After two years of excursions and even guest speaker events being banned due to Covid, it was exciting for the Year 10 humanities class to do some hands-on learning at Banyule Nillumbik Technical School with program manager and lead facilitator, Aisha Dani. 

While in class, we talked about entrepreneurial skills in business and the students had an opportunity to reflect on their own attitudes to the key skills in an entrepreneurial mindset.

This workshop was all about stepping through the process of being an entrepreneur.

Students worked in table teams to find a meaningful problem, either at home, school, in our interface with transport or in a social setting. They then selected the most pressing or exciting problem and began to explore it in some detail, amplifying their understanding of their customers and ways that this problem could be stated in terms of pains, pain relievers and gains. 

Communication and analytical skills were key here as students worked hard to get beyond superficial ideas to the essential underlying issues. This stage was known as the development of understanding and empathy.

The students were introduced to a range of unfamiliar terms such as “value proposition”, “business model” and “customer relationships”. 

The next stage was the sketching of the solution and presenting and pitching their “landing page” or developed idea to the whole group. 

Every student in the group had a role throughout the development process and presentation and it was wonderful to see their developing confidence. There were some wonderful problems and responses worked on by the students. 

Here is a selection: 

  • How to improve the hijab so that the students wearing them feel more comfortable in undertaking physical activities at school;
  • How to improve lockers to give students greater access, as well as more secure and useful lockers;
  • How to create a product that can give comfort and support to students experiencing mental health issues;
  • How to create an app that will help students to better cope with traffic congestion so they can arrive at school on time. 

At the end of the day, it was so nice to have our Year 10 leaders, Ali and Olivia step up and to thank the facilitators and the WRSC staff Ms Leptos, Mr Ellul and Mr Fay for all they had done to make this a great learning opportunity for them.