Designing an Innovation Course: Part 5: Wikpedia Book of Readings

In Part 4 I prepared an "An Introduction to Entrepreneurship" for a course in "Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship in Technology". To complement this I have produced a 129 page book of readings: “Commercialisationand Entrepreneurship: Technology, Business and People”. This material is selected from the Wikipedia.
Searching for OER on “Entrepreneurship” I found a 96 page ebook "Entrepreneurship: A group of ideas around entrepreneurship". This had an excellent summary, with images and references. The material was so well presented that it took me some time to realize that this is a “Wikipedia Book”, that is a collection of Wikipedia entries, which have been rendered to book format. So them I produced my own modified book, with more Wikipedia entries. Unfortunately there appears to be no easy way to render this in HTML format for incorporation in a Moodle book.

The re-purposing of Wikipedia content in this format may go some way to reducing concerns from teachers over its use. The selection of the Wikipedia content for the e-book can be curated by a course designer and once rendered to a PDF book the content is fixed and not subject to change. Also, rather than tell students not to use the Wikipedia, this shows an acceptable academic use.

Table of Contents

Definitions 1
1.1 Entrepreneur	1
1.1.1 Definition	1
1.1.2 Extended definition of entrepreneurship	2
1.1.3 Entrepreneurial Cognition 2
1.1.4 Psychology of entrepreneurship	4
1.1.5 Predictors of entrepreneurial success	4
1.1.6 Entrepreneurship as a science of artificial	5
1.1.7 Entrepreneurial Finance	5
1.1.8 Other elements of entrepreneurship	6
1.1.9 History	6
1.1.10 See also	7
1.1.11 References	7
1.1.12 Further reading	9
Entrepreneur	10
1.2.1 Definition	10
1.2.2 Extended definition of entrepreneurship	11
1.2.3 Entrepreneurial Cognition 11
1.2.4 Psychology of entrepreneurship	12
1.2.5 Predictors of entrepreneurial success	13
1.2.6 Entrepreneurship as a science of artificial	14
1.2.7 Entrepreneurial Finance	14
1.2.8 Other elements of entrepreneurship	15
1.2.9 History	15
1.2.10 See also	16
1.2.11 References	16
1.2.12 Further reading	18
Startup company	18
1.3.1 Definition	18
1.3.2 Evolution	19
1.3.3 Startup business partnering	19
1.3.4 Startup culture	20
Co-founders	20
1.3.6 Startup investing	20
1.3.7 Internal startups	21
1.3.8 Trends and obstacles	21
1.3.9 See also	22
1.3.10 References	22
Entrepreneurial economics	23
1.4.1 Theories of the Economic Functions of the Entrepreneur	24
1.4.2 See also	24
1.4.3 References	24
Innovation 26
2.1 Innovation	26
2.1.1 Inter-disciplinary views	26
2.1.2 Measures	29
2.1.3 Rate of innovation	29
2.1.4 Government policies	30
2.1.5 See also	31
2.1.6 References	31
Product innovation	33
2.2.1 Introduction	33
2.2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Product Innovation	33
2.2.3 New product development	34
2.2.4 Stages of New Product Development	34
2.2.5 Existing Product Development	34
2.2.6 References	34
Disruptive innovation	35
2.3.1 History and usage of the term	35
2.3.2 The theory	36
2.3.3 Disruptive technology	37
2.3.4 High-technology effects	38
2.3.5 Practical example of disruption	38
2.3.6 Examples of disruptive innovations	38
2.3.7 See also	38
2.3.8 Notes	39
2.3.9 References	40
2.3.10 Further reading	40
2.3.11 External links	40
The Cambridge Phenomenon 41
3.1 Silicon Fen	41
3.1.1 41
Business growth
3.1.2 Area characteristics	42
3.1.3 See also	42
3.1.4 References	43
3.1.5 External links	43
ARM Holdings	43
3.2.1 History	44
3.2.2 Operations	45
3.2.3 Technology	45
3.2.4 Licensees	45
3.2.5 Sales and market share	46
3.2.6 Partnerships	46
3.2.7 Senior management	47
3.2.8 See also	47
3.2.9 References	47
3.2.10 External links	50
Raspberry Pi Foundation	50
3.3.1 Foundation	50
3.3.2 Raspberry Pi	51
3.3.3 References	52
3.3.4 External links	52
Investing 53
4.1 Angel investor	53
4.1.1 Etymology and origin	53
4.1.2 Source and extent of funding	53
4.1.3 Investment profile	54
4.1.4 Geographical differences	54
4.1.5 See also	54
4.1.6 References	55
Business case	55
4.2.1 Reasons for creating a business case	56
4.2.2 Development and approval process	56
4.2.3 Not Public sector projects	56
4.2.4 See also	57
4.2.5 Notes	57
4.2.6 References	57
Content of a business plan	57
4.3.1 Audience	57
4.3.2 Content	57
4.3.3 Presentation	58
4.3.4 Revising the business plan	58
4.3.5 Legal and liability issues	58
4.3.6 Open business plans	59
4.3.7 Uses	59
4.3.8 Not for profit businesses	59
4.3.9 Satires	59
4.3.10 See also	60
4.3.11 References	60
Business model	60
4.4.1 History	61
4.4.2 Theoretical and empirical insights to business models	61
4.4.3 Categorization of business models	61
4.4.4 Applications	62
4.4.5 Business model design	62
4.4.6 Definitions of business model design or development	63
4.4.7 Examples of business models	63
4.4.8 Business model frameworks	65
4.4.9 Related concepts	65
4.4.10 See also	66
4.4.11 References	66
4.4.12 Further reading	68
4.4.13 External links	68
Content of a business plan	68
4.5.1 Audience	68
4.5.2 Content	69
4.5.3 Presentation	69
4.5.4 Revising the business plan	70
4.5.5 Legal and liability issues	70
4.5.6 Open business plans	70
4.5.7 Uses	70
4.5.8 Not for profit businesses	71
4.5.9 Satires	71
4.5.10 See also	71
4.5.11 References	71
Venture capital	72
4.6.1 History	72
4.6.2 Funding	75
4.6.3 Firms and funds	76
4.6.4 Geographical differences	78
4.6.5 Confidential information	80
4.6.6 Governmental Regulations	80
4.6.7 In popular culture	80
4.6.8 See also	81
References	81
Venture capital financing	82
4.7.1 Overview	83
4.7.2 Venture capital financing process	83
4.7.3 At Last	86
4.7.4 See also	86
4.7.5 References	86
4.7.6 Further reading	86
Seed money	87
4.8.1 Usage	87
4.8.2 Types of early stage funding	87
4.8.3 Other sources of seed funding	87
4.8.4 Government funds	87
4.8.5 References	87
Rate of return	88
4.9.1 Calculation	88
4.9.2 Comparisons between various rates of return	89
4.9.3 Uses	91
4.9.4 Time value of money	92
4.9.5 Compounding or reinvesting	92
4.9.6 Returns when capital is at risk	92
4.9.7 See also	94
4.9.8 Notes	94
4.9.9 References	94
4.9.10 Further reading	95
4.9.11 External links	95
4.10 Initial public offering	95
4.10.1 History	95
4.10.2 Reasons for listing	95
4.10.3 Procedure	96
4.10.4 Largest IPOs (unadjusted)	99
4.10.5 Largest IPO markets	99
4.10.6 See also	99
4.10.7 References	99
4.10.8 Further reading	100
4.10.9 External links	101
4.11 Exit strategy	101
4.11.1 In warfare	101
4.11.2 In business	101
4.11.3 See also	102
4.11.4 References	102
4.11.5 External links	102
5 Incubators and Plans
Business incubator	103
5.1.1 The incubation process	103
5.1.2 Types	104
5.1.3 Goals and Sponsors	104
5.1.4 History	104
5.1.5 Incubator networks	105
5.1.6 See also	105
5.1.7 References	105
5.1.8 External links	105
Virtual business incubator	105
References	106
Strategic planning	106
5.3.1 Process	106
5.3.2 Tools and approaches	107
5.3.3 Strategic planning vs	financial planning	108
5.3.4 Criticism	108
5.3.5 See also	108
5.3.6 References	109
5.3.7 Strategic plan examples	109
5.3.8 Further reading	109
New business development	109
5.4.1 Technology	110
5.4.2 Business networks
5.4.3 References	111

