U.Va. Darden Strategy MOOC Offers Student Support for For-Profit and Nonprofit Organizations

Newswise — The University of Virginia Darden School of Business announced today that Professor Michael Lenox’s upcoming massive open online course (MOOC), “Foundations of Business Strategy,” would enable students to address the needs of for-profit and nonprofit ventures through Coursolve, a platform that connects courses with organizations to empower students to solve real-life challenges. The course, which will offer an overview of the underpinnings of successful business strategies, begins on 2 September and will run for six weeks.
“Entrepreneurs don’t always have the resources to hire external support to address their needs, but we’ve seen firsthand that students are hungry for the chance to apply their knowledge to real-world problems,” Lenox said. “By collaborating with organizations, students can strengthen their skills development while potentially providing businesses and nonprofits with valuable insights.”
When Lenox first offered the course in March, it quickly became one of the top-enrolled MOOCs, cracking Bloomberg’s Top 10 List in this category. For a final project, students were asked to complete a strategic analysis of an organization of their choosing. While not required, more than 400 students elected to complete analyses in partnership with 100 different organizations, including established businesses, startups, resource-strapped nonprofits and social enterprises. In one such collaboration, insights from a group of students led an entrepreneur to shift his biotech startup from a service-based to a product-based business model. More...