E-Learning Modules

The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) fosters an entrepreneurial mindset in engineering students.

An entrepreneurial mindset applies to all aspects of life, beginning with curiosity about our changing world, integrating information from various resources to gain insight, and identifying unexpected opportunities to create value. An engineer equipped with an entrepreneurial mindset is able to create extraordinary value within any type of organization. KEEN schools identify, nurture, and develop entrepreneurially minded engineers who will contribute to our national economic prosperity and secure individual fulfillment through a lifetime of meaningful work. To learn more about KEEN, visit engineeringunleashed.com.

Development of e-learning modules supporting entrepreneurially minded learning is part of this effort. The University of New Haven, a KEEN partner institution, aims to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in its engineering students by integrating e-learning modules into existing engineering and computer science courses. These modules will be shared educational resources, available to KEEN and others.


Modules Currently Available for Use

The modules that have been developed so far, together with the learning outcomes for each module are listed below.

  • Thinking creatively to drive innovation

    Learning Outcomes

    • Describe the meaning of creativity, a rare but achievable form of thinking
    • Explain the observation that creativity is influenced much more by nurture than nature
    • Describe the universality and power of the divergent-convergent thinking process
    • Apply the Medici Effect when forming teams
    • Apply the Ask-Ask-Ask method
    • Apply the Fishbone Diagramming method
    • Apply the Mind Mapping method
  • Learning from failure

    Learning Outcomes

    • List common mistakes in the product development cycle for real world projects
    • Develop a list of practical options to correct or avoid potential mistakes that may occur in specific projects
    • Explain the potential risks of failure and proposed solutions in terms familiar to various stakeholders
    • Provide recommendations for deciding when to stop a project or when to continue it
    • Extract practical lessons learned by reviewing case histories of failures
  • Cost of production and market conditions

    Learning Outcomes

    • Identify the market scenarios for a product
    • Analyze the effects of different business models
    • Describe the nature of the firm that will be best for the product and its environment
    • Describe the behavior of costs in the short run and long run production
    • Identify economies of scale and disc-economies of scale through long run cost curves
    • Apply various methods to suggest a selling price based in the costs of production
    • Describe different market structures
    • State the characteristics of the long tail and internet markets
  • The elevator pitch: advocating for your good ideas

    Learning Outcomes

    • Identify the value proposition of a product or service from the point of view of a variety of stakeholders
    • Articulate the criteria that yield an effective pitch
    • Outline a process for developing elevator pitches
    • Implement strategies for recovering from an unsuccessful pitch experience
  • Building, sustaining and leading effective teams and establishing performance goals

    Learning Outcomes

    • Identify success factors at each life-cycle stage of the team development process that influence productivity
    • Differentiate between consensus and compromise
    • Examine individual preferences’ dichotomies found in a personality comparison instrument
    • Identify factors that influence actions and decision-making
    • Recognize four different viewpoints used to reach consensus
    • Relate the importance of team and individual performance to reaching overall objectives
    • Design a performance plan
    • Identify ways to address conflicts in teams most productively
  • Applying systems thinking to complex problems

    Learning Outcomes

    • Define system, systems architecture, and system engineering
    • Decompose system hierarchy to at least four levels
    • Define any system from various perspectives, including technical feasibility, value, risk, and societal impact
    • Describe four methods of developing a system architecture
    • Apply the heuristic architecting method to develop a system architecture
  • Developing a business plan that addresses stakeholder interests, market potential and economics

    Learning Outcomes

    • Identify an innovative and differentiated business concept 
    • Develop a strategy for returning value to economic stakeholders
    • Construct a business’s value chain, showing the company’s operational flow
    • Assess a business market opportunity, including competitive positioning
    • Develop market entry, growth and exploitation strategy
    • Develop key business plan assumptions and simulate business performance
    • Utilize resources to prepare valuable business plans
  • Role of product in value creation

