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OPEN MIND - gamified platform and open online course in Social Entrepreneurship for female learners and students from diverse fields of study
Start date: Nov 1, 2016, End date: Oct 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The OPEN MIND project aims to enhance access to entrepreneurial education and create equal opportunities in the labour market for groups which are disadvantaged and under-represented in entrepreneurship. The project will promote social entrepreneurship, specially addressing women and young people from non-business studies, through an innovative gamified open course in social entrepreneurship. The project will produce 3 main intellectual outputs:1. Massive online open course (MOOC) “Introduction in Social Entrepreneurship” for students from diverse fields of study. 2. Innovative gamified online platform, which will facilitate the e-learning process and will enable experiential learning through individual and group assignments, trainer and peer assessment, coaching and feedback from practitioners (social entrepreneurs) and opportunities for further educational and startup support from investors and interested stakeholders, who will be involved. 3. Impact assessment report will help outline the major outcomes of the project and attract strategic support for the initiative after the project lifetime. The impact will be presented on final multiplier events in partners’ countries. At least 60 academic staff and trainers will be trained to provide ongoing support to learners.The partners will attract at least 120 participants in the piloting, who will further act as ambassadors of the initiative. Overall, at least 600 students will be enrolled in the course till October 2018.The platform will operate in 5 languages (EN, BG, GR, PL,TR) and will be maintained at least until 2020. The MOOC will be based on a comprehensive methodology and will include 10 modules, which will be jointly elaborated by the partners and will introduce students to the fundamentals of social entrepreneurship: identify opportunity, create a business model, prepare business plan, attract investors, learn how to establish, effectively manage and communicate the activity of a social startup, and how to apply various replication and exit strategies. The project will especially address the gender gaps in entrepreneurship and will promote more gender-balanced career choices through attracting female students from different studies to social entrepreneurship. The course content will include 50 inspiring female start-ups and will promote successful role models through involvement of women entrepreneurs as mentors. The gamified platform:• Create an attractive and engaging learning environment that will put students in the “shoes” of social entrepreneurs and give them the chance to experience the essence of being a social entrepreneur;• Involve students in exploring business concepts and fundamentals of social entrepreneurship through real cases and challenges, thus allowing them to embark on an exciting and motivational learning journey; • Sensitize learners about the important social issues, and help learn how to identify needs and opportunities and turn them to shared value ventures; • Encourage collaboration and competitive dynamics among students, foster creativity and experimentation, enhance leadership and critical thinking, thus helping them to develop the specific soft skills & entrepreneurial mindset, while dealing with concrete situations in gaming environment. • The features of the game design (collaboration, sharing, feedback, awards, etc.) will help provide a highly participative and friendly learning environment, so that female students and those from non-business studies obtain generic entrepreneurship skills and more specific business competences, while solving specific social problems in collaboration and competing for achieving better results. The gamified platform and the developed methodology will allow to link learners' accomplishments with ECTS points, to enable better recognition of results for students. In order to build a more supportive and inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem, the e-learning platform will bring together:• Leading education and training providers, who will guide students in their learning pathways; • Experienced entrepreneurs and business mentors, who will share practical tips and help students develop their ideas; • Stakeholders and prospective investors, to suggest opportunities, feedback and finance for viable social start-up ideas; • Senior students and graduates from business fields, who can provide peer coaching and improve their leadership skills; • Cross-disciplinary community of learners, which will foster collaboration and inspire ideas and development.Thus, the project will undertake a truly social entrepreneurship approach, offering win-win for all parties involved. As a result, OPEN MIND will improve access to entrepreneurship training for a large number of students and ensure that they have an opportunity to acquire entrepreneurial skills, start up and operate in business or self-employment, regardless of their gender gender and background.
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