Delivering effective enterprise

education: the role of learning design

and technology

Professor Pauric McGowan

University of Ulster

Dr Richard Blundel

Dr Kristen Reid

The Open University

Introduction• Aim of the paper: To explore the role of learning design

and technology in delivering effective enterprise and entrepreneurship education in Northern Ireland.

• Structure of the presentation:

1. The vision, challenges and policy context

2. New insights from learning design and technology

3. Implications for policy and practice

1. The vision, challenges and policy context

Policy ambitions

“The future prosperity of society depends on all our young people, including the brightest and the best and their parents coming to regard the business sector and in particular setting up their own business, as a valid and realistic career option.”

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Department of Education and the Department of Employment and Learning joint statement (2003: 6)

Achieving the vision …

• To create a culture and environment in NI by which it could prosper using its knowledge, skills and capacity (Regional Innovation Strategy).

• Plans to provide additional PhD places in areas of economic relevance, increasing postgraduate places, investing in KTPs etc.

• Entrepreneurship education provision strengthening but not yet widely enough embedded across full spectrum of educational and vocational learning (GEM 2011).

Carnegie Measure of student attitudes to enterprise (FE students, 2012)

Score key: 0 = no interest whatsoever in business, 10 = very high likelihood of starting up a business or being self-employed, Source: Metcalf, J. (2012), Enterprising Minds, Enterprise, further education and the UK economy, Carnegie Trust UK (cited in BIS 2013: 26)

The challenges

• How to ‘bring the entrepreneurial future forward’ given persistent regional differences (with complex causes)?

• What role can the education system play in developing that culture for innovation and creativity in NI, enabling people to recognise emerging opportunities?

• How to move towards increasing the numbers of students starting businesses whilst at college or university, on graduation or soon after?

2. New insights from learning design and technology

Technologies: extending our reach …

Technologies: extending our reach …

A multi-platform ‘learning journey’

Enhancing skills through technology-enhanced education

Three key principles from the research literature

1. Learning needs to be active

2. Learning is a lifelong endeavour

3. Learning is contingent

Developed with good learning design

What does this mean for learning?

• Actively engage students in their learning – making it contextualised and collaborative.

• Recognise the many different entry points for learning journeys – and therefore offer different learning opportunities for different points in an entrepreneurial career.

• Develop learning experiences that offer multiple benefits and support different types of learning – to reflect the diversity within student cohorts.

3. Implications for policy and practice

Conclusion and implications (1/2)• Considerable progress made in the field of enterprise education in NI but

also scope for further work, including multi-platform, cross institutional initiatives.

Four key issues for discussion:

1. Clarify the focus of existing enterprise education initiatives and future investments in NI: main aims and priorities; learners; learning needs.

2. Engage relevant stakeholders in framing interventions: learning outcomes, design and development, financial and non-financial support.

Conclusion and implications (2/2)

3. Address pedagogic, organisational and infrastructure issues: integrate technologies and insights from technology-enhanced learning, identify technical and organisational barriers, communicate potential benefits.

4. Build effective monitoring and evaluation from the outset: identify components of an ‘effective’ intervention, what qualitative and quantitative indicators should be adopted in order to track progress?