Online Academy Review
This has been a year full of changes and flexibility. Although we have seen a lot of ups and downs one positive outcome that has come from 2020 is the launch of our online Play Black Wall Street Academy. We want to thank you for your support! If you are reading this blog you are a part of our community and your purchases, positive energy, and suggestions have helped us continue to grow. This blog will review the highlights of the first 2 cohorts of Play Black Wall Street Academy, our sponsors, and vision for the future. We welcome your feedback!
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Curriculum
Each topic in the lesson plan provided 1 week’s worth of lessons, videos, reading, and activities. We also held office hours once per week to allow students to ask questions and reinforce their knowledge.
Week 1 - Class Intro and Introduction to Macroeconomics
Week 2 - Introduction to Microeconomics (Personal Finance and Wealth Building)
Week 3 - Introduction to Entrepreneurship
Week 4 - Introduction to Capstone Project
Week 5 - Capstone Project Presentation and Course Completed
Each week students completed the below assignments.
- Youtube Videos (Supplemental)
- Reading Assignments
- Reading Quiz
- Writing Assignment
Some great feedback that we received from our first cohort was that there was too much reading and the students wanted group work. In the first cohort, we assigned 20-30 pages of reading per week. Which for a middle school or high school student can seem daunting. For the second cohort, we reduced it to about 10 pages per week and have seen much higher completion rates. We also now have a small break out sessions each session to allow for the students to collaborate together and socialize.
Enrollment
Initially, this course was designed and open to youth 12-18 years old. We did receive interest from adults interested in the course and youth younger than 12 interested in the course. We did not include any adults who were not parents into the class for safety reasons. We did allow some youth as young as 7 in the course to see if they would be able to remain engaged. In the future, we will be more strict on the 12-18 age range to ensure each student is able to get the intended value from the course. We are very interested in hosting an adult course, do you think that would be valuable?
Cohort 1 we enrolled 22 students. This class had a lot of energy and excitement around being the first cohort. For cohort 2 we reduced the class size to 12 to allow for more time to do group work and give detailed feedback on assignments. If we continue to do live class sessions we will continue to limit each cohort to 20, we are considering an on-demand model to allow more students to enroll. Let us know what you think in the survey.
Access and Sponsors
We are grateful for the members of our community and sponsors who have stepped up to support our efforts. We want to make sure scholars who are interested in learning about the economy and growing their personal wealth have access. The first cohort we gave away 11 full Standard Package scholarships valued at just over $500. During the second cohort thanks to additional support we were able to provide 8 Full Delux Package Scholarships valued just over $1000. Partnering with you and our sponsors allows us to provide this vital information while still being able to provide for our staff.
Addila Axis inc - provides global educational access through donations, scholarships, and services to support youth ages middle school to college. The Founders enrolled their daughter in the first cohort and supported 5 scholars during the second cohort.
Game School Con - A family effort that grew out of convictions that people learn best when they are having fun and that Gameschoolers should have a conference of their own! We met this incredible family during their annual event Game School Con where we were able to showcase Black Wall Street the Board Game.
Anonymous family and friends have also donated to support access to the course for families who have requested support. Shout out to the unnamed heroes in our past and our present!
Academy Outcomes
Our goal is to help increase the number of Black Entrepreneurs and the financial literacy knowledge of Black Families. To help measure our impact we give each student a Pre - Assessment and Post Assessment.
Our Next Steps
First off thank you for reading about our progress! We want to continue to be an educational resource for families to increase their financial literacy. As we look towards the future we would love your feedback on the additional courses we can offer, our curriculum, and other ways you feel we can improve our online academy. Please take a few moments to complete the short form below and you will be rewarded with an exclusive offer. We appreciate your energy and support!