Teaching entrepreneurial communication in a chemical engineering product design capstone course

Abstract

This work-in-progress paper describes the entrepreneurial approach used to structure a two-semester product design capstone course in chemical engineering. Historically, the course instructors defined the products that the student teams could create, and thus they were only tasked with developing the assigned product and were not involved in the problem identification and opportunity exploration processes. Some student commentary on course evaluations expressed desire for more freedom and creativity in this process. Therefore, this updated offering of the course did not assign specific projects and instead required the student teams to develop and pitch a unique product idea, using techniques within entrepreneurial communication. Class activities also further emphasized entrepreneurial skills such as creativity, innovation, and project and conflict management. Student commentary on the mid-semester course evaluations and anecdotally, the entrepreneurial approach has been positively received, and the students seem genuinely excited about their project topics. At the end of the course in April 2016, the instructors will review the student course evaluations and weekly student reflections. We anticipate the entrepreneurship component will affect how the students approach and value the projects.