Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Education: Volume 2

This chapter exemplifies how assessment is performed in innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) at the university education and how educators apply and view formative assessment as an important tool in enhancing students’ learning outcomes.

A case study methodology was applied to characterize the diversity of assessment and evaluation in I&E-education. Covering major scholarly disciplines 10 cases were selected based on mapping of course outlines obtained from university databases across 7 Danish universities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with course responsible educators focusing on alignment between learning goals, assessment forms and criteria, and feedback.

The analysis shows that educators emphasize the importance of formative and learner-centered assessment forms alongside summative, credit-giving assessment. Educators experience that logbooks, learning journals, prototypes, informal feedback session with stakeholders have a crucial potential for enhancing students’ transformative learning.

This study is descriptive and solely based on the educators’ perspectives. To provide more scientifically sound knowledge on the relationship between assessment types and I&E learning outcomes, future research should include students’ perspective and preferably apply both quantitative experimental and qualitative research designs.

The study provides inspiration to educators, researchers, and policy-makers on how to conduct assessment that stimulates students learning in I&E-education.

Considering that the research on how assessment in I&E-education impacts students learning is limited, this study provides important contribution by identifying links between formative assessment types and enhancement of student learning.

Educators are increasingly required to develop creativity and entrepreneurial capabilities amongst students, yet within the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation these are presented as separate processes. We explore the theoretical and conceptual similarities and differences between these processes, and relate this to a range of experiential and digitally enhanced learning activities in formal education settings.

We present a conceptual model of the iterative nature of creativity and entrepreneurship as separate cognitive and social processes leading to aesthetic or sense-making outcomes. This leads to a discussion of how these processes may be experienced by students within an educational setting.

We propose a framework of learning activities which support the development of creativity through teaching entrepreneurially, at primary, secondary, and tertiary education levels. A range of different approaches is critically evaluated according to their relevance, including business planning, simulations, roleplay, co-creation, and flashmobs. Flashmobs are proposed to be most suitable and an outline learning activity design is mapped in detail against creative and entrepreneurial processes.

This chapter supports educational practice and research on learning through entrepreneurship in allowing educators and researchers to evaluate how learning activities may directly contribute to students’ learning through experience and the development of their creative and entrepreneurial mind-set.

This chapter is of value to educators as it explains how creative and entrepreneurial processes may be experienced by students through different forms of learning activity. It is of further value to research on entrepreneurial learning in considering how the creative process may inform entrepreneurial action.

Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (LUASA) uses a holistic approach to foster entrepreneurial thinking and behavior of students and employees. Students and participants of the program shall be motivated to start own ventures during the study program or later in the life.

An entrepreneurial eco-system shall be built and a close partnership with regional key actors established.

A combination of Design Thinking and Lean Start-up is used for the entrepreneurial education. Fostering experimentation, early customer feedback, and interdisciplinary teamwork is essential. An enhanced Lean Canvas version is used for having a guideline to work on the important questions and documenting the learnings in the iterative process.

The program “Smart-up” of LUASA is running since three years as a pilot in two departments and is now rolled out to the entire University. Since program start more than 120 start-ups have been founded.

In all study programs, an “entrepreneurial track” is defined and students can earn credits while working on their own projects. Two interdisciplinary modules are offered. The proposed Smart-up Lean Canvas has been proven to be a key tool to develop innovative ideas in start-ups and in existing companies.

The combination of Design Thinking and Lean Start-up in a holistic setup proved that students can learn the methods and tools and are able to use them now or later as entre- or intrapreneurs.

Students are motivated to start their own business, meet role models and participating at different (networking) events.

The combination of Design Thinking and Lean Start-up with analytical approaches like Systems Thinking and Data Analytics supports the problem understanding and solution (product/service and business) design.

This chapter proposes a reconceptualization of undergraduate education to support the development of students as agents of positive social change. Social innovation education is put forward as a new pedagogy for the twenty-first century.

The chapter outlines a series of studies carried out at the University of Northampton between 2014 and 2015 to investigate social innovation education as a pedagogical design and practice for undergraduate curricula. Drawing on phenomenography, systematic literature review, and theory building, this chapter sets out conceptual, theoretical, and practical frameworks for designing and facilitating social innovation education.

Research findings include an ontology for understanding the concept of social innovation education, as well as a set of graduate attributes for designing learning for social change. A model of pedagogical praxis is proposed that supports the development of teaching and learning toward a more critical and socially impactful approach.

Despite some similarities to entrepreneurship and enterprise education, social innovation education is distinctive in its focus on social change-making with or without financial gain. Not only does this chapter present a set of abstract and practical tools for embedding social innovation in an undergraduate program, but also it provides a possible methodology for institutions who wish to embody particular principles within their curricular offerings.

In this conceptual chapter we examine the impact of the institutional role of public social policy as opposed to the individual role of private social entrepreneurship on the process of social change and value creation.

We review the above fields in order to identify their common and distinctive characteristics. We also examine how each contributes to social value creation and in which way these two sources of social value creation can interact in order to maximize their positive impact.

The value of our work relies on the development analysis reveals that the intersection between social policy and social entrepreneurship constitutes one of the possible responses to the growing uncertainty in the global economy and society. In a conceptual level, the findings of our theoretical inquiry allow us to provide a framework for better understanding the nature and the possible implications of social entrepreneurial/policy activities that allows the appropriate selection of the proper actions to be made for theorists, practitioners, and policy-makers alike.

Our work contributes to existing literature by providing views on understanding how the different forms of organizational actions (public policy vs. social entrepreneurship) act toward social value creation; and by contributing to the understanding of their similarities and differences and the distinctive frameworks within which they unfold.

Provide insights on the feasibility of connecting classrooms at a number of universities in the Asia Pacific region in a sustainable and low cost manner through the use of video conferencing.

Collaborative project implemented by a network of universities in the region.

A new form of innovative educational program is feasible based on the effective use of technology which is now readily available as a result of university investment programs, but under utilized due to lack of familiarity or negative perceptions amongst faculty of how to effectively employ this technology in their teaching.

A viable model of university collaboration has been identified and there are no insurmountable barriers preventing other educational programs with the same design. A key limitation relates to whether or not other educational institutions would see the benefits of this model in a highly competitive education marketplace.

Collaborative approaches to teaching in an inter-university context could prove very effective especially when dealing with complex topics like climate change, energy, and food security where the sharing of knowledge is crucial. Social implications: A connected classroom in the inter-university context opens up students and faculty to a diversity of perspectives that may be more appropriate than the traditional way of teaching, especially in this rapidly globalizing world.

All too often educational projects are implemented as pilots and they are not sustained over prolonged periods of time. This project has been on-going for over a decade.

The current study addresses an entrepreneurial program offered by a Greek Higher Education Institution – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – to Information and Communication Technology undergraduate students and examines its effect on participants’ attitudes and perceptions towards entrepreneurship, within the wider context of entrepreneurship and education.

The program is part of a wider pilot project called “InnoEntre.” The particular pilot program is provided in cooperation with Aarhus University of Denmark. The objective was for Danish and Greek students attending the particular course to interact, come up with a novel idea, and transform it through a business plan, into a value-creating outcome, while presenting the steps, actions, experiences, and insight through the pilot program.

The study offers important implications sharpening knowledge around the area of entrepreneurship, focusing on the intersection between entrepreneurship and education. It highlights key dimensions critical for the successful combination of these two fields, pointing to the importance of young individuals’ perceptions and attitudes towards Innovation-Entrepreneurship Education (I&E), their expectations and particular needs from related educational programs, antecedents of entrepreneurial intention, etc.

Findings contribute to the combination of components to approach the wider fields of I&E, besides the University context, highlighting their multidisciplinary nature. Furthermore, the study adds to innovative pedagogy, highlighting the importance of the use of certain appropriate methods, models, and practices, and the use of ICT in supporting the development of business ideas into actual ventures. The study equally outlines critical managerial implications for entrepreneurs, managers, and policy-makers alike that can foster entrepreneurial activity undertaking among the youth.

This chapter demonstrates how Humanities students in a blended learning course become active learners, use an entrepreneurial approach, and reflect on the achievement of an entrepreneurial mindset. Students at the Master's ICT-based Educational Design, where they work with information- and communication technology in an educational context, were challenged to create value for themselves and others in their professional life by experimenting with ways to combine the online with the offline with their own students/pupils.

We present a case study over the period of one semester of five entrepreneurial teams of Masters students on an ICT-based Educational Design. Effectuation, as a process, was combined with a design structure to help guide the students. Data were drawn from observations, written material in the form of blogs and assignments, as well as recorded conversations on Google Hangout with groups of students.

The use of reflection, collaboration, and the effectual process in the open laboratory provide the vehicle to nurture and support the achievement of a creative and innovative ways of working with real life practices. We suggest that nurturing experimental communities of practice in open learning laboratory settings may provide an opportunity for establishing an entrepreneurial mindset in students and as such has to the potential as a method to confront future societal challenges.

This chapter makes an important contribution to entrepreneurship education in general by demonstrating how the combination of particular online/offline strategies can support the enhancement of entrepreneurial mindsets that will serve learners throughout the life course.

This chapter presents through a case study detailed concrete experiences of the implementation of an entrepreneurship-focused MBA within the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Review of the UAE context, the formation of Abu Dhabi School of Management, the development of its MBA program and components, and the impact to date of the MBA program. An analysis of the challenges associated with the design and delivery of the MBA program is also presented.

Launching an entrepreneurship-specific MBA in an emerging market based upon an existing world-class entrepreneurship MBA program is feasible and desirable. Specific cultural norms and practices need to be taken into account to ensure that the program and its delivery are fit for the local country.

