Abstract
- Inspired by the popularity of reality television programmes (The Guardian, 2020), this project develops a brand new pedagogy of ‘reality business’ approach.
- This is a novel and relevant pedagogy to Internationalization of Curriculum because it engages students in first-hand decision making about real business outside Hong Kong.
Activities include:
- Watching a series of ‘documentary-style’ videos of a real entrepreneur, who is also our CUHK alumnus (HKSAR, 2018), students can keep abreast of the latest situation and challenges of an ongoing business in Greater Bay Area.
- Using video-communication platforms, students develop and present their ideas or solutions to the entrepreneur directly. In return, the entrepreneur provides real-time feedback to students.
- Students from CUHK and students from another university share their ideas or solutions to each other. They can enhance their global awareness and perspectives by discussing and appreciating how students from other country view and solve the same issue.
Reference:
The Guardian. 2020. This is Big Brother: Why reality TV has never felt more relevant than under lockdown.
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/20/this-is-big-brother-why-reality-tv-has-never-felt-more-relevant-than-under. Viewed June 1, 2020.
HKSAR – Greater Bay Area. 2018. The trio and their eco-farm. https://youtu.be/muCMECcPztk. Viewed June 1, 2020.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
This project aims to develop a new pedagogy – a vlog-style documentation which empowers students with participatory action and offers insights into making business decisions beyond Hong Kong. In particular, we aim to achieve the learning outcomes that students are able to have a higher engagement and global awareness in the experience of cross-border business decision-making.
Activities, process and outcomes
Having worked with Centre for Learning Enhancement And Research (CLEAR), we produced seven vlogs of a CUHK alumnus and startuper by December 2021. They are perfect materials for teaching entrepreneurship, strategy, and management with a business context of Hong Kong beyond the border, including customer identification, international growth, R&D, pitching, and staff management. The vlogs were used in classes of total 43 students in MGNT2070 “New Venture Creation” and GLSD3501 “Global Business Organizations” in Term 2, 2021-22. Considering from the role of the startuper, students were asked how to make first-hand, real business decisions within and outside Hong Kong.
Deliverables and evaluation
Overall, the positive feedback from students demonstrated the intended deliverables and learning objectives were achieved with high levels of satisfaction.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
The vlogs were shared to colleagues within and outside CUHK, from academic departments to research centre. This new pedagogy significantly improved teaching that students were more engaged in learning entrepreneurship. Especially in where students are interested but risk averse in entrepreneurship, such new pedagogy offers a closer, realistic picture to students.
Impact on teaching and learning
This new pedagogy can be useful in other courses whose learning outcomes emphasise business decision making in a cross-border context. We strongly believed this new pedagogy is worth further investigation.
