Entrepreneurial Mindset: Integrating Creative Thinking and Innovation into a Graphical Communications Course

Nationwide, leaders in business and industry have increasingly acknowledged the importance of entrepreneurship. Several areas of the country showcase the importance of entrepreneurship such as Silicon Valley in California where a large number of start-up companies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields are located. To meet the needs of business and industry, institutions of higher education prepare students for future employment by offering rigorous and relevant coursework in areas such as entrepreneurship. Collegiate faculty and staff can use fundamental engineering courses to instill an entrepreneurial mindset – a set of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that drive innovation – in their students. This paper will explore an open-ended team project within a freshman-level engineering graphics course in which instructors encourage an entrepreneurial mindset in students. The goal of the course project is to develop engineering students’ critical thinking and innovation skills while preparing them for their future professions. An end-of-semester course-wide poster competition allowed students to practice teamwork as well as innovative thinking and communication skills

Developing Entrepreneurial Mindset in Industrial Engineering Classes: A Case Study

Instilling entrepreneurial mindset among engineering students is one of the challenges in engineering education. This paper presents the efforts to improve a core undergraduate industrial engineering course, Designing Value in Supply Chain, to infuse entrepreneurial thinking among students using an internally funded grant by Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN). For this purpose, three new course modules are designed and their effectiveness on student learning is evaluated. This course is ideal for establishing entrepreneurially minded learning (EML) as a systematic approach is required for managing the chain of supply, especially since the impacts of the decisions are not isolated and will be spread out through the entire chain. In addition, creative multidisciplinary knowledge is required to address most of the supply chain challenges. The proposed modules are expected to promote students’ creative thinking, curiosity, collaboration and communication skills, and enable them to identify the opportunities where they can apply their technical skills to create value in the community based on customers’ expectations. These factors are key pillars of EML as proposed by KEEN. In the first course module, students propose a new product to be released to the market (idea generation). They complete this module as the product moves toward the end user in the supply chain following the concepts they learn during the term. This module enables the students to observe the domino impact of the decisions they make in the initial stages of supply chain and enhances structured learning experience by linking different concepts. In the second module, in order to expose the students to real life applications of the course content, wireless consumption data provided by students is used to practice different demand forecasting methods. Students also need to provide some economic analysis to choose the best solution alternative regarding their forecasted values. This module makes the learning process more meaningful as the learners observe a real life application of the subject. In the third module, students practice energy management in order to minimize energy waste as one of the most important types of waste in lean production systems. In this module, they are expected to determine several sources of energy waste on campus and propose action plans, and estimate the economic impact of their solution. As a result of this project, students learn how to create value and communicate an engineering solution in terms of economic benefits. Students provide a report for each module which is graded based on designed rubrics. All these modules are performed in teams which in turn improves students’ team work and collaboration skills. This paper elaborates the details of each module and learning outcomes, and presents the student evaluation results, and at the end discusses the lessons learned

Student Perceptions of an Entrepreneurial Mindset and Its Relevance to Engineering Careers

Development of an entrepreneurial mindset (EM) has been a focus that has gained traction within engineering over the last decade. Thus, undergraduate engineering curricula have been modified to address EM development Curriculum modifications can include assigning hands-on projects with entrepreneurial elements, devoting entire courses to developing students\u27 entrepreneurial skills while working with real world companies, and even creating degree programs with entrepreneurship in engineering as the focus. Literature on EM has shown that there are a variety of methods for defining EM depending on the stakeholder. However, there has been limited research on how students understand and define EM, which is a vital step in helping students understand the role an EM can have for their future careers. This research study explores students\u27 perception of EM through interviews with engineering undergraduates across multiple class years and majors. We sought to answer the following research questions: (1) How do engineering students’ definitions of EM differ from literature definitions? and (2) How do engineering students believe EM will be useful to their career? Students were interviewed using a semi-structured protocol to get a clearer understanding of how they define EM. The interview protocol included questions focused on what students think EM means, how it has affected them, and how it might continue to affect them in the future. These interviews were then transcribed and thematically analyzed to determine the attributes of an EM that are common in students’ definitions of EM. The analysis of the interviews identified trends that could then be compared to the existing literature definitions of entrepreneurial mindset. The work done through this study provides value to the community by providing an understanding for engineering students’ perceptions of EM and how this may differ from that of other stakeholders. It will also shed light on whether engineering students’ find value in developing an EM as part of their undergraduate studies, including whether they see it as an important asset to their future career

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PROFILES OF ZIMBABWEAN STEM UNDERGRADUATE FRESHMEN AS INPUT TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION FOR STEM STUDENTS

