2122T1 Travel Bubble TSM/Course

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Overview of Project Course

Synopsis

Virtual TSM is missing out on lots of interaction and the cultural experience of a global trip. Travel bubble is giving us some hope for possible travel to a city, but which city? This TSM will try as much as possible to include a physical visit to a city and it depends on the progress of travel bubble agreement between Singapore and partner countries. We will only choose to travel if it is safe and without a quarantine. This may require students to be vaccinated or tested for Covid-19. To reduce the risk, the class project and research will be flexible. Students can choose to work on a project with a startup in Singapore or work on your own startup. To tie this project with the city we may visit, we will explore the possibility of expanding the startup to this city. This allows you to research about the city late in the term when we get clearance to travel.

If all goes well with the travel bubble, we need to adhere to the policies in the city we will visit. This include wearing masks, social distancing, limited participation and grouping of student teams (A, B, C, etc). Thus, the organisations we visits, events we attend, cultural visits, travel methods (bus or public transport), etc may be restricted. Planning is key and precautions are advice. If you are not up to these hassle and possibilities of not travelling, please do not take this class. We have limited the class size to 20 pax.

Objectives

This course will help

• Introduce students to the entrepreneurship scene in the city to visit.
• Students to develop an understanding of the factors and ecosystem leading to a start-up.
• Inspire student entrepreneurs to start their own venture.
• Students to understand how to start up with technology.
• Students to build relationships with the organisations we will visit.

Teams

• Students will form their own teams on first day of class.
• Student teams will need to find their own projects or organisations.

Output and Assessment Summary

Students will be assessed on both in class and during the trip activities and conduct. The grade break down and project descriptions are listed below.

Grade breakdown

This course will be a pass/fail. To pass, you will need to get at least a B-. The grade breakdown is listed below.

No	Time Frame	Topics	Assessment Type	Weighting
1	Pre-Trip	Project Research/Presentation	Team	30%
2		Plan virtual trip/helping others	Individual	20%
3	Trip	Discussion and Presentation	Individual	20%
4		Trip role/helping others	Individual	10%
5		Reflection	Individual	10%
6	All	Wiki, Blog & Photos	Individual	10%

Assignment

Here are the assignments:

1. In class presentations and wiki report
   1. Teams may select one of the following project.
      1. One team member own start up project. This can be an existing business, a blog shop, a recipe, a do good-er project such as Homage, or anything you have passion in. Write your own mission statement.
      2. A video report of a company of your interest. eg Love,Bonito yanolja Carson's skateboard Chef Chris Kong Property Lim Bountie
      3. Team select a project:
         1. Find a company you want to work project with. Eg Revolut, Stack Overflow, Remesh.AI
         2. SMU-XO project.
         3. Ask the guest speakers for a project
   2. Teams are to research on selected or assigned organization.
      1. Ecosystem: background, industry, culture, ecosystem, research universities, compare to Singapore, politics, aspiration, etc.
      2. The culture/trait could be connections (companies, country, customer focus), support environment (government, business, infrastructure, society, market maturity, reputation), personality/company culture (integrity, leadership, competitive, entrepreneurship, savvy, creative, innovative, dynamic, risk taking, commitment to technology, excellent communication, team spirit, fun seeking, etc.). Research on this by reading books, websites or interviews. Come up with examples of company events when this trait is vital to the company. Explore this trait in some of the organization we will visit.
      3. Organization: background, motivation, challenges, investments/employee stock ownership plan/intellectual property, strategy/business model/IPO, culture/personalities/politics/connections, etc. Students to prepare a company brief that is due before the trip.
      4. Organization and students to work on a mutually agreed problem statement, which will be beneficial to both our students and the companies
      5. SMU Library resources. You may contact XIA Wei <weixia@smu.edu.sg> if you need to get SMU library resources while doing your research.
   3. Individual will be assessed based on the quality of your contributions in the role you play, getting organization, helping out with the trip planning and execution.
2. trip (if it happens)
   1. Teams will ask questions, when the opportunity presents itself. Each team will introduce their company, present the focus and recommend improvements. Each team will have a backup team to support them (taking photos, questions, follow up, etc)
   2. Individual will keep a journal/blog/diary/tweet (with video, photo, links, etc.) on the discussion and visits. Focus on learning points and reflections. Compile your journal in the individual reflection page.
3. Post trip Presentation
   1. Reflection on your research
   2. Key takeaways (2) or learning points from the organization
   3. Quotes from presenter/senior management/owner/founder
   4. Recommendation on how the trip can be improved further

Academic Integrity

All acts of academic dishonesty (including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, facilitation of acts of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized possession of exam questions, or tampering with the academic work of other students) are serious offences. All work (whether oral or written) submitted for purposes of assessment must be the student’s own work. Penalties for violation of the policy range from zero marks for the component assessment to expulsion, depending on the nature of the offense.

When in doubt, students should consult the instructors of the course. Details on the SMU Code of Academic Integrity may be accessed at http://www.smuscd.org/resources.html.

Classroom Planning

There will be several classroom meetings to organize the course, trip and research. Students will meet in classroom to present their research findings. The teams are required to update their progress using the wiki.

Course Schedule Summary

Class (Week)	Topics	Comments
1	Course introduction, team formation and organization assignment.	Roles, Teams and Organisation. Team and group photos.
2	Organization groupings for each team and trip planning	Trip itinerary and Organisation Grouping. Clarify problem statement.
3	Inspiration from Guests!	Virtual visits setups.
6	Confirm virtual visits.	Sector Research and Contact (reorganise grouping). Work on solution to problem statement
Week 8: Break.
11	Present research project (first come first serve) & Virtual visits.	Research result and business proposal/innovation
12	Present research project (as needed) & Virtual visits.
16	Trip Briefing	Prepare company brief and reconfirm itinerary with companies
17	Trip	Visit company and have fun