Interactive Teaching Mode Activates Entrepreneurship Classes in Universities

Abstract

Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in promoting the development of the economy and society. Researchers had paid more and more attention to entrepreneurship education and courses in universities. The traditional infusing entrepreneurial classroom cannot achieve entrepreneurship education’s objectives of the audience’s innovative spirit, entrepreneurial quality, and entrepreneurial ability. The author designed interactive teaching forms such as case study, competition teaching mode, and question-based teaching mode to promote the implementation of interactive teaching of college students’ entrepreneurship education based on the interactive teaching theory and combined with college students’ classroom characteristics’ entrepreneurship education in pre-class preparation, in-class control, and after-class correction. Through several rounds of practice by the teaching team, the interactive entrepreneurship course has achieved an excellent teaching effect. Students like the interactive teaching mode and give a high evaluation of the system.

Share and Cite:

Wu, P.J., Yang, D. and Chen, H.H. (2020) Interactive Teaching Mode Activates Entrepreneurship Classes in Universities. Open Access Library Journal, 7, 1-9. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1106901.

1. Introduction

Entrepreneurship has become an important engine to promote national economic growth [1] . Entrepreneurship education is inseparable to the national innovation spirit and national entrepreneurship level. Entrepreneurship education helps universities strengthen their teaching functions, and it increases the performance of knowledge transformation in universities [2] . Besides, entrepreneurship education also helps to solve the employment problem of college students. Harvard University began to develop entrepreneurship courses in 1947, leading many business schools to join entrepreneurship courses. After decades of development, entrepreneurship education has gained popularity among universities around the world. The national strategy of “Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation” was launched in 2015 in China. Both the innovation and entrepreneurship competition and the innovation and entrepreneurship courses have attracted the attention of universities. In particular, the development and teaching of entrepreneurship courses have become essential for all kinds of universities.

Entrepreneurship education often contains three levels of goals: first, to learn to recognize entrepreneurship; the second is to become a person with entrepreneurial ability and innovative quality through learning. The last is to become a practitioner of building a business through education. However, the traditional teaching model is challenging to adapt to the requirements of entrepreneurial talent training. The author undertook the ANHUI UNIVERSITY of FINANCE and ECONOMICS 962 make space management, complete business curriculum development, and teach. The authors take the “business management”, “startup simulation”, “Internet entrepreneurship theory and practice”, and so on teaching courses in the process of teaching, improve the teaching mode, undertake no longer rote of entrepreneurial knowledge, using interactive teaching methods, realize the thought collision and the trigger.

Students change from passive learning to active learning by using interactive teaching methods and paying attention to the difference in entrepreneurship courses’ teaching objects [3] . The role of teachers in the class of entrepreneurship teaching is no longer the unshakable protagonist, but gradually evolves into the co-importance of teachers and students, and later, students become the protagonist of the course of entrepreneurship. Students to take an active part in entrepreneurship curriculum teaching, through a variety of ways of communication and communication, can give full play to the students in entrepreneurship is in charge of motility, changed the traditional teaching of one-way entrepreneurship transmission of knowledge, at the same time, due to the default of interactive education prone to teachers, teachers in face solve the problem, also promoted entrepreneurship teacher all aspects of quality, to realize growth for both teaching and learning. In entrepreneurship teaching, the transformation implements from cognitive entrepreneurship to ability improvement and accomplishment cultivation. To strengthen students’ training from individual learning to teamwork in entrepreneurship courses; Entrepreneurship courses help students develop the habit of learning from passive to independent learning. The following part will discuss the interactive teaching of entrepreneurship education for college students from two aspects of interactive teaching module design and interactive teaching implementation.

2. Interactive Teaching Mode

The purpose of entrepreneurship course teaching is to help students understand entrepreneurship’s relevant concepts and understand entrepreneurs’ characteristics and entrepreneurial activities. Realize entrepreneurial value by using limited entrepreneurial resources and advancing entrepreneurial plans [4] . The students had trained entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinking and improved their entrepreneurial ability and level through a series of interactions. Various teaching forms are needed to impart students with knowledge related to entrepreneurship, cultivate students’ ability to analyze and solve entrepreneurship problems, and hone their will and quality of innovation and entrepreneurship. Teachers use question-based teaching, case analysis teaching, and competition to achieve better teaching effect of entrepreneurship courses.

2.1. Case Study Mode

The case teaching mode is more intuitive to get relevant entrepreneurship prototypes and entrepreneurship cases in text and video. Teachers and students participate in the learning of entrepreneurship cases. The main types of points used in the teaching process include successful entrepreneur cases, content introduction cases, and comprehensive discussion cases. It is essential to choose successful entrepreneurial topics that are near related to the course content. For example, Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi Technology, is selected for the chapter on entrepreneur quality. The chosen case in the chapter on entrepreneurial Opportunities is Pinduoduo. The business Model chapter establishes Tesla. The chapter on the entrepreneurial team picks The 18 Arhats of Alibaba. The branch of venture financing uses Jingdong. Through successful entrepreneur cases, students pay more and more attention to entrepreneurs’ passionate business stories. The students think and analyze practical problems encountered by the entrepreneurs and then give appropriate solutions. Content introduction cases are targeted and timely issues used before teaching knowledge points for students to understand better and master knowledge points related to entrepreneurship. Such patients often occupy less time, and the links of case reading, thinking, and discussion are relatively compact. Generally, this kind of case will give students a problem that needs to be solved, so that students are eager to learn relevant knowledge points to solve the issues raised in the case after introducing the content into the case teaching. Luckin Coffee’s financial fraud has caused a global uproar, and students can also be familiar with it. When introducing the business model’s content, teachers can introduce Luckin Coffee to introduce the improper practices of Luckin Coffee and then ask questions and ask students to think about the Luckin Coffee Business model.

Comprehensive discussion cases are cases with more knowledge points used by students after completing one or more chapters to understand better and absorb the learned knowledge related to entrepreneurship. Such cases generally include case selection, case distribution, student reading, report writing, group discussion and summary, classroom communication and discussion, and teacher summary. Teachers can select and download comprehensive cases through the China Management Case Sharing Center, such as the “Entrepreneurship Dream Team-Ctrip Four Gentlemen Relay Race”. Students can learn about the entrepreneurial process and repeat entrepreneurship through such comprehensive cases. Teachers should choose the matching cases based on the teaching objectives, key points, and difficult points of the entrepreneurship course. By selecting subjects based on some controversial ideas and ideas of entrepreneurship, students can understand the collision of different views through the cases and stimulate students’ enthusiasm and vitality for innovation. In the analysis case, teachers should focus on critical and challenging issues, analyze and discuss topics from different perspectives, and guide students to think deeply. In entrepreneurship teaching, students will come up with unrestrained opinions, and teachers will summarize and comment on students’ discussions and ideas, to strengthen and improve the course based on its teaching purpose and knowledge points.

2.2. Competitive Mode

Competition-style teaching is a competition-style teaching activity in which two or more teams participate and focus on a particular theme. Competition-style education generally includes the participating teams’ formation, the determination of the competition’s composition, brainstorming, results in the display, judges and teachers summary, and other links. 3 to 5 students form a simulation team. The team needs to fully mobilize the students’ enthusiasm while considering the principles of voluntariness and complementary advantages. The determination of competition theme is one of the core links of competition-style teaching. The same theme can also be expressed in various forms, such as scheme design, business plan, theme debate, prepared speech.

As the competition teaching requires the teams composed of students to give the corresponding answers to the theme within a short time, the competition’s article often needs to be interesting, challenging, and feasible. For example, The definition of entrepreneurship given by Professor Stevenson of Harvard Business School is that entrepreneurs can realize value creation through the identification and grasp of entrepreneurial opportunities with limited resources. After introducing the definition of entrepreneurship to students, to make students better understand entrepreneurship, the competition’s theme was “Design a one-yuan business plan”. From the point of the actual teaching process, the teams tend to be limited to limited available funds, RMB 1 as the starting point, from entrepreneurial opportunities design. At the end of each game, know that the “one yuan” is the teachers “trap”, the students will be bliss in understanding the concept of entrepreneurship, is not constrained by resource constraints, and grasp the business opportunities.

For students to better understand the characteristics and abilities of entrepreneurs, the course introduces a competitive model. The pros view is that “men are more suitable for entrepreneurship than women”, while the cons view is that “women are more suitable for entrepreneurship than men”. After learning the chapter of “Building an Excellent Entrepreneurial Team”, the contest format was adopted as the keynote speech entitled “Team Spirit learned from wild geese”. Brainstorming is a process in which team members speak freely, inspire each other, and develop innovative ideas and solutions to problems during the preparation time, based on the competition’s identified theme.

A better brainstorming process and results will help the entrepreneurship course sort out the essential factors determining who wins or loses. Teachers need to explain the process, matters requiring attention, and provide students’ relevant materials before brainstorming in the entrepreneurship course. The brainstorming process is generally presided over by the team leader, who assigns the team members’ roles and tasks. The results will be displayed according to the different forms of competition. For the business plan, scheme design, and keynote speech, one team member will generally complete it, while the debate format requires all team members to participate. The teacher will be in charge of the achievement display. The teacher should stimulate the team members’ potential in a fair and just way to successfully display the brainstorming session’s achievements. As a result, teachers should create comfortable situations and encourage students to complete the task.

Judging is the link to decide the outcome of the competition. The judging result is given by the judges, who are the students who did not participate in the contest. During the judging process, the judges need to comment on the participating teams and express their views on the competition-style teaching theme. In the end, the team with more votes wins the competition. The judging part is an embodiment of comprehensive education. When the team members brainstorm and present their results, the students who do not participate in the competition need to have in-depth thinking and interaction.

In the teacher summary part, the teacher analyzes the competition-style teaching theme, comments on the teams’ performance in the competition, and summarizes the core knowledge points corresponding to the competition theme. Teachers can present their views on the game’s music, shortcomings of the competition players, and improvement directions and better understand and master the entrepreneurship course’s knowledge.

2.3. Questioning Mode

In the course of entrepreneurship teaching, question-based teaching is used to popularize entrepreneurship knowledge instead of irrigating [5] . Changing the continuous questioning to exert pressure on students can also trigger students’ positive thinking and make the classroom atmosphere active. How to achieve a better questioning effect in entrepreneurship requires the teacher to grasp the appropriate time to ask questions, combine the knowledge points of entrepreneurship, and put forward relevant questions. Putting forward relevant questions requires teachers to prepare in-class preparation, combine the knowledge points taught, and focus on the key points and difficulties. The questions proposed should be both novel and hierarchical, considering the value of thinking and the room for exploration. The appropriate time can be to teach the knowledge points, be in the teaching plan teaching process, and be in the competition teaching activities.

Such as business successful entrepreneurial course of case teaching activities to introduce Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang is one of the most significant difficulties at the startup stage does not have enough money to buy a battery production line. The teacher can put “if you are Mr. Wang, how to solve the problem” to students, let students speak freely after telling Mr. Wang, step by step to promote questions, let students enter the startup scene. The topic of the problem can be the teacher or classmate. For example, in evaluating competition-style teaching activities, students are allowed to ask questions to the team members, and the combination of teaching students to ask questions and asking questions to students can achieve better results.

3. Implementation of Interactive Teaching

The interactive teaching mode’s flexible design does not guarantee that it will be a good college students’ entrepreneurship education class effect. Teachers need to understand the teaching goal, the difficulty deeply, and the key to improve their theoretical level and reasonable use of interactive teaching mode. Based on the handle control in the preparation before class, in class, and summarizing after class and correction to ensure the effective implementation of the college students’ entrepreneurship education interactive teaching mode.

3.1. Prepare Well before Class

The knowledge reserve related to entrepreneurship courses is a prerequisite for teachers to prepare before interactive teaching, and some additional conditions required by entrepreneurship courses are also indispensable. Teachers embody values in interactive teaching activities, and at the same time, accept students’ reviews, so teachers need to continually improve their research level on entrepreneurship and enhance their understanding of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial activities. Carefully prepare cases, questions, and competition-style teaching topics to ensure that the teaching process’s seemingly random presentation is an ingenious design around the teaching objectives, key points, and difficult points. Teaching is a process of joint infection between teachers and students. Before the entrepreneurship course, teachers need to adjust their mental state to the best condition, show optimism attitude, and offer a strong interest in entrepreneurship knowledge and ability. Interactive teaching of entrepreneurship courses can amplify the effect.