Boosting Entrepreneurship in Australian Universities

The Australian Chief Scientist has released “Boosting High-Impact Entrepreneurship in Australia: A role for universities” (by Colin Kinner of Spike Innovation, 28 October 2015). This recommends universities engage with the startup community, have courses by entrepreneurs, have short courses, internships and overseas placements, support multi-disciplinary collaboration and experiential programs. However, Kinner does not place sufficient emphasis on how to integrate entrepreneurship in universities in a sustainable way. High impact programs by individuals tend to falter after an initial period of enthusiasm. I suggest we need programs grounded in educational design, particularly blended mobile learning.

This report studies several universities with impressive track records as breeding grounds for entrepreneurs, and finds the following common attributes:

• Strong engagement between the university and the local startup ecosystem
• Courses delivered by experienced entrepreneurs
• Students given multiple opportunities for engagement— ranging from short courses to immersive programs such as internships and overseas placements
• Programs support multi-disciplinary collaboration that includes STEM
• Emphasis on experiential programs and learning by doing
• Funding arrangements with government drive investment in establishing and delivering student entrepreneurship programs that operate at significant scale
• Recognition and reward for academics who engage in student entrepreneurship activities
• Programs based on modern startup approaches such as Lean Startup."

From “Boosting High-Impact Entrepreneurship in Australia: A role for universities” (for the Office of the Chief Scientist for Australia, by Colin Kinner, 28 October 2015).

Examples of Australian universality start-up centers mentioned by Kinner include the Michael Crouch Innovation Centre (University of New South Wales), iAccelerate (University of Wollongong), New Venture Institute (Flinders University) and Canberra Innovation Network (Australian National University, University of Canberra, UNSW Canberra, NICTA and CSIRO). Kinner also mentioned "Piivot" at University of Technology Sydney, but this appears to be more of a concept than a specific center. UTS has what I call the "UTS Innovation Building" which has their UTS Hatchery Pre-Incubator. Kinner also mentions  Ormond College (University of Melbourne), but this appears to just be a residential student college.

On Saturday I attended the Innovation ACT awards, run in conjunction with the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) for Canberra's university students (the team I mentored won an award). This meets Kinner's criteria for entrepreneurial courses (and more), being by entrepreneurs made up of short modules linked to longer formal educational units and supporting multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Unlike the other centres Kinner mentions, CBRIN is multi-institutional, allowing student from different institution to work together. The ANU has also linked Innovation ACT to its degree programs through ANU TechLauncher, with students about to do the technical part of innovation in their degree program and the business part in the Innovation ACT competition.

The report has a chapter on "Best Practice Entrepreneurship Education" (Chapter 4, Page 33). However, I suggest what Australia's universities first need is introductory entrepreneurship education. This is something which takes time to develop and the first step is to tell the students that this is an acceptable activity for them to undertake and will be recognize in formal educational programs. I don't agree with distinction between "high-impact entrepreneurship" and other types: just getting the students to consider this is a useful start. Experiential programs is the worthwhile approach, but before incubators and internships, I suggest that start-up competitions and short courses are a cost effective first step for students.

Teaching entrepreneurship requires entrepreneurs to be involved, however Kinner overlooks the role of educators in the process. Entrepreneurs tend to be good talkers, but not necessarily good teachers. Start-up programs can falter after the initial enthusiasm wears off. I suggest that these programs need to be designed like any other learning experience. In particular I suggest the use of the same e-learning tools and techniques used for university courses. These can now make use of mobile devices for blended learning. In this way the program can avoid being bogged down in mountains of post-it-notes and paperwork.

The Cambridge Model

Kinner lists the University of Cambridge as third in the world for its impact on creating and supporting technology innovation and the highest ranking non-US institution, after MIT and Standford University  (Figure 8, p. 35, 2015). The Cambridge approach is one which I proposed for Australian universities in 1998. Kinner points to the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) at Cambridge University, which I made a brief visit to in July. However, Kinner fails to mention the decades of work which preceded this, referred to as "The Cambridge Phenomenon".

Boosting Entrepreneurship in Australian Universities with Blended Mobile Learning

I will speaking at the Australian Computer Society in Sydney, 6:30pm, 4 November on "Global Green Computing On-line: Evolving Content and Assessment for an International Moodle Course" and will add some comments on entrepreneurship and  blended mobile learning.

Mobilizing Innovation

Previously I looked at using the Moodle Interests Tag Cloud for a Team Building Exercise, as part of an innovation course. Here are some more thoughts on mobile learning strategies, methods, and technologies for innovation.

Menkhoff and Bengtsson (p. 229, 2012) suggest that mobile learning can be applied in an entrepreneurship course at two levels:

1. discursive level: "between instructor and students as well as students themselves with the help of productions, concepts, ideas, questions and comments"
2. experiential level: "based on the respective task goals, trial actions, actions, feedback, and revisions."

Suoand Niu (2014) describe the modification of a university computer science course on mobile technology to incorporate entrepreneurship. In this case classes of 15 to 18 students spend eight-weeks in the elective. Curiously, given the subject matter is mobile devices, the course appears to have used conventional lectures assignments and examinations. Student feedback questioned the large number of lectures, but the authors do not appear to have considered making use of the mobile devices as part of the teaching.

Joo, Lim, and  Lim (p. 436, 2014) found that perception of the advantages of mobile devices had a  positive effect on learners use of mobile learning. The reverse may also be the case: the use of mobile devices may be result in students having a more positive outlook. Given that many examples of contemporaneity successful start-ups the students will be familiar with are related to mobile technology, the research by Joo, Lim, and Lim (p. 436, 2014) suggests that the student's perception of an innovation cruse would be more positive if the course uses mobile technology.

