Additional Instructional Opportunities The opportunity for additional individualized learning activities is excellent. The student/owner may use the business library at the LCC Downtown Center and have access to books, periodicals, and journals, Small Business Administration materials, videotapes, and other business aids, as well as computers in the small busi- hess computer center. As a follow-up to the class instruction and the site visit, the student may choose to view a specific videotape on the current instructional topic and/or check out books or other materials for at-home study. Obviously, with this design, it is absolutely imperative that the instructor and college are up to date on contemporary technology and its applications in the business world! The use of the microcomputer as a teaching device in working with small business owners is unlimited. However, at this time in the SBM program, microcomputers are used primarily for working with financial infor- mation. The instructor takes a portable computer to the monthly site visits. And, for example, during the visit the student/owner and instructor may input information that will demonstrate the effects of a three percent de- crease in cost of sales and emphasize the importance of keeping good records to correctly analyze costs of doing business. A major component of the SBM program is instruction in preparing and understanding financial state- ments. The use of the monthly, quarterly, and/or year-end computer analyses is important in teaching business owners the importance of ratios and their use in decision-making. The financial information becomes a pivotal point in the interrelationship among all areas of business management. Another significant program component is the opportunity to learn from other business owners. Once trust has been established among the participants in the program, sharing becomes a common feature of each class session. In the employer-employee relations class, for example, each student shares various experiences about his/her employees and describes the responses to these different situations. There is no effort to seek agreement, but there is an effort to look closely at different methods for handling the more commonplace situa- tions. Moreover, these students learn to feel comfortable calling the other students/owners for special help and feedback when, for example, they experience particularly perplexing problems with employees. A real feeling of the community is developed within the group; they want to help each other build success- ful businesses. As a rule, individuals who are in direct competition with each other in the business world are never allowed to enroll in the same class. However, if in consultation with the instructor they agree that they are able to put aside the natural competitive behavior and commit themselves to maintaining the all-important supportive instructional environment, the rule is set aside. Small business is an important part of our economy. Business owners deserve an educational environment that is practical and is relevant to their needs. The Small Business Management program at LCC has been help- ing business owners successfully for eight years and has proven that education and business can be a good com- bination. William Dotson and Jean Names, Instructors/Coordinators Lane Community College For further information, contact the authors at Lane Community College, Small Business Management, 1059 Wil- lamette Street, Eugene, Oregon 97401, DOUGLAS COLLEGE ARCHIVES Suanne D. Roueche, Editor February 15, 1985, Vol. VII, No. 5 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, (512) 471-7545. Subscriptions are available to nonconsortium members for $35 per year. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring terms and monthly during the summer ‘© The University of Texas at Austin, 1985 Further duplication is permitted only by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel. ISSN 0199-106