GEDS was in Turkish Private Schools Association 14. Annual Education Symposium. One of our activities in the symposium was the workshop named “Training the Entrepreneurs of the Future.” The workshop was specifically aimed at discovering how students who passively receive information and accept or don’t notice problems can be transformed into active seekers of knowledge and problem-solvers.
Entrepreneurship, common characteristics of entrepreneurs, as well as their styles of thinking and living were discussed at the very beginning of the workshop. As the workshop proceeded, the participants created a set of student personae. Then they outlined and visualized how a typical one-day in the lives of these personae could look like.
After this exercise, the participants identified the problematic points in these stories. The problematic points are the instances which don’t align with the previously-defined entrepreneur characteristics (such as recognizing opportunities, solving problems, taking initiatives, being comfortable with ambiguity, being creative etc.). These are the points where students passively receive information, don’t need to be creative, active, or solve any kind of a problem. Some of these problematic points the participants identified are:
- Lack of exploration in schools
- A singular style of education diminishing the the opportunities for creativity
- Some of the resources provided for students diminishing their sense of responsibility
At the end of the workshop, the participants generated ideas to improve these problematic points. They defined a set of solutions to apply at education in different points of interaction as well as qualities to adopt, such as more responsibilities, flexibility, and personal freedom for students. Some of the solutions that addressed these qualities were:
- Enabling students to form their own organizations, activities, and initiatives
- Empowering students to take responsibilities and make decisions regarding themselves
- Including students as more active participants to lessons and lesson plans
In this 90-minute workshop, the participants utilized idea visualization tools that are commonly used in design. They had the chance to think, discuss, and create new ideas about numerous ways of preparing students for entrepreneurship. Consequently, They looked at education from the perspective of students and discovered new ways of teaching and dealing with students with entrepreneurial characteristics.
