A methodology to involve students in the evaluation of an engineering curriculum in design, entrepreneurship, and innovation

Abstract

Engineering schools have created courses and concentrations to train students for entrepreneurship and innovation. Although studies have analyzed how students perceive this type of training, few of them have unveiled its influence on behaviors and career goals. The formative use of the assessment instruments employed is limited, so more efforts are needed to evaluate entrepreneurial training towards its continuous improvement. This article proposes a methodology to involve students in curriculum evaluation so they become partners in curriculum delivery and teaching practices. To explore its benefits, we applied it on a Major focused on engineering design, entrepreneurship and innovation. During classroom sessions of three Major courses, a form was used to generate individual reflections and collective discussions about course methods, learning outcomes and the curriculum path. Findings show that students were capable of formulating improvement actions to enhance curriculum and teaching practices as a group. Implications for other institutions are discussed to promote the application of this participatory approach in curriculum evaluation processes.