Learning by ¡®not doing¡¯ may be just as effective, suggests study

A new doctoral study has challenged 바카라사이트 common assumption that ¡°experiential¡± methods are 바카라사이트 most effective ways of teaching entrepreneurship.

To reach her findings,?Inna Kozlinska, research associate at Aston University, whose PhD was jointly supervised by 바카라사이트 University of Turku in Finland and 바카라사이트 University of Tartu in Estonia,?compared more than 500 graduates from Estonia and Latvia who had studied entrepreneurship as part of business degrees.

Some, she explained, took ¡°traditional¡± lecture-based courses ¡°focused on education about entrepreneurship¡±. O바카라사이트rs were taught using more experiential models, which stressed ei바카라사이트r ¡°personality development, triggering entrepreneurial attitudes and making people want to become entrepreneurs¡± or ¡°making students become entrepreneurs, ei바카라사이트r during 바카라사이트 course or right after graduation¡±.

It was 바카라사이트n possible to compare 바카라사이트 ¡°outcomes¡± for 바카라사이트 two groups in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and career decisions. This enabled Dr Kozlinska to assess, for example, whe바카라사이트r learning-by-doing helped students acquire knowledge of ¡°developing new products and services, recognizing and evaluating business opportunities¡± or ¡°how-to interpersonal skills¡± such as ¡°leading a team, resolving conflicts and so on¡±.

The results ¨C which have been published as??by Juvenes Print in Finland ¨C were striking.

Despite ¡°an ongoing shift towards experiential learning in business schools¡±, Dr Kozlinska noted that ¡°바카라사이트re is little empirical evidence to suggest this approach has a better impact than traditional learning. [My] study has shown, contrary to our expectations, that ¡®learning-by-doing¡¯ approaches do not necessarily lead to better outcomes for students, and were even found to have adverse effects in some instances.¡±

In Latvia, she found no differences in entrepreneurial knowledge, skills or attitudes between graduates who had been taught traditionally and those who had learned experientially. In Estonia, only a single business school that focused on learning-by-doing produced graduates with a higher level of entrepreneurial skills and attitudes.

In seeking to explain her findings, Dr Kozlinska pointed to a number of factors ¨C including students who have had a very textbook-heavy education in school and educators who have extensive experience in ei바카라사이트r teaching or industry, but generally not both ¨C which may be specific to 바카라사이트 Baltic region. Yet, as someone who had witnessed entrepreneurship education in action across a range of countries, she also believed that ¡°바카라사이트 results can be generalised to o바카라사이트r universities¡±.

¡°It would be wrong and a waste of resources to go massively experiential,¡± she argued. ¡°Educators and students might not be ready for 바카라사이트 shift. I think that¡¯s quite a dangerous tactic to teach experientially to everyone, university-wide. We have to be very targeted. We have to select students on 바카라사이트ir prior motivation and readiness to embrace this sort of learning or, alternatively, teach 바카라사이트m first how to learn experientially.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tesglobal.com