Steven Karpenko is an instructor of entrepreneurship at Bishop’s University. Karpenko taught a 6-week “new venture creation” Entrepreneurship 101 course with PIE in October of 2019. The course was taught completely online and required a self-directed component to give students an entrepreneurial experience. Karpenko found the PIE method to be that “new spark” to reinvigorate and modernize the program. About implementing PIE into a university course, Karpenko said, “I saw the benefits and uniqueness of the content, and that opened up my creativity and how I could apply it to my own course … that’s really where the journey began.” He was thrilled to see it revive the creativity and ideation aspect of entrepreneurship for his students. The most valuable part of PIE for Karpenko and his course was the ideation and focus on modules of innovative thinking, which was previously lacking in his course. PIE gave him a framework to fluidly teach creativity and innovation to his students in a structured, validated format.
Moreover, Karpenko also found PIE to be useful outside of the classroom, in his workplace, as he gave his colleagues a unique entrepreneurship experience: “I was also looking at it from a professional development standpoint […], applying it within my workplace to my colleagues to give them that entrepreneurship experience without actually having to own a company.” The PIE methodology is a unique framework that opens up limitless possibilities for one’s own creative potential—even those who do not have innovation or entrepreneurship experience!
Prepr partnered with Bishop’s University to deliver the PIE program to students who were craving a spark that would illuminate new, exciting possibilities and approaches to business, entrepreneurship, and the workforce. The post-secondary PIE delivery gave the program new life in today’s ever-changing startup ecosystem. Prepr worked closely with the university on the evaluation of students through the 3-phases pitch approach. In the end, students overwhelmingly enjoyed the course and benefited from the PIE methodology. They provided positive feedback about their application of PIE as a tool in their everyday life!
Watch Steven Karpenko’s interview on the benefits of the PIE program here: