1. Learners – MBA elective class. Term 3 of the MBA so they know each other very well, and might be working in groups on the case study. Widely varying knowledge of finance, as some have an accounting background and others only know it through the MBA. The aim is knowledge transfer, so that they can come to class with a shared understanding of what we will be doing. Their class preparation was this, plus preparing a far more complex cash flow forecast using these principles. I had warned them that it was unlikely that anyone would be able to bring a balanced forecast to the class, but that they should understand where they were struggling, which we would address in class. The recording was put onto the student portal in mp4 format, so could be downloaded onto laptops of tablets; the slides and excel spreadsheets could be saved, used as appropriate, or even printed out should they choose. The approach was matched to intended outcomes. As regards learning styles, those who prefer passive learning could just watch; those who prefer active could download templates to try it before the videos. Not totally sure what is needed here. But it worked – they came to class much better prepared than students in previous years! The exercise as written with these students’ needs in mind. It was designed to be tablet-friendly for those who wanted to work anywhere. It was designed to meet their different levels of understanding of finance In this simple [course], originally developed for part of our MBA programme at Cranfield, you are taken through the necessary steps to prepare a suite of forecasts for a business, incorporating eight transactions into a three-month forecast. Cash and credit sales, purchases and inventory, expenses, fixed assets and depreciation are all demonstrated, as is the introduction of share capital. The [course] is designed to be of use to business professionals, educators and students. It includes video of how the forecasts were built up, keystroke by keystroke. The case scenario is downloadable, as is a ‘crib sheet’ of how transactions affect the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow forecast. The forecast themselves are downloadable in three formats: the basic template used, a half-completed template which shows transactions 1-4, and a fully-completed suite of forecasts. Because of this, there are various ways you can approach this exercise. 1. Watch all of the videos, in order, to see how the forecasts are built up. Then, if you like, download the associated spreadsheet templates and try to do it yourself. 2. Download the spreadsheet templates and prepare the forecast yourself, without watching all of the videos. (You can stop at transaction 4 and check if your answer so far agrees to mine.) 3. Create your own template and prepare the forecasts without watching the videos, then check your answer against mine, either after transaction 4 or at the end of the eight transactions. Preparing a cashflow forecast – A model of learning activity design Ruth Bender