BLOG: Team Academy's Innovative Approach to Learning

Team Academy is an award winning business school at the JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Jyväskylä, Finland. Unlike traditional formal, classroom-based learning, Team Academy employs an innovative new education model that emphasizes entrepreneurship and practical work.
 
There are no students, classrooms, teachers, or grades; participants earn their Bachelor’s degree by forming independent team cooperative companies, learning through the process of collaboration and doing real business with real money. Real-life projects function as means for teams to make money for their companies, develop competencies, and apply and reflect on studied theory. This propels teams as they delve into all aspects of business over a three and a half year period, establishing contracts, marketing, project planning, managing finances, people, and more to build and grow their companies. Teams sit down for two, four-hour business coaching and dialogue sessions per week for advice, upon request, and to share, unify, and reflect on experiences, learning, and ideas.  
 
Team Academy’s action and reflection oriented learning model has proven highly effective at producing successful business graduates: 91% of their students are employed 6 months after graduation.  
 
Team Academy closely reflects CoachingOurselves’s informal and reflective learning. Similar to Team Academy, at CoachingOurselves there are no facilitators or classrooms. Groups get together every few weeks to discuss and reflect on their own experiences in the workplace guided by our management topics. This generates insights that help positively affect the workplace and propel the organization forward.