The Engineering Entrepreneurship (E-SHIP) minor at The Pennsylvania State University was created in 2001 in the College of Engineering with a grant from General Electric and with collaboration from the Smeal College of Business and the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST). The paper describes the minor and provide information about the assessment to date.
The E-SHIP minor is comprised of four core courses including Entrepreneurial Leadership, E-Ship Business Basics (for engineering students) or Introduction to Engineering Design Principles (for business and IST students), Technology-Based Entrepreneurship, and E-Ship and New Product Development. All classes are taught by faculty members who have experience in venture creation. The faculty members are encouraged to use problem-based learning methods, stressing teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration. Additionally, students who enroll in the minor are exposed to a variety of components including a speaker series, a “venture fund” for student teams, venture competitions, and collaborations with local and university researchers.
A series of four research questions were used to guide the assessment of the minor. These questions are as follows:
In order to answer the above questions, a mixed-methods approach consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data collection was used to allow for a more pragmatic and powerful assessment. A total of twelve focus groups comprised of students enrolled in the core courses provided rich data on the perceived benefits of the minor. Additionally, an online survey consisting of various rating scales measuring self-efficacy and leadership beliefs was administered to all students who enrolled in the core courses as well as a small comparison group. Other data collected included pre- and post-tests of content knowledge.
Given the difficulty of measuring the constructs in the questions guiding assessment, the quantitative data from the survey failed to support any statistically significant differences between the comparison group and the students in the minor. However, the qualitative data from the focus groups and the pre- and post-tests provided support that the minor was having a beneficial impact on the students, including self-perceived improvements in creative thinking, presentation skills, and seeing the connections to other disciplines.
The lessons learned from the development and assessment of the E-SHIP minor are as follows: