to do is mandate that students will be using generative AI in order to support the development of their business plans in teams. And part of that skills development will be about helping students, uh, have equal access, um, to not only to the platform to, to, to AI, but actually have equal access to, to the ability to learn the skills on how to really work on their prompts, and use AI in a way that is useful and meaningful.

The student perspective on the module design and delivery

In preparation for the webinar, Claire met with a group of students from the module to talk about their experiences of the module and the positives and negatives of its design and delivery from their perspective. Five students took part in the discussion. Overall, their impressions were very positive although they acknowledged that a group that had been less successful in the module assessment might have had a different experience of the module.

Elements that they found to be particularly valuable included:

  • the emphasis on workshops and seminars rather than lectures
  • the interdisciplinary nature of the module and the team working involved
  • the balance between group and individual elements of the assessment
  • the practical emphaisis and the focus on skills

View the recording:

Business Planning and Sustainable Entrepreneurship - student feedback discussion (Panopto viewer) (14 mins 36 secs, UoY log-in required)

Transcript

Okay, so in the room with me just now is, it's Claire Sinclair the module leader for Business Planning and Sustainable Entrepreneurship. And I've got one of the teams who's been through the 23-24 academic year delivery of that module. Do you want to just introduce yourself with your names. Hello. My name is [Student 1]. Hi I'm [Student 2]. I'm [Student 3]. I'm [Student 4]. I'm [Student 5]. Amazing. Thank you so much for being with me.

And I'm going to ask you some questions about Business Planning in a minute in terms of your experience. And we've already talked haven't we have about how you can be completely open. You can tell me the good, the bad, the ugly. in terms of the module, because really, I just want to make sure that it's the best that it can be, which is why I'm so interested in your perspectives. So I've put the slide up here just to remind you a little bit of all the different components of the module because it's massive, isn't it? So there's um, you work in interdisciplinary student teams so people from lots of different programs, finance, marketing and so on. Um, we do lots of icebreakers and brainstorming in those workshops right at the beginning of the session, you do individual reflective practice through your learning journals. We deliver through what's called a flipped classroom, which basically means there's less emphasis on lectures and much more emphasis on seminar work where you're actually in your teams working through that. There was a guest lecture with the dean of the school talking about his own entrepreneurship, um, where you were able to ask questions to him. There are micro videos that are provided to give you those little learning nuggets. Uh, for each of the topics before a seminar, there are small group tutorials where you had time with one tutor to one team to get that coaching and facilitation, um, around either the content that you were learning or maybe any issues with the team development and so on. There was also an opportunity to join the study trip with City College, over in Thessaloniki. There were a range of interventions that tutors put in place to try to support engagement. So tracking attendance, having meetings and one to ones outside of formal timetabled learning. And there was embedded skills teaching as well so we did skill sessions on reflective practice, on presentation skills and on communicating across diverse teams. Uh phew. It sounds like a lot, it's a big module, isn't it?

What I'm really interested in is what works on the module. And also more importantly for me, in terms of learning and developing, what could maybe be improved to refine the module. Does anybody want to be brave enough to go first?

Um. I think what went well, I reckon the module was very like well structured and that - I definitely do. And I think most students do prefer an emphasis on seminars and workshops rather than lectures. So I thought that was very useful. And the constant, like additional work that you guys gave us like the lectures in case we were struggling on anything, the individual time with our tutors, I thought that was very good as well. Um, honestly, even better if? I'm not too sure what could be improved. Those are very good. Interesting. Yeah, I think it's very refined. Um, there's a lot of structure and, like, a lot of direction that you guys gave us to help us get there. And even, like, we lost the ADFM guy, we still got on with the finance because the lecture videos sort of explained what we needed to do. So I think it works. Yeah.

So you guys had some team challenges. You didn't have the perfect experience, um, as a team. So kind of what what was the impact of that when, um, some... your finance expert, if you like, withdrew didn't they from the project. So what was the impact of that? And was there anything that we could have done from the school's perspective in terms of sort of making that a smoother experience for you?

