Methodology Final
Methodology Final
Methodology Final
Methodology
1
“FEEF
From Educators
to Entrepreneurial
Facilitators
Methodology”
DATE OF PUBLICATION
May 2024
WRITTEN BY
Ilse Fraussen, Annelies Schrooten
(UCLL, Belgium)
REVIEWED SUPPORT BY
Sara Raponi e Anna Boaretto (University of Padova, Italy)
Carla Portela (NOVA University Lisbon)
DISCLAIMER
Any dissemination of results reflects only the authors’ view and the European Commission is not
responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
COPYRIGHT MESSAGE
Text content is subject to the Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives)
by FEEF project.
This deliverable contains original unpublished work except where clearly indicated otherwise.
Acknowledgement of previously published material and of the work of others has been made through
appropriate citation, quotation or both.
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Graphical materials related to programs featured in this guide, including any logos or photos, are the
property of the respective programs and may not be reproduced in any form without the express
permission of the programs.
CONTENT
4 The itinerary 20
4.1. Project Result 2: FEEF Digital education on facilitation techniques 20
4.2. PR3: FEEF Blended education training itinerary and materials. 22
4.2.1. Creating a step-by-step guide and a toolkit. 22
4.2.2. Testing with a staff training 23
4.2.3. Pilot 23
3 FEEF METHODOLOGY
1. INTRODUCTION
5 FEEF METHODOLOGY
1. INTRODUCTION
• To help teachers in equipping learners with narrow economic or commercial purpose, this value
the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for also takes cultural and social forms. The potential of
the future and which are in high demand e.g. entrepreneurial education goes far beyond training
problem-solving, flexible thinking and creativity; for students in tertiary colleges on how to start up a
• To help teachers strengthen ties between business.
academia and “the outside world”, often
enhancing students’ chances of employability. Educators recognize that fostering an
Through connecting community and business to entrepreneurial mindset is not only a question of
the classroom environment, e.g. by involving preparing students for the future within the complex
potential employers in formative assessment, economic environment. It is also a means of fostering
through apprenticeships, using entrepreneur-in- personal and social development so that students:
residence schemes or visits with entrepreneurial • Gain skills in getting on with others;
citizens to talk about their lives and work. • Express their creativity in suggesting solutions
• To help teachers in supporting students to to problems;
contribute to a more inclusive society e.g. • Learn to reflect on their own particular
through sharing positive role models of under- strengths, interests and aspirations;
represented groups such as women, migrants, • Adopt a can-do attitude and drive to turn ideas
individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds into action;
and individuals with special educational needs. • Show resilience in handling setbacks;
• Apply their financial literacy and numeracy
skills in real-world contexts;
• Communicate their ideas to a wide range of
1.2. WHAT DOES ENTREPRENEURSHIP &
audience;
ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION MEAN?
• Contribute to the community as active,
“Entrepreneurship is when you act upon responsible citizens.
opportunities and ideas and transform them into
value for others. The value that is created can be Entrepreneurial education contributes to a more
financial, cultural, or social”. relevant curriculum, improved student motivation,
opportunities to engage with the community and a
Over recent decades, rapid and deep-seated better match to the needs of the business world.
social, technological, and environmental changes
have prompted policymakers and educators to reflect Over recent years, the importance of
upon the purposes and content of education, as part entrepreneurial education has attracted considerable
of the need to adapt and keep pace with such attention among the world’s policy makers. The
changes. There is a growing consensus that this goes European Commission views entrepreneurial activity
beyond transmitting knowledge, towards preparing as relevant to all levels of education and calls upon
students for life, towards fulfilling their potential member states to ensure that “All young people should
both as active citizens as within the world of work. benefit from at least one practical entrepreneurial
All students should have an entrepreneurial mindset, experience before leaving education.”
not only those who want to be an entrepreneur.
It is worth noting that entrepreneurial education
What makes entrepreneurial education has several characteristics, which many teachers may
distinctive is its focus on generating ideas which have already be using but did not recognize as being
value for others. While this might suggest a “entrepreneurial education”.
