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Article
Publication date: 22 May 2007

Michele C. Kieke, Karen Moroz and Amy S. Gort

The purpose of this paper is to describe the way(s) in which the introduction of systematic outcomes assessment throughout a university has begun to transform its academic culture.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the way(s) in which the introduction of systematic outcomes assessment throughout a university has begun to transform its academic culture.

Design/methodology/approach

The college is incrementally introducing system‐supported evaluation of student work. It began with general education, working with interdisciplinary faculty committees to define common learning outcomes with shared rubrics, and using these in all courses designated as general education. The use of this approach is now expanding into the majors and specific programs.

Findings

The paper finds that the process by which general education and program outcomes and rubrics have been defined has already led to a change of focus – with more clear emphasis on what students should demonstrate – and a shared sense of ownership in the learning outcomes and rubrics.

Originality/value

Concordia University (Saint Paul) is one of the first colleges to methodically introduce this system‐supported approach across the institution.

Details

On the Horizon, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1074-8121

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2019

Mette Lindahl Thomassen, Karen Williams Middleton, Michael Breum Ramsgaard, Helle Neergaard and Lorraine Warren

Context impacts the design and practice of entrepreneurship education, but there is limited focus on context in entrepreneurship education literature. The purpose of this paper is…

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Abstract

Purpose

Context impacts the design and practice of entrepreneurship education, but there is limited focus on context in entrepreneurship education literature. The purpose of this paper is to review the entrepreneurship education literature to understand how context has been addressed, derives contextual elements from prioritized literature and explores how context can be adapted to and designed with in entrepreneurship education.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review is undertaken to explore context in entrepreneurship education literature. Context entrepreneurship education yielded 239 items. After refinement, 232 entrepreneurship education associated publications were reviewed by the team of authors. Using selection criteria, 26 prioritized publications were analyzed and categorized according to a theoretical framework.

Findings

Context has been addressed both conceptually and empirically, quantitatively and qualitatively, and can be categorized across three sociological phenomena levels – micro, meso and macro. Within these levels, more specific context elements emerge from the entrepreneurship education literature. The findings assert that while context is highly influential in relation to entrepreneurship education, it is arbitrarily described, and holds a variety of documented and diffuse elements. Educators have a limited span of control in relation to context elements, however, for the most parts elements can be adapted to or designed with. Finally, due to the influence of context it is difficult to identify a universal best practice of entrepreneurship education because there simply is no ceteris paribus.

Research limitations/implications

Contextual elements which emerged from the literature consider various subjects, spaces, structures and networks. Context is complex and has had limited treatment in entrepreneurship education literature, thus additional analysis and experimentation is necessary.

Practical implications

Context shapes understanding and influences learning. Addressing entrepreneurship education across three levels – micro, meso and macro – and through four framing questions – who, what, where and when – guides educators in how context influences and can be used when designing education.

Originality/value

The paper gives new insight into how context is addressed in entrepreneurship education literature, and how this can influence educational design.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 26 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 January 2018

Karen Williams Middleton and Pamela Nowell

Effective internal dynamics of new venture teams is seen as a key contributor to venture success. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which new venture teams…

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Abstract

Purpose

Effective internal dynamics of new venture teams is seen as a key contributor to venture success. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which new venture teams consisting of nascent entrepreneurs initiate trust and control during venture emergence.

Design/methodology/approach

Dimensions of trust and control are developed into an analytical framework applied to documented team norms. Coding detects frequency of trust and control dimensions. Supplementary data triangulate findings and explore follow-on effects in team dynamics and venture emergence.

Findings

Frequency of coded dimensions generates a venture team profile. Teams prime their dynamics through use of trust and/or control language in documented norms. Priming is seen to influence entrepreneurial perseverance during venture emergence, stemming either directly from team dynamics, or indirectly from key shareholder relationships or environmental conditions.

