Parks College Faculty Release Free iBook To Inspire Entrepreneurial Mindset

This week grad student Gregory Keogh and professor Srdihar Condoor of Parks College of Engineering, Aviation, and Technology at St. Louis University have have released collection of successful entrepreneurial exercises in a free iBook, allowing instructors to bring the pair’s proven Weekly Innovation Challenges into their own classrooms.

The book, titled “Innovation Challenges: Mind Workouts for Teams,” was written by Condoor and Keogh, who spent the last year developing the exercises at Parks College in the form of Weekly Innovation Challenges. The activities are meant to inspire entrepreneurial thinking through a variety of unique challenges and scenarios that have been adapted for general use by instructors.

“These exercises have been successfully used and tested multiple times for a variety of audiences across the world,” said Condoor. “This iBook serves as a useful resource for those who are interested in engaging students in a creative way.”

After spending two semesters running the Weekly Innovation Challenge program, Condoor and Keogh decided to distribute the material to a wider audience by creating a free iBook. “Innovation Challenges” gives instructors the tools to take the weekly challenges crafted at Parks College and make them fit their audience. Condoor and Keogh have created straightforward instructions for each of the challenges, giving a description, supply list, learning outcomes, possible variations, and facilitator tips to help instructors match the lessons as best they can.

“Dr. Condoor and Greg’s teamwork in designing this iBook expresses exactly what the innovation challenges are all about,” said Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) program coordinator Nicole Germain. “Their creativity and dedication has resulted in a valuable resource for everyone to enjoy and learn from.”

“Innovation Challenges” is currently available for free through the iBooks 2 application on the iPad. With the support of KEEN and the Coleman Foundation, Condoor expects to have the next volume out following another year of Weekly Innovation Challenges, which continue to be held on campus every Wednesday.

Corey Cummings: Corey is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Madison where he received degrees in English and Creative Writing. He currently lives in Chicago and enjoys alternately obsessing over video games that aren't out yet and crazy gadgets he can't afford.