Cross-level, cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural collaborations in action: a public service educational initiative integrating health, engineering and entrepreneurship.
Zidek, Lisa ; Kauanui, Sandra King ; Haytko, Diana L. 等
INTRODUCTION
QAccording to a recent report of the AACSB International Task Force
on Business Schools and Innovation (2010), a business school's
mission should include fostering innovation. One of the models suggests
that a way to integrate innovation is to develop cross-disciplinary
collaborations both within and outside of the Business school. This
paper outlines such collaboration. The program includes students at
three levels of education: stage 1 involves high school students, stage
2 involves undergraduate engineering students and the final stage
involves MBA students in entrepreneurship. The project focus for all
three groups is on helping the community of Calhuitz, Guatamala.
In spring 2009, Global Public Service Academies (GPSA) issued a
request for proposals titled Innovative Experiences to Promote Science,
Engineering and Math Majors to High School Students Self-Identifying as
Being Interested in Health Careers. Faculty from Florida Gulf Coast
University's (FGCU) Bioengineering and Nursing programs
collaborated to submit a proposal for a study abroad experience for high
school students. FGCU engineering faculty were interested in the grant
opportunity as a potential resource for finding future student design
projects to be used in an upper level undergraduate class, which would
incorporate challenges of international engineering design. The faculty
members were specifically interested in design projects for a developing
country. Since none of the interested engineering faculty had experience
with international programs, a nursing faculty member was asked to join
the grant team as she had experience taking college students to
Guatemala as well as Peace Corps experience in Guatemala. The nursing
faculty member specialized in maternal and child care as well as health
care delivery in the developing world.
The grant was awarded to FGCU for a four year GPSA summer program.
The engineering faculty would deliver an engineering design curriculum
for high school students through a course entitled "Problem Solving
and Design for Developing Countries". Included in the curriculum is
the engineering design process and needs assessment. The nursing faculty
would teach the high school students how to conduct health assessments
on pregnant women and children. The final grant team consisted of three
engineering faculty members and one nursing faculty member. The goal of
this paper is to discuss how this project is being implemented in order
to demonstrate how different schools, programs and colleges can work
together not just to benefit themselves but also to engage in a type of
social entrepreneurship, benefiting others throughout the process.
BACKGROUND
The recent AACSB International Task Force report points out that
innovation is needed more than ever to reenergize our economy and add
value to our society. Utilizing a new conceptual framework for
education, they suggest Business Schools can be a vehicle for innovation
through new process and product design. New product design must use
innovative processes to be successful and sustainable. The
recommendation is for Business Schools to integrate innovation into
their learning outcomes whenever possible, which will require academics
to link with communities. The challenge in management education is to
design new curriculum to support the gap between innovation and
implementation. The report suggests various models universities can
utilize to support innovative thinking in their curriculum. One of these
is teaching managers communication, collaboration and ways to build
bridges between various fields and industries. In this paper, we present
an example of how a project was designed to utilize students at various
stages of education (high school, undergraduate and graduate) to develop
the skill sets of innovation and implementation among different colleges
in one University. The design provides students a valuable learning
experience, while seeking to add value to society through learning by
doing.
As mentioned, the initial goal of the project and the grant was to
get high school students interested in science, engineering and math. It
is a well-documented fact that students in the United States are falling
behind other countries in terms of both their performance and their
interest in these areas (Hanushek, Peterson & Woessmann, 2010).
However, as the project was being developed, it became clear that the
engineering aspect would involve helping people in a third world
country. Many Universities, including FGCU, are focusing on
sustainability in their missions for the next century. One aspect of
this focus includes social sustainability. We have all heard the Chinese
proverb "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to
fish and he eats for a lifetime." Sustainability with respect to
this project would suggest that designing the engineering solution is
not enough. The people must be taught how to create and market these
solutions for the long term. In addition, because these solutions
improve society as a whole, they are considered the outcomes of
"social entrepreneurship." This is where engineering and the
business school come together.
New business ventures created from the exploitation of
opportunities to help relieve social ills, lessen the loss of natural
resources and build sustainable futures is believed to be creating a new
generation of mission-based social entrepreneurs (Neck, Brush &
Allen, 2008). A recent study found that science and engineering students
who took an entrepreneurship course raised their attitudes and their
overall entrepreneurship intentions. The inspiration the students
developed to start their own businesses was seen as the most influential
benefit (Souitaris, Zerbinati, & Al-Laham, 2007).