    Learning Outcomes

    • Describe each element of the total product concept
    • Apply the Product concept to past product successes and failures
    • Define the concept of value
    • Explain the value proposition canvas
    • Relate the Product concept to the value proposition canvas
    • Evaluate value creation using the value proposition canvas
  • Adapting a business to a changing climate

    Learning Outcomes

    • Explain the ways in which new and existing firms are impacted by changing business conditions
    • Describe the various factors that make up market/business conditions
    • Perform environmental scanning on the business environment
    • Describe ways in which firms deal with changes in its business environment
    • Explain the mindset and characteristics of those people (and organizations) that survive and thrive given challenges and setbacks
  • Defining and Protecting Intellectual Property

    Learning Outcomes

    • Classify valuable physical and intellectual assets 
    • Explain why intellectual property (IP) assets are important to a
      company’s valuation and its stakeholders
    • Employ methods to protect valuable trade secret and confidential
      information IP assets
    • Use trademarks, industrial designs, and copyrights to protect brand
      value
    • Describe how to file patents
  • Resolving Ethical Issues

    Learning Outcomes

    • Assess, and later reassess, your position on an ethics scale
    • Define ethics in the context of professional settings
    • Explain why ethical behavior and the trust it engenders are
      essential for all engineers especially entrepreneurial engineers
    • Analyze ethical dilemma case studies and explain who resolved them
      and how
    • Apply three methods for resolving ethical dilemmas
  • Generating new ideas based on societal needs and business opportunities

    Learning Outcomes

    • Differentiate between an idea and an opportunity
    • Describe how to identify new business opportunities by observing social and environmental trends
    • Recognize how to find business opportunities through identifying needs and offering viable potential solutions
    • Explain how identifying gaps in the marketplace can lead to finding viable business opportunities
    • Describe a variety of techniques that can generate ideas of value
Modules to be Developed

The full list of e-learning modules to be developed as part of this project and the courses into which they will be integrated at the University of New Haven are shown below.


These e-learning modules target the KEEN student outcomes.

The e-learning modules should be interactive, structured in a way that will allow integration into regular courses or utilization as supplementary resources, and must be accompanied with a teaching guide.

At the University of New Haven, the KEEN e-learning modules are integrated into a variety of courses that span First-Year through senior years of seven engineering and computer science programs. The modules are generic enough to allow their deployment in various courses and majors.

The length of each module is 3-9 hours of online student work. Online student work includes the amount of time a student is expected to spend reviewing material in a module as well as the average time needed to complete module assignments, activities or exercises.


List of Universities and Colleges that have Deployed Modules
  1. Arizona State University
  2. Baylor University
  3. Boise State University
  4. California State Polytechnic University - Pomona
  5. California State University, Chico
  6. Drexel University
  7. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
  8. Fairfield University
  9. Florida International University
  10. George Fox University
  11. Georgia Institute of Technology
  12. Grand Valley State University
  13. Hofstra University
  14. James Madison University
  15. Kettering University
  16. Lafayette College
  17. Lawrence Technological University
  18. Lehigh University
  19. Manhattan College
  20. Marquette University
  21. Michigan State University
  22. Michigan Technological University
  23. Milwaukee School of Engineering
  24. Ohio Northern University
  25. Pennsylvania State University
  26. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
  27. San Francisco State University
  28. Santa Clara University
  29. The Citadel
  30. Trine University
  31. Tulane University
  32. University of Alabama at Birmingham
  33. University of Arkansas Little Rock
  34. University of California - Davis
  35. University of Colorado Boulder
  36. University of Cincinnati
  37. University of Connecticut
  38. University of Dayton
  39. University of Denver
  40. University of the District of Columbia
  41. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  42. University of the Pacific
  43. University of San Diego
  44. University of Southern California
  45. University of South Florida
  46. University of Tennessee
  47. University of Texas - Dallas
  48. Valparaiso University
  49. Villanova University
  50. University of Virginia
  51. University of Wyoming
  52. Walla Walla University
  53. Weber State University
  54. Western Carolina University
  55. Western New England University
  56. West Virginia University Institute of Technology
  57. Wichita State University

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