Creating Curriculum Within the Context of an Enterprise
7.2 Curricular Models and Instructional Design Education
7.2.3 Entrepreneurship in Education
As predicted by Bridges ( 1994 ), the idea of job security belongs to the past.
Contemporary workers operate in a different paradigm in which they must view their career as an enterprise that requires a vision and careful planning. Following similar reasoning, Zhao ( 2012 ) defi nes an entrepreneur as “someone who creates a job
Fig. 7.1 Experiential learning cycle
or employment for him or herself” (p. 77). Globalization and the digital revolution have allowed people to engage in low-risk start-ups. College and university gradu- ates are no longer expected to put all their time and effort toward moving up the corporate ladder in a single company during the span of their entire career. Much to the contrary, they are experiencing different career paths in different organizations including, in all likelihood, a company of their own.
As mentioned above, higher education has been the center of many criticisms.
Critics argue that there is a need to create programs with extensive practical prepa- ration intertwined with coursework (Darling-Hammond, 2000 ) and to “rethink the relationship between theory and practice” (Korthagen & Kessels, 1999 , p. 4). It is further argued that bringing entrepreneurial skills and competencies (e.g., identify an opportunity, develop a business concept, assess the required resources, acquire the necessary resources, implement and manage, and harvest the venture) to higher education is one strategy for overcoming these criticisms.
Early writings on entrepreneurial mindset defi ne entrepreneurship as “the pro- cess of creating value by bringing together a unique package of resources to exploit an opportunity” (Stevenson, Roberts, & Grousbeck, 1989 , p. 28). Timmons ( 1989 ) defi nes entrepreneurship as “the ability to create and build something from practi- cally nothing. It is initiating, doing, achieving, and building an enterprise or organi- zation, rather than just watching, analyzing or describing one” (p. 1). Timmons ( 1989 ) goes further by explaining that entrepreneurs use failure as a tool for learn- ing and trade perfection for effectiveness. They go after an opportunity indepen- dently of the resources they actually control. Entrepreneurs’ approaches are often driven by minimum, rather than maximum, resources, driving them to be innovative when proposing solutions to problems.
Martin and Osberg ( 2007 ) explain that entrepreneurship “describes the combina- tion of a context in which an opportunity is situated, a set of personal characteristics required to identify and pursue this opportunity, and the creation of a particular outcome” (p. 31). More simply, being entrepreneurial means recognizing an oppor- tunity and taking conscious action to leverage that opportunity. A critical element of an entrepreneurial mindset is acting on ideas. Since entrepreneurism is a learned skill, universities should “play a vital role in encouraging and providing opportuni- ties for enterprise to fl ourish” (Smith, 2008 , p. 714).
Entrepreneurial capabilities . Morris’ ( 1998 ) work is used to frame the entrepre- neurial skills and competencies to be integrated into higher education in general and instructional design education in particular (Correia, Niehm, & Yusop, 2010 ). Here is the specifi c competency set selected for that:
• Opportunity recognition—the ability to perceive and act upon opportunities in the environment that others do not see; developing a set of skills that can be used to differentiate between an idea and an opportunity.
• Opportunity evaluation—the ability to use processes to evaluate an opportunity (e.g., feasibility analysis, market analysis) for the purpose of deciding whether to pursue the opportunity.
• Innovation—creating new or novel ideas, offerings, processes, in unique combinations.
• Creative problem solving—the ability to examine standard situations or prob- lems in new ways.
• Mitigating risk—being a calculated risk-taker; managing risk.
• Thinking and acting as a guerrilla—taking unconventional approaches to exam- ining problems and developing solutions.
• Resource leveraging—the ability to assess and acquire necessary resources and use them in a way that maximizes their value.
• Managing ambiguity and uncertainty—the ability to be comfortable addressing problems in loose and ambiguous contexts.
• Implementing change—the ability to create and manage change.
• Building a plan for an innovative concept—the capacity to create and build something from practically nothing.
Even though globalization and the digital revolution have allowed ordinary peo- ple to become entrepreneurs, the change to an entrepreneurial mindset is quite slow (Zhao, 2012 ). The rise of an entrepreneurial mindset, meaning “a critical mix of success-oriented attitudes of initiative, intelligent risk-taking, collaboration, and opportunity recognition” (Aspen Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy Group, 2008 , p. 5), depends on better involving young people in their own education. Starting in elementary schools, students can strengthen connections among communities, busi- nesses, and schools by involving their parents and taking initiatives to better their communities (e.g., leading a book drive or exhibiting their inventions/projects).
Creating educational experiences that cultivate this entrepreneurial mindset will increase education’s commitment to entrepreneurship and the development of entre- preneurial capabilities.
Entrepreneurial mindset and instructional design . When identifying instructional strategies to meet learners’ needs, instructional designers often evaluate opportuni- ties; they take risks, tap into networks, and expect a return on their time and effort by seeing learners’ cognitive and affective growth. Novice instructional designers need to learn how to evaluate opportunities as they set out in an ill- structured and highly demanding profession. Being comfortable addressing problems in loose and ambiguous contexts is one of the most valuable lessons a new instructional designer can learn. Needless to say, the need to deal with change and solve problems cre- atively are constant demands in the instructional design fi eld. This makes the fi eld of instructional design an exceptional area in which to foster an entrepreneurial mindset. With this in mind, at Iowa State University, a service center named Learning Design Solutions ( http://www.ctlt.iastate.edu/learnds ) was created. This center was created as an “embedded enterprise,” meaning an organization that is fi nancially independent, but solidly rooted in the university and its entrepreneurial initiatives. Learning Design Solutions aims at developing entrepreneurial capabili- ties among its members and collaborators. For example, after an on-campus tornado threat, student consultants contacted the county’s emergency management agency
and proposed developing materials to educate college students to prepare, respond, and recover from a severe weather situation.
Other entrepreneurial experiences in instructional design have been reported in the U.S., such as those conducted at Indiana University. This institution has imple- mented a multitude of educational technology projects with real-world applications developed by the Instructional Systems Technology department. In addition, David Merrill’s team at Utah State University has been working on educational materials targeting entrepreneurial education (e.g., Mendenhall et al., 2006 ). However, what makes the case of Learning Design Solutions unique is its self-sustaining nature and the conscious and active embedding of entrepreneurial principles and practices within its instructional design practices. When student members graduate and leave the organization, they are ready to explore a multitude of career paths that would not be recognized if they had not been exposed to the rich experiences provided by Learning Design Solutions .
Similar enterprises have also been identifi ed across the U.S., mainly among stu- dents in business and management (e.g., Valdosta State University) (Plumly et al., 2008 ). Utah State University has started up a somewhat similar enterprise to Learning Design Solutions . It began as an educational technology consulting fi rm out of the department of Instructional Technology & Learning Sciences under David Merrill’s supervision. It is now a well-established venture in Logan, Utah, known as Letterpress Software, Inc. ( http://www.lpsoftware.com ).
Entrepreneurship in education, or edupreneurism , is a growing movement and is expected to expand along with Open Source and DIY activities in higher education.
Because Learning Design Solutions is housed in the university’s School of Education, which has not historically been involved in entrepreneurial activities, it also serves as an important vehicle for implementing the university’s vision of entrepreneurship and engagement in campus-wide entrepreneurial initiatives. It also models entrepreneurship education and innovative thinking for other academic units. A detailed account on how to create and sustain an enterprise-based curricu- lum represented by Learning Design Solutions is offered in the next section.