In September, 2010, Harvard Business Review asked the question: Can
Entrepreneurs Save the World? "Working together, corporations and
social entrepreneurs can reshape industries and solve the world's
toughest problems," (Drayton & Budlinich, 2010). These authors
term individual entrepreneurs who focus on helping others while also
making money "the citizen sector." They believe that the
citizen sector is creating jobs three times as fast as the private
sector. They claim that the success of collaborations between the
citizen sector (not for profit) and the private sector will succeed by
focusing on creating real economic value as well as social value.
Entrepreneurs play a central role in finding the solutions; driving
economic growth and helping hundreds of millions of people worldwide
(Thompson & MacMillan, 2010). They claim that the management
challenges associated with producing and marketing goods and services at
the bottom of the economic food chain include imperfect markets,
uncertain prices and costs, nonexistent or unreliable infrastructure,
weak or absent formal government, untested technology and unpredictable
responses. Yet, interestingly enough, entrepreneurs in emerging markets
start 25% more companies than their U.S. counterparts do, and their
firms have a higher survival rate (Habiby & Coyle, Jr., 2010). The
authors' claim that today's entrepreneurs are anywhere in the
world and can create value with relatively little capital.
THE CURRENT COLLABORATION
The project presented in this paper describes a collaboration
designed to get high school students interested in science and
engineering, while getting everyone (undergraduate engineering students
and MBA Entrepreneurship students) interested in social entrepreneurship
and solving real problems for real people in a third world country.
The Initial Project: Stage 1
The program included a pre-trip experience for high school students
on the FGCU campus for two days, followed by a three and half week visit
in Calhuitz, Guatemala, ending with a two day post trip experience on
the FGCU campus. The project was funded through support from GPSA, and
partnering with Curamerica (an organization dedicated to healing
communities, one person at a time), to establish a long-term partnership
with FGCU to improve health services and to help develop the economy
through entrepreneurial engineering projects within the community of
Calhuitz near Huehuetenango (located approximately twenty hours
northwest of Guatemala City). The objectives of the experience were for
high school students to understand and apply the initial steps of the
design process and to be knowledgeable of sustainability and universal
design issues, especially in developing countries.
Stage 2: The Engineering Curriculum
The original intent of the program was to teach high school
students about engineering using the engineering design process to
identify client needs for assistive devices. In addition, the identified
needs would be used in undergraduate engineering design classes to
provide international projects for the engineering students. Two courses
were developed to provide undergraduate engineering majors the
opportunity to be involved in designing solutions to be implemented in
Guatemala based upon the results of the high school students'
summer experience. The first course: "Engineering Service
Learning" was offered in the fall, 2010 semester. Engineering
Service Learning promotes the concept of social responsibility of the
engineering profession. Service to the community is considered
fundamental to the success and growth of the engineering profession. A
driving factor in the course is to increase student awareness of
engineering in society. Students in Engineering Service Learning are
expected to use the engineering design process to identify a community
based need, work with a client to identify design criteria and
constraints, develop alternative solutions and prepare a basic business
plan for the desired solution. Outcomes for this course include: an
ability to function on and assume leadership roles in diverse,
multidisciplinary teams; ability to communicate effectively, especially
in an interdisciplinary environment; an understanding of
entrepreneurship and the ability to write a business plan; and an
ability to define a community problem and to use the engineering design
process to deliver a solution.
The second engineering course, "Engineering
Entrepreneurship," is the follow-up course to Engineering Service
Learning. During Engineering Entrepreneurship students take the design
proposed at the end of Engineering Service Learning and continue the
design process, specifically design, test and implement. At the end of
the semester the students are expected to deliver a fully documented
product or process to the client. The course is focused on turning the
proposed solution not only into a working product or process, but also
developing the concept into a business model. The course is structured
such that the students are expected to spend time outside of class
working with the client to test, revise and retest proposed solutions.
Class time is used to acquaint the engineering students with basic
business concepts necessary to write an abbreviated business plan.
Outcomes for Engineering Entrepreneurship include: an ability to design
a system, component, or processes to meet desired engineering needs
within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social,
political, ethical, health and safety, regulatory, manufacturability,
and sustainability; an ability to function on and assume leadership
roles in diverse, multidisciplinary teams; an understanding of
professional and ethical responsibility; an ability to communicate
effectively, especially in an interdisciplinary environment; the broad
education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in
a rapidly changing global, economic, environmental, and societal
context; a knowledge of contemporary issues; an understanding of
entrepreneurship and business plans; an ability to define a community
problem and to use the engineering design process to deliver a solution;
and an ability to explain basic concepts in management, business, public
policy, and leadership.
