The title should be self-explanatory. This is not a lecture course. You cannot sit quietly by, take notes, take a test and move on to your next class. You are expected to participate fully in class discussions, bringing in your own observations about reading assignments or items that you have read outside of class that you feel should be brought to the class' attention. It can be a very fine line to walk.
Readers look for conflict, for novelty, for prominence, for proximity.
They expect stories to be well-written, informative, entertaining and useful. Many people, especially young people, think of business stories as technical, numbers-heavy and boring. Some stories are technical and numbers-heavy. It's the writer's job to keep those stories from becoming boring. Because the best business stories are the stories of ambitious people chasing their dreams, facing obstacles and either overcoming them or, for whatever reason, failing to.