Entrepreneurship is the new buzzword in universities across the globe and this has been attributed to fundamental socio-economic forces such as the persistence of unemployment, precarious employment, the emergence of knowledge-driven economies, and the imperative of bringing innovations to market (Karimi, et al., 2011, Valerio, et al., 2014).The shift towards entrepreneurship education is also from the realization that students can and should derive benefit from learning how to create value from their knowledge and skills (Duval-Couetil, 2016). The educational systems have not, until recently, been geared towards the development of entrepreneurship and self-employment in the STEM (Science Technical Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines (Hynes, 1996). Entrepreneurship has been confined to management and economics disciplines. The general consensus of late is that the provision of entrepreneurship education should not be restricted to certain courses or faculties, as entrepreneurial qualities and skills are needed in every sector of human activity (EC Brussels, 2006, Duval- Couetil, et al., 2011). It has been realised that entrepreneurship education, especially education that provides technological training, is crucial to the enhancement of entrepreneurs’ innovation skills in an increasingly challenging environment (Menzies and Paradi, 1999).  In fact Hynes (1996) argues that technical and engineering graduates are the originators of product ideas but are usually left out because of their lack of business appreciation to develop the idea further.  It is therefore not surprising that entrepreneurship courses are among the fastest growing curricular areas within engineering schools (Duval- Couetil, et al. 2011).Key words: entrepreneurship, education, STEM, Zimbabw

Developing an entrepreneurial mindset in US engineering education: an international view of the KEEN project

This article explains the Kern Entrepreneurial Education Network (KEEN) in introducing innovative approaches to undergraduate engineering degree programs in independent universities in the United States of America (USA). The mission is to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset to create personal, economic, and societal value

The study of grit in engineering education research: a systematic literature review

Researchontheroleofgrit–definedasbothperseveranceandpassionfor long-termgoals–onhumanperformancehasbeenconductedforthepast decade. It has been suggested that this non-cognitive factor is a better predictor of students’ retention than traditional academic measures. These findings hold relevance for engineering education research but studies on this area are still scarce. This paper provides a systematic review of the current state of research on grit and its correlates in engineering higher education research. Publications were identified using three types of databases specific to engineering education; a final set of 31 relevant records was analysed by type of population, methods, research topics and main results. Most of the reviewed studies implemented quantitative methodologies to assess grit and also used one of the two versions of Duckworth’s Grit scale. Key findings are that in engineering education research, both the conceptualisation of grit and research reporting procedures have been inconsistent. Such inconsistency hinders interpretation of the impact of grit in engineering education. In response, new research avenues and best practices for reporting are proffered

An entrepreneurial mindset: Not just for entrepreneurs

Abstract: An entrepreneurial mindset is beneficial for all individuals regardless of their career aspirations. College students, in particular, can benefit from the development of an entrepreneurial mindset as they will be inclined to desire to achieve more and continually strive for personal growth. Entrepreneurial development within college students can be realized through experiential learning aimed to cultivate entrepreneurial capabilities such as critical, creative, and innovative thought. These capabilities, coupled with a passion for personal achievement through life-long learning, an entrepreneurial mindset can be developed. This study first proposed an abbreviated measure of College Student Entrepreneurial Development (CSED) by revising an existing instrument, and then used the measure to assess growth in students’ entrepreneurial development from participating in an experiential learning course intervention. Results indicated that the newly reduced measure of CSED did reliably fit a two-factor model of entrepreneurial development, containing the two subscales of self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Students receiving the curricular intervention were shown to have post-test CSED scores statistically higher than those who did not receive the intervention. Implications for offering a general education course for all students that incorporates entrepreneurial thinking are discussed. Considerations for university leadership, including both administrators and faculty, for implementing a course encouraging an entrepreneurial mindset are also presented

The Study of Grit in Engineering Education Research: a Systematic Literature Review

Researchontheroleofgrit–definedasbothperseveranceandpassionfor long-termgoals–onhumanperformancehasbeenconductedforthepast decade. It has been suggested that this non-cognitive factor is a better predictor of students’ retention than traditional academic measures. These findings hold relevance for engineering education research but studies on this area are still scarce. This paper provides a systematic review of the current state of research on grit and its correlates in engineering higher education research. Publications were identified using three types of databases specific to engineering education; a final set of 31 relevant records was analysed by type of population, methods, research topics and main results. Most of the reviewed studies implemented quantitative methodologies to assess grit and also used one of the two versions of Duckworth’s Grit scale. Key findings are that in engineering education research, both the conceptualisation of grit and research reporting procedures have been inconsistent. Such inconsistency hinders interpretation of the impact of grit in engineering education. In response, new research avenues and best practices for reporting are proffered