We need to “see outside the box”, which is one of the fundamentals of an enterprising nature. By allowing students to develop their own ideas this gives them skills for life which allow them face problems and difficulties with the knowledge they can overcome them if they look for the solution rather than just see the problem.

However we acknowledge this is not always easy to do and to get someone ot look at the ordinary in a different way takes skill, surprise, perseverence but it is rewarding when it is achieved.

At Dublin City Enterprise Board we have developed an Ideas Generation Workshop which we deliver within class time and which gets the students thinking quickly about ideas they could have about everyday situations and products.

To book one of these workshops you can fill out our request form with times and days that might suit you and we will come to your school – this can be very useful as a person other than their teacher can deliver the message. If you need to discuss this we can arrange to talk at a time that suits your timetable. Give Eileen Mc Partland a call at 087 2638280 or 6351144 and tell us what times suit you.

There are many tried and tested ways of generating ideas such as:

Brainstorming – if combined with the ball game above you can say anything you like as you are hitting the ball. This is very effective as it opens the subconscious while they concentrate on the ball. In the student section we have explained clearly how brainstorming works. The role for the teacher is probably best as the recorder while watching for any team dynamics that may naturally arise in the exercise

Mind Mapping – we have covered this exercise in the student section also but it is a skill that is best facilitated by a teacher initially as the students may not be able to see the natural connections that arise between solution and problem. They will be more skilled at it after a few tries.
SCAMPER – this is explained in our ideas generation workshop and prompts are given to everyday examples of this process at work.
WHAT I HATE MOST – looking at things that annoy them and when a list has been drawn up they discuss the things they find frustrating and how they could solve them – in doing so you would be surprised how many business ideas evolve.

THE COOLEST THING I SAW IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS – Here you are encouraging them to open their subconscious as we take in information all the time but classify some so quickly we are not always aware it is still there – and this can lead to ideas!

We will be updating our site regularly with information which will be useful to you in directing your students through the process of the Student Enterprise Awards, so please check in regularly! If you would like us to update you when new ideas have been added to our website please click here and we will add you to our contact list.

We have even more ideas and tailor our suggestions to the dynamics of the class with our experienced staff who deliver our workshops. Give them a try - just telephone 6351144 today.