Entrepreneurial Vision Module: Lessons from the Pandemic Academic Article in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021According to a study recently published by the Observatory of Educational Innovation of the Tecnologico de Monterrey and the Inter-American Development Bank, in universities with a virtual approach before the COVID-19 pandemic, only 19% of the programs focused on distance education and 16% used hybrid formats (blended learning). The same document indicates that 1.4 million higher education instructors suddenly switched to an emergency remote teaching environment to give continuity to the educational processes. The purpose of this work is to share the design and main results obtained after implementing a four-week "Entrepreneurial Vision" module within the curricular program of the School of Engineering bachelor's degrees of a large private university in Chile during the first semester of the academic year 2020. During that semester, education changed from experiential face-to-face teaching to synchronous virtual education. In the presented model, we had to reflect on how sessions should be structured to teach content. The Module's design objective was to have the possibility of bringing the value of the face-to-face experience -focused on active methods from the constructivist educational paradigm- to the virtual world. Besides, we had to maintain the expected learning levels and make them significant. To analyze the students' perception of the Module's success, we administered an instrument already used before. The tool consisted of a Likert scale questionnaire. We administered the instrument at the end of the Module to 894 students from 16 groups of eight different undergraduate programs. Evidence demonstrates a highly positive reception of students towards the activities implemented. There was also favorable perception of the means and less with tools available for learning experiences. Students agreed that learning focused on achieving understanding and practical application of the entrepreneurial approach concepts. We concluded that it is possible to bring a structured experiential learning experience to a 100% virtual teaching format. In the presented model, we had to reflect more on 'how' sessions should be structured to teach contents rather than 'what' to teach and design participatory activities with proper and timely guidance from instructors.

publication date

  • July 26, 2021