Today marks the start of my tenth year at FIU. I taught one semester in the business school, then moved on to the highly rated hospitality school for five years, found a home at the Engineering School three years ago and got to teach what is now my specialty--social entrepreneurship--at the Honors College two years ago. Teaching is now the most enjoyable thing I do and I also teach at MIT Sloan, University of Miami and for the Goldman Sachs 10KSB program in Miami and at Babson College.
What have I learned from ten years of teaching:
- There is still a lot for me to learn about entrepreneurship
- The smartest person in the classroom is always a student
- Teaching university students is done best by using the learning techniques for adults (hands on, peer-to-peer, small groups, etc.)
- Focus on developing student creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communications and the course content will take care of itself.
- Students all come to entrepreneurship with many preconceived ideas
- I don't feel guilty anymore for having so much fun
In my classes this semester about 25 percent of the students will have taken a course with me before, but in Engineering it will be closer to 70%. I appreciate their confidence in me.
Special thanks to CC and JC for all their support over the last few years and to the TAs in the Honors College who do a great job.