Research limitations/implications

Data are bounded to a specific contextual setting representing incubation and education, where the nascent entrepreneurs are simultaneously students. The complexity of venture emergence means that multiple factors influencing new venture teams may influence trust and control in ways currently unaccounted for.

Practical implications

Exploration of trust and control during venture emergence emphasizes soft-skills critical to entrepreneurial perseverance and venture success. Team norms can be designed to prime toward trust or control, and can be indicative of teams’ sensitivity to external factors, enabling evidence for intervention.

Originality/value

The paper illustrates ways in which trust and control influence team dynamics during venture emergence.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2015

Martin Lackéus and Karen Williams Middleton

The purpose of this paper is to explore how university-based entrepreneurship programs, incorporating real-life venture creation into educational design and delivery, can bridge…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how university-based entrepreneurship programs, incorporating real-life venture creation into educational design and delivery, can bridge the gap between entrepreneurship education and technology transfer within the university environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a literature review and snowball sampling over a two-year period, 18 entrepreneurship education programs were identified as applying a venture creation approach. Ten of these programs were selected for case study, including direct interviews and participatory observation during a two-day workshop. Empirical findings were iteratively related to theory within entrepreneurship education and technology transfer.

Findings

The paper identifies the bridging capabilities of venture creation programs (VCP) across five core themes, illustrating the potential benefits of closer collaboration between entrepreneurship education and technology transfer in a university environment.

Research limitations/implications

A definition for “VCP” is tested empirically. These programs are shown to be sophisticated laboratory environments, allowing for clinical research towards the understanding of entrepreneurship and technology transfer processes.

Practical implications

Findings identify practical benefits of combining entrepreneurship education and technology transfer activities, such as increased value creation through not only new firms, but also an entrepreneurially equipped graduate population. VCPs allow for “spin-through” of innovative ideas in the university environment, while simultaneously contributing to entrepreneurial learning.

Originality/value

This paper presents findings from the first multiple case study into entrepreneurship education specifically designed to develop real-life venture as part of the core curriculum. Findings provide basis for investigating the value of integrating entrepreneurship education and technology transfer at the university.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 57 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2013

Mats A. Lundqvist and Karen L. Williams Middleton

Venture creation is often seen as the form of academic entrepreneurship least compatible with the role of university scientists. The purpose of the article is to explore the…

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Abstract

Purpose

Venture creation is often seen as the form of academic entrepreneurship least compatible with the role of university scientists. The purpose of the article is to explore the changing role of university scientists towards venture creation, and understand the influence of university‐driven initiatives for venture creation.

Design/methodology/approach

The article is based on a qualitative study of two venture creation cases: one from a US university, and one building from two universities in Sweden. The cases and associated university environments were selected due to their venture creation activity. University venture creation data of the three universities complements the cases.

Findings

Venture creation at universities can be more compatible with the traditional role of the university scientist. Centers and laboratories concerned with entrepreneurship and action‐based education are identified as key university resources allowing university scientists to engage in venture creation in more compatible ways, and not having to become the lead venture creator.

Research limitations/implications

The study underlying the article is limited to three university environments (in two countries) where venture creation activity is relatively frequent.

Originality/value

The article shows that venture creation can be more compatible with the role of the university scientist due to more collective entrepreneurial activity at universities. Furthermore, university scientists, in synergizing between different entrepreneurial roles, are important for venture creation without taking the lead venture entrepreneur role. Involving students in venture creation together with scientists is proposed as one such important entrepreneurial role that has not previously been recognized.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 November 2017

Karen A. Murdock and Claus J. Varnes

The purpose of this paper is to show that the entrepreneurial project ongoingly is transformed. Empirically, three defining junctions demonstrate the malleability of the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show that the entrepreneurial project ongoingly is transformed. Empirically, three defining junctions demonstrate the malleability of the entrepreneurial project in perpetual action, expanding beyond effectuation theory on what constitutes given means, affordable loss, and other key concepts from this theoretical perspective. Drawing upon actor-network theory (ANT), this study demonstrates how different framing and support devices implicate different human and non-human actors in changing interpositions within the entrepreneurial process.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a longitudinal case study design. The case provides an overview of a new business’s emergence based on three identified translations, each representing critical junctures in the business’s development. An ethnographic approach is selected, which combines observations with qualitative interviews. This design allows the authors to focus on how the project emerges and is continuously supported by allies but is sometimes not supported by various human and non-human actors.