Menkhoff and Bengtsson (p. 230, 2012) provide two examples of mobile exercises:

1. Photo-sharing: Students were to take photos relevant to the course on a 45 minute walk, share on a website and discuss the results,
2. SMS-enabled scavenger hunt: Students explored a specific location to answer questions.

Social Media for Team Building

Mascia, Magnusson and Björk (2015) point to the role of social networks in innovation in organizations. With a course made up of students not previously known to each other, there is a need to quickly form teams and begin the innovation process. It is proposed to use social media techniques through mobile devices to speed this process. Mobile learning can also be used to deliver conventional course content and collect student input for assessment, but this is secondary to the social role of the technology.

Podcasts for Content

Schuck (2015) describes using podcasts as part of a professional learning community using m-learning. Interestingly, Rahimi and Soleymani (2015) found that language learners did better and had less anxiety when using a mobile device for listening to podcasts than those using desktop computers. The authors attributed this to the listeners being under less time pressure when using their own mobile device, than when using a language lab computer.

Mobile Entrepreneurship Games

Antonaci, Dagnino, Ott, Bellotti, Berta, De Gloria and Mayer (2014) describe the use of mobile games for teaching entrepreneurship in Italy, Spain and the Netherlands at the  Bachelor, Master and PhD level. The games were played at home, both individually and homework and as competitions against other students. This was preceded by an in-class discussion and post-game debrief. The course had a final "playoff". The concerned finance, marketing and other aspects of a business, relevant to entrepreneurship.

References

Antonaci, A., Dagnino, F. M., Ott, M., Bellotti, F., Berta, R., De Gloria, A., ... & Mayer, I. (2014). A gamified collaborative course in entrepreneurship: Focus on objectives and tools. Computers in Human Behavior. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.11.082

Joo, Y. J., Lim, K. Y., & Lim, E. (2014). Investigating the structural relationship among perceived innovation attributes, intention to use and actual use of mobile learning in an online university in South Korea. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 30(4). Retrieved from http://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/download/681/1060

Mascia, D., Magnusson, M., & Björk, J. (2015). The Role of Social Networks in Organizing Ideation, Creativity and Innovation: An Introduction. Creativity and Innovation Management, 24(1), 102-108.

Menkhoff, T., & Bengtsson, M. L. (2012). Engaging students in higher education through mobile learning: lessons learnt in a Chinese entrepreneurship course. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 11(3), 225-242. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10671-011-9123-8.pdf Rahimi, M., & Soleymani, E. (2015). The Impact of Mobile Learning on Listening Anxiety and Listening Comprehension. English Language Teaching, 8(10), p152. Retrieved from http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/download/53347/28473

Schuck, S. (2015). Mobile Learning in Higher education: Mobilizing staff to use technologies in their teaching. eLearn, 2015(March), 3. Retrieved from http://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=2749226

Suo, X., & Niu, T. (2014, October). Incorporating entrepreneurship topic into a mobile computing course. In Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2014 IEEE (pp. 1-6). IEEE. DOI: 10.1109/FIE.2014.7044483

Designing an Innovation Course: Part 1 - Needs Assessment and Proposal Development

My students in the Australian Computer Society's "New Technology Alignment" (NTA) on-line postgraduate course are now up to week 3 (and doing well). At the same time I have been looking at designing a more general course, provisionally called "Innovation, Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship in Technology", to be offered on-line, initially for students in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Canberra. I am doing the design as as assessment for a course Instructional Design. This series of postings are excerpts of some of that material (which is therefore a little more verbose and academic than otherwise required for a workplace design exercise). Previously I looked at existing Canberra courses in "Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship in Technology Course Proposal".

Steps in Instructional Design

First a needs assessment will be carried out, followed by a proposal for what is to be developed. These first two phases will be followed by creation of one of the learning objects for the course.
An "Innovation ACT" competition was established at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra in 2008 (Blackhall, n.d.). The competition, now supported by the University of Canberra and the local Canberra government (the “ACT Government”), has the aim of providing):

• “Entrepreneurial education via seminar sessions ran parallel to a university semester
  
• Entrepreneurial experiences within a competition environment that allows students to test their ideas.” From Innovation ACT (2014a), emphasis added.
  

The Innovation ACT competition provides students with handbooks and templates, students attend presentations, prepare their proposals with the help of a mentor and then pitch their ideas to a panel of judges (InnovationACT, 2014b). Prasad (2014) discusses the history and educational role of such enterprise competitions and categorizes it as an “action learning” pedagogy.
While popular with students and having an educational role, the Innovation ACT competition is not part of a formal educational program and so is not evaluated as to its educational effectiveness and students do not receive credit for participation towards their studies. This document discusses how to design an on-line course which students could take in conjunction with Innovation ACT and similar competitions, as part of a university degree program. The course would be designed to fit with postgraduate certificate and degree programs in the computing discipline, as that is to author's discipline area.
Kakouris (2009, p. 231) argues for an ADDIE model (Anallise, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate) is suitable for providing on-line entrepreneurial education, emphasizing guidance, communication and peer support. They argue that the DE teaching material can be used to implement Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction: Gain Attention, Inform Learners of Objectives, Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning, Present the Content, Provide Learning Guidance, Elicit Performance (Practice), Provide Feedback, Assess Performance, Enhance Retention and Transfer to job” (Gagné (1965) cited in Kakouris (2009, p. 233)).

1. Is a Human Tutor Needed?

Kakouris (2009, p. 233) assert that the DE system can act as a “virtual educator” without a human tutor. More recently replacing the tutor with an automated system has been attempted with a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on entrepreneurship. Al-Atabi and DeBoer (2014) report on an entrepreneurship MOOC conducted with 1600 online student in 115 countries, plus 60 on-campus students. The online students formed teams and under took group projects. In addition to videos, the students received points from peers and badges to provide them with feedback on progress. Al-Atabi and DeBoer (2014) noted that the completion rate for online students was 25%, which is higher than a typical MOOC, but was far lower than the 90% completion rate for the students undertaking the same course on-campus.
Neck, Greene and Brush (2014) point out the role for the instructor to “facilitate engagement in creative processes” for higher level skills. As the course under development here is intended to be part of a conventional university degree program, a completion rate of 25% is unacceptably low. It is therefore proposed to take a middle path, having on-line materials, but facilitated by a human tutor, to achieve a completion rate comparable to face-to-face courses.

