KEENzine Partner Showcase

New Haven students also traveled to participate in Network-wide student events, including the Imagination Quest at Villanova University and the Innovation Encounter at Lawrence Technological University. In addition, the University Innovation Fellows (UIF) program out of Stanford University provided select students training in design thinking and leading change initiatives. The UIF program included a meet up in Silicon Valley where New Haven students joined forces with Santa Clara University and other KEEN partner students to bring these important ideas and EM-related skillsets back to campus. To introduce first-year engineering students to EM early, formal programming was initiated for the Engineering Living Learning Community (LLC) housed in a separate dorm, with special weekly programming led by faculty and UIF student leaders. Programming over the past ten years has included fun team projects, guest speakers from industry, book clubs, and many other engaging activities. Because of the additional time required for these LLC students to participate fully, New Haven now attributes a zero-credit course on their transcripts. “To sprinkle that perspective early on is much easier when the students are new: ‘This is it, this is what engineering is,’ than if you wait until senior year to introduce the concepts. The layering and the language matter a lot.” - Maria-Isabel Carnasciali Finally, the student engagement strategy includes recognition at graduation as an “EMEngineer” for thosewho qualify. New Haven has a points system for the co- curricular and extra-curricular activities, certain curricular modules, and selected campus events that are within the KEEN program implementation on campus. Students receive a certificate and are differentiatedatgraduationwithaspecial honor cord worn with their robes. Student engagement is powerful and effective, but only required curriculum reaches all students. NewHaven adapted its approach to EM-integration within the engineering curriculum so that all students are reached and to address concernswithfaculty turnoverat thetime. “There’s always an idea that we’re somehow sacrificing technical or quality of the skills the students get by adding these other things. That’s just a lens. If anything, it’s leveling up [technical] skills! We are not sacrificing any of the technical; ABET accreditation sets that standard and no one will risk that. Mindset is an added value.” - Maria-Isabel Carnasciali Led by Ron Harichandran, dean of engineering, and four faculty across disciplines – Nadiye Erdil (Industrial Engineering), Maria-Isabel Carnasciali (Mechanical Engineering), Cheryl Li (Mechanical Engineering), and Jean Nocito-Gobel (Civil Engineering) – New Haven conceived the idea of developing short e-learning modules on EM topics and integrating them into existing courses. There are 18 modules that vary in length and cover content in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial mindset, and business principles. They are appropriate for use in a variety of engineering disciplines and courses as instructional aids for EM-related concepts such as generating new ideas (Engineering Unleashed Card 2269), client-centered solutions (Card 690), learning fromfailure (Card 677), and ethics (Card 1105). The New Haven team produced this set over a number of years with expertise drawn from the Network and gathered feedback from faculty both in and out of the Network during the development phase. Modules come with instructor guides and suggested assessments. Adoption by other institutions was promoted through mini-grants, at ASEE workshops, and at Network events. “We are thrilled that the work we have done at New Haven is resulting in significant growth of the entrepreneurial mindset in our students. This is providing our students with a competitive advantage in the job market.” - Ron Harichandran Within New Haven, they provide a consistent approach to instruction on these important professional topics within the engineeringcurriculumwithout takingawaytimefromtechnical topics. Faculty worked together to determine how the modules would be layered across the four years of undergraduate classes, within all engineering and computer science majors. Note: You can find all New Haven’s e-learning modules here: EngineeringUnleashed.com/card/2151 New Haven has been intentionally assessing its work through a variety of methods, including a 50-question student survey they developed to characterize the entrepreneurial mindset. They also have developed EM Learning Indices to quantify how much students learned from their integrated e-learning modules. Their research presented at ASEE conferences has shown that the entrepreneurial mindset of students at the time of graduation was significantly stronger than when they entered the university. https://bit.ly/UNHkeenzine HOW TO CONNECT KEEN TO STUDENT SUCCESS Student enthusiasm is contagious. Seek out EM-inspired activities for a campus- wide audience. Growstudent leaders. Co-create programs with students and give them opportunities to exercise their leadership muscles. Start EM early. First-year courses, special events, and living learning communities are important ways to reach first-year students. Recognize effort and success. Systems that assess and publicly recognize studentattainmenthelpgrowimpactand sustain enthusiasm. 60 61 KEEN’zine ― PARTNER SHOWCASE PARTNER SHOWCASE ― KEEN’zine