A critical perspective on learning outcomes and the effectiveness of experiential approaches in entrepreneurship education: do we innovate or implement?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conduct a critical appraisal of how experiential approaches can more effectively enhance the achievement of desired learning outcomes in entrepreneurship education. In particular, the authors critique whether actual learning outcomes can be profitably used to measure effectiveness; and consider how student performance can be evaluated through the twin lenses of implementation or innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The authors undertook a review of both traditional and experiential approaches to entrepreneurship education. In addition to comparing these approaches, the authors critiqued a number of “taken for granted” assumptions regarding the effectiveness of experiential approaches to entrepreneurship education and made recommendations. Findings – Although there is a large body of research on experiential approaches towards entrepreneurship education, the authors know little about how these approaches contribute towards the effective achievement of desired learning outcomes. Whilst many authors claim that such approaches are effective, such assertions are not supported by sufficient robust evidence. Hence the authors need to establish more effective student performance evaluation metrics. In particular: first, whether actual learning outcomes are appropriate measures of effectiveness; and second, the authors should evaluate student performance through the lenses of the two “Is” – implementation or innovation. Practical implications – Whether actual learning outcomes are used as a measure of effectiveness at all needs to be critiqued further. Implementation involves doing things that are determined by others and matching against their expectations, whereas innovation comprises producing multiple and varied solutions that respond to change and often surprise. Originality/value – Through revisiting the discussions on the art and the science of entrepreneurship education, this paper represents an initial critical attempt – as part of an ongoing study – to fill a gap in entrepreneurship education research. The paper, therefore, has significant value for students, entrepreneurship educators and policy-makers

Constructive Misalignment? Learning outcomes and effectiveness in teamwork-based experiential entrepreneurship education assessment

Objectives: Despite extensive research on experiential entrepreneurship education (EEE), we know little about how these approaches contribute towards effective achievement of learning outcomes (LOs), particularly in terms of opportunity discovery and exploitation. We critically appraised how experiential approaches enhance the achievement of learning outcomes (LOs) in teamwork-based entrepreneurship education assessment. Prior Work: Extant EEE research tends to focus upon “good practice”, rather than establishing its impact upon students. The argument for experiential approaches is two-fold but with a missing third fold (Scott et al, 2016): (1) ‘Traditional’ programmes, which rely upon lectures or other directed, non-experiential approaches to entrepreneurship education, are not effectively achieving their objectives, or these objectives are not ambitious enough to achieve effective outcomes; (2) Experiential approaches are an interactive, participative, realistic, viable and potentially more effective alternative to these ‘traditional’ approaches and include, for example, simulation etc; and (3) There is a lack of evidence on their effectiveness, though with some relatively recent exceptions, alongside a continuing debate about whether entrepreneurship can even be taught. Approach: We adopted an exploratory qualitative analysis of reflective diaries to achieve our objectives. Data were gathered from a purposive and convenience sample of reflective diaries, an individual assessment element of three Masters-level modules (modules 1, 2 and 3), in which there are also group business ideas generation presentations and a report. We subjected the text to rigorous content analysis (Silverman, 2004, 2010; Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008; Curtis and Curtis, 2011), which often adds a positivistic epistemological flavour to qualitative research, and our text was partially quantified to enable in-depth qualitative analysis. Results: Our analysis of student reflective diaries revealed that, while a number of LOs were met in relation to teamwork and communication, those related to innovation (i.e. generating a business idea) were much more modest. Yet, students experienced negative aspects which have become learning opportunities, such as linguistic-cultural challenges and overcoming nonparticipation/freeriding. Although Biggs (2003) has argued the need for constructive alignment in course design, in fact some of these unexpected LOs suggest the possibility that constructive misalignment could, in certain circumstances (e.g. experiential entrepreneurship education), be a positive pedagogical outcome. Implications and Value: There is, however, still little evidence that EEE is more effective than other approaches that have traditionally been adopted