Stage 3: The MBA Business Plan Development Curriculum
While designing solutions for the Guatemalan's is an admirable
objective, the challenge remains to determine whether these solutions
are viable. In other words, are the solutions feasible? Can the products
be made efficiently and effectively in the community so that there are
long term benefits? The goal of the MBA business plan course is to work
with the engineering student to analyze the resulting cost of the
devices and implementation plans. At the end of the spring semester, the
MBA students, along with the undergraduate engineer students, are
expected to deliver a full business plan to assess the feasibility of
the new product design. The plan can ultimately be used to attract
external stakeholders (investors, partners and/or private and
government-funded grant awarding agencies).
The MBA course learning objectives includes an ability to: identify
the major components of a business plan; investigate and analyze
opportunities to start a new entrepreneurial venture; identify the
environmental factors (social, market, economic, technological and
product data) pertinent to the new business; identify factors involved
in determining the location of a proposed business; conduct an in-dept
market analysis and design a financially feasible marketing plan for the
new start-up; differentiate and evaluate which legal forms are
appropriate for a start-up business; create a proactive plan for the
treatment of the ethical issues facing the new business and to create
and analyze projected financial alternatives for the initial start-up
and operations of a new business.
RESULTS TO DATE
This project is to be completed in Calhuitz, Guatemala. In order to
understand the context, it is necessary to share some basic statistics
on the area:
* Guatemala has the third highest infant and child mortality rate
in the western hemisphere."
* Huehuetenango is considered the "triangle of death"
because it has the highest rates of infant and child mortality and
malnutrition in the country of Guatemala.
* Sixty eight percent of children under three are malnourished and
1:250 pregnancies result in death as compared to 1: 12, 500 in the
US." (http://www.curamericas.org/wherewework/guatemala.html)
Stage 1: The Initial Experience: Summer, 2010
The breakeven point for the program is approximately 20
participating high school students. Due to a number of factors, only 8
students were accepted into the program. Rather than cancel the program,
the granting agency decided to run the first year as a pilot, primarily
due to the remoteness of the location. The difference between the pilot
program and the full scale is the number of high school students
accepted, 8 students in the pilot, and 20 to 30 in the full scale
program. The objectives for the summer engineering program were:
The following discussion will focus predominantly on the
engineering aspects of the program and specifically the engineering
design functional group. By the completion of the GPSA Summer Program in
Guatemala the student will be expected to:
* Apply the engineering design process.
* Work in a team to effectively solve problems and complete
projects.
* Design and assemble simple projects including assistive needs
devices.
* Conduct a needs assessment.
* Identify stakeholders and explain the importance of stakeholders
in engineering design.
* Participate in and facilitate brainstorming activities.
* Define design constraints and specifications.
* Develop design constraints and specifications.
* Conduct concept evaluation.
* Understand concepts of sustainable design.
* Prepare a poster or presentation that demonstrates the learning
experience from the GPSA summer program in Guatemala.
High school students were recruited throughout the United States
utilizing announcements in various talented student organizations, the
Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) newsletter, in person
presentations to high school groups and flyers at conferences.
Interested students applied to the program, and could be eligible for
financial assistance, or may fundraise to cover the program expenses
which included all travel, transfers, food, lodging, excursions, except
travel to the FGCU campus and spending money. Student selection criteria
included an expressed desire to pursue a career in a health related
field (e.g., medicine, nursing, physical therapy, and bioengineering),
experience with a foreign language (at least one year of high school
foreign language), demonstration of community service and
recommendations from community leaders and school officials.
Eight students (five female and three male) were accepted into the
program. The students came from Texas, North Carolina, New York, West
Virginia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Approximately 50% received
financial assistance for the program cost. The two engineering faculty
members and the nursing faculty member traveled to Guatemala for the
initial program during the summer of 2010.
The Campus Orientation: Two Days
The project began with a summer program, designed to introduce high
school students, primarily juniors and seniors, to engineering and
health care needs in the developing world. The program started with the
students' arrival on the FGCU campus. The first evening included a
dinner, an introduction of the students and program faculty. Two full
days were spent on the FGCU campus. The nursing faculty member
introduced the students to basic health care assessment tools such as
taking blood pressure, temperature and weight and introduced the
students to community health assessment concepts. Engineering faculty
members introduced the engineering design process, needs assessment, and
client interviewing techniques.
