Developing Entrepreneurial Skills in IT Courses: The Role of Agile Software Development Practices in Producing Successful Student Initiated Products

Universities are under increasing pressure to provide real world experience to students. Entrepreneurial courses are prevalent in business schools and have been shown to develop entrepreneurial skills. Entrepreneurial skills are equally important in the development of IT innovations. The research in this area of education is not as prevalent. We argue that Agile Software development methods, along with other key course characteristics enable students to learn entrepreneurial skills related to IT product development and do so in an environment where innovation can flourish. We present some preliminary data, which demonstrates some success in the course in developing entrepreneurial skills, with a particular focus on the use of Agile Development and mentoring methods in developing those skills.