The Team Academy is a thrilling innovation which will revolutionize the Finnish educational and learning environment.
The Team Academy is a thrilling innovation which will revolutionize the Finnish educational and learning environment. The Team Academy world is wonderful and amazing – it is almost too good to be true. I have, however, visited the Team Academy several times and met dozens of its members, and this astonishing community has won my heart over and over again. Reading this book has made me understand why: the Team Academy is a pioneer of innovative and dynamic entrepreneurship education in Finland. The Team Academy is clearly on the road to the top in the world of education. Esa Saarinen Since 1993, the Team Academy of the Jyväskylä Polytechnic has applied a new learning method based on teams, customer projects, networking and entrepreneurship. The traditional classrooms have been replaced by offices used by the student teams to run projects in a business-like environment, and lectures have been replaced by fertilization and knowledge-creation sessions, and other communal learning methods. The physical environment does not, however, create a new learning method; the key is a learning community. This book describes the approaches to learning, entrepreneurship and community spirit which have formed the basis for the development of the Team Academy. This book also describes the new theory developed at the Team Academy through practical experimenting. The development of a new learning method has not been easy or fast, but it has been extremely rewarding and a lot of fun. In spring 2000 The Finnish Ministry of Education selected the Team Academy one of the Quality Units in Education in Finland. This book provides a lot of inspiring development ideas for teachers and educators preparing students for the 21st Century challenges in business, industry and the public sector.