Praksisnær undervisning – en forutsetning for innovasjon og entreprenørskap!

Abstract

In this chapter I examine the importance of the concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation in an educational context. The aim of the chapter is to show that entrepreneurship and innovation are not only political superlatives, but also useful approaches to a more practice-oriented teaching in higher education. Practice-oriented teaching is teaching with a clear applied orientation, and I examine how entrepreneurial perspectives and forms of teaching can contribute to this applied orientation through examples, among other things, from the innovation methods we find in ‘Liberating Structures’. The intention of the examples is to demonstrate that entrepreneurship and innovation are useful and simple tools when it comes to facilitating teaching situations where the students must connect theory and practice. Boyer and Knorr-Cetina’s thoughts on knowledge are briefly referenced to support the notion that the students need expertise in how social structures and knowledge development influence each other reciprocally. This is seen in the context of political governance documents and especially Nordic literature on entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial teaching methods and practice-oriented teaching are then linked to a situational and contextual learning perspective, and I argue that entrepreneurship and innovation are inextricably linked to practice-oriented teaching. I conclude that through entrepreneurship and innovation in higher education we can facilitate a practice-oriented learning where the student learns situationally, without necessarily being in a practical situation.