Kingsborough Community College reforms IT and other technical education by applying technical content in the Virtual Enterprise curriculum that emphasizes business and soft skills such as interpersonal communications, writing, and sensitivity to cultural differences. Virtual Enterprise education is a business and entrepreneurship simulation in which students create and operate virtual firms and trade virtual or real products and services through e-commerce in a global network of 4,000 firms in 40 countries. It provides students with a bridge between school and career by immersing them in a realistic, but safe, technology and business environment. The project builds on several years of experience at Kingsborough based on the European model of the Practice Firm; but Virtual Enterprise lacks the technological backbone to incorporate higher-level information technology skills. The planning grant is to assess needs; to develop, and modify Virtual Enterprise scenarios for technical courses of study; to evaluate that the Virtual Enterprise Course meets student, faculty program and industry needs; and to gain support and adoption in other technical programs at Kingsborough and other CUNY colleges.
