Abstract
After decades of decreasing long-term job security and ongoing global economic crises, attention on and interest in entrepreneurship have significantly increased among Gen Y and Gen Z students in higher education institutions around the world. The pedagogical potential of work-integrated learning (WIL) and the increased offering of entrepreneurship programs in higher education intersect in a field referred to as entrepreneurial WIL (EWIL). This field, where WIL pedagogy is applied to deliver the learning outcomes of entrepreneurship education, is discussed here. The unique features and associated challenges that EWIL presents, particularly when compared with traditional forms of WIL experiences, are also examined, from the framework of a case study conducted on an internship-based course offered in a Canadian university. This chapter contributes to an understanding of the various factors that should be considered when developing novel EWIL programs in higher education institutions.
TopIntroduction
In this chapter, WIL in the context of entrepreneurship education is presented in the form of a case study based on the authors’ experience, analyzing a specific modality of WIL, which henceforth will be referred to as Entrepreneurial Work-Integrated Learning (EWIL). It is then followed by a detailed analysis of how the theory of experiential education and WIL pedagogy manifests itself in relation to the intersection with entrepreneurship education for the purpose of teaching about and through entrepreneurship, specifically with respect to the engagement of students with authentic entrepreneurial activities to acquire knowledge about entrepreneurship. Various features of EWIL are discussed, as well as inherent challenges that present themselves when using EWIL pedagogy.
Entrepreneurship has become prominent in conversations relating to economic growth (Galvão et al., 2017), and more recently, economic recovery (Maritz et al., 2020). With the boom in entrepreneurial activities seen in the last few decades, entrepreneurship is considered vital for economic growth for two main reasons. First, entrepreneurship plays a significant role in job creation. In the United States alone, hundreds of thousands of jobs are created every year due to entrepreneurial activities. Second, entrepreneurship is the driving force of innovation and technological advancement (Kuratko, 2005). Since entrepreneurship and economic activities positively affect each other (Galindo & Méndez, 2014), entrepreneurship plays an important role in shaping public policies (Henrekson & Stenkula, 2009). Incentives encouraging and promoting entrepreneurship are offered by governments around the world and range from tax breaks and low-interest loans to dedicated immigration programs and grants (Acs et al., 2016).
Moreover, the disappearance of life-long careers, which was the norm for baby boomers and Gen X, has resulted in a more precarious job market for Gen Z and Y. As a result, Kuratko (2005) noted that the “younger generation of the 21st century is becoming the most entrepreneurial generation since the Industrial Revolution” (p. 578). In response to the mentioned societal changes, higher education institutions worldwide have introduced an increasingly diverse offering of entrepreneurship educational programs, both curricular and extra-curricular. In this chapter, Work-Integrated Learning pedagogy is presented and its capacity to deliver entrepreneurship education’s learning objectives is analyzed using a case study.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Supervisor: A designated individual who has authority over a subordinate, student, or employee, as it relates to professional activities.
Entrepreneurial Skills: The skills that are considered to be positively correlated with successful entrepreneurial activities by entrepreneurs.
Incubation: The affordance of support in the form of space and/or administrative services to entrepreneurs in the early stages of creating startup companies. Also typically includes dedicated mentorship and training services.
Startup: A business in its early stages as it explores a reliable and scalable business model through successive experimentation.
Experiential Education: A theory of learning that is founded on the idea that students’ lived experience forms an integral part of the process of learning and construction of knowledge.
Entrepreneurship: The pursuit of identifying and fulfilling a need to a significant large target group through the creation of an organizational structure.
Work-Integrated Learning: A pedagogical practice that purposefully situates students in authentic or simulated work environments to support the students’ learning process.
Entrepreneurial Work-Integrated Learning (EWIL): Work integrated learning in the context of entrepreneurial education.
Self-Directed EWIL: Students participating in EWIL programs “as entrepreneurs” where they come up with their own ideas for a product or service and are then expected to invest their time and effort in pursuing this idea through various “entrepreneurial activities.”
Supervised EWIL: Students participating in EWIL programs, as ‘the trainee’ as they fulfill specific functionalities within an entrepreneurial work environment to benefit the placement partner, which is an early-stage startup.
Reflection: The practice of sense making through examination of past experiences and their meaning as it relates to an individual’s understanding of themselves.