The Three Week Guatemalan Experience
The third day of the program was a travel day. Students and faculty
traveled from Fort Myers, FL to Guatemala City, Guatemala, and then on
to Calhuitz, Guatemala. The trip from Guatemala City took two days,
approximately 18-20 hours, by micro bus. For the next 3 weeks the group
resided in the visitor center of Casa Materna in Calhuitz.
Calhuitz is a remote village in the northwestern mountains of
Guatemala with a population of approximately 1200 people. Most of the
village men earn a living by walking 2 hours each way, usually waking at
4:00 am and returning home around 8:00 pm, to work on farms. Women of
the village are expected to tend to the home and the children. Grown men
and women unable to perform theses function have little value in the
community and are seen as a burden to their families. Other than the
"cantinas" which are storefronts operated out of the homes
that sell chips, soda and some candy, operated by local families, there
is no industry or local economy.
Educational opportunities in Calhuitz consist of a
"public" school and a small school run by the Catholic Church.
Many of the young children attend school. When a girl reaches
approximately 10-12 years of age (usually the total education at this
time is the equivalent of 3rd or 4th grade) she typically quits school
to help take care of the home, cook meals, wash clothes and perform
other household tasks. Boys are encouraged to stay in school through 8th
grade. Currently children attending high school would have to walk to a
neighboring community for their education.
Calhuitz is also home to Casa Materna. Casa Materna is a
women's and early childcare clinic. The primary role of Casa
Materna is to serve as a maternal care and childbirth clinic. There is
one physician, Dr. Manuel, in the area who tends to approximately 20,000
people in the Nantone region. Dr. Manuel attempts to visit the community
once a week; however this is often not possible due to several factors
including case load and weather. In addition to Dr. Manuel, Casa Materna
employs two trained nurse midwives, neither of whom lives in Calhuitz,
an education specialist and a clerk for the pharmacy and supplies store.
When asked, on several occasions, how people earned money or what the
economy of Calhuitz consisted of, the team never got an answer. Most of
the work is done through barter; for instance medical care is exchanged
for fire wood or chickens.
Creating Engineering Design Functional Groups
During the time in the country, the high school students were
separated into teams, two teams of three and one team of two. At least
one student on each team was fluent in Spanish. Teams were assigned to
one of three functions: health care delivery, engineering design or
technology, and the assignments rotated weekly. Monday through Thursday
the schedule followed a format of functional group and large group
activities. The first week was focused on health assessments, the second
week on technology, and the final week on engineering design. The
faculty met every morning to discuss the daily schedule and adapted
lessons to provide as much topic coverage as possible while adapting to
the community needs.
The engineering design functional group's project was to
identify client based needs focused on adaptive devices, such as a
walking device or a tool to assist a person with everyday tasks. Two
engineering faculty members were the leaders for each group. Every
Monday morning the team would meet with the community liaison, Jose.
Jose was born and raised in the community, although he spent several
years in the United States and spoke English, Spanish and Chuj, and
personally knew almost every member of the community. He selected at
least two individuals or families for each team to meet with for the
week. Typically the team met the first individual on Monday and the
second on Wednesday. The team would walk to the client's home and
the students would conduct interviews. Since the native language in the
village was Chuj, the high school students would conduct the interviews
in Spanish. Jose would translate from Spanish to Chuj, the client or
client's family would respond in Chuj; Jose would translate to
Spanish and the students would translate from Spanish to English. One
faculty member video recorded the interviews while the other documented
the interview questions and answers. Students also documented the
interviews.
After the interview, which typically lasted 1 1/2 to 2 hours, the
team would return to the Casa Materna to discuss the identified needs,
brainstorm solutions and work on documentation and editing the video
recording. Details of the interviews are provided in the Clients
section. If necessary, the team would return to the client on the second
day (Tuesday or Thursday). If a return visit was not necessary, the team
would continue to brainstorm solutions and develop a plan to provide a
solution for the family either prior to leaving Calhuitz, or as a longer
term project to be developed over the next academic year and brought
back during the next trip.
Upon returning to the United States a mini conference was hosted on
the FGCU campus. Students were assigned either a poster or a
presentation for the conference. Topic areas included "Life in
Calhuitz", "Needs Assessment", "Engineering
Design" and "Community Health". University
administration, other faculty, local high school teachers and
representatives from Southwest Florida business were in attendance at
the conference.
The Clients
The following are examples of clients the students interviewed.
