 I start teaching my course on Social Entrepreneurship today at UC Berkeley. It’s an introductory course for undergraduates, taught through the Haas School of Business as part of the Center for Social Sector Leadership. This is my second year teaching the course, and while the first year was all about figuring out what I was doing, I was hoping this year might allow for a little more reflection on the content and things I am learning along the way. To this end, I was thinking that I might blog about the class for its fourteen-week duration. Part of me suspects that this commitment will be a lot like deciding to sing a karaoke song, finding oneself halfway through Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made for Walking" overwhelmed by regret. The other, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed part of me is enthusiastic about the power of writing as a tool of synthesis.
Last year when I set about designing the course I was given the previous instructor’s syllabus as a jumping off point, some excellent moral support and a lot of latitude to design the course as I saw fit. I looked around and spoke with folks who had been teaching Social Entrepreneurship – there are courses on the subject at almost every major university, which is a bit wild to me as I still vividly remember when I heard the term for the first time. The resources developed by Debbi Brock and Ashoka were particularly helpful, and I spoke with a number of friends/fellow social entrepreneurs who had taught similar classes. I landed on a course structure that emphasized bringing in a guest lecturer for each session – generally a social entrepreneur or someone who had worked closely with social entrepreneurs and brought a unique perspective to the ecosystem – combined with lectures by me and group activities and discussions. I’m sticking with that format for this year, with the one modification that as Haas had eliminated the mandate that grading happen on the curve, I’m putting a greater emphasis on collaborative learning and all the assignments are group assignments. If I convey nothing else in the course, I’d like to communicate that social entrepreneurship is a group activity. Going into last year, I had thought that I understood what was involved in leading a course. After all, I had spoken at assorted courses on social entrepreneurship, I was an experienced public speaker, I have lots of thoughts and experience with learning design and, perhaps most obviously, I was/am a social entrepreneur. What I realized during the semester, however, was that the trick was in creating an experience for 30 different humans with a wide range of goals. Some of the students aspired to be social entrepreneurs themselves, but certainly not all. Some of the students were far more interested in B Corps and social enterprise, about which I harbor some probably unfounded suspicions. Some students were deeply sad that my course was offered at the same time as Monday Night Football. I’m not entirely sure I mastered the trick of it, but I’m excited to try again. Bill Drayton is my kickoff speaker this afternoon. He’ll be Zooming in and I thought that having the man who coined the term ‘Social Entrepreneur’ tell his story to start was about as badass a way to begin the course as I could imagine. I’m planning to introduce myself and have my Graduate Student Reader, Melissa Kong, introduce herself (Pro Tip to anyone considering teaching a course on SE, Readers are the difference between possible and impossible). We’re going to break into groups to give people a chance to get to know one another and then we’re going to begin exploring Social Entrepreneurship. That’s the plan, at least. This is your invitation to come along. I’ll be posting the readings and sharing highlights (and probably some lowlights) from the classes weekly, and I’d love to hear from you if you have suggestions, recommended readings, thoughts… Welcome back to school! This week’s readings: “Everyone a Changemaker,” David Brooks, David Bornstein, "Changing the Word on a Shoestring” “The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship,” Dees/Duke/Fuqua Case
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