Assessing student learning in technology entrepreneurship

Driven by changes in the global economy, entrepreneurship has grown rapidly as a curricular focus at many engineering schools in the U.S. Nonetheless, defining appropriate content and assessing how these educational experiences impact student learning has not yet been accomplished. To address this need, we have developed two tools to assess the educational outcomes of entrepreneurship courses and programs among engineering students. The first tool, the NCIIA entrepreneurship inventory, measures studentspsila self-reported familiarity with technology entrepreneurship terms and concepts, has been piloted at eight schools, and shows high reliability. The second tool is rubric that provides a framework for analyzing higher-level entrepreneurial thinking in more advanced undergraduate and graduate students. The rubric was derived empirically from student responses to two brief technology start-up cases, and was piloted at four NCIIA member schools. Discussion will focus on the results and implications for future development of assessment tools in technology entrepreneurship.