The use of self-reflection for enhanced enterprise education: a case study

Abstract

Purpose – A case study was undertaken to evaluate the use of self-reflection in enterprise education in a UK university, where the taught content was tailored to ensure relevance to the students who were from a variety of subject disciplines.
Design/methodology/approach – Enterprise taught content was established in masters level 7 programmes across a range of subject disciplines. Taught content was designed using problem based learning, and evaluated using self-reflective methodologies. The paper reflects on the current position of enterprise education and asks the research question of whether the use of self-reflective teaching methodologies are valid for enterprise education.
Findings – Results suggest that the students appreciated the introduction of enterprise into their course and in the main did not view it as disjointed or irrelevant to their wider aims. More so, the students commented favourably towards the integration of enterprise into their primary discipline, and noted an enhanced learning experience because of this integration.
Research limitations/implications – For the University: A novel approach to enterprise teaching has been developed at a UK university, focusing on teaching non-business students how to be more valuable to a business within their degree subject context. This has empowered the students with an enhanced understanding of commercial issues and increased employability (Rae 2007; Huq and Gilbert 2017). This has also led to enhanced relationships with industry and given students a wider understanding of their degree area.
Practical implications – For the educator: The use of self-reflective teaching methodologies (Hayward 2000) are noted to be vital in order to deliver enterprise education in a way that is relevant to the student cohort body. By reflecting on one’s teaching style and delivery method, the authors were able to engage non-business students in enterprise education, and receive a high level of student satisfaction. It is noted that self-reflection was a valuable process for delivery to each degree discipline. By employing problem based learning and self- reflective teaching methodologies, an increased synergy between the business taught elements and the science subjects was created.
Originality/value – This approach is shown to empower the students with an enhanced understanding of commercial issues and an increased employability. This has led to enhanced relationships between academia and industry, and given students a wider understanding of their degree area; the enhanced relationships with industry offer students a wider commercial understanding of their degree area. A gap in the current knowledge base in enterprise education has been identified: enterprise education with the aim of educating the student to be more valuable to a business as opposed to starting a business. The use of self-reflective methodologies has offered a novel approach to enterprise teaching in a UK university.