Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Karen D. Bowser
Committee Member
Ronald C. Kroll
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
adult education, applied dissertation, bridge program, business concepts, business owners, case studies, continuing education, curriculum development, entrepreneurial training, entrepreneurship, FastTrac™, Florida Small Business Development Center Network, formative committees, guest speakers, implementation plan, instructor's manual, lesson plans, multicounty implementation, non credit courses, presentation partners, research questions, screening mechanism, seminar development, small business, Small Business Administration, summative committees, U.S. SBA, University of North Florida, UNF SBDC, video components, workshop
Abstract
This applied dissertation developed an entrepreneurial training seminar to fill a gap between an existing 3-hour workshop and a semester-long FastTrac™ class. The existing 3-hour workshop, required by contract between the UNF SBDC and the U.S. SBA, serves as a screening mechanism to identify potential entrepreneurs. The FastTrac™ class is designed for existing business owners and assumes significant understanding of business concepts. The new seminar will act as a bridge and be a prerequisite for the semester-long class.
The writer developed lesson plans, an instructor’s manual, a strategy for multicounty implementation using local area presentation partners, and an implementation plan. The seminar contains presentations, case studies, video components, and roles for guest speakers. There were 6 research questions in this study. The development process used 3 formative committees and three summative committees of 5 members each to provide input on those questions, and a final summative committee composed of 15 members to review and validate the seminar. The seminar was developed within the constraints, and meets the criteria of, Florida Small Business Development Center Network funding and U.S. Small Business Administration training guidelines.
By utilizing presentation partners, the seminar can be implemented with current staff and allows customization for local area demographics. The seminar enables the University of North Florida Small Business Development Center to fulfill its stated mission for systemwide delivery of entrepreneurial training.