Work in Progress: A Mixed-method Longitudinal Study to Assess Mindset Development in an Entrepreneurial Engineering Curriculum

Heidi Morano; Susan Henson; Matthew L. Cole

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Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: ENT Division Technical Session: EM Across the Curriculum I
Tagged Division: Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation
Page Count: 18
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--35596
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/35596
Download Count: 515

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Paper Authors

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Heidi Morano Lawrence Technological University

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Graduated from U of Michigan 1995 with a Masters in Engineering - Applied Mechanics.
Taught as an adjunct instructor in the ME department at Lawrence Technological University for 11 years.
Hired in 2015 as full-time as a Project Engineer (with teaching responsibilities) for the Studio for Entrepreneurial Engineering Design.
Promoted in 2018 to Director of Entrepreneurial Engineering Design Curriculum.

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Susan Henson Lawrence Technological University

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S. Henson's career includes working as a chemist, finishing engineer, and materials scientist. In this respect, her expertise focused on material analysis and selection. After obtaining her Masters in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), she went on to teach GIS to civil engineering students at Lawrence Technological University. After training in entrepreneurial engineering, she began teaching Fundamentals of Engineering Design Projects. She also acted as the civil engineering capstone coordinator. She is now a project engineer working in the Entrepreneurial Engineering Design Curriculum.

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Matthew L. Cole Lawrence Technological University

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Dr. Matthew Cole is a tenured Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Marketing, College of Management, Lawrence Technological University. He is Chair of the Institutional Review Board, and Co-Chair of the Research Support Services Committee at Lawrence Tech. Dr. Cole teaches Business Statistics, Research Design-Quantitative Methods, Principles of Management, and Organization Development and Macro Change Theory. He received his Ph.D. in Cognitive and Social Psychology across the Lifespan (CaSPaL) from Wayne State University (Detroit, Mich.), where he conducted research on longitudinal growth modeling of risk behaviors and perceptions among adolescents from the U.S. and Vietnam. Dr. Cole also holds an M.A. in Biopsychology from Wayne State University, and an M.S. in Clinical Behavioral Psychology from Eastern Michigan University. He conducts research on a Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results (SOAR)-based approach to strategic thinking, teamwork, and coaching. He is also interested in the neuroscience of mindfulness and strategic thinking. Consulting contracts include state and international organizations to provide coaching and workshops on the application of diversity, SOAR-based strategy, and teamwork to strategic planning, and organization development and change.

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Abstract

For many years, XXXXXXXX has been engaged in a campus wide effort to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in our engineering undergraduates. As part of this effort, we have intentionally created opportunities at all levels of our curriculum for students to practice an enterprising attitude. This entrepreneurial experience begins the freshman year with EGE 1001: Intro to Engineering Design Projects in which students are introduced to the engineering design process through collaborative, team-based design projects. A tolerance for ambiguity and social awareness is emphasized. The sophomore-level course EGE 2123: Entrepreneurial Engineering Design Studio, builds upon this foundation of entrepreneurially-minded learning. These students are engaged in a semester-long team design project where the students identify opportunities for design within a theme, engage real customers outside the classroom, and design and build a working prototype that creates value for these customers. At the junior level, this entrepreneurial thread is disseminated through project-based learning in multiple discipline-specific courses. Leadership, teamwork, and ethics are also explored in an interdisciplinary, active and collaborative learning- based course. Finally, this entrepreneurial thread culminates in the senior capstone experience in which students apply their engineering skillset while exercising their entrepreneurial mindset in a year-long, real-world design project. This paper describes the work done to determine the efficacy of the entrepreneurial engineering curriculum sequence relative to developing the entrepreneurially-minded engineer. Throughout the curriculum, the mindset of the students was formally assessed using a mixed method study with indirect and direct techniques.. The primary tools for accomplishing the indirect assessment include surveys, student interviews, and focus groups. Each tool relies on the students to self-assess their own perceived mindset development. These results, therefore, represent indirect assessments used to gather student feedback on their experiences or attitudes about their own personal learning experiences. Since indirect assessments are composed of student opinions or self-reports, a direct assessment tool was developed to lend validity to the interpretation of these indirect assessments. The direct assessment tool was also administered at each level of the curriculum. Indirect assessment surveys and interviews, as well as the direct assessment case studies have been completed, thus far. The preliminary results of this data will be reviewed, analyzed, and shared in this paper. Based on these results, the study itself will be evaluated for efficacy and potential future follow-up.

Citation
Format

Morano, H., & Henson, S., & Cole, M. L. (2020, June), Work in Progress: A Mixed-method Longitudinal Study to Assess Mindset Development in an Entrepreneurial Engineering Curriculum Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--35596

TY - CPAPER
AB - For many years, XXXXXXXX has been engaged in a campus wide effort to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in our engineering undergraduates. As part of this effort, we have intentionally created opportunities at all levels of our curriculum for students to practice an enterprising attitude. This entrepreneurial experience begins the freshman year with EGE 1001: Intro to Engineering Design Projects in which students are introduced to the engineering design process through collaborative, team-based design projects. A tolerance for ambiguity and social awareness is emphasized. The sophomore-level course EGE 2123: Entrepreneurial Engineering Design Studio, builds upon this foundation of entrepreneurially-minded learning. These students are engaged in a semester-long team design project where the students identify opportunities for design within a theme, engage real customers outside the classroom, and design and build a working prototype that creates value for these customers. At the junior level, this entrepreneurial thread is disseminated through project-based learning in multiple discipline-specific courses. Leadership, teamwork, and ethics are also explored in an interdisciplinary, active and collaborative learning- based course. Finally, this entrepreneurial thread culminates in the senior capstone experience in which students apply their engineering skillset while exercising their entrepreneurial mindset in a year-long, real-world design project.
This paper describes the work done to determine the efficacy of the entrepreneurial engineering curriculum sequence relative to developing the entrepreneurially-minded engineer. Throughout the curriculum, the mindset of the students was formally assessed using a mixed method study with indirect and direct techniques.. The primary tools for accomplishing the indirect assessment include surveys, student interviews, and focus groups. Each tool relies on the students to self-assess their own perceived mindset development. These results, therefore, represent indirect assessments used to gather student feedback on their experiences or attitudes about their own personal learning experiences. Since indirect assessments are composed of student opinions or self-reports, a direct assessment tool was developed to lend validity to the interpretation of these indirect assessments. The direct assessment tool was also administered at each level of the curriculum.
Indirect assessment surveys and interviews, as well as the direct assessment case studies have been completed, thus far. The preliminary results of this data will be reviewed, analyzed, and shared in this paper. Based on these results, the study itself will be evaluated for efficacy and potential future follow-up.

AU - Heidi Morano
AU - Susan Henson
AU - Matthew L. Cole
CY - Virtual On line
DA - 2020/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Work in Progress: A Mixed-method Longitudinal Study to Assess Mindset Development in an Entrepreneurial Engineering Curriculum
UR - https://peer.asee.org/35596
DO - 10.18260/1-2--35596
ER -