Abstract:

The collaboration project of four professors from 4 different departments consists of creating a collaborative transversal and innovative learning environment through a flipped Classroom experience joint academic activity between the Finance, Economics, Data Science and Marketing department at EAE Business School University from Spain.

65 students enrolled in the entrepreneurship start up course at EAE Business School enrolled in Business Organization and Administration program taught by Professor Dr. Albert Arisó and Dr. Samer Ajour El Zein.

Method Implementation:
Firstly, Albert Ariso´s (Data Science Department) students presented their business idea supported with data from quality information sources to describe the opportunity. Secondly, Samer Ajour El Zein´s (Economics Department) students analyzed those projects to explore the possibility of marketing the product in a completely new market. Then, students presented their business projects to the professors from other departments who evaluated them through a rubric. At this later stage, EAE teachers Dr. Cristina Tomas Perez (Finance Department) and Prof. Paulo Sartorato Neto (Marketing Department) played the role model with our students about the validated business ideas students through which they will conduct a feasibility study.
In addition, for the correct development of this student's work and learning activity, the method adopted relied on Google Suits, videos, calendar, active instructions and evaluation rubrics.
The initial activity was an Icebreaker activity for all students. Once the randomized groups of students were established to ensure method robustness, the activity was initiated in a very organized way to ensure a constant dialogue and feedback between the groups.
The major outcomes of the first round were the effectiveness of the incubator pitch experience. The first stage of students was to carry out an analysis of the opportunities and threats to commercialize the product whereas the other group of students proposed strategies based on the analysis received. The outcomes of the second round were an innovative marketing plan, as well as a feasible financial plan assessed by the professors of the Finance and Marketing Department.
Lastly, a pitch session was handled by representative of both teams using digital tools (Padlet, Slack and Zoom) to present and defend the business plan in an international context.

Conclusions and Further Research:
The flipped classroom method has been found to be a very enriching experience with innovative learning skills for the four departments. The students valued the effort to carry out this activity with professionalism and effective intercultural communication skills, considering cross competencies barriers, and adopting intelligent argumentation. The authors consider this simulation a great academic contribution value that offers a better understanding for future education. A future research is needed with more samples, various groups, various departments and different conditions so that it could be extrapolated to a business environment.

The main objective is to prepare future leaders for a collaborative environment formed by diverse groups. These are the demands of the future business trends in a post-pandemic environment.

Keywords:

Flipped Classroom, Pitch Education, Innovative Learning Skills, Peer Reviewers.