Moving Beyond Electives: Bringing Entrepreneurship Education to Engineering Technology Students

About This Grant

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Level 1 Implementation and Evaluation project at New Jersey Institute of Technology aims to provide critical skills to undergraduate students in engineering technology. The project will integrate entrepreneurial education modules into MET103: Graphics and Computer Aided Design, a first-year course taken by all engineering technology students. An entrepreneurial mindset and skill set will allow students to bring a translational perspective to their degree program and entry into the STEM workforce. Students will be engaged to co-develop the project modules, which will strengthen the connection of the course materials to students' authentic perspectives and interests. Modules will be revised and improved over several iterations as part of their integration into MET103. Building student understanding of the challenges and opportunities in developing a business has potential to magnify the creativity of the next generation of STEM professionals. The goals of this project are: (1) examine engineering technology students' perspectives/experiences regarding entrepreneurial motivation; (2) co-develop entrepreneurial modules with students; (3) iteratively integrate modules into MET103; and (4) conduct a mixed methods study of student attitudes before and after utilizing the project modules in MET103. The project will investigate the impact of the modules on the entrepreneurial mindset and self-efficacy of participating students. Data streams include surveys and semi-structured focus groups with a "think-aloud" aspect to capture more complicated student thinking. The project will be evaluated by an independent evaluator to assess progress towards stated goals. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and increase capacity to engage in the development and implementation of innovations to improve STEM teaching and learning at HSIs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.