Um, I can't lie. I do financial modules, I don't do, I'm not ADFM, I so I just did it myself. It wasn't too hard - it would have been nice to work with someone, but it wasn't too hard, uh, to figure out. The other thing I would say is that all the lectures and stuff are good, the seminars are good, but I think it's a bit based on luck how well you do with the group stuff because like, I know you wanted to mix it up so you get international students with non-International students, but I know I have a friend who's in one group who had like a couple of international students, and apparently two weeks after the due in date, one of the students was like one of the international students like, oh, um, we probably should have this in now, I don't know. I think that it didn't do too great, but I think the group that you got is based on luck and it can affect how well you do. Like we got a great group. Even though one of our members left we were still working together. So it's kind of luck based I say.

But that's why the individual reflective essay's good, because it gives you a chance, like to pull it back. If the group work doesn't go too well. Because the reflective essay's 60%. I think to build on that I think that's uh, I was going to say that as well, because I know that there were some people who were less fortunate with their groups. And, uh, they had to do like the majority of the work or, um, so I think it would kind of be a good idea. I don't know, maybe you are doing this, but because we got like pretty good grades in this module, but maybe it'd be a good idea to get a group that didn't do so well and then maybe because they might have, uh, improvements in their improvement suggestions because we did pretty well so we might not know.

Yeah, that's a good point, isn't it, to speak with the more the students that have faced kind of bigger challenges, although it's clear that you guys did face challenges, but you dealt with them, I would say, you know, very maturely in terms of just saying, well, okay, that's a loss. But we've still got relevant skills, there's still, you know, five others in the module with we're going to roll our sleeves up and get on with it. And that attitude to your learning is a is a real success factor, I think, to saying, okay, you know how groups face adversity. I wonder, yes, could there be some more support maybe that comes from the module in terms of helping with students or teams that find that more difficult, or who have faced more complicated challenges? Any thoughts?

I like the fact that, uh, the module was open to everyone in the business school because I feel like as someone who does marketing, they have, like, restricted, um, you know, learning outcomes and being in, like, something that everyone is in you learn a bit more of other courses a little bit. That's interesting. So being in interdisciplinary teams and interdisciplinary learning outcomes as well, I suppose because you are learning about all aspects of business planning and not just... you know, about how the marketing plan integrates with the financial plan and the operations plans. So I can understand that it makes sense. I think as well the way. it's all set out is great for going forwards and speaking in interviews and like reflecting back, um, because you sort of - there's times were say in our group, we all had all the parts that we were sort of the leader of that section. So we've all had that leadership experience. And then also I obviously with the member, the job out, we have to overcome that. Um, so it's good to talk about the real world experience in interviews.

It's very practical module, isn't it? Yeah. And so yeah, and that's what employers are looking for. I think once you get into interviews and things for next year, I guess some of you will have been maybe doing interviews already for your placements. Has anybody used this module as an example in your interviews so far? Yeah. You know it's yeah yeah yeah okay. Many times. Really, compared to say modules that are slightly more theoretical?

Yeah definitely. Definitely. I'd say this module gives you a lot of confidence as well. Like I think before coming in I didn't work with like anyone I didn't know. So coming in to like meet new people gives you a bit more confidence I think. in your learning and stuff. That's really great to know. Yeah I mean it's a massive module.

Do you still feel like you've had, you know, enough attention and, um, enough opportunity to develop and enough guidance?

I think it was just the right level because it wasn't um, like un exactly saying do this, do this, do this, but you're sort of saying you should have this done by now. So then the onus is on us to take responsibility and actually get to where we should be, which I think helps. For employment, I think maybe it'd be a good idea to like, maybe emphasise members to learn their roles. I know, I know, uh, there was like a, uh, seminar where it's like, you know, roles you might want to do this, but I think maybe, uh, because I think workplaces they also like to know what kind of role you would be, uh, whether, you know, you're like a team leader, thinker, developer. Okay, like, related to the Belbin roles kind of thing as well. Yeah, because I know we didn't discuss that, but maybe if it was more, like, required maybe. Yeah. Okay. So, like, if the, um, reflective essay question was focusing around that, for example. Yeah.

