KCK business teacher re-imagines school space as student-led classroom coworking
August 24, 2018 | Austin Barnes
Nobody’s going to tell you what to do here, Sheyvette Dinkens said passionately. The Wyandotte High School business teacher recently began transforming her space at school into classroom coworking.
“I want students to be able to guide their own education,” she said. “I want to be able to facilitate their learning, and I want them to make the choices.”
The bell rang on Dinkens’ coworking idea at the end of the 2017-2018 school year. She and her students toured several Kansas City coworking sites and researched their inner workings, ultimately envisioning an alternative learning environment with an entrepreneurial edge, now dubbed Suite 1886 — in honor of the year Wyandotte High School was established.
“If we have business students that are trying to develop entrepreneur skills, then I think they need to know the environment that a lot of entrepreneurs are working in,” Dinkens said.
Students’ innovation skills are being put to the test as Suite 1886 takes shape, she said. The students who fill Dinkens’ Applied Business Development class are leading the project, she added.
The group is currently working to secure sponsorships and donations –– both monetary and in the form of furniture/accessories –– to overhaul the dated aesthetic of the nearly 100-square-foot classroom.
Click here to check out an Amazon wishlist of potential donations for the Suite 1886 space.
The students will decide how the coworking space operates and assist in its management, Dinkens said.
“There’s so many relationships that are built within coworking spaces that it’s amazing,” she said, highlighting the collaborative efforts the environment could inspire for students. “I want students to come back to school and mimic that same thing with their peers.”
Sixty-eight percent of people who make use of coworking spaces found themselves better focused, Dinkens said, calling it a perfect model for producing enhanced student learning outcomes.
She hopes the space will be fully operational by December.
Featured Business
2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Listen: When the grind gets gloomy, experts discuss mental health challenges and entrepreneurship
About 72 percent of entrepreneurs have self-reported mental health concerns, according to a study done by the University of California San Francisco. More specifically, about 30 percent of entrepreneurs experience depression and about 30 percent experience ADHD, the same study found. In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, Startland News and Think Big’s May Innovation…
6 tips and tricks to stay sane while scaling fast
Frequently taking on more demands and shirking personal care, entrepreneurs’ work-life balance often skews toward work. Deadlines, finding clients, making payroll and dozens of other stressors can put entrepreneurs at risk of mental illness or compound existing challenges. Furthermore, entrepreneurs are disproportionately affected by such issues as ADHD, bipolar disorder and depression, according to studies…
Video: How to use the lean model canvas for fun and profit
Editor’s note: Continuing our mission to help area entrepreneurs and startups grow, we’re happy to share with you a video from our friends at Kansas City-based tech agency Crema. Learn more about the agency here. Starting a business, or launching a product is really hard. Most people will tell you to first come up with…
Visualize Kansas City’s digital divide with this new Smart City tool
A canyon between those with consistent access to computers and the Internet and those who don’t, the digital divide is often discussed in the abstract. However difficult to conceptualize in a broad scale, the digital divide in Kansas City has real economic, cultural and social implications in our community. That’s why the City of Kansas…