Part 1: Needs Assessment

2. Needs assessment approach

Smith and Ragan, (2005, pp. 43) suggest that an ID needs assessment should first establish if there is a need at all. They outline a cycle of needs assessment, design, production, implementation and evaluation (Smith and Ragan, 2005, pp. 44), while advocating the evaluation plans actually be constructed during the needs assessment phase. This may be unrealistic where the need for a course has not yet been established and so work on evaluation would be wasted if the course is never run.
Smith and Ragan, (2005, pp. 44) divided needs assessments into three model types:

1. Problem Model: As Smith and Ragan note, it is necessary to determine if there really is a “problem” and if a cause it the best way to solve it. In the case of an unsolicited new course on innovation, the problem model is not as applicable, as there is no current group of employees to canvas. As the aim is to have students go out and create new companies, there are also not employers to consult. The Innovation ACT competition is part funded by the local government, which has in an economic development strategy to foster new industries, a “culture of entrepreneurship” and encourage startup firms to provide employment (ACT Government 2013). The ACT Government might therefore be consulted about the problem of educating innovators.
   

2. Innovation Model: This approach looks for changes in the students, the education system or the environment. The innovation model would seem apt for a course in innovation: students are less likely to want to simply get a job in a corporation and instead want to set up their own company. The approach of involving students in an innovation competition working on a real world project is not new in the Australian education system (along with e-learning and e-portfolio systems which make it easier to offer such education), but not widely used. However, the reduction in the available of jobs for life has required graduates to be more entrepreneurial, being able to take on new roles and even invent a job for themselves. Thompson and Kwong (2013) found that “enterprise education”, designed to develop entrepreneurial skills, in UK schools had a “direct positive relationship with entrepreneurial activities and intentions”. This indicates that students will respond positively to such education and an introductory course on innovation with lead to the student doing more such work.
   
3. Discrepancy Model: The discrepancy model, as described by Smith and Ragan, (2005, pp. 45) , does not start with a new need, but as a check to see if an existing course is meeting the already established requirements. This applies to an innovation course, as some such courses already exist, along with externally set skills requirements. The analysis to be carried out therefore incorporates some elements of the discrepancy model, at least to say what is wrong with existing courses and so why a new course is required. With this the requirements will be listed and how well these are met with courses, to determine the gap.
   

3. Scope and extent of the need

a. Who to query. As there is a question over the popularity of the existing course, the first group to survey are potential students. It would be simpler to have access to students currently enrolled in a program of study (as they are easy to access). But it may be worthwhile contacting those who have not been attracted to programs, perhaps via a professional body, such as the Australian Computer Society and Engineers Australia. These bodies could also asked as to the need. Innovation organizations, such as the various “co-working” offices and “hacker” competition providers may be of use. In addition experts in the field can be consulted, as Dr. Lachlan Blackhall, founder of Innovation ACT (Blackhall, n.d.), who has worked on engaging students with real world problems (Smith, Brown, Blackhall, Loden & O’Shea, 2010).
 
b. How to Query. An on-line survey instrument could be used to collect information from potential students. This could use multiple choice and rating questions. Interviews could be used with organizational representatives. However, they are unlikely to agree to a formal social science style of interview and a more informal approach may need to be used.
 
c. Type of questions. Reimers-Hild and King, (2009) proposed six questions for entrepreneurial leadership and innovation in the context of distance education. These could be applied more generally for questioning potential students and employers about innovation courses:

1. “How entrepreneurial is your organization?  On a scale of 1-5, would you classify your organization as a 1 (not at all entrepreneurial) or a 5 (extremely entrepreneurial)?

2. How are administrators, instructors and learners in your organization learning to be more entrepreneurial? 

3. Developing a global mindset throughout an organization characterized by risk taking, innovation and change should be encouraged, not discouraged. …

4. Is innovation a priority?  On a scale of 1-5, would you classify your organization as a 1 (not at all innovative) or a 5 (extremely innovative)?...

5. In what ways can your leaders share the vision ... Can they use both face-to-face and online methods?  Can they use both individual and large group settings?...

6. How can you institutions connect employees and learners with their passions and their personal vision of the future?...

7. What is your organization doing to develop and leverage the human and social capital of its administrators, instructors and students?  …”

From Reimers-Hild and King , 2009 (emphasis added) .

d. Other data sources. While the sources discussed above may be of some use, the primary source of information will be preexisting skills definitions and syllabuses. In particular Australian computer science degrees are accredited by the Australian Computer Society (ACS, 2014). The Society promotes the use of an internationally standardized skills framework and courses are required to be “aligned” with the framework (IP3, 2015). It would therefore be appropriate to based the course on the most appropriate skills definitions in that framework. McEwan (2013) discusses the use of SFIA skills definitions (SFIA Foundation Ltd, 2015) for university courses and note it is particularly useful for fast developing new job categories (SFIA is also part of the ACS/IP3 framework). McEwan proposed the use of SFIA level 5/6 for Masters-level courses and 4/5 for Honors-level. They also found that one SFIA skill was insufficient for a typical university course and used two. In this case McEwan (2013) aligned a course with skills “Emerging Technology Monitoring” (EMRG) and “Innovation” (INOV).

Alongside the university system, Australia has a system of Vocational Education and Training (VET), which as Mazzarol (2014) points out, has been active in offering courses in entrepreneurship for small business. Some universities have associated VET Registered Training Organizations (RTOs) to deliver such courses, at a lower qualification level than their degree programs.
The VET system has a national database of standardized skills sets, make up of units of competency (Australian Department of Industry, 2013) and a database of preprepared learning objects (National VET E-learning Strategy, 2013). A search of the training database for “innovation” found a “Managing Innovation Skill Set” BSBSS00014, “Innovation Leadership Skill Set” (BSBSS00008) with units of competency “Establish systems that support innovation” (BSBINN501A), “Foster leadership and innovation” (PSPGOV604A). However, of the ten courses listed in the training database with the word “entrepreneurship” in the title, only two are currently offered, a Graduate Certificate and a Diploma of “Entrepreneurship for Food and Wine”. This indicates that perhaps the demand for such courses at the VET level is not a strong as Mazzarol (2014) suggests. A search of the database of learning objects found three relevant entries: “Communicate information and ideas”, “Plan for change” and “Manage emerging challenges and opportunities”. These may be of some limited value in the innovation course for low level skills, as may the units of competency.
The intention is that students can optionally undertake an innovation competition, in particular “Innovation ACT” alongside the course. Therefore the content of “Innovation ACT” will provide more detail as to the need.

