Work in progress: Creating micromoments to develop a student’s entrepreneurial mindset

Megan Morin; Richard Goldberg

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Faculty Development Division Poster Session
Page Count: 6
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41445
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41445
Download Count: 316

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Paper Authors

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Megan Morin University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Megan Morin graduated from the University of Dayton with a bachelor's degree in Middle Childhood Education before completing her Master's and Ph.D. at NC State in Engineering and Technology Education. Her previous work with NC State Education and Workforce Programs and as a Wake County middle school teacher has developed her research interests in engineering education programming, assessment, and teaching. Megan Morin currently leads faculty development and assessment in entrepreneurial-minded learning as the KEEN Program Coordinator in the department of applied physical sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill.

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Richard Goldberg University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Richard Goldberg is a Teaching Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill. He is developing a new interdisciplinary engineering minor and major at UNC. He is interested in integrating engineering with the liberal arts and an entrepreneurial mindset. He teaches a variety of classes for first year students, seniors, and everyone in between. His primary research interest is in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology for people with disabilities.

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Abstract

This is a Work in Progress (WIP) Paper.

Engineering programs aim to prepare students for their careers, including training students to be innovative and adapt to fast-changing professional environments. Many programs address this aim by adopting pedagogical approaches that promote inquiry and skill-based learning, such as entrepreneurial minded learning (EML) [1]. EML encourages students to think broadly to address engineering challenges. With the framework that was developed by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) [2], EML promotes curiosity, connections, and creating value strategies, known as the 3C’s. However, faculty may find it daunting to implement a new pedagogical technique such as EML in their classes. This is because many faculty members are underprepared for their instructional roles [3] and do not have sufficient support in their teaching [4]. At our institution, we created a faculty learning community (FLC) to provide them with the resources and coaching needed to implement EML [5].

EML is often associated with large scale project-based activities. These projects can be discouraging when first implementing EML because they require several weeks of class time, and faculty feel like they have less time to deliver content. Instead, as an initial step, we asked faculty to try small-scale EML activities that can be completed in 2-30 minutes. Our hypothesis is that these “micromoment activities” will help students develop their entrepreneurial mindset while requiring minimal preparation and class time. This will encourage faculty to become more comfortable and confident with this approach, which will help to sustain pedagogical change and encourage more extensive and frequent implementation. Most importantly, students will have more opportunities for engaging learning experiences to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. This paper describes our process for generating these examples of micromoment activities, including the dissemination and assessment.

We created 25 micromoment activities that incorporate the 3C’s and are adaptable to any course. First, we gathered ideas through EML resources and a variety of brainstorming sessions, including a one-hour virtual workshop coordinated by the KEEN network, with faculty attending from across the country. Then, we reviewed these activities to make appropriate revisions using a rubric as our guide before online dissemination. Each activity includes a description, an example of the implementation, activity tips, and other relevant resources from Engineering Unleashed. Finally, faculty participants piloted the micromoment activities and completed a post-survey following to improve the activities and understand the influence of these activities on their teaching.

The purpose of the micromoment activities is to provide faculty at both large and small institutions with a tool to encourage more sustainable and effective teaching practices. Ultimately, the goal is to prepare students to question, adapt, and recognize opportunities in addressing today’s biggest challenges [6].

[1] J. L. Gorlewicz and S. Jayaram, "Instilling Curiosity, Connections, and Creating Value in Entrepreneurial Minded Engineering: Concepts for a Course Sequence in Dynamics and Controls," Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, vol. 3, (1), pp. 60-85, 2020. [2] Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network: Engineering Unleashed. “The Framework” https://engineeringunleashed.com/framework (accessed October 10, 2021). [3] L. R. Lattuca, I. Bergom and D. B. Knight, "Professional Development, Departmental Contexts, and Use of Instructional Strategies," Journal of Engineering Education (Washington, D.C.), vol. 103, (4), pp. 549-572, 2014. [4] P. S. Ralston, T. R. Tretter and M. Kendall Brown, "Implementing Collaborative Learning across the Engineering Curriculum," The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, vol. 17, (3), pp.89-109, 2017. [5] M. Morin and R. Goldberg, “WIP: A Faculty Learning Community That Includes a Strong Support System to Promote Implementation of New Teaching Practices,” In 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference, 2021. [6] Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network: Engineering Unleashed. “The Entrepreneurial Mindset” https://engineeringunleashed.com/mindset (accessed October 10, 2021).