6 FEEF METHODOLOGY
1. INTRODUCTION
7 FEEF METHODOLOGY
1. INTRODUCTION
8 FEEF METHODOLOGY
1. INTRODUCTION
Self-awareness efficiency
• Problem solving: Employers highly value
Adaptability
people who can resolve issues quickly and Personal Skills
Self-Management
effectively. That may involve calling on
industry knowledge to fix an issue immediately Growth mindset
9 FEEF METHODOLOGY
1. INTRODUCTION
• Growth mindset
People with a growth mindset are
Personal skills
convinced that they can always become more
intelligent and better at something and that they
• Self –awareness
must make an effort to achieve this. According
Self-awareness is about knowing your
to them, failure is a learning process and they
strengths and weaknesses. It is a critical tool to
can learn from it to do things better in the
help you reach higher levels of job satisfaction,
future. They see those who do better than them
become a better leader, improve relationships
as a source of inspiration. By observing their
with colleagues, and manage your emotions
strategies and working methods, they can learn
better.
from these people and grow a bit themselves.
• Flexibility/Adaptability
People with a fixed mindset, on the other hand,
Adaptability is the ability to be able to keep up
view intelligence and learning differently. They
with the constant obstacles that are being
are convinced that their intelligence and any
thrown at you. Adaptability involves being able
other talents are unchangeable. According to
to adapt to new environments and conditions,
them, making an effort is mainly a proof that
being able to stay composed during difficult
they are not intelligent enough or that they do
situations, and being able to make quick
not have another talent. Failure is seen by them
decisions in the midst of an unplanned event.
as a sign that they have little aptitude for a
Flexibility is an important skill to master,
certain skill or that they are stupid.
whether it means having the ability to
overcome stress or simply to adjust to changes
quickly. Having a high level of flexibility makes
Social skills
it easier to live a less stressful and hectic life.
• Effective leadership
• Critical thinking
Good leadership is being able to stimulate and
Critical thinking is a skill that can be learned
inspire others. In this way, you can strengthen
and used to decide whether a statement is
others' motivation, commitment and
true, partially true, or false, and whether a line
performance.
of reasoning is valid. It provides tools to curb
the natural tendency to believe and to
• Negotiation
recognize and avoid illogical reasoning and
is a process in which mutually dependent parties
fallacies.
with conflicting and corresponding interests
want to work together to reach an agreement
• Self-management
that is acceptable and realistic for both parties.
Self-management or ‘self-control’ or ‘self-
Negotiation is seen as a specific quality.
regulation’ is the ability to regulate one's
emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively
in different situations.
10 FEEF METHODOLOGY
1. INTRODUCTION
• Teamwork • Communication
You can read it in almost every job description: Effective communication is the process of
you have to be a real 'team player' and at the exchanging ideas, thoughts, opinions,
same time, be able to work independently. knowledge, and data so that the message is
Collaboration is all about creating a good and received and understood with clarity and
efficient working atmosphere for yourself and purpose. When we communicate effectively,
others. Teamwork skills are the qualities and both the sender and receiver feel satisfied.
abilities that allow to work well with others
during conversations, projects, meetings or Entrepreneurial skills
other collaborations. Having teamwork skills is
dependent on the ability to communicate well, • Planning & management
actively listen and be responsible and honest. Good time management lets you work
smarter – not harder – so you get more
• Conflict management done in less time. It requires an important
There are different types of conflicts, but they shift in focus from activities to results: being
all go through the same phases. There are busy isn’t the same as being effective.
different styles of dealing with conflicts. The
choice depends primarily on your personality • Creativity
and the situation you are in. Clear Creativity is seeing something new
communication and good listening are key to (opportunities or solutions to problems),
prevent conflicts. finding something new, and doing or making
something new. So with that, creativity is
• Empathic listening more than a way of perceiving, thinking or
Means that you really want to know what the doing; it is a combination of all three.
