Early Incorporation of Entrepreneurship Mindset in An Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

In the study herein aimed at incorporating the entrepreneurship mindset early on in the engineering curriculum of undergraduate students via a final project of an introductory programming course with MATLAB. Students were asked to find a need on campus, in the society, or in the market with a business potential and write a standalone application to solve that problem. Prior to the start of project, students were required to study an online module developed by KEEN on generating new ideas in which they learned the definitions and differences between an idea and an opportunity, and different methods of recognizing business opportunities, followed by online quizzes. The study found that students were interested in learning about entrepreneurship and using the technical skills learned in class to solve a real-world problem with potential business opportunities; they enjoyed the course material more and it reinforced their learning of previous topics; and more importantly, it attracted students’ attentions toward self-employment. Pre- and post-assessment of creative thinking using standard AACU rubrics also showed a significant increase in the levels of students’ creative thinking skills due to participation in this project