Citation
Format

Morin, M., & Goldberg, R. (2022, August), Work in progress: Creating micromoments to develop a student’s entrepreneurial mindset Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41445

TY - CPAPER
AB - This is a Work in Progress (WIP) Paper.

Engineering programs aim to prepare students for their careers, including training students to be innovative and adapt to fast-changing professional environments. Many programs address this aim by adopting pedagogical approaches that promote inquiry and skill-based learning, such as entrepreneurial minded learning (EML) [1]. EML encourages students to think broadly to address engineering challenges. With the framework that was developed by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) [2], EML promotes curiosity, connections, and creating value strategies, known as the 3C’s. However, faculty may find it daunting to implement a new pedagogical technique such as EML in their classes. This is because many faculty members are underprepared for their instructional roles [3] and do not have sufficient support in their teaching [4]. At our institution, we created a faculty learning community (FLC) to provide them with the resources and coaching needed to implement EML [5].

EML is often associated with large scale project-based activities. These projects can be discouraging when first implementing EML because they require several weeks of class time, and faculty feel like they have less time to deliver content. Instead, as an initial step, we asked faculty to try small-scale EML activities that can be completed in 2-30 minutes. Our hypothesis is that these “micromoment activities” will help students develop their entrepreneurial mindset while requiring minimal preparation and class time. This will encourage faculty to become more comfortable and confident with this approach, which will help to sustain pedagogical change and encourage more extensive and frequent implementation. Most importantly, students will have more opportunities for engaging learning experiences to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. This paper describes our process for generating these examples of micromoment activities, including the dissemination and assessment.

We created 25 micromoment activities that incorporate the 3C’s and are adaptable to any course. First, we gathered ideas through EML resources and a variety of brainstorming sessions, including a one-hour virtual workshop coordinated by the KEEN network, with faculty attending from across the country. Then, we reviewed these activities to make appropriate revisions using a rubric as our guide before online dissemination. Each activity includes a description, an example of the implementation, activity tips, and other relevant resources from Engineering Unleashed. Finally, faculty participants piloted the micromoment activities and completed a post-survey following to improve the activities and understand the influence of these activities on their teaching.

The purpose of the micromoment activities is to provide faculty at both large and small institutions with a tool to encourage more sustainable and effective teaching practices. Ultimately, the goal is to prepare students to question, adapt, and recognize opportunities in addressing today’s biggest challenges [6].

[1] J. L. Gorlewicz and S. Jayaram, "Instilling Curiosity, Connections, and Creating Value in Entrepreneurial Minded Engineering: Concepts for a Course Sequence in Dynamics and Controls," Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, vol. 3, (1), pp. 60-85, 2020.
[2] Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network: Engineering Unleashed. “The Framework” https://engineeringunleashed.com/framework (accessed October 10, 2021).
[3] L. R. Lattuca, I. Bergom and D. B. Knight, "Professional Development, Departmental Contexts, and Use of Instructional Strategies," Journal of Engineering Education (Washington, D.C.), vol. 103, (4), pp. 549-572, 2014.
[4] P. S. Ralston, T. R. Tretter and M. Kendall Brown, "Implementing Collaborative Learning across the Engineering Curriculum," The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, vol. 17, (3), pp.89-109, 2017.
[5] M. Morin and R. Goldberg, “WIP: A Faculty Learning Community That Includes a Strong Support System to Promote Implementation of New Teaching Practices,” In 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference, 2021.
[6] Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network: Engineering Unleashed. “The Entrepreneurial Mindset” https://engineeringunleashed.com/mindset (accessed October 10, 2021).
AU - Megan Morin
AU - Richard Goldberg
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Work in progress: Creating micromoments to develop a student’s entrepreneurial mindset
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41445
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41445
ER -