Evaluation of the Outcomes of Entrepreneurship Education Revisited

This dissertation addresses two major gaps discernible in contemporary entrepreneurship education (EE) research: firstly, the lack of comparative studies on different forms of EE, such as traditional and experiential, which would test the widely accepted assertion that experiential EE is more effective in generating the desired outcomes in learners; secondly, the lack of evidence of how objective expressions of entrepreneurial behaviour in self- or paid employment are dependent upon entrepreneurship-specific competences that can be developed throughout EE. In bridging these gaps, the dissertation proposes and tests the integrative framework for evaluating the outcomes of EE that conceptually relies on Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives (Kraiger et al. 1993; Bloom et al. 1964), human capital theory (Becker 1975), and teaching models in entrepreneurship for higher education (Béchard and Grégoire 2007, 2005b). The applied framework overcomes several trending points of concern in the literature on the impact of EE including the over-reliance on models of entrepreneurial intentions, overlooking, among others, the details of EE design and delivery in the evaluations performed. This novel evaluation framework puts forward the triad of cognitive, skill-based and affective outcomes of EE in the domain of education, and the triumvirate objective outcomes: employability, intrapreneurship and private early-stage entrepreneurial activity (EA) in the domain of entrepreneurship. It conceptualises experiential EE through the prism of demand and competence teaching models, while traditional EE is viewed as analogous of a supply model (ibid 2007). This study focuses on two small, open neighbouring post-transition economies: Estonia and Latvia. The analysis applies a mixed methods embedded design by combining multiple case study, cross-sectional and comparative designs. Data were collected from 16 entrepreneurship educators and from 559 final year bachelor students participating in business-related programmes, and recent graduates from these programmes taught at 8 local HEIs (4 per country). Purposive expert and homogeneous sampling were employed, respectively, at the qualitative and quantitative data collection stages that involved face-to-face semi-structured interviews and an online survey. The interview data were used to diagnose the prevailing form of intervention at each HEI. The survey data were used to test the hypotheses. Content analysis by means of data coding was performed to process the qualitative data. The structural equation modelling was applied to estimate cognitive, skill-based and affective outcomes. The analysis of co-variance was used to determine if statistically significant differences exist between predominantly traditional and experiential teaching and their learning outcomes. In addition, various regression models were run to estimate the association between learning outcomes and objective outcomes as well as between experiential EE and objective outcomes. The findings of the study question the common assumptions mentioned earlier, having brought partial support for the principal hypotheses. Experiential EE was associated with higher skill-based and affective outcomes than traditional EE, but only in Estonia. The analysis indicated that the experiential form of intervention does not necessarily lead to higher levels of learning outcomes – in some cases even being associated with adverse effects; and that other factors (e.g. prior entrepreneurial aspirations, attitudes to educators) exhibit a significant influence on these outcomes. Affective outcomes acted as a consistent predictor of graduate employability, private early-stage EA as well as increasing the propensity of graduates to engage into nascent intrapreneurship. However, none of the objective outcomes showed the hypothesized dependency upon cognitive and skill-based learning outcomes. As far as the objective expressions of entrepreneurial behaviour were concerned in the period of the study, it did not matter significantly whether entrepreneurship was studied traditionally or experientially in Estonia, and the attendance of more experiential EE even tended to be less beneficial in Latvia. These results were largely divergent from conventional wisdom within human capital theory implying that investments in entrepreneurship-related human capital assets do not quite meet the expectations in the given context. The discussion of the results advances our understanding of why experiential EE might not work as expected. The findings are appraised from the viewpoint of entrepreneurship pedagogy, external factors affecting the development of local EE as well as other dimensions pertaining to EE design, delivery and the transfer of learning in the two countries. In particular, I find pertinent the intervention volume, the pedagogical and entrepreneurial experience of educators, the learning habits of students, coherence among teaching aims, methods used and outcomes expected as well as government support, and the availability of EE infrastructure, among other contextual influences. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for educators and decision-makers at HEIs, prospective students, policy makers in charge as well as EE scholars. Overall, this work contributes to topical debates in EE research with novel theoretical, methodological and empirical results.Siirretty Doriast

