Resumen de Investigating entrepreneurship program models in undergraduate engineering education
Shannon K. Gilmartin, Angela Shartrand, Helen L. Chen, Carolyn Estrada, Sheri Sheppard
Major private and government organizations in the U.S. are promoting entrepreneurship education for undergraduatestudents, including engineers. Different configurations of entrepreneurship learning opportunities have emerged, not allwithin or in partnership with schools of business. There is some uncertainty about how entrepreneurship programstargeted to engineers are structured, with what purpose and pedagogical approaches. This study is designed to addressuncertainty about entrepreneurship learning opportunities for undergraduate engineers and examine facets of formalengineering entrepreneurship programs. Our study considers the histories, missions, and pedagogies of these programs.We conducted in-depth interviews with program directors at 12 entrepreneurship programs across the U.S., and thencoded the interview transcripts in a two-stage, collaborative process. Our findings show that entrepreneurship programsfor engineers often are designed to provide business education in light of otherwise limited opportunities for formal,classroom-based business and entrepreneurship learning. Student demand is key to program growth; available facultyresources canpose a challenge. Programs vary in terms of goals aroundventure creation,types of interactions withstudentsfrom other disciplines, and even how ‘‘entrepreneurship’’ itself is defined. Pedagogical features include experientiallearning andhands-on activities, and self-directed learningenvironments that promote tolerancefor ambiguity and failure.Implications for assessment of student outcomes, new program development, educational research, and engineeringeducation as a whole are discussed.
