This presentation showcases the redesign of a service-learning project-based (PBL) engineering management Entrepreneurial Thinking and Innovation course. The course’s overarching learning objective focuses on intrapreneurship, which involves cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset and skills to be innovative within an established company that contributes to a firm’s overall success and competitiveness. The central element of the course is the completion of a semester-long Business Case Project with stage-gate presentations and reports for a real-life community organization. The course redesign purposely utilized a blend of pre-scheduled synchronous student-instructor project team virtual feedback meetings throughout the semester, complemented with self-directed asynchronous studio-quality instructional videos to deliver the essential course material. This hybrid online teaching approach allowed students to engage with course materials and participate in activities at their own pace while incorporating elements of real-time project development interaction and collaboration. An end-of-term survey will be explored focusing on student satisfaction with the instructional videos, types of approaches students engaged with to comprehend course topics, amount of time and methods used to absorb the asynchronous learning artifacts, and overall perception of a hybrid online delivery compared to a face-to-face learning approach. Interestingly, the pedagogical redesign led to an 8 -10% average final grade improvement in the Business Case Project compared to previous face-to-face course offerings. Also, the virtual stage-gate presentations were generally much more polished and effective than in-person presentations from the previous F2F course cohorts. In summary, the students indicated an overwhelmingly affirming response to the course design, structure and innovative delivery approach.
Allan MacKenzie is an award-winning Assistant Professor of Leadership and Management at McMaster University W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. After a diverse industry career, he purposely transitioned into academia to educate NextGen leaders and professionals. As a practitioner-academic, he is a seeker and sharer of researched-informed workplace ecology dynamics, which inspire human flourishing and successful organizations.