Crowdfunding in Higher Education: A Classroom Exercise for Knowledge Application and Transfer
Abstract
This classroom exercise outlines a project created for an undergraduate course that deals with the economic and social aspects of entrepreneurship through a ‘strategic lens’. The activity asks the students to prepare a crowdfunding campaign for their university, having previously identified a relevant problem on campus. The problem identification is based on a field research within the university, where students gain a better understanding of the challenges of problems that disrupt this type of organization. To finance and implement their proposed solutions, a crowdfunding campaign is launched, giving the students the opportunity to expose their ideas to the market, work on publicity and communication with customers and suppliers. The crowdfunding exercise was considered a success from the instructors and students’ perspectives, based on the results of a survey that are presented. These results create opportunities for future research to understand the actual impacts these campaigns can have on students’ performance.
Crowdfunding in Higher Education: A Classroom Exercise for Knowledge Application and Transfer
This classroom exercise outlines a project created for an undergraduate course that deals with the economic and social aspects of entrepreneurship through a ‘strategic lens’. The activity asks the students to prepare a crowdfunding campaign for their university, having previously identified a relevant problem on campus. The problem identification is based on a field research within the university, where students gain a better understanding of the challenges of problems that disrupt this type of organization. To finance and implement their proposed solutions, a crowdfunding campaign is launched, giving the students the opportunity to expose their ideas to the market, work on publicity and communication with customers and suppliers. The crowdfunding exercise was considered a success from the instructors and students’ perspectives, based on the results of a survey that are presented. These results create opportunities for future research to understand the actual impacts these campaigns can have on students’ performance.