Entrepreneurial Learning and Entrepreneurship Education

ECTS credits: 7.5
Level of course: Ph.D. course
Type of course: NORSI partner course
Elective for students in business or other social science disciplines studying entrepreneurship and innovation for their PhD.

Faculty responsible

Nord University Business School, Norway, is the institutional course organizer, in cooperation with NTNU. The course is offered by Engage – Centre for Engaged Education through entrepreneurship, and supported by Norwegian Research School on Innovation, NORSI.

Registration and Nord University course website

Language: English.

Teaching Faculty

Professor Andrew Corbett, Babson College, USA
Associate Professor Diamanto Politis, Lund University, Sweden
Professor Helle Neergaard, Aarhus University, Denmark
Associate Professor Karen Williams Middleton, Sweden
Associate Professor Siri Terjesen, American University, USA
Professor Gry Agnete Alsos, Nord University Business School
Professor Roger Sørheim, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Administrative coordinator: Grete Ingemann Knudsen, Nord University Business School
Course responsible person: Gry Agnete Alsos, Nord University Business School

Deadlines

15 February 2018 Registration deadline
2 Mars 2018 Delivery of paper idea (2-4 pages)
15 May 2018 Delivery of complete draft paper
30 June 2018 Delivery of full course paper

Costs

The course is free for candidates admitted to the NORSI program or part of Engage.
Other candidates should pay a course fee of: 1000,- NOK

Accommodation

Accommodation in Bodø might be hard to find this week due to other large events. We have therefore pre-booked rooms at Clarion Collection Grand Hotel Bodø. Those of you needing accommodation and want to use this offer, please send an email to Inger.l.wassmo@nord.no. She will help you make the reservation.

Pre-course delivery

During the course, some time will be set aside for discussion of each of the participants’ paper idea in smaller groups, joined by one of the faculty members. To accommodate this discussion, registered participants shall submit a paper idea of 2-3 pages (introduction, research question, initial thoughts on theory/literature). The paper idea should be related to the course topic (entrepreneurial learning and/or entrepreneurship education), and should preferably also be aligned with your dissertation topic. You will be asked to read and comment upon some of the other student’s paper ideas. Submission deadline: 2 March 2018. Send by email to Gry A. Aslso, Nord University.

Course Evaluation

The PhD course will be evaluated by the participants in the last session. In addition, an online survey will be implemented asking for feedback on the course, including how it can be improved.

Course content

This course is designed for PhD candidates doing research within entrepreneurial learning in education, business and societal contexts, as well as entrepreneurship education programs. Students will become familiar with theories of learning relevant to entrepreneurial settings and entrepreneurship education. Students will gain knowledge on antecedents to entrepreneurial learning, learning processes and effects of learning, cognition and signaling. Further, issues on entrepreneurship education will include the content of entrepreneurship education, the process of teaching entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurship education can be evaluated and measured. Other topics will be the role of co-curricular learning, teaching to groups vs. individuals and the challenges of entrepreneurship education.

During the course students participate in plenary sessions, smaller group sessions where they present and receive feedback on their own work, and contribute to the discussion of their peer students’ work. The plenary sessions will include questions and dialogue and there will be good opportunities for informal discussions among participants and faculty.

Themes covered in the course include:
• Antecedents, processes and consequences of entrepreneurial learning
• Theoretical foundations of entrepreneurial learning
• Learning from failure in entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurial learning as basis for understanding entrepreneurship education
• Measuring effects of entrepreneurship education
• The role of co-curricular learning
• The role of co-curricular activities for entrepreneurial universities
• Methodical challenges in research on entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education
• Publishing research on entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing the course, the participants will:

Knowledge
• Have a good understanding of the forefront of knowledge on entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education, including current debates and state-of-the-art, and be able to evaluate their expediency related to specific research questions
• Have an understanding of the theoretical foundations for entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education research
• Have an understanding of methodical challenges in research on entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education
• Have a good understanding of knowledge gaps and central debates related to entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education, and be able to assess how they relate to their own PhD work

Skills
• Be able to critically discuss, evaluate and position own research with the various theoretical perspectives related to entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship pedagogy and relate them to their own Ph.D. work.
• Be able to evaluate and critique research on entrepreneurial learning and/or entrepreneurship education and suggest and apply future research to develop the research area further

General competence
• Have increased their ability to reflect on and consider theoretical problems in a general sense in research
• Have increased their ability to communicate (in writing and orally) problems, analyses, and results to colleagues, including contributing in academic debates in conferences

Prerequisites
Admitted to a PhD program or have the qualifications to be admitted to a PhD program.

Recommended previous knowledge
Basic overview of entrepreneurship research literature and core topics and debates in general.

Mode of delivery
Face-to-face lectures and group discussions with student involvement

Organization and learning activities
This is an intensive course of one week with individual study required prior to and after the meeting. There will also be a follow-up seminar focusing on reflections on course paper drafts for two days (lunch-to-lunch). The course integrates lectures by experts in the field and discussions of the course literature by the participants. Students are supposed to present and participate in exercises individually and in groups.

Assessment methods and criteria
Active participation in the form of presentations and discussions (written and oral) on selected articles during the course week is compulsory. The individual draft research paper delivered before, and the full paper (15-25 pages, 1.5 line space) delivered after the course week will be evaluated by the grades ‘passed’ or ‘non-passed’.

Required readings

A list of scientific articles will be provided prior to course start

Date & Location

Start date: 12/04/2018
Date physical: 12-16 March 2018 (participation required) + 30-31 May 2018 (optional)
Location: Bodø (March) and Kjerringøy (May)