The concept of strategic leadership in the development and improvement of higher education in the Republic of Benin : a qualitative case study of an African university

This study explored the appropriateness of the concept of strategic leadership in the development and improvement of higber education in an African university called, for the purposes of tbis study, the AU3. It examined whether strategic leadership as it emerged in Western countries-had any resonance and relevance for the AU3, and explored the ways in which strategic leaders (SLs) interpreted and gave meanings to their roles. The study adopted a phenomenological approach with a qualitative case study design. A purposive sample of 20 strategic leaders was selected. The data collection instrument was semi-structured interviews. The research findings suggested that to enact strategic leadership the individual in the role should: be able to provide clarification of what helshe does and be able to understand the context in which he/she operates. The study contended that: strategic leadership requires three characteristics: elucidation - the ability to identify with their roles and responsibilities and link these to the strategic goals and mission of AU3; externalisation - the ability to consolidate their role tasks, provide evidence, and evaluate job tasks; and realisation - the ability to understand the complexity of their roles. The study further argued that SLs develop a distinctive shape of values and beliefs which impacted on the decisions they made. The study concluded with three types of leader: the 'emollient leader', who is concerned with 'hanging on in there', making the situation calmer in the hope of averting confrontation; the 'hypochondriac leader', who assumes constantly that something is wrong with their approach in performing their role, who is distracted by the environment and its constituencies; and the 'mirroring leader', who cannot see beyond their technical expertise. This study aims to help policy makers and those in charge of SLs' recruitment, selection, and development to better understand what competences are required to lead the university

Challenges for engineering students working with authentic complex problems

Engineers are important participants in solving societal, environmental and technical problems. However, due to an increasing complexity in relation to these problems new interdisciplinary competences are needed in engineering. Instead of students working with monodisciplinary problems, a situation where students work with authentic complex problems in interdisciplinary teams together with a company may scaffold development of new competences. The question is: What are the challenges for students structuring the work on authentic interdisciplinary problems? This study explores a three-day event where 7 students from Aalborg University (AAU) from four different faculties and one student from University College North Denmark (UCN), (6th-10th semester), worked in two groups at a large Danish company, solving authentic complex problems. The event was structured as a Hackathon where the students for three days worked with problem identification, problem analysis and finalizing with a pitch competition presenting their findings. During the event the students had workshops to support the work and they had the opportunity to use employees from the company as facilitators. It was an extracurricular activity during the summer holiday season. The methodology used for data collection was qualitative both in terms of observations and participants’ reflection reports. The students were observed during the whole event. Findings from this part of a larger study indicated, that students experience inability to transfer and transform project competences from their previous disciplinary experiences to an interdisciplinary setting

Exploring the practical use of a collaborative robot for academic purposes

This article presents a set of experiences related to the setup and exploration of potential educational uses of a collaborative robot (cobot). The basic principles that have guided the work carried out have been three. First and foremost, study of all the functionalities offered by the robot and exploration of its potential academic uses both in subjects focused on industrial robotics and in subjects of related disciplines (automation, communications, computer vision). Second, achieve the total integration of the cobot at the laboratory, seeking not only independent uses of it but also seeking for applications (laboratory practices) in which the cobot interacts with some of the other devices already existing at the laboratory (other industrial robots and a flexible manufacturing system). Third, reuse of some available components and minimization of the number and associated cost of required new components. The experiences, carried out following a project-based learning methodology under the framework of bachelor and master subjects and thesis, have focused on the integration of mechanical, electronic and programming aspects in new design solutions (end effector, cooperative workspace, artificial vision system integration) and case studies (advanced task programming, cybersecure communication, remote access). These experiences have consolidated the students' acquisition of skills in the transition to professional life by having the close collaboration of the university faculty with the experts of the robotics company.Postprint (published version