RSSAbout eClips
- What is the Collection?
- How is the Collection used?
- What other material is in the Collection?
- How and why was the Collection started?
- How can other educators use eClips?
What is the Collection?
The eClips collection was created by Dr. Deborah Streeter and contains thousands of video clips that were created from in-depth video interviews or presentations by entrepreneurs and other experts involved with supporting entrepreneurship and small businesses. Interviewees include startup and experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, bankers, angel investors, and employees of startup companies.
How is the Collection used?
eClips was created for use in the classroom. Streeter’s original concept was to create a “virtual panel” of experts, to be used to stimulate discussion, illustrate concepts, and create a real-world feel in teaching entrepreneurship. The flexibility of having clips (as opposed to feature-length video) allows the instructor to intersperse the digital video material with the text-based or discussion-based exposition in the classroom. The clips are inserted into PowerPoint presentations and played (when appropriate) in combination and alternation with other conceptual material. Streeter has also made successful use of the virtual panel in teaching undergraduate, graduates, extension audiences as well as in executive education.
What other material is in the Collection?
Within Cornell’s University-wide Entrepreneurship Program, faculty from non-business fields started to show interest in eClips. In particular, Dr. Suzanne Loker, a faculty member in the design field became interested in using digital video in her classroom and in her outreach program aimed at designers in the field. She authored a special collection called Designers as Entrepreneurs, using the techniques and digital processing pioneered by Streeter. In 2000, Loker became a J. Thomas Clark Professor and used the funding to develop additional material and to create a website for her class, Designers as Entrepreneurs. In addition, she created an innovative outreach program called The Cutting Edge: Guide to Apparel and Sewn Products Business (click on sourcing materials pilot lesson). Loker’s video content was added to the collection database in 2004.
Currently, another faculty member, Dr. Sheila Danko is interested in incorporating video material into her class on Values-led Entrepreneurship. She has a new, research driven collection under development, which focuses on the creative tensions and special challenges unique to socially responsible business development. Like the Streeter and Loker collections, it will include digital video clips from in-depth interviews. In addition, this collection will include a range of complementary visual and text materials including on-site photographs, archival documents, audio clips, and story texts. The goal is to develop visually and contextually rich teaching cases which reveal how entrepreneurs effectively communicate their vision, values, and social mission to their many stakeholders and how values are considered in their economic decision-making.
Danko is among the newest J. Thomas Clark Professors. She received the award in 2003 to develop the research investigation entitled Values-Led Entrepreneurship by Design: Strategic Stories of Growing a Socially Responsible Business. The research is in the formative stages. Interview protocols are being developed and tested. Data collection for the first pilot case study will begin in late April 2003. Danko’s collection adds to eClips both a theme focus on ethics and a research underpinning to the work.
Danko’s goal is to develop teaching cases for use in a variety of courses across campus including a large introductory lecture course entitled: Making a Difference by Design which enrolls a wide range of nontraditional business/entrepreneurship tracks including law, medicine, human development, policy analysis, and others; Loker’s course in Design and Entrepreneurship; Streeter’s courses in Entrepreneurship and Women in Leadership, as well as several related business and ILR courses. The focus on the use of “strategic stories”- personal narratives of change that will be constructed from the interviews -are particularly well suited to communication across disciplines.
How and why was the Collection started?
In 1996 Deborah Streeter, a faculty member at Cornell teaching entrepreneurship, became intrigued with creating video materials for her class on business planning. While enjoying the lively energy of guest speakers in her class, Streeter had noticed that students often had trouble connecting the insights of the speakers to conceptual material in the course or to their practical course project, writing a business plan. What she really felt was needed was a way to “insert the guest” into regular lectures, just at the right time for making a certain point or reinforcing some learning objective?
How to do that? At that time, digitization technology was not widely available to consumers, but at Cornell, Streeter worked with Cornell Information Technology (CIT) to explore her concept. Thanks to the Bruce F. Failing, Sr. Family, who had endowed her Chair in Entrepreneurship, Streeter was able to fund the project. Soon she became knowledgeable in digitizing, editing and burning video clips to CD. She traveled all over the country visiting and interviewing entrepreneurs and experts to build digital content for her course.
Streeter focused her collection on three main themes: 1) startup entrepreneurship, 2) entrepreneurship in ag- and food-based businesses, and 3) women, leadership and entrepreneurship.
Using video clips in her classroom produced instant success. She became known at Cornell as an innovative teacher, primarily through use of her video clips to enliven her entrepreneurship classes. Her work resulted in numerous awards, and in 2000, Streeter was selected as one of the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Scholars, the highest recognition a teacher can receive at Cornell. These awards, combined with grants and donor support provided the momentum for her to continue and over time, the technology became user-friendly. The collection began to grow.
Meanwhile, Streeter pondered how she might share this effective teaching technique with other faculty members. This led to involvement with the database experts at Mann Library, who helped to construct the database.
How can other educators use eClips?
We are currently in a pilot project of allowing outside users to download and use the video clips in this collection. Once you register as a pilot user, you will have free and open use of the database.
eClips was created with the intent to share video content with other educators. It is for educational use only and cannot be re-packaged or reused for any for-profit purpose.
You can insert video clips into lectures using Microsoft Powerpoint, or can simply play the clips in class using one of the standard players, such as Quicktime Player or Realtime Player. You can also post video clips to your course website or make them available for students to view outside the classroom.
