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Welcome to Innovation! This open education resource (OER) may feel a bit different from the highly analytical courses or textbooks you have taken in the past, yet just as you have learned to make well informed decisions and analyze opportunities, learning to think creatively and implement innovative solutions is key to being a successful Entrepreneur*
So what is Innovation and why is it important? It is “responding to change in a creative way” (BDC, 2020) which means you can identify both potential solutions AND opportunities where others (who are not able to respond creatively) cannot.
- Think about a time when you had no idea what to do in a challenging situation.
- Think about a time when all options being presented had serious drawbacks or weaknesses.
- Think about a time when you saw need in the market place not being met, yet you were not sure how to meet the need.
This course on innovation will provide you with the opportunity develop your creative problem solving (and opportunity identifying) skills by applying key process steps in the innovation process both as an individual and as a group.
In this section you will take the time to get comfortable and familiar with the online course and the exciting work ahead! By the end of this section you will have demonstrated the ability to:
- Understand what you will need to do to successfully complete, and get the most out of, this OER.
- Recall the value of thinking entrepreneurially.
- Assess the value and purpose of innovation.
*Note for the purposes of this OER, “Entrepreneurship is complex, chaotic, and lacking in any notion of linearity. The entrepreneurship practice requires creative and nimble thinking leading to a heightened level of experimentation where numerous iterations represent stages of learning rather than a series of starts and stops or even successes and failures.” (Goldstein, 2020)
You do not have to want to start your own business to think and act like an entrepreneur; in fact, all organizations need entrepreneurial thinkers and leaders who are able to innovate!
Read/watch:
- Watch the Success in Online Learning video
- Read Unleashing Innovation Chapter 1
- Watch Grant, A. The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers video
- Watch the University of Calgary Video on Entrepreneurial Thinking