4. Need and Causes

The Australian Computer Society already offers an on-line innovation course: "New Technology Alignment" NTA, (ACS, 2013). However, NTA is intended for employees of corporations to identify innovations within the organization. The need is to address the aspirations of students to set up their own enterprises working on their own products, rather than working for a corporation. This is in part by an innate wish to innovate and partly due to the difficulty in finding worthwhile (or any) employment in a corporation. Segal Quince & Partners (1985) argue that the growth of start-up high technology businesses around Cambridge from the 1980s was in part due to students who wanted to maintain the Cambridge lifestyle and, with the lack of alternative employment, were forced to setup their own business. The ACT Government (responsible for Canberra), is implementing a similar strategy by funding Innovation ACT, to encourage students to stay in Canberra and set up a business, rather than move away after graduation. The proposed course would teach the students skills needed to set up a business in Canberra.
What is Available: The University of Canberra (UoC) and ANU both offer innovation courses in Canberra. UoC have courses as part of the Bachelor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (University of Canberra, 2012b). A typical unit is “Managing Change and Innovation” (University of Canberra, 2012a), offered in blended mode (on-line content with on campus attendance of up to thirty nine hours). ANU has "innovation" courses in business and engineering programs: “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” MGMT3027 (ANU.n.d. b), “Innovation and Commercialisation” MGMT7165 (ANU.n.d. c), “Engineering Innovation” ENGN3230 (ANU.n.d. a), “Technology and Innovation Management and Strategy” MGMT7106 (ANU.n.d. d). However, these are courses have largely the format of a conventional lecture and examination based university program, are not integrated with an innovation competition and not aligned with external skills standards.
What is desired: A course which is delivered on-line, can be used alongside an innovation competition to provide the student with more hands on-experience and aligned with external skills standards to provide an industry relevant and preferably global qualification.
Cause of the Needs Gap: The Canberra university courses are designed to fit within conventional classroom teaching techniques and program structures. The student is assumed to undertake their academic study at the university, receive a university qualification and then move to employment, most likely at a corporation or institutional setting.

5. Potential solutions

One solution to the problem of including innovation in a university technology program is the “New Venture Design” course for engineering and business students at UBC (Kruchten, Lawrence, Dahl & Cubbon, 2011). Since 2003 UBC's final year engineering and business students have had the option to work in mixed teams on an entrepreneurial venture. Teams of six UBC students produce a prototype and business plan. The students are provided with conventional lectures and lab work activities. Teams can optionally enter external innovation completions in Vancouver, or elsewhere. This approach solves the problem of providing students with academic credit for innovation competition, but duplicates the activities of the competition, increasing resource requirements and student effort. Also the use of conventional lectures and labs limits the course to on-campus students.
a. Instructional solutions: On-line course materials and forums for students to help form their teams can be provided. Quizzes and large assessment items, which follow the sequence and content of Innovation ACT (and similar competitions) can be provided. One issue concerns scheduling. Ideally students would be able to commence the course at any time, to suit the competition they were intending to enter. However, as such competitions depend on the students forming a team and this could be difficult to schedule within the course. An alternative strategy would be for the students to undertake the course self paced, with or without, their team. Another alternative is to have the course in a set program term and not closely align it with the competition. This would cause difficulties where the student submits competition materials as part of their assessment, but the competition and assessment deadlines do not align.
 
b. Non-instructional solutions: An alternative to a full course would be to rely on the competition materials and process to provide the entire learning experience and have the student submit evidence for assessment, as a form of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). This would require the student and/or the assessor to check the competition covered the syllabus (and used the same terminology) and the materials produced were suitable for assessment. Also there would be the difficulty that innovation competitions are almost always entered by teams of competitors, and are assessed exclusively on the team product. It is therefore not possible to know what contribution an individual team member made. This might be overcome by having the student keep a diary with their contributions during the competition (submitted via an e-portfolio system) and with some form of test (such as on-line quiz).

Part 2: Proposal Development

6. Components of the course

Course description: "Innovation, Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship in Technology" is a new course to for students to develop the capability to identify and develop new technology based business ideas. Students will learn to identity strategic uses for information technology, applying systematic investigation, analysis, review and documentation to take an idea through the stages of development and proposal. Students are encouraged to take part in Innovation ACT, or a similar innovation competition, and submit their competition materials for assessment.
 
Learning Outcomes
After successful completion of this subject students will be able to :

1. Investigate a strategic application of IT.

Propose new ways of conducting business using IT.

Skills Alignment:

1. SFIA Version 5, Level 6: Business analysis BUAN, (SFIA Foundation Ltd, 2015)
   
2. SFIA Version 5, Level 6: Innovation INOV, (SFIA Foundation Ltd, 2015)

Course components: The major topics (based on Innovation ACT, 2014) are:

1. Business Model Thinking
   
2. Stakeholder Engagement
   
3. Concept Generation
   
4. Value Capture
   

Activities are:

1. Contributions to on-line forums/exercises for ten weeks (assessed at 2% per week for 12 weeks, with the best 10 counted),

Mid semester assignment: “Investigation of a strategic application of IT”. Individual work of 2,000 words, plus references 40%

End of course deliverables: A business proposal. Students are encouraged to undertake the work as part of Innovation ACT, or another innovation competition. However, the activity must take during the semester. May be performed in a group of up to six with all receiving the same mark. Up to 2,000 words, plus references, 40%.

The Innovation ACT Business proposal consists of:

1. Business Model Canvas: One page diagram of the business model, using the IACT Business Model Canvas template, or similar (about 5% to 6%).

Executive Summary: One page text summary of the business model (300 words, about 5% to 6%).

Canvas Report: Five to eight page report on development of plan (this is equivalent to 1,500 to 2,400 words of assessment, about 30% to 50% of the assessment)

Continuation report: Detailed plan outlining funding requirements and proposed expenditure (Assuming 5 pages, that is 25% to 30% of the assessment).

Pitch: Notes and visual materials for a five minute presentation. A video of the presentation can also be provided, but for academic purposes, the assessment will be based on the notes for the presentation, not the presentation itself (assessment 5% to 10%).

7. The learner population

The learner population for this course would have a degree in computer science, information technology, software engineering or other technology discipline. The students would typically be enrolled in a postgraduate certificate or degree program (usually a Masters by coursework) at an Australian higher education institution. Students would be in a city where they have access to an innovation competition (such as Innovation ACT in Canberra). Students would be expected to have experience at using a computer and the Internet to be able to undertake an on-line program. They would require sufficient communication skills in the language of instruction (English) and to work in teams. As Blair and Hoy (2006) point out “... an online community doesn’t happen by sheer virtue of creating discussion forums and requiring weekly postings ...”. Also the innovation course will be a form of group Problem Based Learning (PBL), which can be subject to dysfunctional group interaction and high cogitative load (Hung, 2011). However, it is not clear if any additional skills can be asked of the students, beyond written and computer literacy.

8. How the course will be delivered

The course will be delivered as in online DE format as a 12 weekly units using non-real-time (asynchronous) delivery. Course notes will be provided an an e-book, with additional readings (and videos) and weekly exercises to complete. Forums will be provided for student interaction with each other in groups and with an instructor, via a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Moodle. An e-portfolio system (such as Mahara) will be provided for students to collate their project material. No real-time (synchronous) activities will be provided, due to the difficulty of supporting these and of students in different time zones participating.
Students will be expected to undertake team activities, and optional participation in an innovation competition, without further support from the course (organizing their own meetings and any telecommunications required). Materials and exercises will be designed in accessible web formats suitable for mobile devices. Suwantarathip and Orawiwatnakul (2015) report success delivering small exercises to students using mobile devices.
Feedback for low level tasks will be provided by small automated weekly quizzes, to assist students with terminology. Van der Kleij, Feskens and Eggen (2015) note the importance of feedback in a computer based course. Students will also receive weekly feedback and a mark from the instructor, but this will be of necessity a brief few sentences. The mark will be based on an average of peer assessment collected by the LMS and then vetted by the instructor.

