The project develops a Business and Innovation module for science programs. In particular the project focusses on 18 credits of the minor and the necessary tools to offer the minor through an open online learning platform with interactive features which integrates Open Educational Resources (OER) and delivers parts of the minor as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). For this project an innovative pedagogical learning approach will be developed. The project involves four organisations. The coordinating organisation is the Faculty of Science of the KU Leuven. Partner organisations are the Faculty of Science of the Vu Amsterdam, the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam and a private partner IMC. There are two fundamental challenges in converting scientific discovery into societal value. First the (European) knowledge paradox (EKP) stipulates that academia and knowledge institutes are generating high quality knowledge and basic discovery outputs yet there is a relative inability to convert such knowledge into economic value and benefit (Dosi, 2006) and second, the Valley of Death (VOD), a phase in research and development defined by a lack of funds where government funding declines and private sector funds are not available, presents a serious innovation barrier (Markham, 2012). Aiming to address these challenges will need to cover a complex assembly of factors. Partners in this project aim to enhance and develop cross disciplinary diversity and entrepreneurial skills in science and technology teaching and learning at the university level. Interdisciplinary and contextual education through casework and mixed methods, deploying OER will be developed in the project to create and foster a teaching and learning environment where science students learn to apply their knowledge in a contextual setting in mixed teams coached by teachers from academia as well as from industry and experts in adjoining fields of expertise. In a ‘learning by doing’ mode students learn to reflect upon and synthesize science in broader contexts. It is important to initiate such learning at the early phases in budding bachelor and master scientists: e.g. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in fields like chemistry (Burmeister et al 2012) mandate these type of approaches, contextual aspects being vital in addressing such issues as sustainability in science. Science and Technology teaching and learning practices have increasingly been scrutinized with respect to effectiveness and tangible outputs. Context based courses are increasingly being used to address the major challenges that science education faces, such as: lack of clear purpose, content overload, incoherent learning by students, lack of relevance to students and lack of transfer of learning to new contexts (Gilbert et al, 2011). The pedagogy used allows openness and flexibility in learning space (blended learning), flexibility in time and place of learning including mobility of students. This gives students a full responsibility for their own learning process in which they experience creation of scientific knowledge and its capitalization in a triple helix of university, industry and government institutional sphere. Students get supervision, support and knowledge input from different directions: the staff, the experts from the companies, the peers in and outside the program and from lifelong learners in the MOOC. In this partnership there will be ample room for contribution from academic (KUL, UVA, VU) as well as development (IMC) and commercial partners (J&J among others). Partners will be able to contribute casework and experience gleaned from actual lab and development practice thus mimicking the underpinnings of a triple helix collaboration format (Blaise Cronin). References: Burmeister, M, et al, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and chemistry education., Chemistry Eductaion and Practice, 2012, 13, 59-68. Dosi, G, et al., The relationship between science, technologies and their industrial exploitation: An illustration through the myths and realities of the so-called ‘European Paradox’., Research Policy, vol. 35, Issue 10, dec . 2006. Jidesjo, A, et al, Science for all or science for some: What swedish students want to learn about in secondary science and technology and their opinions on science lessons. NorDiNa 5 (2), 2009. Markham, Stephen K. et al., The valley of death as context for role theory in product innovation. The Jrn of Product Innovation, Vol 27, Issue 3, May 2012. Misha, P., Koehler, M.J. (2006) Techonological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A framework for Teacher Knowledge; Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054. Leyersdorff, L. (2010). Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Blaise Cronin (Ed.); 44, 367–417.
There are two fundamental challenges in converting scientific discovery into societal value. First the (European) knowledge paradox (EKP) stipulates that academia and knowledge institutes are generating high quality knowledge and basic discovery outputs, yet there is a relative inability to convert such knowledge into economic value and benefit (Dosi, 2006). Second, the Valley of Death (VOD), a phase in research and development defined by a lack of funds where government funding declines and private sector funds are not available, presents a serious innovation barrier (Markham et al., 2012). Aiming to address these challenges, a solution needs to cover a complex assembly of factors. The project developed a Business and Innovation module for bachelor science programmes. In particular, 12 credits of the minor Business & Innovation which is available to all science students at the KU Leuven served as an initial model for the creation of this module. Workshops ‘Innovation in Practice’ have been developed as well as a MOOC ‘Principles of Economics for Scientists’ which both help bridge the gap between economics, business and entrepreneurship on the one hand and science on the other. The online course ‘Principles of Economics for Scientists' is delivered on the MOOC platform, provided by IMC. The Learning Analytics Framework and the Evaluation Tool were developed to support the learning process and the assessment of the online course. The IBIS project is a consortium of four organisations. The coordinating organisation is the Faculty of Science of the KU Leuven, Belgium. Partner organisations are the Faculty of Science of Stichting VU, Amsterdam, and the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and a private partner, imc information multimedia communication AG. Partners in this project have enhanced and developed cross disciplinary diversity and entrepreneurial skills in science and technology teaching and learning at the university level. University students majoring in various science disciplines are increasingly requesting the introduction of business context in their programmes. Traditionally, science study programmes tend to focus on domain specific subjects including some multidisciplinarity. By producing an online course Business and Innovation with emphasis on the role of curiosity driven fundamental research, this project tackles the challenges of how to convert fundamental knowledge into a business value and can thus improve the quality and the relevance of higher education science curricula. The entrepreneurial skills, acquired by the students who take the online course ‘Principles of Economics for Scientists’ or follow the Workshops: Innovation in Practice, will increase the relevance of these students on the labour market. The pedagogy used allows openness and flexibility in learning space (blended learning), flexibility in time and place of learning including mobility of students. This gives students a full responsibility for their own learning process in which they experience creation of scientific knowledge and its capitalization in a triple helix of university, industry and government institutional sphere. To support students in learning and gaining insight into the online learning process, a learning analytics framework was developed to analyse learner behaviour data and enhance the learning process, for example by predicting success in learning (Ferguson, 2012, Verbert 2013). References: Dosi, G, et al., The relationship between science, technologies and their industrial exploitation: An illustration through the myths and realities of the so-called ‘European Paradox’., Research Policy, vol. 35, Issue 10, dec . 2006. Ferguson, R. (2012) Learning analytics: drivers, developments and challenges. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 4(5-6),304–317, Markham, Stephen K. et al., The valley of death as context for role theory in product innovation. The Jrn of Product Innovation, Vol 27, Issue 3, May 2012. Verbert, K., Duval, E., Klerkx, J., Govaerts, S., & Santos, J. L. (2013). Learning Analytics Dashboard Applications. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(10), 1500–1509.