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Hello, it is good to be back with you.
This is the fourth video presentation,
and I would like to talk a little bit about, today, the structure of the course but,
I want to touch base with the previous presentations.
First, I had a quick overview to help people who were thinking about taking
the course; to see if they might want to continue watching, and I hope many of you have.
Next I address the issue of: what is this social entrepreneurship revolution?
And the third presentation was on: why right now is an important time in history.
And now that I have gone through those three quick videos, the pretty much introductions to this course, now I would like to take a little bit of a closer look at the course activities.
As you know this course is called Social Entrepreneurship: A Grassroots Revolution,
and as I have mentioned, today I would like to talk about an outline of some of the important events in our course.
I do want to mention the website; the MOOC web address that is stated there. You can find any detail about this course at that site.
Also, we do have a Facebook page. All you need to do is search:
"Social Entrepreneurship Program."
I would also like to quickly mention the optional book, that is authored by me.
The ordering information is at the Facebook page and at the MOOC web address,
and it is very important that everyone knows that You Do Not need this book to do well in this course.
So, let us take a look at the outline of important course events.
This course will last for five weeks,
and the tasks in this course include:
video presentations, internet reading assignments,
writing assignments,
student questions and selected teacher responses,
three short quizzes,
and right at the end, an optional comprehensive examination.
Of course, oftentimes as courses are taught from semester to semester, the teacher realizes that making some changes can increase the quality of the course.
So, what I am presenting to you right now is my plan for the first offering this course, and what I am presenting today might, in fact, slightly change from one course offering to the next.
For each course offering, if you are in a course right now,
the course syllabus that is attached to the
to this course offering provides the details for this particular course.
So, in week 1 video presentations on definitions and preliminary thoughts about social entrepreneurship.
If you are in this MOOC right now, we are in week 1 right now, and you have been doing some of these and you will view some more.
Also in week 1, I will be talking about examples of social entrepreneurship projects from different parts the world.
when we start looking at the projects across the world that is one of the more exciting parts of this class, to me.
From a video presentation I will be talking about some projects that I find to be especially fascinating from different parts of the world, and I am going to be covering projects from the United States,
a project from South Africa, India, the middle East, another project from Haiti, and then projects from Uganda and Columbia.
So, I have tried to find some diversity in terms of the issues that are being addressed in these projects, and I have also tried to select some projects that represent different areas of the world.
Also in week 1, there will be a internet reading assignment, and students are invited to ask me questions with me selecting some other questions to answer.
This first part... that your reading assignment... your internet reading assignment that is going to involve you
looking at some additional social entrepreneurship projects across the world, and I think that you are going to find that to be very interesting.
These projects serve as models for us,
they show us what we can do, many of these projects are very simple, very innovative, and extremely impressive, so, these sample projects from across the world,
most of which will be looking at through your reading assignment,
are a very important part have this class.
Another important part in the class is, as a teacher I like to have interaction between the myself and the student,
I feel fairly uneasy about a very static course in which information is simply presented, and students are expected to learn that information.
If this is a successful MOOC, that means that there will be a fair number of people involved, hopefully at least several hundred,
if I happen to have several thousand, in this MOOC, that would please me.
So I want this course to be large, I do not know that it will be successful, but that is my hope, if it is large then that means that it will be impossible for me to directly be interacting with you.
So what my plan is on this is I am going to invite everyone to send questions to me, and the location for sending the questions will be announced.
And then, I will have an assistant, here at Fort Hays State University, and my assistant and I will scanned the questions; we will try to look for some other common themes, the most frequently asked themes,
and also some other more interesting questions, and I will select... my intention is to select several questions each day, so that every working day the course I am responding to questions, and I will be posting those for everyone to see.
This is my attempt at something very important... that I am wanting to have interaction between the teacher and the student,
even though it is not going to be direct with me, communicating directly, one-on-one with you, back and forth,
it is important to me that we try to have some back and forth in this indirect manor.
In week 2, you will formulate a social entrepreneurship idea, also there will be video presentations on how to subject your idea, to a scale, to determine strengths and weaknesses.
