Educase: A Case Study for Entrepreneurship Education
Educases are tools that bring entrepreneurship to life in classrooms. EduCases highlight the multi-faceted issues entrepreneurs face when starting, growing and managing their business. These case studies bring to life the breadth of the issues and opportunities faced by an entrepreneur. With a focus on Midwest entrepreneurs in both small business and nonprofit settings, these case studies are written to engage entrepreneurial students with stories about individuals a lot like them.
The Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University(CSB/SJU) is developing these classroom tools to respond to the new student. These people, born between 1980 and 2000, have very different characteristics that change the college classroom. These young people grew up with computers from a very early age. While research continues on this generation just hitting adulthood, the traits of this group have been identified -- team-focused, hands-on, multi-taskers with high levels of media savvy.
Cases studies about privately held small businesses are in short supply. Yet entrepreneurial oriented students today are much more likely to be involved in a privately held small business. These case studies bring sucess stories about young and seasoned entrepreneurs.
Each EduCase is authored by a one or more faculty case writers from CSB/SJU. Each case study contains a DVD and written material that provide an overview of the featured enterprise, an interview with the entrepreneur(s), a description of the current and future issues faced by the operations, a discussion of the ethical issues surrounding the enterprise and individualized modules for specific course application such as marketing, business strategies, environmental issues, public policy and more.