Instructional Technology Project

	8/1/2009
Business 101 Class Proposal Initial Class Proposal
			Michele Robbins

Business 101 Class Proposal

Initial Class Proposal

Sheet Metal Business 101 was developed to help union sheet metal workers who are considering going into business for themselves, to prepare them for the challenges involved in becoming union sheet metal contractors.

In this course you’ll start byasking yourself some important questions: Am I ready to own my own business? Do I have what it takes? If I do this, what are the risks? What will be the rewards? Once you decide that you’ve got the skills, personality and support to take on this exciting opportunity, you’ll learn about the many details you’ll need to address to get your business off the ground.

Because planning is an essential part of running a business or a project, Sheet Metal Business 101 introduces you to the tools you need to plan for successful business ownership—from carefully choosing your business name, to hiring the right people, to bidding accurately, to keeping track of your cash flow. You’ll also get a jump start on your own business plan—an essential marketing and financing tool in today’s construction market.

In the classroom, you’ll get a chance to face some of the ethical decisions that sheet metal contractors face every day. You’ll work together with your classmates to prepare and present bids for jobs in competition with each other. And you’ll hear from contractors and experts who have walked the walk. Before you leave the classroom, you will have taken your first big step: you’ll complete your own business plan as the final project of the course.

The course manual serves as a basic classroom text. The class will also be presented online, using the BlackBoard online classroom platform. The units will run for two weeks, with the lessons, reading, discussions and worksheets made available to the students on Sunday. Classroom time will be spent the following Saturday, with guest speakers, group activities and time allotted for completion of worksheets. All unit work will be due the following Saturday online, with the next unit being available again on Sunday.

The class will run for 10 weeks, with 5 classes being held at the Union Hall on Saturday from 9 AM to 2PM on alternate weekends. The class will be a total of 20 seat hours.

For those who would like to take advantage of the online component of the class they will be introduced to a variety of web sites that will support all that they will be learning in the class and supplemented with introductions to online office applications, blogs, video, text to speech applications, online conferences and focusing on Google and Microsoft Live sites.

All .pdf files for the worksheets will be stored on Microsoft Live and shared only with those active in the class, staying available to them for 2 weeks after the class is complete.

The reading material will be copied to the classroom platform and available to access with each unit. Links to all worksheets will be available within each unit in the classroom platform. All self assessments will be loaded and available as quizzes within the class also.

For students participating in the online portion of the class they will be required to communicate by e-mail and also post weekly within the classroom platform. They will be able to contact me by phone, and I will introduce blogs, by creating a discussion topic that each of them needs to post in response to. Within Microsoft Live they will use the Chat application to discuss progress on worksheets and they will use the web conferencing application if they have the technical capabilities.

Each unit has a number of web sites that are recommended sources, these will all be available online by links possibly in an aggregator or social bookmarking site.

Summarization of technology features and their use

Web Element	Present Information	Communicate	Collaborate
Classroom Online Platform, text links, web site links, and Quiz’s	√	√	√
Online office applications, access, save and modify a document within the site	√	√	√
Blogs w/entries and possible comments	√	√
Video	√
Text to speech applications	√
Google and Microsoft Live applications	√	√	√
Email, Phone	√	√	√

Weekly Outline

Intro night

Online	In Classroom
Introduction to Course	Introduction to Course
Thinking About going Into Business	Thinking About going Into Business
Self Assessment	Self Assessment
Reading	Reading
Worksheets 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.4	Worksheets 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.4
Risks and Rewards	Risks and Rewards
Reading	Reading
Worksheet 1.2.1	Worksheet 1.2.1
Establishing Your Sheet Metal Business Identity	Establishing Your Sheet Metal Business Identity
Reading	Reading
Checklist	Checklist
Links	Links
	Introduction to Office Live and Google
Marketing	Marketing
Reading	Reading
Links	Links
Introduction to Office Live and Google (website application)	Introduction to Office Live and Google (website application)
Introduction to Technology
Worksheet 1.P.1

Week 1

Online	In Classroom
Introduction to Course	Introduction to Course
Thinking About going Into Business	Thinking About going Into Business
Self Assessment	Self Assessment
Reading	Reading
Worksheets 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.4	Worksheets 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.4
Risks and Rewards	Risks and Rewards
Reading	Reading
Worksheet 1.2.1	Worksheet 1.2.1
SCORE	SCORE
Introduction	Introduction
Links
	Guest Speaker -
Establishing Your Sheet Metal Business Identity
Reading
Checklist
Links
Introduction to Office Live and Google
Establishing Your Sheet Metal Business Location
Reading
Worksheet 1.4.1
Links
Human Resources and Ethics	Human Resources and Ethics
Reading	Reading
Worksheet 1.5.1	Worksheet 1.5.1
	Guest Speaker – Greg Bush
It’s All About Planning
Worksheet 1.P.1

Week 2

Online	In Classroom
How To Succeed in Business	How To Succeed in Business
Attorneys, Tax Advisers, and Accountants	Attorneys, Tax Advisers, and Accountants
Reading	Reading
Worksheets 2.1.1	Worksheets 2.1.1
	Guest Speaker – John Backus –Accountant Mike Tobin - Attorney
Insurance, Bonding, and Financing	Insurance, Bonding, and Financing
Reading	Reading
	Guest Speaker - SCORE
Contracts	Contracts
Reading	Reading
Worksheets 2.3.1, 2.3.2	Worksheets 2.3.1, 2.3.2
Sample Contracts and Attachments	Sample Contracts and Attachments
	Guest Speaker – Mike Loweke
Help When You Need It	Help When You Need It
Reading	Reading
Continue Checklist	Continue Checklist
Links	Links
	Guest Speakers – Kirk Peterson - SMACNA
Technology
Social Aggregators
Calanders

Week 3

Online	In Classroom
Costs, Profits, Bidding, and Cash Flow	Costs, Profits, Bidding, and Cash Flow
Know Your Costs	Know Your Costs
Reading	Reading
Worksheets 3.1.1, 3.1.2	Worksheets 3.1.1, 3.1.2
	Guest Speaker – Tina Looke – Funds Office
Bidding on Profitability	Bidding on Profitability
Reading	Reading
Worksheet 3.2.1	Worksheet 3.2.1
	Guest Speaker – Fred Ledtke
Cash Flow	Cash Flow
Reading	Reading
Worksheets 3.3.1, 3.3.2	Worksheets 3.3.1, 3.3.2
	Guest Speaker – Rochester Works
Watching Costs, Not Failure	Watching Costs, Not Failure
Technology
Videos
Blogs

Week 4

Online	In Classroom
Preparing a Business Plan	Preparing a Business Plan
Writing the Plan	Writing the Plan
Reading	Reading
Worksheets 4.1.1	Worksheets 4.1.1
Sampling the Plans	Sampling the Plans
Reading	Reading
Sample Sheet Metal Business Plan	Sample Sheet Metal Business Plan
The Merits of Project Planning	The Merits of Project Planning
Reading	Reading
Worksheets 4.P.1	Worksheets 4.P.1
	Guest Speaker – Paul Johnson
Technology	Technology
Online Conferencing
Collaboration on Documents