ENT 101 Building an Entrepreneurial Mindset

This course will introduce students to the university’s student engagement and entrepreneurship eco-system and help them build entrepreneurial skills and attitudes such as professional communication, empathy, persuasion, curiosity, proactivity, self-direction, self-management, resiliency, adaptability and a growth mindset. This course is not primarily concerned with starting a business, it is about learning how to think and act entrepreneurially to identify and co-create new values.

Based on flipped classroom experiential learning techniques, students will be exposed to a range of entrepreneurial ideas, tools, experiences and resources using a modular approach. They will work within their TedPack communities to apply these concepts to explore and get involved in the world class entrepreneurial ecosystem at our university. Students will be expected to gain hands-on experience building their entrepreneurial mindset.

COURSE OVERVIEW

TMU is one of the world’s leading entrepreneurship programs with over 75 different courses, 15 full-time entrepreneurship faculty, 10 on-campus incubators, significant funding programs, Canada’s first Ashoka Changemaker Campus and one of the world’s largest student-run social entrepreneurship clubs, Enactus TMU with over 50 regional and national championships for helping people in need through the positive power of entrepreneurship. The Ted Rogers School of Management at TMU is Canada’s preeminent entrepreneurial-focused business school that is shaping the country’s next generation of global innovators and leaders.

This course is designed to help you learn about and become a part of this entrepreneurial community of global citizens. This is an experiential, hand-on, learn-by-doing course where you gain course credit for getting involved in TMU’s student engagement and entrepreneurial eco-system and writing about your experiences. Since each of you is unique with your own interests, talents and life goals, the course is designed to help you craft your own customized learning experience while receiving support on your own entrepreneurial journey. You get out what you put into this course!

This is a Flipped Classroom format where students are expected to read, watch and complete assignments each week BEFORE the in-class workshops. Each one-hour in-class workshop session will primarily consist of getting feedback on the assignments with your fellow TedPack members, and discussing challenges and opportunities to improve. The two-hour large format in-class sessions (held in TRS 1-067) will be primarily geared toward hands-on experiential learning activities.

Key learning outcomes of this introductory class include written and oral communication skills. Before you can spot opportunities to improve the lives of customers, users and/or stakeholders you must first understand them using skills like curiosity, empathy and active listening. Before you can build a team to join you in your mission, company or community project you must be able to motivate and persuade them through effective networking and communication. This course will help you identify your communication strengths and weaknesses and point you towards various support, resources and/or upskilling courses available as appropriate.

The goal of this course is to help you understand and practice entrepreneurial concepts, principles, skills and attitudes to guide your university experience, career and life. The assignments include discovering your interests, strengths and weaknesses; identifying potential career paths; spotting opportunities to get involved in your university; applying time management and goal-setting skills and proactively taking steps to enhance your own human capital, social capital and character.

It is intended that this course will help you learn about and practise an entrepreneurial mindset including professional communication, empathy, persuasion, curiosity, alertness, proactivity, creativity, self-direction, self-management, resiliency, adaptability and a growth mindset.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, students will have achieved the following Learning Outcomes:

• Demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset by working proactively and independently to promote innovation within an organization and/or across sectors.

• Explain key concepts and theories of innovation and entrepreneurship and the stages in launching and growing a business.
• Demonstrate proficiency in the use of written English and designated citation styles by producing audience-appropriate business documents in a variety of formats.
• Deliver oral presentations to diverse audiences using relevant support technology.
• Familiarity with key entrepreneurial and design thinking methods, tools, principles, skills, attitudes and mindsets.
• Communication skills including interviewing, empathy, active listening and reporting.
• Creativity and innovation skills including curiosity, alertness, opportunity spotting, visualization and brainstorming.
• Self-Management skills including self-awareness, self-direction, self-regulation, self-reflection, self-discipline, time management and goal setting.