Applying Theory to Practice: Measuring Learning Outcomes from a STEM Doctoral Program

In 2013, Morris, Kuratko and Cornwall [1] reported a trend in entrepreneurship education moving from a focus on starting small businesses toward stimulating innovative, growth-oriented ventures. They forecast a broadening of entrepreneurship education leading students to "think and act in entrepreneurial ways in all facets of life, to pursue careers where entrepreneurship can manifest in many different ways, and to apply the entrepreneurial mindset in their personal lives" (p. 16). This approach was adopted at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in the design of a Ph.D. program for life science and bioengineering students. The faculty instigators recognized that the majority of STEM doctoral program graduates were not choosing academic careers and were not necessarily being prepared to engage in entrepreneurial behavior either through new venture creation or opportunity seeking within larger organizations. In reviewing the entrepreneurship education literature, it was noted that many programs lacked clear learning objectives and that few provided outcome measures [2, 3]. In this paper, we explain how learning outcomes were developed and implemented for a program selected by the National Science Foundation for its innovativeness and potential for replication, and how results have been and are being evaluated in accordance with Mialaret's [4] theoretical perspective for designing and implementing an education program.