A Body of Work
The 3C's, Expanded Opportunities, and EML Spines
A Body of Work: The 3C's, Expanded Opportunities, and EML Spines
by Doug Dunston, September 11, 2019. This article originally appeared in the KEEN 2019 Annual Report. Reprinted with permission.
When you think about embedding the 3C's in curriculum, how do you maximize student impact?
At the University of St. Thomas, we wanted to incorporate entrepreneurially minded learning (EML) throughout the curriculum, and it was important to engage our faculty deeply. To gain buy-in and enhance our own effectiveness as instructors, we decided to conduct a mapping exercise during a faculty retreat. We did this to demonstrate how current assignments and activities are already overlapping with EML and to develop a common institutional vocabulary.
Once we established this common frame of reference, our KEEN leaders held one-on-one conversations with engineering faculty to further explore EML integration and scaffolding over our four-year curriculum in each program. Where were the gaps? What opportunities could we uncover?
Answering these questions allowed us to identify additional EM-related student outcomes as well as key sequences of courses to function as “EML Spines.” These courses use the common institutional vocabulary and provide increasingly diverse exposure to the 3C’s for undergraduate engineers.
“We’ve found our faculty retreats to be invaluable – the time we spend listening to each other and reflecting as a group reminds us why we chose to become educators in the first place.”
In order to help faculty easily see both the functional EML Spine courses and the connections between EML Spines and other EML activities, whether in-class, extracurricular, or co-curricular, we developed a highly visual, interactive Kumu map.
This collaborative tool enables faculty to intentionally build EML learning outcomes into new learning opportunities for their students.
Faculty can explore additional opportunities, approaches, and activities within the map through links to Engineering Unleashed cards and other resources.
With full participation and the enthusiasm of our faculty, we are able to build upon their values and teaching practices. We are also systemically integrating more EML outcomes into the curriculum in order to directly benefit our engineering students and their professional futures.
Associated Content
EML Spines at University of St. Thomas
Intercultural Exchange on Technology
Engineering & Entrepreneurship Students: On the Same Page
Meet the Author
Doug Dunston, KEEN Program Coordinator, University of St. Thomas
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