Provides insight into specific MBA program attributes that need to be customized for the UAE, including assessment, case study use, and delivery format. Furthermore, it also emphasizes the importance of having local faculty for effective program delivery and the risks of, and approaches to, using international faculty who are not based in the country of delivery.

iNNoVaNDiS started in 2005 at the University of Deusto (Spain) as a program that aimed to train students to perform as entrepreneurs. The aim of the chapter is to share the story of this 10-year old experience.

The chapter follows a case study approach, describing in a narrative form the evolution had by the program, from the perspective of the people that have been involved in it. It draws on the analysis of the different stages the program has gone through, over these 10 years, until the current structure of the program has been defined. Primary data are used to explain this evolution.

The chapter illustrates how the approach followed in iNNoVaNDiS has always been action-oriented. The rationale is that being entrepreneurial and innovative is a way of thinking, a mindset, and a personal identity. To achieve this different contexts are built during various workshops, working with real challenges faced by local organizations.

The program is run by a team with very different profiles, including consultants, researchers, academics, coaches, artists, engineers, entrepreneurs, actors, etc. This diversity allows the program to be in constant renewal. The program demystifies prejudices about the entrepreneur, the business idea and failure.

The philosophy behind the program is that entrepreneurship and innovation are not goals or disciplines to learn, and their purposes go far beyond starting a business. The scope of the initiative has not been the development of a business but rather to foster ethical entrepreneurship and innovative behavior in everyday life.

This program is directed to everyone, no matter the scholar level. However, each team must have at least one student or former student that must be part of one of the project partners (Polytechnic Institutes and non-integrated high schools).

The Poliempreende is a program focused on the promotion and development of the entrepreneurship among the polytechnics’ academic community. It consists of an ideas contest based in a great program of training sessions included on the activities plan. These sessions are oriented for ideation and construction of business plans. Considering the contest, it has a regional and a national phase. In both regional and national levels, the best three projects are chosen and earn prizes.

The project focuses on the cross-fertilization of knowledge area with the consequent enrichment of experiences, practices, and results, in particular by encouraging the setting up of multidisciplinary teams, with the goal to instill the spirit of initiative in the participants, the entrepreneurial willingness to create their own businesses and generate jobs, exploring the practical and professional character of their training.

The Poliempreende is also a project with a great regional impact, not only because the Polytechnics have a strong influence in the region where they are implemented, involving several entities, individualities, and local sponsors, but also because this program is open to any business idea, from engineering to hospitality, passing from health and culture, which permits a closer application and answer to local needs, anticipating the legacy that Carnegie Mellon/Portugal Program wants to leave to us (Foundation for Science and Technology (2009)).

This program intends to provide participants with the necessary skills for the creation of business initiatives, to promote, and to encourage the entrepreneurship, in an approach of economic and social action through self-employment.

Power-point presentations and support documents are available only for the participants in the training sessions.

This chapter outlines how Pearson, the world’s largest education company, and its CEO John Fallon are acting as trailblazers of Jugaad Innovation (https://hbr.org/2014/12/what-frugal-innovators-do) in education by embedding a focus on learner outcomes – “efficacy” – at the heart of the company. The purpose of the chapter is to highlight practical examples of how this innovation has affected business strategy and decision-making, enabling the company to be able to have a greater impact on learning with the aim of simultaneously helping the business to grow financially. Many of these examples are from products and units that are continuing to embrace and adopt efficacy; they represent live examples of best practice.

This chapter provides an overview of how the drive toward efficacy represents a new, innovative way of doing business. The approach is not new to education, but putting a focus on learner outcomes at the center of traditional business operations represents a step-change from how other companies in the sector operate. The chapter will also look at the Office of the Chief Education Advisor, a central intrapreneurial unit that continues to lead the global efficacy agenda, with the aim that efficacy becomes so embedded in the company fabric that it becomes irreversible. In addition, the chapter provides some other examples of specific frameworks, tools and units that operate with an innovative and intrapreneurial mindset.

This study presents a case study in a major private company and the way the applied approach affected the company. The content of the chapter is taken from a live case and represents a unique insight into the ongoing application of innovation and intrapreneurship in the field.

This chapter examines the existing work on tangible user interfaces (TUIs) and focuses on tangible programming with the scope to enlighten the opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship in this particular domain.

In the first section, we start by presenting in short the history of TUIs and then focus on tangible programming presenting the different design approaches. Then we present the opportunities for innovation and guidelines for future products.

In the second section, we review the entrepreneurial activities that combine educational toys and TUIs.

The main finding of this chapter is that although TUI design and research are still in its infancy and more design guidelines and research are required to further bridge the digital and the physical world, the first signs of entrepreneurship promise a bright future.

Limitations arise from the fact that many companies keep many of their financial data confidential. Thus, it was impossible to include and validate all the information that we intended to present.

Initially, this chapter motivates and challenges scientist to find novel innovative solutions in the field. Then, reveals the entrepreneurial opportunities and potential customers. Finally, shows the funding sources and how tangible products are offered in the market.

We propose a new kind of toys that might alter and expand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in education.

This chapter appears to be unique in the sense that is the first that reports simultaneously on TUIs, entrepreneurship, and innovation.