3.2. Flexible Control in Class

Careful preparation before class is the first step to ensure the effective implementation of interactive teaching. What teachers need to do in class is flexible control and improvisation. Teachers’ rich knowledge reserve and professional teaching experience are essential factors for the smooth development of the entrepreneurship course’s interactive teaching. The ability to organize, communicate, and create is necessary for entrepreneurship courses to achieve good results. For example, in competition-style education, students are not motivated enough to volunteer as judges and cannot objectively comment on the participating teams’ performance. Teachers’ ability to mobilize on the spot is particularly crucial for entrepreneurship courses’ emergencies, and students are encouraged to actively and objectively conduct teaching competitions and comments. Through professional training and peer exchanges, teachers can improve their ability to innovate and control flexibly, and they can also enhance student cooperation through prize incentives.

3.3. Make Rigorous Corrections after Class

The combination of interactive teaching modes, time arrangement, cases, problems, and the selection of competition themes often need to be adjusted and revised according to the different teaching objects, teaching time, and teaching places. If the teaching object of entrepreneurship education is junior college students, first-year college students often lack management and economics, and some vague understanding of relevant concepts. Teachers need to explain the relevant basic concepts before conducting interactive entrepreneurial teaching activities. One study’s teaching practice is generally set as two periods and three periods, so different teaching times also require teachers to adjust accordingly.

4. Conclusion and Outlook

4.1. Conclusion

Entrepreneurship education has been paid more and more attention from universities and welcomed by college students. The entrepreneurship course’s teaching content considers both theoretical depth and entrepreneurial practice, and the use of the interactive mode is more conducive to achieving better teaching results. At the end of the interactive teaching practice, the students gave a high evaluation from the learning experience of the entrepreneurship course submitted by the students. Through in-depth participation in entrepreneurship courses, students have improved the theoretical knowledge related to entrepreneurship; improved team communication, innovation, planning book writing, PPT design, roadshow, and other abilities and literacy; we know ourselves, we find ourselves inadequate. Through interactive teaching mode development, students can realize “doing while learning, learning while doing”, cultivate students’ innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, and lay a solid foundation for future entrepreneurial practice.

4.2. Contribution

International business schools scientifically construct and efficiently operate a university entrepreneurial ecosystem. In particular, the promotion of university students’ innovative thinking and entrepreneurial ability in university entrepreneurship courses has attracted more and more scholars’ attention. Based on years of experience in maker space operation and entrepreneurship course teaching accumulation, the author systematically constructed an interactive teaching model for entrepreneurship courses and proposed the teaching plan’s implementation plan, which provided an essential reference for relevant schools to carry out entrepreneurship courses.

4.3. Outlook

Based on the in-depth communication with the teachers who designed and implemented the interactive teaching model and thoroughly analyzed students’ learning experience, the author combined with personal experience to continuously complete the improvement and iteration of the interactive teaching model of entrepreneurship courses. Since the thesis’s research methods mainly adopt qualitative methods, the research system needs to be completed. In the future, questionnaires can be used to explore the relationship between the curriculum teaching mode and the teaching effect of entrepreneurship courses and the empirical research on the ways to improve the teaching effect of entrepreneurship courses.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank the industry-university research collaborative project of the Ministry of Education of the PRC (NO. 201901053002) for its cooperation and support in this research.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

References

[1] Guzman, J.L., Berenguel, M. and Dormido, S. (2005) Interactive Teaching of Constrained Generalized Predictive Control. Control Systems IEEE, 25, 52-66.
https://doi.org/10.1109/MCS.2005.1411384
[2] Neck, H.M. and Greene, P.G. (2012) Entrepreneurship Education: Known Worlds and New Frontiers. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 19, 55-70.
[3] Kuratko, D.F. (2005) The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Education: Development, Trends, and Challenges. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29, 577-598.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2005.00099.x
[4] Tan, C. and Ying, C. (2004) Seminar Teaching Method, Case Teaching Method and the Structure of Its Class Teaching Mode. Journal of Educational Science of Hunan Normal University, 3, 57-59.
[5] Wu, F.F. (2019) Thinking on the Way to Create “Golden Course” in College English. Comparative Study of Cultural Innovation, 36, 1-2.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.