On the Move: Catching up with Intrepid TechTrek Professor Jerry Kane

Jerry Kane teaches information systems at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. Last fall, he turned a program called TechTrek West into the ultimate in experiential education. Here’s how he leveraged social media best practices and the BC alumni network to transform the course’s curriculum—and his students.

Launched in 2008, at the height of the recession, TechTrek West provides a practical blend of classroom learning and a week-long field study in Silicon Valley. Open to Boston College undergrads in all schools, sophomores to seniors, the course features face-to-face sessions with senior executives, entrepreneurs, and venture partners, many of whom are BC alumni.

TechTrek examines the life cycle of tech startups, some of which didn’t even exist when the course began. Cases in point: Twitter was in its infancy, Apple’s app store had just opened its virtual doors, and Instagram was barely a concept in 2008, when Professor John Gallaugher founded the course. Kane took the reins of the class this past spring and revamped the curriculum for what he calls the next chapter of TechTrek.

“Unless you’ve been on the trip, it’s hard to understand the potential of this course,” Kane said. “Lots of schools do ‘tech treks,’ but they are mainly recruiting-focused. Ours is one of the few that are education-focused.”

Digital transformation

Professor Kane, whose research interests center around the role of digital technologies in business, based TechTrek’s new curriculum on an elective he’s taught for eight years, Social Media and Digital Business. Borrowing the structure and teaching methods of that class, he makes extensive use of social media in the classroom, along with case studies, videos, and TED Talks.

“The class is highly interactive,” Kane said. “Students are required to tweet four times a week and blog once a week. They also have to read and comment on three of their peers’ blogs.”

The fringe benefit from all that tweeting and blogging, Kane says, is a sense of camaraderie. “Community, culture, bonding is something I intentionally strive for,” he said. “Now there’s a cohort of students they can partner with throughout their BC experience.”

Who’s who of alumni

With its in-depth practicum approach, the TechTrek classroom experience serves as excellent preparation for the trip to Silicon Valley. Students spend six weeks reviewing case studies and learning about the companies they’ll visit. They use Twitter to start conversations with the people they’ll meet. They make presentations that reinforce classroom learning.

“Alumni tell us we’re the best-prepared group they meet all year,” Kane said.

And that says a lot. TechTrek West students meet with BC alumni from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Salesforce, Talkdesk, Uber, and the like. They were one of the first groups to visit the new Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. They met with Margaret Gould Stewart, Morrissey ’92, director of product design at Facebook.

“The students got to meet with her for 45 minutes and had a great discussion about the challenges Facebook was facing, like fake news,” said Kane, who had been using Stewart’s TED Talk on web design for years. “They asked very sophisticated questions, and at one point Margaret commented, ‘I’m really proud of my alma mater right now.’ That was my signal that we succeeded.”

Immersive and intimate

Such moments leave students peppering their blog posts with phrases like “transformative experience,” “existential tailspin,” and “mind-blowing” to describe their TechTrek sojourns.

“I could have never foreseen the level of intimacy and wisdom that we would receive from the alumni,” said sophomore Dylan Nadeau. “Speaking with them was a learning experience unlike any I’ve had before.”

In the process, TechTrek West and its new Boston/New York–oriented counterpart, TechTrek East, have caused some students to shift their career plans from investment banking to tech. “I’m always trying to spark interest in tech-oriented careers,” said Kane. “That’s my job!”