Three of these projects have been implemented into the Engineering
Service Learning and Engineering Entrepreneurship courses. The student
based projects will be completed by April 2011. Final products will be
delivered to the clients either before the start of the summer, 2011
program, or as part of the summer program.
Maria is a 12 year old girl with difficulty walking among other
disabilities. Although undiagnosed, Maria appears to have Down 's
syndrome and suffers from seizures. Maria's parents expressed a
need for a device that allows children and young adults the ability to
travel long distances with minimum work over rough terrain including
mud, rocks, steep hills and other obstacles. Given Maria's physical
limitations she is unable to join her family on excursions outside the
homestead (such as walking to church or market) and is usually left home
alone. A temporary solution was developed and delivered to the family;
however a long term solution that provides for self mobility is desired.
The goal of the project is to design a vehicle that meets the needs of
disabled persons in rough terrain environments and can be manufactured
in Calhuitz. This project was used as the design project for the high
school students who built a cart out of locally available material and
delivered the finished product to the family. This project is also
continuing in the current engineering entrepreneurship course where
students are improving upon the original design as well as developing a
business plan to produce the carts in or near Calhuitz.
Roberto is a 13 year old boy currently in 3rd grade in the
elementary school in Calhuitz. His goal is to become a teacher. Roberto
was born with a club foot making sitting in a standard chair
uncomfortable therefore making it difficult to study. The team's
assessment was he needed an adjustable desk with support for the leg of
a child or young adult. Ideally, the desk needed to made of low cost,
readily available material, be lightweight, adjust to the growth needs
of a child, be portable, and be easy to assemble/manufacture. This
project has also been introduced to the current engineering
entrepreneurship course. Students working on this project plan to
develop a prototype, researching locally available materials in Calhuitz
and developing a feasibility analysis to produce the carts in or near
Calhuitz.
Julia, Ellatoria and Jose needed a device to walk over rough
terrain. Designing devices for walking on nicely paved, flat surfaces
and finished floors is a well developed science. Unfortunately, the
devices used in the developed world are less than ideal for people in
developing countries. The clients are three adults, with varying levels
of walking ability from unstable but able to walk upright to unable to
walk upright, moving about in a modified crawl (hands and feet rather
than hands and knees). The need is to design a device that would assist
these three adults with walking over a rough terrain that includes steep
hills, mud, rocks, uneven pathways and other obstacles. Low cost is an
essential criterion for this device. This is the third project
introduced to the current entrepreneurship course. Undergraduate
engineering students are developing a product similar to a crutch or
walking device, suitable for the terrain- rocky, uneven, hilly and
muddy, while Maria's needs, the first project, require a special
cart design for transportation.
Stage 2: Engineering
These three projects, (Maria, Roberto, and Julia, Ellatoria and
Jose) have been identified as long term projects. These projects were
identified as having engineering design and entrepreneurial aspects
appropriate for upper level engineering courses, specifically the
Engineering Service Learning and Engineering Entrepreneurship courses.
There is demand for each of these products beyond the clients
identified. The goal is to ultimately develop a means to manufacture the
items in or near Calhuitz to be sold, or bartered, in the surrounding
communities, which will provide local work for the people. The learning
objectives for the Engineering Service Learning are for students to
identify a community based need and develop a proposed solution to meet
the need.
As of the writing of this article, the three teams have submitted
initial project proposals for the three clients. Design concepts are
preliminary, and will be subjected to testing and prototyping in the
spring semester. All three teams have incorporated sustainable design
concepts including local manufacturability into their original designs.
Project posters are provided in Figure 1, 2 and 3.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]
Engineering Entrepreneurship is the follow-on course that requires
the students to take the proposed solution from Engineering Service
Learning and develop the solution into a working model and develop a
business plan for the solution. During the second class, Engineering
Entrepreneurship students will be teamed up with MBA students in an
Entrepreneurship business planning course The MBA students will
concentrate on the business plan aspects while the engineers refine and
test the designs. Completed projects will be delivered to the clients in
July of 2011, when the summer program returns to Calhuitz. At least one
engineering undergraduate student will be acting as a counselor for the
2011 program and will assist with the engineering educational program.