9. Example Content

What is Innovation?: Unit 1 (What is Innovation?) provides some terminology and concepts, before the students start to think about what project they would like to work on. The primary reading is Moore (2012). Students are also introduced to the on-line discussion forums at this point and do an icebreaker exercise to become antiquated so they can then form teams in the next unit to work on a project. This fits in the course's aim of bridging theory and practice, individual student study and group project work.

Conclusion

This document provides the first two steps in instructional design (ID) for a new course "Innovation, Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship in Technology" to be offered on-line, initially for students in Canberra, Australia. The aim is to provide a formal masters level course to complement competitions, such as "Innovation ACT", catering for students who have ambitions of becoming entrepreneurs. A needs assessment, after Smith and Ragan, (2005, pp. 44) was provided and the limitations of existing courses discussed. An on-line course is discussed (noting the limitations in the fixed term based course format). A brief description of one unit is provided. This will be fowled in a separate document with creation of one learning objects for the course.

References

ACS. (2013). New Technology Alignment. Retrieved from https://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/8889/Subject-outline_New-Technology-Alignment.pdf
ACS. (2014). Application Guidelines: Professional Level Courses. Retrieved from https://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/24499/ACS-Accreditation-Document-2-Application-Guidelines-28-March-2014V0-1.pdf
ACT Government. (2013). Growth, Diversification and Jobs - A Business Development Strategy for the ACT. Retrieved from http://www.business.act.gov.au/resources_and_networks/business_development_strategy/business_development_strategy#innovinit
Al-Atabi, M., & DeBoer, J. (2014). Teaching entrepreneurship using Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Technovation, 34(4), 261-264.
Australian Department of Industry. (2013). About the National Register on Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Australia. Retrieved from https://training.gov.au/Home/About
Australian National University. (n.d. a). Engineering Innovation ENGN3230. Retrieved from http://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/course/ENGN3230
Australian National University. (n.d. b). Entrepreneurship and Innovation MGMT3027. Retrieved from http://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/course/MGMT3027
Australian National University. (n.d. c). Innovation and Commercialisation MGMT7165. Retrieved from http://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/course/MGMT7165
Australian National University. (n.d. d). Technology and Innovation Management and Strategy MGMT7106. Retrieved from http://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/course/MGMT7106
Blackhall, L. (n.d.) LinkedIn [Profile page]. Retrieved January 22, 2015 from http://au.linkedin.com/in/lachlanblackhall
InnovationACT. (2014a). Innovation ACT: History. Retrieved January 25, 2015, from http://web.archive.org/web/20131030170036/http://www.innovationact.org/about/history/
InnovationACT. (2014b). Innovation ACT: Resources. Retrieved January 25, 2015, from http://web.archive.org/web/20131030170036/http://www.innovationact.org/resources/

Blair, K., & Hoy, C. (2006). Paying attention to adult learners online: The pedagogy and politics of community. Computers and Composition, 23(1), 32-48. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S8755461505000824
Gagné, R. (1965). The Conditions of Learning, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965. Cited in Kakouris, A. (2009). Online platforms for entrepreneurship education: an instructional design approach. In 4th European Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Academic Conferences Limited., Reading, UK, September (p. 233).
Hung, W. (2011). Theory to reality: a few issues in implementing problem-based learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 59(4), 529-552. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11423-011-9198-1.pdf
IP3. (2015). IP3 Professional IT Standards. Retrieved from http://ipthree.org/gain-ip3-accreditation/ip3-accreditation-program/it-professional-standards/
Kakouris, A. (2009). Online platforms for entrepreneurship education: an instructional design approach. In 4th European Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Academic Conferences Limited., Reading, UK, September (pp. 230-235).

Kruchten, P., Lawrence, P., Dahl, D., & Cubbon, P. (2011). New Venture Design–Interdisciplinary Capstone Projects at UBC. Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association. Retrieved from http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/PCEEA/article/download/3637/3650
Mazzarol, T. (2014). How do Australia's universities engage with entrepreneurship and small business?. Centre for Entrepreneurial Management and Innovation (CEMI) Discussion Paper, (1401). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2428008
McEwan, T. (2013, October). Commercial competency and computing students: Using the skills framework for the information age in higher education. In Frontiers in Education Conference, 2013 IEEE (pp. 286-292). IEEE. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/icp.jsp?arnumber=6684833
Moore, A. (2012). Correia, A. P. (2012). Defining Innovation. In A. P. Correia (Ed.), Breaking the Mold: An Educational Perspective on Diffusion of Innovation. Retrieved from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Breaking_the_Mold:_An_Educational_Perspective_on_Diffusion_of_Innovation/Defining_Innovation
National VET E-learning Strategy. (2013). National VET Content. Retrieved from https://nationalvetcontent.edu.au/
Neck, H. M., Greene, P. G., & Brush, C. G. (Eds.). (2014). Teaching entrepreneurship: A practice-based approach. Edward Elgar Publishing (p. 65).
Prasad, T. (2014). Developing Enterprise Culture among the Students through Intercollegiate Competitions: A Case of Student Enterprise Competition (SEC) 2007. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, 35. Retrieved from https://absel-ojs-ttu.tdl.org/absel/index.php/absel/article/download/399/365

Reimers-Hild, C., & King, J. W. (2009). Six questions for entrepreneurial leadership and innovation in distance education. Online journal of distance learning administration, 12(4). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter124/reimers-hild124.html
Segal Quince & Partners (1985). The Cambridge phenomenon : the growth of high technology industry in a university town. Segal Quince & Partners, Cambridge
SFIA Foundation Ltd, (2015). The purpose of SFIA. [online] Skills Framework for the Information Age. Retrieved from https://www.sfia-online.org/v501/en/index.html
Smith, J., Brown, L., Blackhall, L., Loden, D., & O’Shea, J. (2010, September). New Partnerships Linking Universities and NGO's on Education for Development Engineering: Case Study from Engineers Without Borders Australia'. In Joint International IGIP-SEFI Annual Conference (Trnava, Slovakia). Retrieved from http://www.sefi.be/wp-content/papers2010/papers/1248.pdf
Smith, P. L. & Ragan, T. J. (2005). Instructional design (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Jossey-Bass Education.
Suwantarathip, O., & Orawiwatnakul, W. (2015). Using Mobile-Assisted Exercises to Support Students' Vocabulary Skill Development. TOJET, 14(1). http://www.tojet.net/articles/v14i1/14118.pdf
Thompson, P., & Kwong, C. (2013) Compulsory School Based Enterprise Education as a Gateway to an Entrepreneurial Career. Retrieved from http://www.isbe.org.uk/content/assets/Enterprise_Education-_Caleb_Kwong.pdf
University of Canberra. (2012a). Managing change and innovation 7776.3. Retrieved from http://www.canberra.edu.au/coursesandunits/unit?unit_cd=7776&version_number=3&rownum=3165
University of Canberra. (2012b). Bachelor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation 208JA.1. Retrieved from http://www.canberra.edu.au/coursesandunits/course?course_cd=208JA&version_number=1&location_cd=BRUCE
Van der Kleij, F. M., Feskens, R. C., & Eggen, T. J. (2015). Effects of Feedback in a Computer-Based Learning Environment on Students’ Learning Outcomes A Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research, 0034654314564881. Retrieved from http://rer.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/01/08/0034654314564881.full.pdf

Entrepreneurship on the Increase in Australia

The OECD report "Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2015" was released 5 August 2015. This reports start-ups increasing in Australia and UK.

