The formal launch of the “Windows to Entrepreneurship Teaching Guide” held last October 18 at the UP ISSI building was highlighted by reviews of the book by selected business educators, administrators, and entrepreneurs.
Among those who reviewed the book were UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries director Nestor Raneses, Colegio de San Juan de Letran dean Dr. Cristina Castro Cabral, John Gokongwei School of Management dean Rodolfo Ang, and Thinking Hats owner-manager Mona Liza Lee Serrano. Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino, who was unable to come, sent a message which was read during the program.
Director Raneses observed that the book is slanted to experience- and behavior-based learning, with its many learning activities, which synchronizes well with the widely-recognized premise that entrepreneurship is best learned by doing.
Dr. Cabral said that “true to its title, the teaching guide is a “window” that provides an opening to the complex world of entrepreneurship which the book somehow made simple.” It would harness the gifts of both teacher and student, she added, who should end up improving each other’s lot, that is, becoming more entrepreneurial themselves.
Ms. Serrano described the book as a “learner-centered transformation agent,” which opens bigger, brighter opportunities to start, to grow, and to innovate.
Dr. Ang said that for someone who has been teaching entrepreneurship for many years, he learned so much from the book.
In his read message, Senator Aquino welcomed the book as an addition to the body of knowledge in entrepreneurship, “one that is equipping educators to prepare a new generation of Filipinos for the realities, challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurship in the 21st century.” He noted that the publication culls years of knowledge, research and experience from both the entrepreneurial and teaching professions and is thus invaluable “as we explore new ways of teaching, learning, and doing …”
The reviewers offered suggestions to improve the teaching guide, including: adding a glossary (definition of terms and acronyms), discussing business innovation more thoroughly, adding a content flow guide, doing away with content overlaps, and more inputs on business implementation phase.
At the outset, in the book’s overview, Dr. Paz H. Diaz, lead writer of the book, has cautioned that the teaching guide does not promise to answer all questions in the minds of teachers who will use it. “Instead, the faculty member should treat this as a window that shows new horizons that could unleash his or her curiosity to find other sources, to innovate, and to experiment on teaching methods and techniques that will in turn motivate students to do their own searches in real life.”
SERDEF chairman Francisco Floro and SERDEF Trustee and Research and Information Chair Herminia Fajardo delivered the opening and closing remarks, respectively.
