Media Entrepreneurship as an Online Course: A Case Study

Abstract

This chapter describes the conversion of a traditional classroom course to one taught online. Creating a Media Business has been part of the Business curriculum within a broad, traditional Mass Communications major, and its objective has been to introduce students to the theory and practice of starting an independent media enterprise. The attempt to transform any traditional academic course into a virtual one will invariably entail redefining pedagogical issues such as requirements, assignments, participation, and evaluation. Certain course content and objectives are more amenable to both the opportunities and constraints posed by the Internet. Our course was enhanced by the conversion because of its suitability for transfer from the tangible to the virtual environment. More specifically, for Creating a Media Business, the Internet is not merely a channel of information transmission, but very often an important, if not essential, part of the very business about which the students are learning.