Stage 3: Entrepreneurship
In the first week of the spring, 2011 class, the MBA business
planning students will hear a presentation by the engineering professor
about the specific projects needing feasibility studies. Each student
(or team) will select the project they are most interested in working
on. The students will develop full feasibility plans for each of the
projects designed by the engineering students. The two classes will have
four separate class periods in which the engineering students will be
working with the MBA students. In addition, a Blackboard/Angel website
will be set up so that students can exchange information and share ideas
as they are working on their projects. At the end of the semester, a
final awards ceremony is planned for the best project design and
feasibility study from the semester. Judges from the community will be
asked to judge the awards ceremony and funds will be awarded to the
student group with the best overall project and feasibility study from
the Institute of Entrepreneurship at FGCU.
CONCLUSION
The program described is a unique collaboration of a summer
experience for high school students, undergraduate students in
engineering and MBA students in Entrepreneurship. High school students
had the opportunity to live in the community in Calhuitz, Guatemala and
work in the local clinic and the community at large. Students learned
about entrepreneurship using an engineering approach to complex problems
faced by the community, specifically community members in need of
assistive devices. The original intent of the program was to first
develop a needs assessment, then create assistive devices, which would
be designed by undergraduate students and then returned to the village
the following summer; however during the needs identification the
students and faculty teams identified entrepreneurial solutions and
immediately implemented them. Students were able to immediately feel a
sense of accomplishment in making a difference to someone's life.
Each team provided well-documented needs statements, problem
constraints and criteria, and supporting materials such as interviews
and videos by the end of the program. The project ideas were summarized
and specific projects were identified by the students and faculty as
suitable for a two-course sequence in Engineering Service Learning and
Engineering Entrepreneurship.
During the second semester course, Engineering Entrepreneurship,
the undergraduate engineering students are being teamed up with MBA
students taking a business planning course. Together the undergraduate
Engineering Entrepreneurship students and graduate students will write a
feasibility analysis based on the needs assessments of the high school
student teams and the product design developed by the undergraduate
engineering students for implementation in Calhuitz, Guatemala.
This project was a success as it provided an educational and
research component to three levels of students (high school,
undergraduate engineering, and graduate business students). The
educational component of the program consist of conducting a course in
Problem Solving and Design for Developing Countries, with emphasis on
sustainability, business feasibility and universal design aspects
important to developing countries and rural communities.
The research component entails high school students, along with the
faculty, documenting needs of local community members that would benefit
from assistive devices for improved quality of life. The "Problem
Solving and Design for Developing Countries" course was used to
introduce the high school participants to the engineering design
process. Each case was video documented and summarized (through methods
learned in their classes given in their first two days in their Problem
Solving and Design course) and presented to undergraduate students to be
used in a series of design courses completed as yearlong project, and
returned to the community during the following summer visit.
The feasibility plan will require additional research which will be
done in conjunction with the MBA students to develop a business plan
that will be used for implementation. For the MBA students, it provides
a great opportunity to apply their learning to something of real value
to society.
Initial Lessons Learned and Recommended Changes
Clients were identified by the local contact, Jose. The concept of
adaptive devices was not fully understood and created challenges in
identifying the best suited clients. Many of the families interviewed
had children with severe physical and mental disabilities. Although the
team wanted to help these families, the challenges faced were largely
medicinal and therapeutic in nature rather than addressed by the
addition of an adaptive device. This initial experience provided the
engineering faculty a benchmark for the needs of the community and
allowed us to communicate the characteristics of an appropriate client
to the community liaison.
Future programs will have 20 to 30 students. The current model is
not scalable to these numbers. In future programs students will select
modules for the daytime activity (needs assessment being one of the
modules) and all students will be involved in the engineering design
component of the program. It was also difficult to keep the High School
students involved once the program was turned over to the engineering
students. For the next program, the engineering professor plans to
develop a group cite, such as Facebook, so the engineering and high
school students can stay better connected. In addition, they can use pod
casting through YouTube to keep the high school, engineering and
business students more connected, and thereby more committed to the
final project.
In addition, the Engineering professor and the MBA professor
realized they should have had their student's class times at the
same time so the students would be able to work together more
efficiently. In addition, a rubric needs to be furthered developed with
criteria for both classes.
In summary, the project described in this paper, while still in the
initial stages, describes an example of how colleges and schools of
business and engineering can work together to foster innovation and
social entrepreneurship among the future leaders, thereby implementing
the goals put forth by the AACSB. Involving students at several levels
and across disciplines shows them that working with others to solve
problems can be both socially and economically profitable, and truly may
be the way to change the world by solving many of the problems faced by
those less fortunate.
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Lisa Zidek, Florida Gulf Coast University
Sandra King Kauanui, Florida Gulf Coast University
Diana L. Haytko, Florida Gulf Coast University