Managing Practitioners in the Entrepreneurship Class

Abstract

One of the strengths of the traditional entrepreneurship class that can benefit teachers in other disciplines is the widespread and highly integrated use of practitioners (e.g., entrepreneurs, business experts) to complement academic instruction. The author draws on published reports codifying an extensive oral history of how practitioners can be best used in the class. Four important aspects of practitioner management in the entrepreneurship class are discussed: (a) identifying the roles that practitioners can serve in a class, (b) enhancing and expanding the search process to find the right practitioner, (c) preparing the practitioner's classroom experience to make it optimally rewarding for the presenter, and (d) managing the actual process of the practitioner's presentation to make it as mishap free and as substantively integrated as is possible.