National Award Given to Innovative Real-Time Learning Method

AMHERST, MA – March xx, 2003 - The University of Massachusetts (Amherst) has announced that Dr. James Theroux, Professor at the Isenberg School of Management, has been awarded the Innovative Entrepreneurship Pedagogy of the Year by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Dr. Theroux received the award for the Real-Time Case Study (RTC), the world’s first in-depth real-time case study teaching method. USASBE is the premier network for entrepreneurship educators at all student levels, for professional practitioners, for entrepreneurship researchers, and for government policy markets.

Contrary to traditional case teaching methods, the RTC lives the story of company building in more depth and realism than before possible through studying and analyzing company issues as they happen. By placing a full-time journalist inside a company for an entire semester and utilizing the Internet to provide daily access to company insights, students are given the opportunity to offer valuable critiques and recommendations to the company in real-time. The RTC increases student engagement and motivation to study case material, makes case material more memorable and provides students with a greater appreciation of the complexity and interdisciplinary nature of business.

“We are honored to be the recipient of this year’s Innovate Entrepreneurship Pedagogy of the Year award,” stated Dr. Jim Theroux, Flavin Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Massachusetts. “Through the Real-Time Case Study, our goal was to provide a more engaging educational atmosphere for students and faculty, and valuable insights for the participating business. The successful execution of the first Real-Time Case proved that new and exciting methods of studying business do exist.”

Formed in 1981 as the national affiliate of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), USASBE is a non-profit organization devoted to continuing management education for entrepreneurs and small business. Each year USASBE sponsors and conducts competitions designed to raise the profiles of innovative entrepreneurship programs and courses that other schools and universities might emulate. USASBE recently completed its national finalist competitions for awards that recognize excellence in entrepreneurship education. All competition entries were judged on the basis of the following five criteria: (1) Entry Innovativeness and/or Uniqueness; (2) Entry Quality and/or Effectiveness; (3) Entry Completeness and/or Comprehensiveness; (4) Entry Sustainability over Time; and (5) Entry Transferability to other USASBE Members (for tie-breaking purposes only).

The RTC was developed by Professor Theroux and was conducted in the fall of 2001 with a consortium of founding business schools including Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, and the University of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, Canada. The RTC was produced through support from the Coleman Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, and Inc. Magazine.

The second RTC is scheduled to occur in the fall of 2004. Companies, Universities or associations interested in further information on the program can contact Dr. Jim Theroux at 413-545-5677 or theroux@som.umass.edu.