2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The entrepreneurial mindset (EM) approach has been well documented in the Engineering Education community. This EM approach is one method of supporting the development of sociotechnical engineers in curriculum—preparing students to solve global engineering problems utilizing the KEEN EM framework’s 6Cs: curiosity, connections and creating value, as well as collaboration, communication and character. The sociotechnical engineer uses both technical and non-technical (e.g. collaboration and communication) skill sets in order to work effectively. As engineering capstone courses are a culminating experience for students preparing to embark on their professional careers, they are an ideal opportunity to help students utilize prior knowledge, as well as build and strengthen their socio- and technical skills.

This work in progress paper will describe the process and impact of integrating EM into a multidisciplinary capstone two-semester course sequence. The intervention positions technical and professional communication-specific lectures and assignments as opportunities for students to be “agents of integration” [1] as they are given opportunities to demonstrate their learning through design process project documentation across multiple professional genres. The authors will demonstrate how writing-based assignments are an effective EM tool for transferring knowledge and skills, as well as how writing allows students to engage in the EM framework by mapping the capstone curriculum to EM learning outcomes. The paper will review writing-focused assignments and rubrics utilized, as well as student reflection prompts. The quantitative results of student self-reflection surveys related to the EM learning outcomes will be presented to show the impact of the curriculum associated with EM. Collectively, the authors will provide evidence-based tools that can be adopted by those who wish to strengthen EM and technical writing and communication skills in their courses.

[1] R. S. Nowacek, Agents of Integration: Understanding Transfer as a Rhetorical Act. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2011.