E-Magazine
From implicit to explicit - encouraging social entrepreneurship in a Higher Education context
Therese Moylan
Traditionally, for many working in Higher education, the holistic development of the student beyond their knowledge domain, while highly desirable was often more implicit than explicit. Few would disagree that higher education contributes to the development of a students’ capacity to think critically, and to reflect upon and engage with social, ethical and topical issues of the day. However, in the past, world view outcomes we may have aspired to inculcate in our learners were often not clearly stated and rarely, if ever assessed. The introduction of the National Qualifications Framework in Ireland in 2004 and the associated development of Awards Standards for specific disciplines have led to a more unambiguous expression of these laudable outcomes. The most significant impact of the Framework has been the shift in emphasis from knowledge centric learning outcomes, to skills and competence based learning outcomes. This has challenged educators to articulate how they are facilitating and assessing students to develop their own world view in the context of their programme of study.
From a business education perspective, what are the implications of this? Arguably, in the context of a deep global recession, business, now more than ever, needs graduates who are critical thinkers to challenge accepted business mores and use their acquired skill set to lead and manage change. This article presents a perspective on how one higher education institution has embarked on a journey to facilitate students to engage with the social, ethical and topical issues of the day with a particular focus on Social Entrepreneurship as a means of doing so.
IADT is a higher education college based in Dun Laoghaire, a suburb in the south side of Dublin City. It is a member of the Institute of Technology sector (IoT) - state owned and managed third level colleges that comprises of thirteen Institutes providing tertiary education from level 6 through Ordinary Degrees, Honours degrees, Masters and PhDs at level 10.
IADT has a particular niche focus on the creative disciplines within the IoT sector, with three Schools – Business and Humanities, Creative Arts, and Creative Technology. Within the School of Business and Humanities, we run level 7 and level 8 degree programmes which have a strong focus on entrepreneurship and enterprise development. The development of socially aware, ethically informed and topically engaged graduates is best achieved by articulating high level programme outcomes that enable this to happen. Following our most recent programmatic review, we have specific programme learning outcomes aligned with the National Awards standards which explicitly articulate world view outcomes– as outlined below. In our case, the integration of the concept of social entrepreneurship is critical to ensuring that we can deliver these outcomes.
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While at one level articulating appropriate learning outcomes presents challenges, the real issues face the teaching team in terms of how to ensure that students meet the stated learning outcomes. Over a number of years we have developed a highly student centric teaching and learning approach which is committed to providing an opportunity for all students to apply what they learn in the class room to real world contexts. This approach is designed to foster entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviours and is informed by current research on entrepreneurship education which advocates the integration of experiential learning into the student experience. A significant element of the experiential learning is achieved through the programme assessment strategy where a number of real world projects are designed and assessed across a number of modules in the programme.
To this end, in each year of their programme, students will partake in and be assessed on major enterprise projects. In first year, students run a stall in the local municipal market. Year 2 students migrate to the virtual world and must set up an enterprise and sell via eBay. Year 3 students are required to establish some form of social enterprise. Year on year the projects increase in terms of complexity – the level of resources required, the risk involved, the organization, and management of inputs and outputs and the amount of time, energy and reflection expended. In all years, the teaching team works together and students are assessed from multiple perspectives on the enterprises that they operate.
How does it work in practice for Social Entrepreneurship? There are a number of key steps in the process. Initially the students spend time considering the concept of social entrepreneurship. This, for many is the first time that they begin to consider that the entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and competencies that they are developing can be applied in a much broader context. They then explore social enterprise ideas that they can realise within a time frame of 4/5 months. A number of ideas are selected democratically and students self select the project that they are most interested in and teams are formed.
The teams are encouraged to develop their own modus operandi and ground rules are developed by the team. Teams must then develop project plans which are reviewed regularly as the group works through the tasks required delivering the project. A critical element is the role of the lecturers which shifts from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side” and as a teaching team, lecturers work together to facilitate and mentor the groups from conception to execution of the idea. Finally assessment is integrated across a number of modules and includes the production of project plans, group process logs, selling and promotions plans, poster presentations and individual reflective journals. Projects that our students have successfully implemented include the development of a free sheet finance magazine for young people, a Recession Cookbook geared towards students, an Enterprise trip to Shanghai Expo for graduates and budding student entrepreneurs. They have also identified gaps on campus in terms of business, sport and leisure opportunities and have developed services solutions including soccer tournaments and alumni events. The underlying principle behind each project is that it must add value and /or enhance the lives of others.
This case study is presented as one example of how the social entrepreneurship concept can be felt and experienced by students. It is a method not without issues - it demands very significant planning, preparation and feedback on the part of the lecturers and high levels of commitment from the student. Improvements in our process can, and will be made – we need to assist our students to come to a deeper understanding of the concept and to allow greater reflection and post project evaluation time. We are exploring opportunities with local social entrepreneurs and undoubtedly the range and source of social enterprise ideas will evolve over time. The experience to date, gleaned over the past 3 years is encouraging and the teaching team are committed to the principle of social entrepreneurship as a means of both challenging and broadening the world view of our entrepreneurship students – a desirable outcome from any learning journey!
Therese Moylan, Head of Department of Business and Enterprise, IADT, therese.moylan@iadt.ie
