Small Business WebQuest Teacher Page

Purpose

The purpose of this WebQuest is to introduce high school students to the possibility of small business ownership. Today there are more tools available for the entrepreneur than there ever has been. Thanks to the wealth of information on the internet, these resources are easily accessed by anyone. Our WebQuest introduces the student to a few of the tools that are available and also to the sequence that one might go through in the creation of a small business idea.

Organization

The WebQuest is organized into six distinct steps. It was decided that breaking down the process into separate steps would help some learners to focus on one small piece of the assignment at a time and not to get overwhelmed by the complexity of the entire project. Various colors were used for the text and background of each step in order to assist the visual learner in locating their place when referring back to the WebQuest page.

The six steps are:

• Step 1 . . . The Idea; the student must imagine a small business idea that they think might work in their area.

• Step 2 . . . Visualizing; the student is encouraged to complete a short series of statements to help them take ownership of their idea.

• Step 3 . . . Starting; the student is guided through a series of web pages dealing with starting up a small business. The student is also encouraged to read about some successful small businesses that initially might not have seemed like sound business propositions.

• Step 4 . . . A Plan; Most businesses that succeed do so because they have a plan for success. The student is guided to a few of the available internet sites dealing with how to construct successful business plans.

• Step 5 . . . Local Research; the student is now given some direction in checking out the existing businesses in their local area through the use of internet and print resources.

• Step 6 . . . Presentation; finally, the student is asked to put all of the information and ideas that they have about their small business into a persuasive PowerPoint presentation. This presentation is to be presented as if they were requesting financial backing for their business idea.

Duration

The length of this WebQuest will vary with the ability of the student and the creativity of the supervising teacher. An average length for this assignment would be 15 class periods of 45-60 minutes each. There are several assumptions that are behind this anticipated length:

• The student has free access to a fast internet connection at all times during the class period.

• The student has constant access to a computer for word processing and PowerPoint presentation creation.

• The student is familiar and comfortable with the applications being used; word processor, web browser, PowerPoint.

As with any assignment that is being used, the creativity of the teacher will determine the length and success. This WebQuest can easily be lengthened into a more involved unit on business by:

• Having successful small business entrepreneurs from the local community come in as guest speakers.

• Involving a banker and/or business advisor in the business plan and presentation steps.

• Asking a local chamber of commerce representative to speak to the class.

• Locating graduates of your high school that have become successful small business owners and having them speak to the students or correspond through email with the students.

• Have students job-shadow with local small businesses.

This WebQuest can fit a shorter time slot by:

• Having students do the web research/review at home as homework.

• Having the students do steps 1 and 2 at home in advance of the class unit.

• Have the student prepare a short oral presentation, accompanied by a printed business plan, instead of the more involved PowerPoint presentation.

As this WebQuest is entirely self-contained, it is adaptable for students who may be in the following conditions:

• Home schooling

• Independent study

• Make-up work

• Detention

• Suspension

• Finished with all other assignments

Roles

This WebQuest will be used in the creators' classrooms as an assignment that is done individually by each student. There are various factors involved that necessitate this, among them; attendance patterns, class size, individualized instruction, etc.

We realize that in many cases this assignment would work better if done in small groups of two or three. Specific roles would need to be assigned in advance so that each person in the group would have a definite idea of what their contribution to the final product would be. Ideas for roles could be:

• Webmaster . . . this person would be the web guru at finding all the web pages and web resources for the others to view

• Secretary . . . this valuable person would fill in all the forms with the group's ideas. Anything that needed to be recorded would be handled by this person.

• Powerpointer . . . this person would be in charge of creating the PowerPoint presentation of the group's business idea.

As in any group project, the teacher would need to adapt the grading to accommodate his/her ideas on group work. Some teachers divide up the grade between individual contributions and overall group performance. Other teachers have only the group final grade, with individuals sinking or swimming based on the group they have chosen. If you think about it, it is very similar to the way businesses are handled with partnerships. Some devise methods for sharing profits above a set hourly wage, while some go under leaving valuable workers stranded with nothing to show for all of their hard work.

Cross-Curriculum

The small business WebQuest can easily be adapted to complement many areas of the high school curriculum. Some areas that might be included are:

• English . . . have the students research and create businesses that revolve around the use of our language; such as writers, poets, report writers, etc. A well written business plan could be an ending project for a unit on professional writing methods, styles, and forms.

• CAD . . . students could use their CAD experience to draw floor plans of their business building. They could also draw plot plans and location maps for use in their business plans. 3D modeling software could be used to design the unique product of a small business.

• Government / Civics . . . students could research the existing regulations that a small business must deal with. Students could also look at the various small business organizational options (self-proprietership, partnerships, corporations). Tax laws and income tax forms could be another area that would be beneficial for a student to experience.

• Math . . . as part of the financial plan the students will need to figure out income and expenses. Calculating profits, tax withholdings, employee withholdings, inventory, etc. could be a meaningful way of reinforcing math skills.

• Social Studies . . . students could look at the United States' method of democracy with free enterprise and compare and contrast that with other nations' use of communism and/or socialism.

• History . . . students could look for examples of small business entrepreneurship and report what effects that had on history.

• Shop classes . . . students could use their experience at making a product (wood, metal, stained glass, etc.) and develop an actual or theoretical business around that product. Valuable experience could be gained by calculating how much the product would need to be sold for and ways to cut costs to generate more profit.

• Journalism . . . a trade publication could be mimicked by interviewing classmates involved in the small business WebQuest and writing stories expounding the virtues of each business idea.

Creators

Marc Condos

For the past several years I've been teaching a senior Marketing class, and every year I ask my students: What are your plans for next year? To which I get the ready answer: "I'll probably go to City (college)." When I follow with a question as to why, they generally say it is to save money. When in fact a more accurate answer would be, "because I don't have a clue what else to do with myself."

Going to a community college can be a wonderful opportunity for students, if they have an objective. Otherwise, it is merely a place to go until they get a job, or have too many expenses to continue their education. I always tell students who are convinced they need to go to college to get qualified for a four-year school (course requirements; SAT/ACT) and then decide. After all, you may not want to go to the party, but you certainly want the invitation.

For the students who don't voice a desire to continue their education I tell them there are several ways in which a person is educated. They can go through the school of hard knocks, or they can create a more qualified applicant through formal training. Whether that is a vocational school, an apprenticeship, or selective classes in a college setting; education comes in all forms.

Most importantly, I feel students are not prepared for their future not because they can't prepare, rather because they don't know what to prepare for. Students at my school are never required to go through an aptitude test, nor are they given much encouragement to do so.

Mark Peaty

I teach ROP Computer Applications, ROP Advanced Drafting, and voc-ed at Scott River High School, a small continuation high school in rural far-northern California. Our school population ranges from older students far behind in credits to younger students looking to graduate early. As a continuation school we have an open entry, open exit policy that allows people to adapt their education to their life needs. The small staff is a close-knit group that looks for ways to encourage and promote our students.

As a rural community, one of our main needs is employment possibilities for our young people. Recent changes in environmental laws has drastically reduced the once profitable means of livelihood for our area; logging, mining, fishing, and hunting. I was interested in putting this WebQuest together in the hopes that at least one student would have that unique idea that would lead to the creation of a successful small business.