Wrapping Up Another Successful *Fully Virtual* Live Case Competition!

For the third year in a row, the International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE) partnered with CapSource Education to host their Student Live Case Competitions, which are generously sponsored by Peregrine Global Services.

Each year, CapSource and IACBE join together to host Live Case Competitions for students enrolled across their community of teaching and learning-focused institutions as a way to showcase experiential learning as a best practice in business education and student professional development.

This spring, due to the COVID p andemic, the Annual Conference shifted to a virtual format for the first time ever. Since the Spring Live Case Competition, held in conjunction with the Annual Conference, included passionate students and dedicated educators unwilling to forfeit this incredible learning experience, teams from eight different universities were able to successfully pivot to a fully virtual approach.

As Sharon Beaudry, Associate Professor of Oregon Tech put it, “We were so glad that the students were still able to participate in the competition even during the midst of a global crisis. Our students learned how to overcome adversity and stay focused while sorting through a messy, real-world challenge.”

Each of these teams were able to persevere by delivering high quality results to real business stakeholders that were eager to gather feedback on a new business opportunity.

This spring, the Live Case featured Coinsource, the world’s leader in Bitcoin ATMs. The student teams were provided with 5-weeks to “Develop a Growth Strategy for Coinsource’s New B2B Bitcoin ATM Platform as a Service Model.”

The goal for the case was for the student teams to help Coinsource better define their B2B growth strategy, including market, competitor, and target audience assessments. The students were also tasked with creating a novel sales and marketing plan to reach their suggested target audience.

We’d like to take a moment to congratulate the gr and-prize winning team from Oregon Tech, a creative and impressive undergraduate group that earned $1,000 in Amazon Gift Cards as well as a 1-month paid internship this summer. First place in the graduate competition was Post University, who also won $1,000 in Amazon Gift Cards and was able to showcase their in-depth understanding of blockchain and bitcoin ATM technology.

Each of the teams delivered final insights through a five-page memo and a live, synchronous, virtual presentation to key stakeholders at Coinsource as well as local business and academic leaders from the Dallas-area, where the final presentations were originally scheduled to occur. Included in the judges panel was the key project champion, Derek Muhney, the Director of Marketing & Sales at Coinsource, and Ron Taylor, Coinsource’s Chief Risk Officer.

“This case competition far exceeded our expectations” said Derek. “The student’s ingenuity and dedication to producing high-quality solutions was truly impressive, despite the constraints of a virtual environment. The feedback derived regarding our business model and strategy from this next generation of business leaders was informative and valuable to Coinsource as we continue to grow and innovate. We look forward to moving forward with the winning undergraduate team Oregon Tech as members of the CoinSource team!”

Just like the Fully Virtual Live Case Competition hosted by CapSource and IACBE with Munevo this past Fall, the Spring competition was executed entirely online using web conferencing and digital collaboration tools like Google Docs and Slack.

Since most universities have transitioned to fully remote instruction in the wake of COVID-19, IACBE and CapSource are truly proud that the student teams were able to finish the learning experience, even with a shifting global economic context and learning format. As Phyllis Okrepkie, President of IACBE put it, “It’s important as a company and as a business professional to be adaptable. By sticking with the competition, these students showcased their ability to overcome adversity while remaining focused on the end goal: working as a team to deliver valuable insights to real business stakeholders based on a real-world challenge.”

Student teams received their initial materials for the case competition at the end of February, and were provided with five weeks to complete the project. On April 1, the eight teams presented their five-page memo and presentations online to competition judges and company representatives, including Derek Muhney, Ron Taylor, Adam Gellert, Doug Hurst, Acquin Headen, Lee Bratcher, Crystal Guillory, Nancy Hong, and Mike Muhney.

For the past several years, IACBE and CapSource have maintained a strong relationship that continues to grow with each case competition. We are excited to announce that next year, we’re expecting to offer more competitions and experiential learning for institutions and their students than ever before.

Not only that, students and educators can now practice and fine-tune their approach for free by using CapSource’s library of #OpenCases, including the cases featured from Coinsource and Munevo.

We wish to extend a special thank you to IACBE, Peregrine, the competition judges, the Capsource team, and especially Coinsource for giving students this unique opportunity that culminated in internship offers.

Interested in learning how to integrate experiential learning into your business school curriculum — either in-person or online? Schedule a call with Jordan Levy to see how CapSource can fit your needs.

Jordan Levy, Founder & Executive Director at CapSource, is a Forbes 30 Under 30 and serial education technology entrepreneur. He has started two EdTech companies that help higher-ed programs bridge the skills gap for their students through experiential learning. His method is to integrate real companies into the education process through hands-on collaborations that expose learners to new circumstances with real stakeholders, challenges, and outcomes. Outside of work, Jordan is passionate about cooking, photography, networking, mixology, travel, sailing, tennis, public speaking, and coaching/connecting fellow entrepreneurs.