Turning education on its head

I have decided to teach my new products class as self-directed learning.  What this means I am not exactly sure.  However, I have given it the definition to mean that students are required to learn the material outside the classroom and we conduct the homeworks in class.  The first day of class I started off with asking students what is it they wanted to learn.  Many answered some of the standard answers.  I also asked what they wanted to do for the course project.  One response was to launch a new product/service.  I queried the class using Polleverywhere which allows students to respond anonymously.  3/4 of the student thought it was a great idea and 1/4 were not sure.  I have the sense that students don't actually like the uncertainty of the project as it will be very fluid.  We will come up with the product idea during class, we will decide how to develop it in class and then decide how to launch it.  One student suggested a Kickstarter campaign, which I think is a fabulous idea.  So we will be going through each step of the new product process during class.  Wow!  A new one for me.  I'll use this blog to give updates on how the class is progressing.