All assignments have been graded. You should have by now received a note from me with your grade, how I arrived at it and some personal feedback on your paper.
Overall, the class met or exceeded my expectations:
Grade range: 9.6 - 14.1 / 15
Grade average: 12.6 / 15
Here are some overall thoughts and feedback:
- very few papers had contact information for the entrepreneur. Since I didn't specifically require, I awarded small bonus to those who did cite this in references. (I did contact one. I may contact more.)
- make it easy for me to grade your paper! Did you show the courtesy of making it easy for me to check your references? Contact your entrepreneur? Read your paper in hard/soft copy? Find your paper? etc.
- one entrepreneur was interviewed by 2 students. Very undesirable, as this is not respectful of the entrepreneur's time. It was determined to be a random error.
- I was looking to see that you have learned something from the class and that you had an inquiring mind. Top grades went to papers where specific references were cited (e.g. interview protocol, how you met person, where/how meeting held, relating back to the text or other sources, etc.) and why you did what you did
- top grades went to papers that described and followed a clear methodology, related findings to class discussions/readings and to personal goals/career options
- I liked very much how some papers included advice from the entrepreneur (e.g. "Opening one door may lead to a dozen more" or "Failure is only postponed success")
- while I didn't deduct grades for this, I wonder why some papers referred to the "royal we" (e.g. we did this or we found that) when it was an individual assignment.
- while I didn't deduct grades for this, I would have preferred that interviews be conducted with "successful" entrepreneurs from industry. (e.g. the ones you'd want to work for or have on your advisory board vs fellow students who are just starting out in business)
- some lost grades for not following instructions (e.g. email subject line, not handing in hard/soft copies, being late, etc.) I was very lenient with penalties. Not so from now on. Lesson learned: Ask if you are not clear on expectations.