Development of an MFL Coil Sensor for Testing Pipes in Extreme Temperature Conditions

This paper aims to design a coil sensor for corrosion monitoring of industrial pipes that could detect variations in thickness using the MFL (Magnetic Flux Leakage) technique. An MFL coil sensor is designed and tested with pipe sample thicknesses of 2, 4, 6, and 8 mm based on the magnetic field effect of ferrite cores. Moreover, a measurement setup for analysing pipe samples up to a temperature of 200° Celsius is suggested. Experimental results reveal that the MFL coil sensor can fulfil the requirements for MFL testing of pipes in high temperature conditions, and that the precision of MFL monitoring of pipes to detect corrosion at high temperatures can be improved significantly

Forest biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services

Forests are critical habitats for biodiversity and they are also essential for the provision of a wide range of ecosystem services that are important to human well-being. There is increasing evidence that biodiversity contributes to forest ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services. Here we provide a review of forest ecosystem services including biomass production, habitat provisioning services, pollination, seed dispersal, resistance to wind storms, fire regulation and mitigation, pest regulation of native and invading insects, carbon sequestration, and cultural ecosystem services, in relation to forest type, structure and diversity. We also consider relationships between forest biodiversity and multifunctionality, and trade-offs among ecosystem services. We compare the concepts of ecosystem processes, functions and services to clarify their definitions. Our review of published studies indicates a lack of empirical studies that establish quantitative and causal relationships between forest biodiversity and many important ecosystem services. The literature is highly skewed; studies on provisioning of nutrition and energy, and on cultural services, delivered by mixed-species forests are under-represented. Planted forests offer ample opportunity for optimising their composition and diversity because replanting after harvesting is a recurring process. Planting mixed-species forests should be given more consideration as they are likely to provide a wider range of ecosystem services within the forest and for adjacent land uses. This review also serves as the introduction to this special issue of Biodiversity and Conservation on various aspects of forest biodiversity and ecosystem services

Supplemental data to "Casting a broader net: Using microfluidic metagenomics to capture aquatic biodiversity data from diverse taxonomic targets"

This dataset contains the taxonomic classifications of environmental DNA (eDNA) sequences obtained from Fall Creek, Oregon, via microfluidic multiplex PCR (Fluidigm Access Array) and high-throughput sequencing. It is accompanied by electrofishing counts taken at the same time as the eDNA samples. Metadata and R scripts are provided to analyze the eDNA results, compare the electrofishing and eDNA results, and summarize the eDNA data into a format suitable for the visualization program Krona. Sequence data is include, along with metadata files to allow sequence deconvolution. Keywords: Aquatic biodiversity conservation; Environmental testing; Aquatic biodiversity; Aquatic organisms; eDNA; environmental DNA; Stream healt

Blood-Based Biomarkers for Predicting the Risk for Five-Year Incident Coronary Heart Disease in the Framingham Heart Study via Machine Learning

An improved approach for predicting the risk for incident coronary heart disease (CHD) could lead to substantial improvements in cardiovascular health. Previously, we have shown that genetic and epigenetic loci could predict CHD status more sensitively than conventional risk factors. Herein, we examine whether similar machine learning approaches could be used to develop a similar panel for predicting incident CHD. Training and test sets consisted of 1180 and 524 individuals, respectively. Data mining techniques were employed to mine for predictive biosignatures in the training set. An ensemble of Random Forest models consisting of four genetic and four epigenetic loci was trained on the training set and subsequently evaluated on the test set. The test sensitivity and specificity were 0.70 and 0.74, respectively. In contrast, the Framingham risk score and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk estimator performed with test sensitivities of 0.20 and 0.38, respectively. Notably, the integrated genetic-epigenetic model predicted risk better for both genders and very well in the three-year risk prediction window. We describe a novel DNA-based precision medicine tool capable of capturing the complex genetic and environmental relationships that contribute to the risk of CHD, and being mapped to actionable risk factors that may be leveraged to guide risk modification efforts