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Innovation Competitions and Programs (ICPs), such as design challenges, hackathons, startup incubator competitions, boot camps, customer discovery labs, and accelerator programs, are informal learning experiences that supplement the formal education of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students. As learning dynamics are shifting toward becoming more personalized, location-unbounded, and spontaneous, informal learning is also becoming increasingly important for achieving the broader objectives of STEM education. ICPs are important in educating the next generation of innovators, and they serve as a gateway to innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems in many colleges. The current literature provides limited quantitative and qualitative evidence on student learning because of participation in ICPs. This paper summarizes the findings of a study to investigate the learning and experiences of students who participated in ICPs. The results showed that overall, students rated technical and problem-solving skills higher than some innovation mindset skills, such as understanding people’s needs and pains. Furthermore, the results demonstrated relationships among student backgrounds, learning experiences, and ICP types. Findings suggested that incorporating more entrepreneurial elements in ICPs may improve the innovation mindset learning outcomes of ICPs
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Best Practices for Cultivating Innovative Thinking Skills in Innovation Competitions and Programs
Engineering and computing education have always embraced student Innovation Competitions and Programs (ICPs), such as design challenges, hackathons, startup competitions, and boot camps. These programs are typically organized to increase interest in STEM fields, achieve the broader objective of forming well-rounded engineers and encourage students to bring their innovative ideas into real life. In addition, all ICPs also aim to advance students' innovative thinking skills. With the increased focus on entrepreneurship and innovation in STEM programs, many higher education institutions now organize some form of ICPs. This increased popularity of ICPs bears the questions of (i) whether ICPs achieve their intended objectives, (ii) what program components are most effective, and (iii) how to design ICPs for recruiting diverse student groups. Although these questions are highly relevant to advancing the educational benefits of ICPs, the literature lacks holistic studies focusing on the best practices of ICPs. In this paper, we present the findings of a qualitative research study to investigate ICP types and attributes that make the most impact on fostering an innovation mindset. We interviewed the organizers of ICPs to understand their objectives for organizing their events and rationales for specific program elements. Besides, we asked questions about how they promote their events, the best ways to reach out to students, team selection and forming, their assessment and judging procedures, during and after competition support, and the best practices and challenges. These interview scripts were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using qualitative data analysis software. An analysis of extracted thematic concepts was performed to identify the best practices and strategies that ICP organizers utilize to increase the Impact of their programs. The paper presents the preliminary results of this thematic analysis of the codes. Overall, findings suggest that incorporating more entrepreneurial elements, innovation training in ICPs, and effective mentoring may improve the learning outcomes related to innovative thinking skills.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2120936
- PAR ID:
- 10546285
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 979-8-3503-3642-9
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 4
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Best Practices Innovation Program Thinking Skills Innovation Skills Innovation Competition Qualitative Research
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- College Station, TX, USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Innovation Competitions and Programs (ICPs), such as design challenges, hackathons, startup incubator competitions, boot camps, customer discovery labs, and accelerator programs, are informal learning experiences that supplement the formal education of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students. As learning dynamics are shifting toward becoming more personalized, location-unbounded, and spontaneous, informal learning is also becoming increasingly important for achieving the broader objectives of STEM education. ICPs are important in educating the next generation of innovators, and they serve as a gateway to innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems in many colleges. The current literature provides limited quantitative and qualitative evidence on student learning because of participation in ICPs. This paper summarizes the findings of a multi-institutional study to investigate the learning and experiences of students who participated in ICPs. The results showed that overall, students rated technical and problem-solving skills higher than some innovation mindset skills, such as understanding people’s needs and pains. Furthermore, the results demonstrated relationships among student backgrounds, learning experiences, and ICP types. Findings suggested that incorporating more entrepreneurial elements in ICPs may improve the innovation mindset learning outcomes of ICPs.more » « less
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Educational programs like innovation competitions and programs (ICPs) play a pivotal role in entrepreneurial development among student participants. Students with a focus on fields in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) tend to benefit from participation in ICPs. Higher education institutions and foundations have broadened their co-curricular offerings to attract and support student innovators. These include design challenges, hackathons, start-up incubator competitions, boot camps, customer discovery labs, and accelerator programs. Hence, student ICPs are increasingly instrumental in shaping the education of the next generation of innovators and critical thinkers. Furthermore, organizers have a crucial role in ensuring the success and feasibility of innovation and pitch competitions. The successful implementation of such programs often entails myriad challenges and setbacks that organizers must overcome to benefit their participants. This paper aims to explore the different challenges organizers face while running student ICPs, typically non-credit, co-curricular, and team-based initiatives where student teams collaborate to address open-ended problems. The literature review and analysis of organizer interviews will explore current trends, similarities in challenges and setbacks, and provide a concise overview of best practices that organizers can adopt to ensure the success of innovation competitions and programs. The primary focus is on understanding the challenges organizers face during the establishment and execution of their ICPs.more » « less
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Like many faculty, we have organized student innovation competitions and programs (ICPs) and coached many student teams for various competitions; therefore, we have observed first-hand how transformational the experience has been for our students. ICPs allow students to quickly test their skills and knowledge, push them beyond their comfort zones, encourage them to take risks, and provide a safe place to try and fail, as failures can be seen as a critical part of the learning process. Despite their invaluable learning benefits, existing literature lacks a theoretical body of knowledge on the influence of ICPs on the educational experience. Our goal is to explore transformations in students’ mindsets toward innovation through perspectives and data from students who formerly participated in ICPs, mentors who coach students through ICPs, and ICP organizers who create these opportunities for students. This paper will focus on the essential practices of mentors.more » « less
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Student Innovation Competitions and Programs (ICPs), including design challenges, hackathons, startup competitions, and boot camps, play a critical role in entrepreneurship and innovation education. These programs foster students' technical skills, networking opportunities, and innovation mindsets. However, the literature lacks an exploration of ICPs' transformative impact on students' entrepreneurial mindsets, which involves profound changes in students' values and abilities. This study addresses this gap by applying the Transformative Learning Theory (TLT) to examine how ICPs can be transformative experiences for students. Using a qualitative inductive approach, semi-structured interviews with 36 students who participated in ICPs were conducted. Thematic analysis was performed using both human coders and ChatGPT 4.0 to identify the strengths and weaknesses realized by students during ICPs. The results showed a high level of agreement between human and AI-generated codes, highlighting ICPs' role in enhancing self-awareness and personal growth. Key strengths discovered included communication skills, leadership, problem-solving, organizational skills, tenacity, and interpersonal skills, while common weaknesses were noted as time management, communication challenges, lack of self-advocacy, trust issues, inflexibility, conflict management, and stress and anxiety. These findings suggest that ICPs are instrumental in fostering an entrepreneurial and innovation mindset, but organizers should address time management and stress issues to maximize benefits to students.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10343440
