BA is a required 4-credit class where I teach. Our school has a social mission and many of the students want to work in criminal defense, family law, immigration, human rights, or anything other than business. I shudder to think of how many (few) students would take the course if the school didn’t force them.

Before the course begins, I send a survey to get an idea of whether they have any business knowledge or experience, and what they hope to learn from the course. Throughout the semester I send them short YouTube videos by law firms and entrepreneurs so that they can understand some of the basics (from what is a stock to what is Reg A+). These videos were produced for lay people and I want my students to learn how to explain complex concepts in plain English- a key asset for any lawyer. To give them extra help and also see what they have learned, I have one extra credit assignment that requires them to write on a television show or movie that addresses business issues and spot what the show gets legally wrong.

Prior to the start of the semester, I also send a list of helpful tips (which they are free to ignore) so they can get used to the language of business. Below are some of my suggestions:

1) Watch CNBC, Bloomberg Business or Fox Business. Once we get into publicly-traded companies, we start watching clips from CNBC at the beginning of every class in the "BA in the News" section.
2) Read/skim the Wall Street Journal, NY Times Business Section or Daily Business Review.
3) Subscribe to the Investopedia word of the day- it's free. You can also download the free app.
4) Watch Shark Tank or The Profit (both are a little unrealistic but helpful).
5) Watch the show American Greed if you're going to work for the SEC, DOJ or will be a defense lawyer dealing with securities fraud.

6) ) Listen to The Start Up podcast available onITunes
7) Watch Silicon Valley or Billions
8) Read anything by Michael Lewis related to business
9) Watch anything on 60 Minutes related to the financial crisis

10) Watch the Oscar-winning documentary "Inside Job."
11) Listen to Planet Money on NPR on the weekends
12) Listen to Marketplace on NPR (it's on weekday evenings around 6 pm)
13) Read Inc, Entrepreneur, or Fast Company magazines.

14) Follow certain companies that you care about (or hate) or government agencies on Twitter. Key agencies include the IRS, SEC, DOJ, FCC, FTC etc. If you have certain passions such as social enterprise try #socent; for corporate social responsibility try #csr; for human rights and business try #bizhumanrights; for entrepreneurs try #startups. If you’re interested in corporate governance use #corpgov.
14) Join LinkedIn and find groups related to companies or business areas that interest you and monitor the discussions so that you can keep current on breaking issues.

15) Start reading blogs on topics that interest you. Many are written by law firms, professors, non-profits, and business leaders.

Any tips that you have that I missed? Please share them below so that I can add them to my list for the first day of class. I'm happy to say that I manage to "convert" a few skeptics every year into actually enjoying business and even changing career paths. More gratifying is that most years, a self-described "terrified" student who knows nothing about business scores the highest grade in the class, so some of these tips must be working.