On Friday, November 10th, NOBALIS partners conducted a workshop to check up on the progress of the curricula development and capacity building for teaching innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E).
Participants evaluated both the successes and challenges, analyzed the effectiveness of developing I&E curricula, and explored strategies for transferring these curricula into different educational contexts. The workshop also concentrated on addressing lessons learned, areas for improvement, and on plan for addressing the quality assurance system for curricula.
I&E development is part of NOBALIS WP3. In 2023, it has been organized in the form of a combination of peer-learning groups in NOBALIS institutions and partner workshops. Peer learning provides opportunities for better understanding the content of I&E modules and the teaching approach of various professors.
To improve the capacity for teaching Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E), SLU, for instance, has organized three workshops. These workshops concentrated on addressing expectations for innovation curricula across various levels: societal, programmatic, and course-specific, as well as at the student level. Estonian University of Life Sciences has also conducted three meetings to discuss the teaching experience of I&E modules and its challenges. Peer meetings demonstrated several challenges that need to be addressed for the improvement of I&E curricula. Those include better coordination and more communication between various teachers, approaches to encourage students’ participation in extracurricular activities, need to integrate AI as a practical tool into I&E activities.
The overall take from the discussion on the partners’ experience was that given the elusive nature of innovation, the definition of clear learning objectives and innovation competencies can be challenging, particularly in terms of progression and across different programs (engineering or management, at the Ph.D. level). Thus, it is important to explore opportunities for integrating innovation curricula into management courses and in other programs, which would help ensure a more diverse perspective and a variety of experiences. It is necessary to create methods and strategies that encourage teachers to involve students in the implementation of I&E curricula and support their motivation and engagement.