"Start-up rates have been on an upward trend since the crisis in many countries, particularly in Australia and the United Kingdom, and more recently in Denmark, Portugal and Sweden. In many Euro area economies, start-up rates nonetheless remain below pre-crisis levels."
From  Forward, Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2015, OECD, 5 August 2015.

Table of contents

			Foreword
			Executive summary
			Reader's guide
	1	Recent developments in entrepreneurship
			New enterprise creations
			Bankruptcies
			Self-employment
	2	Structure and performance of the enterprise population
			Enterprises by size
			Employment by enterprise size
			Value added by enterprise size
			Turnover by enterprise size
			Compensation of employees by enterprise size
			Productivity by enterprise size
	3	Enterprise birth, death and survival
			Birth rate of employer enterprises
			Death rate of employer enterprises
			Churn rate of employer enterprises
			Survival of employer enterprises
	4	Enterprise growth and employment creation
			Employment creation and destruction by employer enterprise births and deaths
			Employment creation and destruction in surviving enterprises
			High-growth enterprises rate
	5	SMEs and International trade
			Trade concentration
			Trade by enterprise size
			Trade with emerging economies
			Trade by enterprise ownership
	6	The profile of the entrepreneur
			Gender differences in self-employment rates
			Self-employment among the youth
			Earnings from self-employment
	7	Determinants of entrepreneurship: Selected indicators
			Access to finance: Venture capital
			Market access: Trade barriers
			Culture: Entrepreneurial perceptions and attitudes
		Annex
		A.	Sources of data on timely indicators of entrepreneurship
		B.	List of indicators of entrepreneurial determinants
		C.	International comparability of venture capital data

Teaching Innovation in Canberra

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where the Innovation ACT 2014 Launch is taking place. For the last few years, the ACT Government has sponsored this competition to encourage Canberra's Higher Education students to learn how to turn their ideas into businesses. The completion was devised by ANU's Engineering and Computer Science College. Previously I have talked at the event and been a participant and later a mentor. This year I am designing a university course which will award credit for students undertaking this competition, or similar ones. Some argue that innovation cannot be taught in a formal course, it has to be experienced. However, I think it should be feasible to teach the theory in academic classes and then have the students innovate in practice (much as happens in architecture and design schools at university). If all goes well the new course will be available from second semester 2015. There are numerous innovation startup books , but I hope to avoid making the students read any of them. Universities interesting in running the course can contact me for details.

Innovation ACT has a format similar other "start-up" competitions. Teams attend presentations and workshops to learn how to prepare a pitch and business plan and then compete in various stages, winning prizes. The Innovation ACT competition broke with tradition by having only two short speeches at the launch. Most of the time was taken up with a short pitch competition. The first two were "InGiv" and "Butterfly Effect", proposing companies to assist social enterprise (that is non-profit organisations). There seems to be a lot of innovations with start-up companies offering services to non-profit organisations. The third Tradesmin was for small trades companies (an example of re-intermediation). Bio-Mine was offering authenticated electronic documents (I could not see how this was different to the Digitary certificates issued by ANU). BeeHub was to offer FAQs for university students. "Swap" was a barter system and "Hidden Talent" an online art gallery. The Winners were: 1. Bio-Mine; 2. Tradesmin; 3. InGive and BeeHub.

ps: There are also some free  online courses (MOOC), on innovation, such as:

1. "Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer?" (MIT, edX), 
2. "Social Entrepreneurship" (University of Pennsylvania, Coursera)
3. "Innovation and Enterprise" (Loughborough University, Futurelearn).
4. "Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The 1st Step in Entrepreneurship" (University of Maryland,
   Coursera)
   "Entrepreneurship and Family Business" (RMIT, Open2Study)
   "Beyond Silicon Valley: Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies" (CaseWestern Reserve University, Coursera)

Innovation MOOCs

Mooc List has a list of free online courses on innovation, with a rating for each. Here are the nine listed for 2015:

1. Innovation and Enterprise (FutureLearn), starts: Apr 6th 2015, from FutureLearn in English: "Managing the innovation process is neither a scientific process nor a black art. We will explore a model for innovation." Business & Management, Health & Society, Innovation, Enterprise
2. 3.086x: Innovation and Commercialization (edX), starts: Jan 13th 2015, from edX in English: "Covers from human process of innovating to innovation ecosystems. Business & Management, Chemistry, Economics & Finance, Engineering Innovation, Commercialization
3. Idea Generation Methods (iversity), starts: Jan 21st 2015, from iversity in English: "In the course certain methods for idea generation will be explained. This will help participants develop and drive their own ideas." Economics & Finance, Idea Generation, Innovation, Sustainable Energy
4. Innovation for Powerful Outcomes (Open2Study), starts: Feb 9th 2015, from Open2Study in English: "Acquire the ability to help make innovation happen, using a rich mix of practical approaches & robust concepts. Business & Management, Creativity, Innovation
5. Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The 1st Step in Entrepreneurship (Coursera), starts: Feb 2nd 2015, from Coursera in English, Portuguese, Spanish: "Explore how to identify and develop great ideas into great companies. Learn how to identify opportunities based on real customer needs. Develop solid business models. Create successful companies. Business & Management, Entrepreneurship, Companies, Creativity, Innovation, Business
6. Thinking Outside The Box: Creative Entrepreneurship (Canvas.net), starts: Jan 12th 2015, from Canvas Network in English: "This course can empower you to develop your creative potential to improve, enhance and transform your professional career and your community through entrepreneurship. Business & Management, Personal & Professional Development, Entrepreneurship, Creative Thinking, Learning, Planning Skills, Entrepreneurial Skills, Innovation, Entrepreneur
7. Desarrollo rápido de productos innovadores para mercados emergentes (Coursera), starts: Jan 5th 2015, from Coursera in Spanish: "Entender las metodologías para la innovación de productos para mercados emergentes. Las metodologías son: 1) megatendencias sociales, tecnológicas y del comportamiento del consumidor 2) JTBD y 3) Matriz Morfológica. Business & Management, Economics & Finance, Innovation, Market, Business, Management
8. 15.S23x: U.Lab: Transforming Business, Society, and Self (edX), starts: Jan 7th 2015, from edX in English: "Learn how to create profound innovation in a time of disruptive change by leading from the emerging future. Business & Management. Economics & Finance, Social Sciences, Business, Business Innovation, nnovation, Skills, Relationships
9. Make an Impact: Sustainability for Professionals (FutureLearn), starts: Jan 12th 2015, from FutureLearn in English: "Are you a professional interested in sustainable development? This course looks at integrating a sustainable development strategy. Business & Management, Engineering, Sustainability, Business, Innovation, Management

Plan for Australian Tech Startups

StartupAUS have released a 182 page "Crossroads 2016 Report: An action plan to develop a vibrant tech startup ecosystem in Australia" (Colin Kinner, November 2016).

