Breaking Boundaries
ENTI 401, not just another class.
I will admit, when I was selecting my course schedule at the beginning of the semester, I had a few different options to choose from, ENTI 401 being one of them. I opted to attend a couple of lectures and by the end of the first week, I made up my mind. I took a course with Kris in the past and I found his teaching style to be refreshingly different from my other professors. Growing up, we all heard our grade-school teachers saying “you better smarten up, next year your teacher will not be holding your hand”, and I heard this all the way until university. Unfortunately, it turned out to be true in university. In many courses, I have felt like just a number, but in Kris’ classes, he genuinely wants his students to learn and he extends as many resources to his students as possible, whether that is his free time or his extensive network. My favourite part about ENTI 401 was the fact that my peers and I were treated as adults. By being assigned independent projects and pre-recorded lectures, we were able to work around our busy schedule towards expectations that were clear and realistic, yet forced us to push ourselves beyond our comfort zones.
At what point in the course did you feel most engaged?
Throughout the course, I was able to pick and choose lectures that I felt like attending (which ended up being most of them). The reason I chose to attend so many is because most classes consisted of fascinating content and/or guest lectures with incredibly inspirational entrepreneurs. We got to engage directly with people like Arianna O’Dell, Irfhan Rawji, and Joe Justice. Throughout my university career I have done my fair share of projects, tests and studying, but being able to speak with individuals that are living the dream that you would like to do one day really inspired me to keep working hard and to absorb as much information as I can.
Which parts did you find most challenging?
The final assignment we were given was a feasibility analysis in which we had to create the financial statements of our chosen business idea from scratch. No member of my group, including myself, had any experience creating such a complex financial statement so this assignment was one in which we essentially were starting from square 1. We used the resources supplied to us, but nearly every concept required in-depth research so that we could truly understand what it was we were calculating. After countless hours, we completed the assignment and although it was exceedingly challenging, I now feel better equipped to handle such a task in both future courses and hopefully, my own business one day.
Which assignment, in your opinion represents your best work?
The first assignment we were given was to come up with a business idea and assess its feasibility based on primary research. The reason I feel so strongly about my work on this particular project is because together with my group, we were able to identify a hole in the market and we conducted some in-depth research on an idea that we were passionate about. After we collected all of the data, I compiled it all into a Medium.com post format. Once we submitted the project, our group was praised for our efforts and we received a great grade on the project that I was very proud of.
What have you learned about how you learn in this course that you could use in your future?
ENTI 401 was a partially asynchronous course and I realized that by being able to organize my own schedule, and watch lecture videos and complete assignments at my own time, the flexibility I am afforded enables me to do tasks during my most productive hours, as is true for many other students (Best Schools, 2020). What this has taught me is that I do not have to be afraid to graduate into a workforce that has switched from in-person to remote. I now know that I will be able to motivate myself to meet deadlines and push myself to produce my best work every time.
What will you still remember 5 years from now that you learned in this course?
Five years from now, I will hopefully be at the prime of my life, in a career that I love, surrounded by people that support me. I doubt that I’ll even remember the name of this course, but I do know for a fact that the analytical and practical research skills that I groomed within this course will still be with me when I need it. Additionally, the relationships I formed with my group mates will hopefully remain strong in the years to come, and in five years, I hope to be able to rely on them as a network through which we could all benefit from.
Final thoughts . . .
Entrepreneurship will not even show up on my degree when I graduate but to me, entrepreneurship courses are the ones that I found to be the most valuable to my growth as a person as they gave me hands-on experience and instilled within me the confidence I need to take a chance on something that I am passionate about. I hope to one day own a business of my own, and whether that is a full-blown business, a side hustle or even just a hobby, I feel well-equipped to take it on.
References
Best Schools. (2020, September 11). Synchronous learning vs. asynchronous learning. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://thebestschools.org/magazine/synchronous-vs-asynchronous-education/
Li, X. Y. (2019). Breakthrough barrier [Online image]. iStock. https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/breakthrough-barrier-gm1166907183-321622071
