Incorporating an entrepreneurship concentration into the undergraduate IT curriculum

Abstract

This paper presents our approach to implementing structures that encourage innovation and entrepreneurship behaviors within the Lipscomb University student population. An early step in this process is presented in this paper: extending our undergraduate Information Technology (IT) curriculum with a concentration on entrepreneurship. Specifically, the paper clarifies where our IT courses address specific dimensions of innovation (a precursor to entrepreneurship), how the curriculum can be extended to effectively incorporate entrepreneurship, and where facilitating conditions can be implemented to reinforce entrepreneurial behavior in our student population. The curriculum changes and ideas presented here have a number of long- and short-term benefits for Lipscomb University as a whole and our IT program in particular. The paper ends by soliciting input on several issues that can maximize the effectiveness of this innovative program.