This week I chose a video from InTime that was close to my content area. The lesson was Virtual CEO and is actually from a social studies class. However, much of the components of this lesson are things that I focus on in my business classroom.
In this lesson, the students use a software program called Capitalism Plus to create a virtual corporation. Incorporated with the software are tutorials to help the students so they can make better decisions about their corporation. The students attempt to make as much money as possible through retailing, wholesaling, and investing in the stock market. They also create a website for their corporation. The teacher, Chris Hungerford, said he liked the program because he likes the constructivist approach to the software. The students must make decisions and come up with ideas on how to make their corporation succeed. He said that the students control how well their corporation does by interacting with the simulation. He acts as a facilitator and leads the students in the right direction. The simulation allows the students to learn in a hands-on way, rather than using worksheets and tests to learn and show understanding.
This is a great way to get students to learn. I really like that the students are in control of their success. They need to be able to make decisions based on what they have learned and what they think the outcome will be based on their choices. They learn how to succeed and fail because of their decisions, and if they fail, they learn to come up with another idea that will hopefully lead to their success. I find that anytime a student learns by doing, it is valuable. They can learn what they need to do in order to succeed and they can learn what they need to do to correct any failures.
In this lesson, students use many types of technology to assist in their learning. They use a software program, but they also create spreadsheets, graphs, presentations, and a website. Using all of those technology tools is a great way for students to get exposure to many different learning tools.
I have added Entrepreneurship to my curriculum and am considering a project similar to this, but it would be based on a sole proprietorship rather than a corporation. But many of the ideas can be used in that course for the students to create their business and study trends and learn how to make money for their business. There are some great ideas in this lesson that I could incorporate into my classroom.
