Collaborative Research: Assessing Technical Entrepreneurship Learning in Engineering Education

这个项目是匹兹堡大学和国家大学发明家和创新者联盟（NCIIA）的合作项目，是在之前研究工程项目中企业家精神的教学和学习的基础上建立起来的，并定义了衡量企业家知识和思维变化的方法。调查人员正在进行一项全国性的研究，以确定全美330所工程学院的创业教育状况，并利用聚类算法确定类似的方法。具体来说，他们正在收集关于创业的项目和课程，其他课外创业学习机会和资源，以及在每种情况下催化创业教育的个人的信息。根据这些数据，他们选择了30至35所学校的代表性样本，并对学生在涉及创业和相关主题的高级工程课程中的学习情况进行了深入的跨机构分析。在此过程中，他们正在管理两种评估工具，这两种工具是在单独的资助下开发的：一种是知识清单，用于衡量自我报告对创业概念和术语的熟悉程度；另一种是创业“心态”指标，用于评估学生对基于工程的创业案例的书面反应。通过统计和建模工作，他们将学生的成果直接映射到教学实践和机构特征上。根据这些结果，他们正在为教学、项目开发和评估方面的最佳实践制定指导方针。在独立评估人的领导下，该项目利用专家对仪器和方案的分析、数据建模、研讨会参与和调查数据进行形成性和总结性评估。成果通过NCIIA的网络在工程领域有影响力的教师和企业家领袖、通过期刊出版物、通过工程教育和企业家听众的会议报告以及通过教师讲习班进行传播。更广泛的影响包括传播结果、工具和协议，特别是通过教师研讨会和NCIIA网络，并通过帮助满足行业对具有创业技能的工程师的需求。

Engineering - Other (59)The project, a collaborative effort between the University of Pittsburgh and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA), is building on previous work to investigate the teaching and learning of entrepreneurship in engineering programs and defining ways to measure changes in entrepreneurial knowledge and thinking. The investigators are conducting a nationwide study to determine the status of entrepreneurship education in 330 engineering schools across the U.S. and to identify similar types of approaches using a clustering algorithm. Specifically, they are collecting information on programs and courses in entrepreneurship, other extracurricular learning opportunities and resources for entrepreneurship, and the individuals catalyzing entrepreneurship education in each context. With this data they are selecting a representative sample of 30 to 35 schools and performing an in-depth cross-institutional analysis of students' learning in upper-level engineering courses that address entrepreneurship and related topics. In doing this, they are administering two assessment instruments that have been developed under separate funding: a knowledge inventory that measures self-reported familiarity with entrepreneurial concepts and terms and an entrepreneurial "mindset" rubric that appraises students' written responses to engineering-based entrepreneurship cases. Through statistical and modeling efforts, they are mapping student outcomes directly to teaching practices and institutional characteristics. With these results, they are developing guidelines for best practices in teaching, program development, and assessment. Under the leadership of an independent evaluator, the project is using expert analysis of the instruments and protocols, data modeling, and workshop participation and survey data to conduct formative and summative evaluation. Results are being disseminated through influential faculty and entrepreneurial leaders in engineering using NCIIA's network, through journal publications, through conference presentations for engineering education and entrepreneurial audiences, and through faculty workshops. Broader impacts include the dissemination of the results and the instruments and protocols, especially through faculty workshops and the NCIIA network, and by helping to meet a need in industry for engineers with entrepreneurial skills.