One of the exciting aspects of social entrepreneurship, to me, is that we, as social entrepreneurs, decide the issues that we will address.
If there..... If we choose to be a social entrepreneur, we are developing an innovative idea to help a category of people in need.
We select the category people we want to help, we select the issue that is if interest to us.
And so, in week 2, I'm going to be asking you to select an issue, and to select a category of people about which you care.
Now if you do not come up with something, if you just cannot think of what issue turns you on, that is okay.
But I will be asking you to search your heart, to search your interests, and for you to try to come up with something, but if you do not, I have some sample issues for you to be working with.
But you will be working with a social entrepreneurship idea, and you will be subjecting a your idea to a scale, that I have developed, that helps us identify strengths and weaknesses in our project ideas,
So, this is also an important part of the course.
continuing weak 2... there will be additional internet reading assignments, and the a student questions will continue, with me providing answers to the questions that I select,
and then a new event in this course will be the first online quiz. This will be a short quiz, just a few questions, and it will be over information that has been covered thus far in the course.
In fact each quiz, there will be a total three quizzes in this course, and each of these short quizzes will be only over information covered since the previous quiz.
So the first quiz will be everything covered in the first part of class, the second quiz everything covered from the first quiz through the second and so forth.
The point that I am making is that the these short quizzes are not comprehensive, they are not covering all the information that a has been covered, thus far, in the course.
Now we move to week three, and this is an important part of the course,
I will be talking about key steps in developing our project idea,
and there will be three video presentations on how to build a professional
project development report. There's some very specific steps in that
and week 3 will be... I will be covering that.
And then, in this third week, you will begin writing
your project development report based on
the video presentation that I have provided.
And then a third issue, related to
week 3, is the student questions
will continue and I will... my plan is to
provide answers to some of those questions each
working day.
So I want to emphasize, related to week three, in a sense, I guess there... there might be different hearts to this course.
But, week 3 certainly has one of the bigger hearts, one of the central portions, one of the most important areas for study because it is in week 3 that you start putting together this report, this project development report which is a
very systematic, step-by-step report that can be of great help to you if you decide that you do want to become a social entrepreneur.
And then, in week 4, at the beginning a week 4 there will be the second online quiz,
there will also be video presentations on selected social entrepreneurship issues.
I will continue discussion of some important issues. Internet reading assignments will continue.
Also, in week 4, you will continue writing your project development report, and the student questions will continue with me responding to several questions each working day.
In week 5, this is this will be our last week of the class,
I will continue my video presentations, and a couple of final important presentations are: "What are your next steps as a social entrepreneur," and then "Final comments from me".
Then the third online quiz
will occur, and for those who have
taken all three online quizzes, people will
be provided a digital badge or medallion.
The taking of these three quizzes will indicate
participation in this course.
Also, at the end of week 3, there will be an optional, comprehensive test that you may take online, and those who choose to take this test will receive,
if they score seventy percent or higher, they will receive a certificate from my university.
So this is a performance based, comprehensive test that can result in a certificate. There will be a small charge for taking this to cover the expenses of the process of the grading and so forth and the providing of the certificate,
in addition to receiving a certificate a person will also have an option, if they choose, if they score 70 percent or higher, to receive one credit hour of university credit, from my university.
There some several details related to that last part, and those will be provided on the MOOC web adderss, and also in each course syllabus.
But, a very important point, to me, is that this course is completely free. All the way through all the video presentations all the way through all three above the short quizzes and all the way through your receipt above the free digital badge or me down it's only after that it's after the course
All the way through all the video presentations, all the way through all three of the short quizzes, and all the way through your receipt of the free digital badge or medallion.
It is only after that, it is after the course is essentially over that these other options exist.
I'm very...
Social entrepreneurship, the act of being a social entrepreneur, and the issues related to social entrepreneurship are very important issues in my life.
It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to be teaching this course.
I enjoy the process very much, partly I, greatly appreciate the opportunity to share the message of social entrepreneurship with more people
I hope that you enjoy the experience.
Thank you very much.