The action plan has six themes, with corresponding recommendations:

1. "Startup ecosystems need to be geographically concentrated:
   • Recommendation 1: Support the establishment of innovation districts in major cities
2. Australia needs a coordinated innovation and entrepreneurship plan:
   • Recommendation 2: Create a national innovation agency
3. Startups need capital to grow:
   • Recommendation 3: Improve the R&D Tax Incentive by making it more favourable to startups
4. Startups need access to world-class expertise:
   • Recommendation 4: Implement a national Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program
   • Recommendation 5: Implement and improve the Entrepreneur Visa
   • Recommendation 6: Make targeted improvements to Employee Share Schemes legislation
   • Recommendation 7: Establish a program to attract promising international startups to Australia
5. Tech startups need tech skills:
   • Recommendation 8: Extend the Digital Technologies Curriculum
   • Recommendation 9: Relax restrictions on 457 visas for startups
   • Recommendation 10: Implement measures to counteract high cost of living for foreign skilled workers
6. Australia needs to produce more entrepreneurs of its own:
   • Recommendation 11: Implement entrepreneurship programs in all Australian primary and secondary schools
   • Recommendation 12: Implement entrepreneurship programs in all Australian universities 
   • Recommendation 13: Introduce a Startup Scholarship for STEM graduates
   • Recommendation 14: Immerse Australian university students in Silicon Valley and other startup hubs

Education Related Recommendations

Five of the recommendations relate to education. Curiously, the first of these, "Extend the Digital Technologies Curriculum", is listed under theme 5, whereas the others are under theme 6.

The recommendation to extend the Digital Technologies Curriculum to be an elective in years 11 and 12, is reasonable. But making it mandatory for years 9 and 10, might be difficult to implement and counterproductive.

Implement entrepreneurship programs in all Australian primary and secondary schools is, I suggest, unrealistic. However, entrepreneurship programs in all Australian universities is feasible. However, this might be better implemented at a regional level, and also should be extended to the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, not just universities. Canberra does this well, with local government and higher education institutions jointly running the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN), located in the center of the city's innovation district.

It is not clear why Startup Scholarships should be limited just to STEM graduates, or that "immersing" students in the startup hubs of other countries would be cost effective. Students from the creative industries should also be included and the on-line option should be explored. Students can learn to work together on-line, and this learning can be cost-effective, using peer-assessment and e-portfolios.

What is missing from the report is the use of on-line technology to provide the educational initiatives. There appears to be a contradiction inherent in the report and in start-up mythology, that "disruptive" on-line products can only be produced by people in close physical proximity talking face-to-face and using bits of paper. Perhaps it is time that the start-up industry was itself "disrupted".

ps: Unfortunately, at 42 Mbytes, this took a long time to download with my wireless modem. StartupAUS  might like to use responsive web design, rather than last-millennium PDF.

Sixty Malaysian MOOCs

Sydney based Australian company Open Learning Global Pty., Ltd. has its on-line platform openlearning.com  is being used by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) to provide Massive Open On-line Courses (MOOCs) from Malaysian universities. There are an initial sixty Malaysian MOOCs provided.

According to a media report, the aim is to have 15% of Malaysian public university courses as on-line MOOCs by the end of this year and 30% by 2020. What is not clear is the aim of this ambitious target: will these MOOCs be accepted by Malaysian universities as the equivalent of face-to-face classes? Who will fund these courses, some of which have tends of thousands of students?

The government aims to teach 15 per cent of all public university courses online as MOOCs by the end of 2015. This will increase to 30 per cent of all university courses by the year 2020.

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/60-massive-open-online-courses-public-universities-launched

The government aims to teach 15 per cent of all public university courses online as MOOCs by the end of 2015. This will increase to 30 per cent of all university courses by the year 2020.

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/60-massive-open-online-courses-public-universities-launched

The government aims to teach 15 per cent of all public university courses online as MOOCs by the end of 2015. This will increase to 30 per cent of all university courses by the year 2020.

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/60-massive-open-online-courses-public-universities-launched

The government aims to teach 15 per cent of all public university courses online as MOOCs by the end of 2015. This will increase to 30 per cent of all university courses by the year 2020.

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/60-massive-open-online-courses-public-universities-launched

I had a quick look at one of the courses offered, Introduction to Entrepreneurship from UiTM. The course was easy and quick to enroll in. The home page has an easy to read format, with one menu and a introduction video. "About the Course" provided a brief well structured and written overview. Two appropriate recommended texts are listed, however these are conventional textbooks, not available free on-line. There is an impressive list of instructors for the course.

The course requires 3 hours study per week, over five weeks, 15 hours in total. This is about one eighth of a typical Australian university course: ten hours a week for twelve weeks, 120 hours total. The sixty Malaysian MOOCs would therefore equate to only about eight Australian university courses.

The course website itself responded quickly and did not appear to require large amounts of computer or network resoruces. However, the Padlet wall "Entrepreneurs Padlet Wall" web based service used for student discussions appeared to use considerable amounts of networking.

The course has twelve relatively conventional topics:

1.   Theories and Concepts of Entrepreneurship
2.   Importance of Entrepreneurship
3.   Creativity and Innovation
4.   Entrepreneurial Opportunities
5.   Business Plan
6.   Forms of Business Entity
7.   Business Support System
8.   Marketing Fundamentals
9.   Management of Small Business : Operations Management
10. Management of Small Business : Human Resource Management
11. Financial Management for SMEs
12. Business Ethics, Professional and Social Responsibilities

Video lectures are provided. These are high quality videos, provided via YouTube (an example is "Introduction to Entrepreneurship"). There are no closed captions provided for the videos. Discussion questions are provided for each section. There are quizzes implemented with SWF. Overall this appears to be well designed on-line course.


Some courses of interest:

1. UiTM MOOC, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, 15075 Students
2. UNIMAS-MOOC, ICT Competency, 7999 Students
3. Mohamed Amin Embi, Rethinking Teaching; Redesigning Learning, 453 Students
4. UTM MOOC,WEB BASED MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT, 255 Students
5. UTM MOOC, RESEARCH METHODS IN EDUCATION, 210 Students
6. UTeM MOOC, Critical & Creative Thinking, 145 Students