nyu-keystone Icon

KEYSTONE: An Open Course for New Founders

NYU Tandon Future Labs x P2PU

An open course for new founders from NYU Tandon Future Labs + P2PU.

This open course is a collaboration between P2PU and the NYU Tandon Future Labs. The Keystone course was designed by the NYU Tandon Future Labs as a virtual eight-week crash course for early-stage founders and aspiring entrepreneurs with technology-enabled ventures in New York State. In this collaboration, P2PU has adapted this course material to integrate the learning circle framework by emphasizing group activities, opportunities for reflection, and peer collaboration.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will leave the learning circle with a deeper grasp of key entrepreneurial concepts, an elevator pitch, and a completed executive summary of their company’s strategy.

Structure and use

Anyone can use this material to facilitate a learning group or educate themselves on the process of starting a company.

This course is designed to be run as a learning circle: a facilitated study group for people who want to meet regularly and learn about a topic with others. There are no teachers or students in a learning circle - it is a group where everyone learns the material together. The learning circle’s facilitator decides the meeting schedule, keeps the group on task during meetings, and supports individual learners’ participation and goals. (Learn more about learning circle facilitation here.)

All of the materials, discussion prompts, and activities needed to run a group with minimal preparation are incorporated into this course. The flow of each meeting will vary, but generally: participants will watch short instructional videos, discuss the subject matter, and complete short activities. Most of the work takes place during the meeting. Check each module for tips on facilitating specific material.

  • Meet for 90 minutes a week for eight weeks, working through one module each week. This will provide the group adequate time to connect with each other, invest in the topic, and understand how the course content impacts their daily lives.
  • Review each module briefly beforehand. The suggested timing will always add up to 75-80 minutes, providing you some flexibility as to how you spend your time in each meeting and giving some time for breaks as needed.
  • Use this course for either online or in-person learning circles. Check the facilitator tips throughout the course for suggestions on how to use these materials effectively in either context. If meeting online, we recommend that all participants have a webcam and microphone to engage fully with the group and activities.

About Course-in-a-Box

P2PU created Course-in-a-Box in 2014 as a free and lightweight tool for building online courses. We wanted to preserve the modular structure of MOOCs outside of the bulky (and often proprietary) environment of learning/content management systems. Course-in-a-Box is open-source, and we welcome contributions on our Github repo.

p.s. Designing a course for learning circles? Check out the Learning Circle Course Creation guide for some best practices on course design.