How important is the sustainability aspect of it? I think initially it was, um, initially, you know, you can think of anything as a business idea. So it makes you think more. And it's I think initially it's more challenging, but then whilst you're doing it, it's more interesting because I think the whole area of sustainability is like a newer concept. So you're going out and you're finding like fresh sets of data and then it like brings another spark to your head of like, oh, let's explore this one. So I think it leads you down more interesting routes that you wouldn't go down Originally. And I don't think I've met anyone that's had like the same ideas. I love how like innovative everyone was, uh, like some of the ideas in there were sick, like, I really like the, uh, the delivery one. That's really cool. Yeah. So, um, yeah, I think sustainability is pretty important because you get a lot of entrepreneurs that don't really care about sustainability. And just want to like, maximise profits, which is you know, not good.

And I suppose what's your biggest learning, do you think from business planning. Your biggest takeaway?

I think the experience. I think other modules might have more academic takeaways. Um, more theory, I guess, but because the way this is structured is not really, um, like in accounting, ok I now I can go do financial statements or whatever. This one, it's more you have the real world experience and um, and that's confidence like [student 3] said. Um, so it's definitely more practical learning, practical outcomes.

Yeah. So skills related, what skills do you think you've developed?

Group work, yeah. And creativity as well. I think that's pretty good because, you know, as, as you said, like with a lot of theories you're learning might pass and kind of like how to apply those. But with this, it's kind of like, you know, you're coming up with stuff. You're having to be creative, which is like what the future should kind of look like.

How did the VLE support the learning? Because if you look at this slide, there's so many different elements of it. Could the really be improved in any way? How did it support your learning? Was it useful? Too complicated?

I felt like the VLE was fine. Yeah, yeah, I think. I don't think we actually needed it that much other than, like, just reviewing what we needed for our presentation, but we didn't actually need like, the videos and that Nikki made and stuff like that. We don't actually use them as much because we didn't need to, but I feel like if you did need it, it would have been very helpful.

Okay. Yeah. So that for that sort of extra support. Yeah. Yeah. So the slightly more technical things I guess went into the videos. So if you already have a bit of a finance background, you probably didn't need as much of that. Or if you already had market sizing background, you've probably seen in the marketing program some of some of that stuff from Nikki's videos, whereas like perhaps other people or on other teams might have needed a bit more guidance. Um, okay. Um, what else? I mean, what would you advise students next year? Because like, people approach the Business Planning model with some trepidation, sometimes, because they hear from the year above that it's challenging and, um, an opportunity to learn lots, but that it can be quite tough because there's ups and downs out there and in any group work. So just in your final, final question, then what advice would you give to future students on this module?

I think it's important for students to understand, like, what role they play and to make sure everyone in the group is - I know I'm doing a lot of talking - but like to make sure everyone in the group is heard. Because, you know, people might have certain opinions that could be like, amazing, but they're just too shy, um, to, to speak. So I think about, you know, when you first form a group, you have to you have to make sure everyone is comfortable and, uh, I feel like that would maximise productivity.

Great. Thank you. Anything else?

I think just going off that, like becoming comfortable with your group, because obviously, if you in, you go into you have you two workshops with that group. Um, and there's some icebreakers and things, but then, like I'd say, have to like, put effort into communicate. Um, and to sort of create a friendship in the group because then you can work more comfortably. Um, and obviously, I think we found that we got on well together, um, and obviously it worked.

It's been great to see friendship blossom in this team. I think that's really lovely. We always say to teams, you don't actually have to even like each other. You can. You just have to be able to work together professionally. But when you do manage to actually, you know, get along well together, it really helps. What did you do to try to get to know each other? Did you meet up outside of class?

Yeah, yeah, we had a couple meetings. I think it was mainly like the seminars where I was just like tossing a plane about. And, you know, I just like it felt. Yeah, like very open. And we were able to discuss ideas pretty quickly.

So the icebreakers helped?

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

I guess you haven't been in many workshops where we've been throwing beach balls around and building planes out of paper and things like that?

And I think finding common ground like, uh, I think you might suggested having like a work chat and then like, uh, you know, casual chats, I think that's good to do, like, find something in the middle so you can be serious about what you need to do and then like when it's not needed to be that serious You can still keep in contact and like, talk about the, you know, things that you enjoy doing.

Really good advice, guys. I'm so glad you had a good experience and you've given me some real food for thought there. So thank you very much for your time. Much appreciated. So I'll stop sharing the presentation now.