Findings

This study demonstrates that the entrepreneurial project undertaken by the entrepreneurial network changes as new humans or non-humans become part of it. Including a resource in the network means simultaneously changing the network. This interactionism shows that what sparks interest or attracts resources to a business idea is not simply an influx of additional resources but is simultaneously a dynamic definition of the entrepreneurial endeavour.

Originality/value

This paper examines how ideas are transformed into business ventures by using the ANT to expand understanding from effectuation theory. This shows that means, for instance, are not given but are co-created by the process of translation. In addition, which losses are affordable can be determined by the process within which the entrepreneur frames the project and manages to associate allies within and into the network.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 24 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2016

Martin Lackéus, Mats Lundqvist and Karen Williams Middleton

The purpose of this paper is to use entrepreneurship to bridge the traditional-progressive education rift.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use entrepreneurship to bridge the traditional-progressive education rift.

Design/methodology/approach

The rift between traditional and progressive education is first deconstructed into five dualisms. Conceptual question-based analysis is then applied to determine if and how three entrepreneurial tools could contribute to bridging this rift; effectuation, customer development and appreciative inquiry. Finally, pattern-based generalizations are drawn from this analysis.

Findings

Patterns in the analysis motivate the articulation of an overarching educational philosophy – learning-through-creating-value-for-others – grounded in entrepreneurship and capable of bridging the educational rift.

Research limitations/implications

Only three entrepreneurial tools are included in the conceptual analysis, signifying a need to explore whether other tools could also help teachers bridge the traditional-progressive education rift. Entrepreneurial tools and the new educational philosophy manifesting entrepreneurship could also need to be further contextualized in order to be useful in education.

Practical implications

The tentatively new educational philosophy has been shown to be capable of bridging five dualisms in education which are currently problematic for teachers in their daily practice, and to remedy teacher challenges such as complexity, lack of resources, assessment difficulties and student disengagement.

Originality/value

An educational philosophy grounded in entrepreneurship has arguably not been proposed previously. Contrasting existent educational philosophies, this new philosophy goes beyond learning-through to also emphasize creating-value-for-others. This could facilitate bridging between traditional and progressive education, one of the most important challenges in education. It could also be used to facilitate the infusion of entrepreneurship into general education.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 22 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2006

Karen Becker, Paul Hyland and Bruce Acutt

The purpose of this paper is to explore the level of consideration given to unlearning during human resource development interventions and to identify the methods being used to…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the level of consideration given to unlearning during human resource development interventions and to identify the methods being used to reinforce training and development.

Design/methodology/approach

A self‐administered questionnaire was given to a convenience sample of employers in regional Queensland and the Northern Territory, Australia. Analysis of responses using descriptive statistics was conducted to identify whether approaches differed in relation to unlearning and reinforcement between large and small organisations, and between those with high labour turnover and those with low labour turnover.

Findings

Results reveal that larger organisations give far more consideration to unlearning than smaller organisations. Those organisations with high labour turnover focus less on unlearning that those with a more stable workforce. Coaching and performance feedback were reported as the most commonly used method of reinforcement of learning and unlearning.

Research limitations/implications

Low response rates mean that results are not statistically generalisable. Owing to the regional location of respondents there may be differences in findings in large metropolitan centres.

Practical implications

Reinforces to practitioners the need to consider unlearning, and also indicates a need for further research in this area. From a managerial perspective the results show that managers need to employ a range of tools and techniques to ensure unlearning can occur.

Originality/value

This paper reports on a study examining unlearning; and begins to address the lack of empirical research on this important concept.

Details

Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 30 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0590

Keywords

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