Working to Instill the Entrepreneurial Mindset Across the Curriculum

Abstract

Over the past two decades, significant work has been done to increase the opportunities for engineering students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset (EM). These have included curricular, cocurricular, and extracurricular activities on many campuses. This article describes efforts to build the EM comprehensively into the mechanical engineering curriculum at Ohio Northern University. While several frameworks have been proposed related to the EM, the work here is motivated by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network framework (KEEN). A core group of college faculty identified the institutional definitions of the KEEN student outcomes and identified courses for deployment of these outcomes to provide comprehensive, curriculum-wide exposure to the EM. This article discusses how the work was completed, incentive and reporting structures for onboarding faculty, the adopted strategies for program assessment of the EM outcomes, and efforts to ensure long-term sustainability of the curricular modifications. Observations, challenges, and unexpected benefits are discussed, as well as anticipated next steps for college-wide implementation.

Science-based entrepreneurship education as a means for university-industry technology transfer

“…Next to the more traditional entrepreneurship education through business administration programs, this increasingly takes place also in faculties of science, engineering and technology. Yet, to date, research that discusses the content of, and effect of SBEE, on university-industry technology transfer is scarce (Maresch et al 2016; Barr et al 2009;Lackeus and Middleton 2015;Souitaris et al 2007;Standish-Kuon and Rice 2002;Blake Hylton et al 2019). Further insight in this would help to asses why and how SBEE can support university-industry technology transfer.…”

“…The review shows that university-industry technology transfer via university-industry collaboration on the level of research is well-researched. However, the role of educationin particular SBEE, whereby a particular type of academic education is seen as a means for university-industry technology transfer, is a relatively under researched topic (see Barr et al 2009;Lackeus and Middleton 2015;Maresch et al 2016;Souitaris et al 2007;Standish-Kuon and Rice 2002;Blake Hylton et al 2019).…”

Integration of Entrepreneurial-minded Learning

“…Therefore, we expected students to have chosen the sections largely based on the timing of class meetings. 1 In both the ITS and AEV sections, students worked in groups of 3 or 4 to conceive, design, prototype, and document a transportation vehicle. The primary differences between the ITS and AEV project curricula were in the project's introductory phase, milestones, and conclusion.…”

“…To facilitate the transformation of engineering curricula, educational objectives of EML have been expressed through a series of extended KEEN Student Outcomes (eKSOs) [1]. These outcomes are based on three components of an entrepreneurial mindset: curiosity, connection, and creating value, which are often called the "3C's" [5].…”

A Thermodynamics Design Project that Applies Theory, Explores Renewable Energy Topics, and Considers the Economic and Social Impacts of the Designs

“…While it is difficult to assess mindset, the expanded KEEN student outcomes (eKSOs) developed by Ohio Northern University identify approximately ten specific and measurable student outcomes within each EM category [11]. In this work, several student outcomes from each of the three mindset categories were used to assess EM in the project reports, and are shown in Table 2.…”