Mod2:Business Bootcamp

An Introduction to Venture Development and Analysis

An Introduction to Venture Development and Analysis

Module 2 is designed to provide students in ETEC 522 with a framework for understanding how learning technology business ventures are designed and evaluated. An important caveat – this is not a business course. Your objective in this module is simply to explore the framework and to incorporate key principles from the online course content and web-based resource links into your approach to subsequent modules, discussions, and assignments in this course.

You may be coming to the course with business experience, or you may have no business experience at all, or your experience may lie somewhere between the poles of the experience continuum. In any case, the topics you’ll explore in this module use Internet-based resources that encompass three key topics:

  • How ventures are created
  • How ventures are “pitched”
  • How ventures are assessed

This module will also introduce you to tools and resources provided by investment banks and financial organizations whose business it is to assess and support business ventures. These Internet-based resources are representative of similar resources that are available across the web.  You may find other useful resources during your own exploration, and in those cases your instructors will ask you to contribute your findings to the ETEC522 course web log discussion space associated with this module and the others. We value participation and collaborative knowledge construction in this course.

Activities for Module 2 ask you to share venture design and assessment resources and to provide related commentaries on resources that might be helpful to others in the course. There are also discussions spaces in the course web log (blog) for this module.  Each discussion topic will include introductory comments or questions to which you can add responses or new discussion points based on your explorations of the Internet-based information resources. Module 2 also provides a foundation for assignments #1 and #3

ASSIGNMENTS #1 and #3
The first and last ETEC 522 Assignments are major submissions allowing you to present your understanding of course materials in terms of (#1) an Environment or Venture Analysis and (#3) a Venture Pitch.  We will be looking for critical thought, design, and presentation (structure, writing, and use of media) of a professional and scholarly standard (APA style if in writing) in these submissions. It is also expected that students, given the nature of the course content, will demonstrate a sound understanding of comparative and analytic techniques respecting the viability of learning technology enterprises. It is almost always more difficult to be clear and compelling with few words, but as this is a very ‘businesslike’ virtue we have placed a 2,500 word maximum length on these submissions, or a maximum of 12 minutes in narrative form. We will appreciate it when you can communicate your thoughts concisely!

 

Estimated Time for Module 2: Eight hours