other person has to say. As an empathic Creative thinking allows you to come up
listener you are engaged with the other with original solutions and innovative ways
person, you conduct the conversation with of working. You can stimulate creative
interest in the other person. In the thinking by using e.g. brainstorming
conversation you aim to really hear the other methods.
person, to understand them and recognize
their feelings. • Problem solving
Problem solving is the act of defining a
• Giving and receiving feedback problem; determining the cause of the
In life as much as in work, it’s important to problem; identifying, prioritizing, and
know how to provide feedback to others, selecting alternatives for a solution; and
effectively and constructively without causing implementing a solution.
offence. There are many opportunities in life Employers highly value people who can
for providing others with feedback, from resolve issues quickly and effectively. That
commenting on the way your colleague has may involve calling on industry knowledge
carried out a task, to discussing your children’s to fix an issue immediately as it occurs, or
behavior with them. taking time to research and consult with
colleagues to find a scalable, long-term
solution.
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1. INTRODUCTION
12 FEEF METHODOLOGY
2. RESEARCH
suggest that we have to consider the following developed techniques for teachers on how they can
connect with the business world, build a network or
elements as being critical:
‘community bridging’ between the educational and
entrepreneurial world.
• Being part of network(s);
• Forming focus groups;
• Balancing between real and virtual 2.2. SURVEY´S FINDINGS
environments;
• Showcasing real life experiences. Over the last years, we have observed a few
changes. The Academic world is trying to change the
A common ground throughout all the studied old standard strategy of having a unidirectional
13 FEEF METHODOLOGY
2. RESEARCH
communication of a professor providing knowledge world and hybrid people 100% agree that there
towards a class receiving that knowledge. We have is a gap between academia and business world.
seen some new methodologies emerging, the use of
digital tools to assist and improve learning and After thoroughly analyzing and interpreting the
teaching techniques and we have even seen results of this survey, we decided to set up a focus
enhanced learning technologies getting attention. group with the participants of these ‘3 worlds’ to
But what we have noticed is that all of the massive discuss the findings and share thoughts about
developments did not necessarily bring the Academia opportunities and challenges on how to close this
and the business world closer together, both worlds “gap”.
somehow remain disconnected.
2.3. FOCUS GROUPS FINDINGS
In order to get a clear insight in the perception
of academic, business and hybrid people of this “gap”, We believe that all students will only be better
we have conducted a survey. By hybrid people we suited for new challenges and everyday changing
mean people who have experience in both academic realities if the educators and the surrounding
and business world. ecosystem work in the same direction. We want to
shorten the gap between academia and the real world
Some interesting conclusions of the survey we by creating an ecosystem where best practices can
conducted in March 2022 are listed below. All 53 be shared and discussed. By implementing one of our
participants were equally divided among the 3 groups facilitation techniques ‘the focus group’ we created
– academia, business and hybrid. our own club or focus group of representatives of
both worlds.
• What about the level of hard skills of the
students? 55% of the teachers think students Within these FEEF focus groups we will bring
are well prepared, but we see that the business together on a regular basis a small group of people
world is less positive about the hard skills of the (educators, business and hybrid) to discuss topics
students; in a moderated setting. The group is chosen due
• On the level of soft skills we see an evolution in to predefined demographic traits (4 countries and
the other direction, only 10% of the participating 3 groups – academia, hybrid and business), and
teachers think that their students are well will be organized in a digital setting because of the
prepared concerning soft skills. Almost 30% of international context. Based on the results of the
the hybrid and business people consider them survey we set up a first focus group at the end of
having the right soft skills; March 2022 with 19 people from academia, business
• All of the participants agree that the majority and hybrid from the different countries. The main
of the students do not sufficiently know what goal is to come up with concrete ideas and input
the business world is about; for our methodology. Every group discussed two
• The good news is that the majority of the facilitation techniques, how they are implemented
teachers already incorporate entrepreneurial now and what could be improved in the future. We
activities in their classes (e.g. case studies, guest will use the outcomes of this focus group to optimize
speakers, company visits, job interviews, project the step-by-step facilitation techniques in our toolkit.
