Comparison of two team learning and team entrepreneurship models at a finnish university of applied sciences: Setting the scene for future development

Abstract

This team learning and team entrepreneurship model of education has been deployed at the Bachelor’s level in the degree programmes of IT and Business Administration (BA). In BA studies the students who take part in team learning have specialized in marketing since 2009 at the Saimaa University of Applied Sciences (SUAS). The model called ICT entrepreneurship study path (ICT-ESP) has been developed for IT education. The ICT-ESP has been built on the theory of experiental learning and theories of knowledge creation and knowledge management. The students study and complete their degree as team entrepreneurs. The model has been further developed in the Business Administration Degree Programme with students who specialize in marketing. The Degree Programme in IT at the Bachelor’s level was terminated in 2011 by Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. Currently, there are severe discussions on bringing it back – not as an IT but as an ICT Degree Programme. This article makes a cross-section of what has already been explored with the team learning and team entrepreneurship model and what the next steps will be. It makes a comparison of two originally separately developed models and discusses their best practices. The article also argues whether the upcoming ICT education should be organized in a conventional way – as curriculum of courses, or as expansion of the current team learning and team entrepreneurship model. The data consists of field notes, meeting memos, and dozens of unofficial discussions with colleagues and company representatives. Literature studies made during the ongoing research, development, and innovation (RDI) projects offered an extra view of how the business context is changing and what should be done to make benefit out of the change. The results suggest that the upcoming ICT Degree Programme at SUAS should be integrated into the existing deployment of team learning and team entrepreneurship learning environment. This would foster collaboration between different disciplines, e.g. marketing and ICT. Furthermore, the emerging ideation, service design and experimentation ecosystem which we are developing in ongoing RDI projects, would be strengthened by adding more students focused on ICT competencies into it.