Framework for Integrating Entrepreneurially Minded Learning in Upper Level Courses

Many institutions now offer extracurricular activities to help hone engineering students’ entrepreneurial skills and encourage ideation. However, there remain few co-curricular opportunities for students to develop an entrepreneurial skillset and practice entrepreneurial thinking. In particular, opportunities are rare for students to merge entrepreneurially minded learning (EML) with the high-level subject-, projectand collaboration-based learning approaches typically seen in senior-level elective courses. Developing the entrepreneurial mindset will serve our students well by preparing them to be more impactful engineers. We have developed, implemented and assessed a framework for integrating EML into senior-level elective courses via an Ideation Project. In the affected course – Introduction to Biomechanics – the curricular project focused on developing skills related to opportunity identification and impact evaluation. Expected EML outcomes from implementing this framework were behaviors related to expressing curiosity and creating value. We evaluated how well the students met the desired learning objectives and assessed the effectiveness of the framework in developing an entrepreneurial mindset, as evidenced by successful completion of the project deliverables and demonstration of the skill areas and behaviors mentioned previously. Assessment was conducted via summative course assessments and project pre and post surveys, which required students’ self-assessment of their entrepreneurial skills and ability to practice entrepreneurial behaviors. Increases in EML skill level and behavior before versus after completing the ideation project were statistically significant (p < 0.05) in some cases; moreover, all but one area (“persisting and learning through failure”) had a higher post-project score compared to the corresponding pre-project score. The results indicate that the framework was successful in integrating EML in a senior-level elective and developing an entrepreneurial minded skillset. Introduction Engineering Entrepreneurship has become an integral part of many engineering colleges in the United States. The aim is to build a complementary skillset so that engineering students are successful in innovative, multidisciplinary teams in the workplace [1]. Many universities have developed formal engineering entrepreneurship programs and minors over the last several years. Some early work in engineering entrepreneurship pedagogy involved defining and cultivating the proper campus learning environments for the development of the entrepreneurial mindset [2, 3]. Common features of this campus learning environment include integration among engineering, business, design, and product development programs and activities. More recently, much of the pedagogical work has focused on developing the entrepreneurial mindset in specific types of courses or delivery of entrepreneurial content to targeted groups [4, 5]. Villanova University has been engaged in teaching entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship skills to its engineering students since 2007, largely as a result of its involvement with the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN). KEEN is a consortium of 28 schools who are dedicated to producing graduates who add high value to their employers due to their entrepreneurial mindset along with technical expertise. An entrepreneurial mindset incorporates curiosity about our changing world, tying in knowledge from various resources to gain insight, and identifying unexpected opportunities to create value. It enables engineers to develop valuable technical solutions that address customer needs, are feasible from a business perspective, and have societal benefit. In the Villanova Mechanical Engineering department alone, entrepreneurially minded learning (EML) activities and assignments are offered in nine undergraduate courses, representing nearly 25% of our undergraduate course offerings. However, only a couple of these courses are past the sophomore and junior level. While other institutions are developing curricular modules to build student entrepreneurial mindset skills across the four years [4, 5], there are still very few offerings of senior level electives where that mindset is honed further. Our objective was to develop, implement and assess an ideation project integrated in a seniorlevel engineering course. The project enabled engineering students who participated in the affected course (ME 5500: Introduction to Biomechanics) to develop KEEN framework skills in opportunity identification and impact evaluation, which they can share with their fellow students and employ throughout their professional careers. The proposed curricular project also aimed to foster entrepreneurial mindset behaviors related to “curiosity” and “creating value.” Methodology Course Planning and Project Implementation The project ran through the final five weeks of the Fall 2015 semester. Students completed most of the work out of class – only four lectures (out of 45) were dedicated to in-class time for the project. To make space in the lecture schedule (compared to prior offerings of the course where there was no ideation project) some course content was provided offline. Technical content for the course is roughly 40% anatomy and physiology and 60% mechanics. For the Fall 2015 offering of the course, the majority of the anatomy and physiology content was pre-recorded and students were required to view the videos before coming to class. Moving a substantial amount of technical content offline freed up the necessary lecture time for the ideation project, and also some additional lectures for more advanced topics that were previously unable to be offered due to time constraints. For the four lectures dedicated to the project, one was an introduction to EML and a description of the project guidelines and deliverables, two were for in-class group work, and the final lecture was for students to present their final business pitches. These four lectures were spread out over the course of five academic weeks. Ideation Project Description Teams of three to four students each were instructed to brainstorm several business opportunities relevant to the biomechanics field. The proposed ideas could provide either a product or service. Teams were to identify potential customers for their ideas. Students then assessed the merits and potential impact (to the customer(s) and society at large) of their initial ideas. Over the course of several weeks, the teams continued to refine their concepts by performing market analysis to consider resources needed (costs, personnel, facilities, manufacturing, distribution, etc.), intellectual property protections, and an understanding of their competition. This iterative process continued for a couple weeks offline until the teams selected their preferred business idea. At the conclusion of the semester, teams presented their business plan orally to the course instructor and guest judges (from the Villanova Institute for Innovation, Creativity, & Entrepreneurship and an alumnus who owns a medical device startup). The students were also required to complete a business model canvas [6]. In both the oral presentation and the business model canvas, teams were evaluated on their ability to articulate the need for their product or service, its technical and financial feasibility and why it is valuable to their customer(s). Students were also expected to identify key partners, activities and resources; customer relationships; and their projected cost structure and revenue streams. Student Profile Nineteen students were enrolled in the affected course during initial implementation of the ideation project. All students were seniors majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Few students had prior business or entrepreneurial experience prior to taking the affected course. Only two students were either enrolled in the Villanova Engineering Entrepreneurship minor or participated in the Villanova Summer Business Institute, a 13-week program run by the Villanova School of Business that enables students to earn a Business minor in one summer. Survey Details A survey was developed to assess, through self-reporting, to what extent the students’ EML skills and behaviors were being developed and strengthened by completing the ideation project. IRB approval was granted to administer the survey and collect data for research purposes. To properly assess the effect of ideation project participation on entrepreneurially minded learning, the survey was taken both before and after completion of the course project. Survey questions asked the students to rate to what extent they exhibited entrepreneurial mindset traits based on the KEEN framework [7]. Specifically, the questions focused on “Opportunity” and “Impact” related skills along with behaviors consistent with “Curiosity” and “Creating Value.” Figure 1 details the targeted entrepreneurially minded skills and behaviors which students were asked to self-assess. A total of 16 questions – including demographic information – were included on the survey. The complete survey can be found in Appendix A. Figure 1. EML skills and outcomes targeted in the ideation project. Students assed their abilities related to these areas before and after completion of the project. Completion of the survey was optional. Of the 19 registered students, n = 14 took the pre-project survey (74%) and n = 18 students took the post-project survey (95%). Students assessed themselves on a five point scale, ranging from “not skilled” to “highly skilled” (skills) or “never practice” to “practice regularly” (behaviors). Once survey data was collected, mean and standard deviation were calculated for each skill or behavior assessment preand post-survey. An unpaired t-test of unequal variances was performed on each question to compare the means preand post-survey. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results Students felt th