Enhancing Soft and Entrepreneurial Skills Training for Two-Year College Technicians Using a Contextualized Business Simulation Program

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The Virtual Enterprise system is an international technology-driven business simulation program in which students in face-to-face settings and coordinated online activities start and run a virtual business. Based on previous work in building a virtual technology firm that fills a societal or business need through innovative services or products it created, this project develops, implements, and evaluates two courses for an information technology curriculum -a capstone course and an awareness course. With the Virtual Enterprise system, technicians learn the technical content with activities that also require the use of entrepreneurial and "essential" skills sought after by industry. Past experience has shown that minority students can become engaged in the use of technology and learn concepts and skills in an awareness course. The capstone course also emphasizes the essential workplace competencies prized by industry. A capstone virtual enterprise course in biotechnology is developed in collaboration with faculty in the biotechnology department. Faculty in information technology and biotechnology at other two year colleges are provided direct training in the Virtual Enterprise system and personnel from three ATE centers in other disciplines are provided professional development in the use of the Virtual Enterprise system so that they can train other faculty from two year colleges to use it. Course syllabi, professional development materials are developed evaluated and disseminated.