Using Technology to Enhance the Going Solo Entrepreneurship Curriculum

Program Curriculum

This session looks at how educators at the University of Illinois are using technology to enhance the Going Solo Creative Tools for Teaching Entrepreneurship. Presenters will introduce a new and improved version of the Going Solo curriculum available on the web.

"Going Solo" is an activity based curriculum and computer simulation game developed by University of Illinois Extension educators in 1993 to teach adults and young people entrepreneurship and basic business management skills. Since the programs inception, University of Illinois faculty and staff have trained over 1500 educators both in the United States and in over two dozen foreign countries on how to use the Going Solo materials. Originally designed to reach high school students in traditional classroom environments, participants have gone on to use the materials in a diverse range of settings including youth camps, behavior disorder classes, entrepreneurship classes for disabled adults, single mothers, and low income women in developing Caribbean countries. To meet a growing interest within the Hispanic community, Going Solo has also been translated into Spanish. In 2001, Going Solo became part of the Nationally Juried Reviewed and Recommended Experiential Learning Curriculum Collection by the National 4-H Council in Washington D.C..

Presenters will discuss the challenges and advantages of adapting a highly interactive curriculum to a web based medium without compromising the features that have made the Going Solo program successful. Participants will also learn how virtual technology used in video games may play a role in future versions of the Going Solo program.