The Future of Education
The Use of Innovative Tools for Teaching Entrepreneurship
Elisa Baraibar-Diez, University of Cantabria (Spain)
María Odriozola, University of Cantabria (Spain)
Ignacio Llorente, University of Cantabria (Spain)
José Luis Fernández Sánchez, University of Cantabria (Spain)
Abstract
The challenge of developing an “entrepreneurial mindset” exists in our courses of “Creation of Companies and Family Business” and “Setting Up Businesses” in the University of Cantabria. Especially when our students have different backgrounds (Business Administration Degree, Economics Degree, Labour Relations Degree, Erasmus students with several experiences and contexts…) and different future plans: only a few of them want to set up a company after finishing the degree. The question that arises is: How do we balance such a diverse audience?
Fortunately, there is available today a very broad compendium of pedagogies to teach entrepreneurship, given that it is a subject that is being promoted not only nationally but also at a European level. The use of different methodologies allows adapting the learning tools to the information we want to teach, so that advantages are clear. First, we consider that students are going to have a better follow-up of the course, acquiring different skills and abilities (teamwork, effective communication, better reading and summarizing skills), and they are going to be more motivated and engaged. Secondly, the use of different methodologies generates a greater dynamism in the classroom.
These are the methodologies we use in our courses: cooperative learning (students need to develop a business plan), jigsaw technique (increasing the reading comprehension and the ability to sum up), test of products or services (each team-member need to explain their project to other groups), entrepreneur fair (promoting the ability to attract customers), elevator pitch (promoting the ability to summarize and communicate the project), use of storytelling (promoting the knowledge of new attractive communication techniques) and social media (promoting and encouraging participation and networking).
It is precisely the combination of these methodologies, adapting them to the learning objectives, which favours the success of teaching entrepreneurship.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Teaching Entrepreneurship, Innovative teaching.
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