The EntreSTEAM project helps HEIs integrate entrepreneurial content into their curricula, increase virtual student mobility and tackle skills gaps and mismatches by increasing entrepreneurial, intercultural and digital competencies of HEI students. The project integrates entrepreneurship education into transnational language studies in the STEAM disciplines at the University of Oulu (Finland), the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and Poznan University of Technology (Poland). The EntreSTEAM project will be run in iterative development circles consisting of literature review, benchmarking, experimenting and collecting & analyzing feedback for further development of an online module and other materials which will be developed and scaled during the project. The online module simulates distance working in teams using EML (Entrepreneurially Minded Learning) and PBL (problem-based) pedagogical approaches. It helps students strengthen their abilities to work productively in transnational online teams. Students learn English for special purposes in online modules where transnational teams define a real-world problem, narrow it down to manageable proportions and create an appropriate solution through a human-centric design approach and team learning. Language teachers are coached by Train the Trainers program, which helps teachers integrate entrepreneurial and transnational elements into their courses. As the primary target audience, the teachers and students will act as co-developers of the project outputs, which are 1) a resource package for the online module which will be created, including a guidebook for communication and facilitation, pedagogical models as well as teacher training materials targeted for teachers in HEIs. 2) Train the Trainers program for using the online module, 3) an online learning environment to run the online module which will be planned, put together and maintained, 4) The Best Practice Guide including guidelines, reports of studies and analysis will be produced in order to provide in-depth insights and 5) a student guide which will be created including information, tips and concrete tools for transnational teamwork. The above-mentioned outputs form together the online module, which can be used as a stand-alone learning environment, or it can be integrated into existing courses by HEIs across Europe who are looking for a scalable model for integrating entrepreneurial elements into their curricula and ways to increase IaH through virtual mobility. The impact of the project is increasing virtual student mobility, the quantity and quality of IaH activities, improving the working-life connection of foreign language and communication courses and providing authenticity and real-life context, as well as giving universities a novel method for entrepreneurship education to be integrated into all degree programs. Students from partnering universities, and at later stage from other European HEIs, will be more ready to work productively in international environments and in online teams, take the initiative and solve complex problems, adapt to changing circumstances and be more empathic and tolerant in their actions as their foreign language communication skills have improved. The easily adaptable model for applying these themes into practice for a large number of students as part of their existing curricula can later be scaled to other fields and HEIs.
The objective of the project was to create an entrepreneurially-minded, transnational online course/resources for language and communication training and pilot it in STE(A)M degree programs. The course was to be piloted and iteratively tested by the project partners so as to create a model for HEIs to integrate entrepreneurial education and IaH activities to existing curricula through compulsory language studies. The project aims were to 1) integrate entrepreneurial content to HEI studies, particularly of English, and develop students’ entrepreneurial competence, 2) increase virtual mobility of students through IaH activities and develop their intercultural competencies, 3) strengthen students’ abilities to work productively in international online teams and 4) develop new tools for language learning and train teachers to use them. We wanted to give HEI teachers and students resources and guidelines that allow students to develop their English-language communication skills in a truly international environment and to learn to generate ideas and create solutions in transnational teams around themes defined in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Boundary-crossing interaction among people from different backgrounds had become increasingly important in the unpredictable and complex world. However, we saw that a vast majority of students were not willing or able to spend time abroad during their studies, which was further accelerated by COVID-19 and the rise of environmental and sustainability issues. We saw a need to increase students’ opportunities for Internalization at Home (IaH) by developing activities that bring higher education students together in online team work activities. We addressed this need by creating a wide and versatile set of openly available resources and guides for supporting higher education students’ online mobility and their transnational teamwork. Another main reason for this project was the need to enhance higher education students’ transversal skills, such as communication, creativity and the ability to solve problems. Through the integration of Entrepreneurially Minded Learning (EML) we wanted to provide opportunities for students to develop their entrepreneurial competencies and mindset. We identified language studies as a new, promising way to incorporate intercultural and entrepreneurial content.