based & challenged based learning…); only 5% of
them doesn’t know how to incorporate these 2.4. LOCAL RESEARCH FINDINGS
kind of activities in the classroom;
• Despite all the entrepreneurial activities Some research on future skills was already
already undertaken by teachers, the business conducted by members of the consortium. The most
14 FEEF METHODOLOGY
2. RESEARCH
From the University of Padova we received the Analytical mindset 106 41,2
most important findings of their ‘local observatory’
on softs kills. This information is based on 257
Creativity 76 29,6
professional profiles (including different levels
starting from technicians) found through the research
“Labor Observatories” in the Italian region of Abstract mindset 24 9,3
Veneto in the last 7 years in the following sectors:
Metalworking / Electromechanical and Electronics /
Chemical / Information Technology and
Telecommunications / Advertising, Business 2.4.2. SURVEY CONDUCTED WITHIN ERASMUS
Communication and Organization of Events / Tourism PROJECT GROWTH4SME’S
/ Social Cooperatives.
(Norway, Denmark, Belgium, June 2021, N = 413
- Full report: https://growth4sme.eu/skill-demand).
Table: Local observatory on soft skills – Padova
15 FEEF METHODOLOGY
2. RESEARCH
Adaptability
Contextualization
Business understanding
Creating narratives
Cultural competence
Awareness of sustainability
Foreign languages
E-commerce
Video editing
0 1 2 3 4 5
Which skills should the people you hire have? mindset, communication and collaboration. The
Next to the technical competences which were fourth and fifth place was for flexibility and taking
indicated as most important in this survey (which initiative.
is normal because the survey was conducted with Which skills do you lack most with current staff?
tech startups), the three other essential skills growth Taking initiative, growth mindset and flexibility.
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2. RESEARCH
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2. RESEARCH
18 FEEF METHODOLOGY
3. DESIGN ING
3.2.2. Related to mentorship skills when properly designed and managed, beneficial
to both the industry partners and the academic
We need to train trainers from two points of view:
institutions. Such collaborations may take place on
both small and large scales, and may involve a
• As mentors: A good mentor must have a series
varying number of academic institutions and
of essential skills, such as the ability to listen actively,
industry partners. They may also have different
to be open-minded and committed, to have the ability
to define real and achievable goals and to give support purposes, including both research-focused
to their students when they need it. A fundamental collaborative efforts and programs designed to
tool in the mentoring process is to give and receive connect the students with real-life projects to
feedback, which means that during the student’s enhance their education.
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4.
ITINERARY
The itinerary
Our FEEF methodology is a best practice of a Also, they will gain an entrepreneurial mindset, by
blended learning approach on itself. The first step being aware of the EntreComp framework.
in our methodology is the MOOC, where teachers
(and students) can study and test themselves at their MOOC DESIGN
own pace. To facilitate the teachers, we have created
in the second phase (PR3) an education training, a In the table below you can find the setup of the
digital tool-kit which will help them in applying MOOC. Table: MOOC design
entrepreneurial education in their class-room using
our selection of facilitation techniques. The second
part in PR3 is the testing of these facilitation
techniques in real-life during our ‘staff training’ and
local pilots.
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4. ITINERARY
M1 1. Understand the importance of Soft Skills • Planning and management; • Spotting opportunities (IO); • Cooperative learning;
Soft & and Entrepreneurial Skills in education/ • Creativity; • Vision (IO); • Brainstorming;
entrepreneurial teaching; • Adaptability; • Valuing ideas (IO); • Case studies;
skills 2. Identify skills to improve in the educators • Problem solving • Mobilizing others (R);
through the self-assessment; • Cooperating with others; • Learning through experiences (IA)
3. Apply it in class context with the • Self-management;
introduction of the different facilitation • Communication;
techniques; • Growth mindset;
• Conflict management
M2 1. Understand the need • Effective leadership; • Self-awareness and self-efficacy (R); • Game based learning;
Mentorship of guide students through • Negotiation; • Ethical and sustainable thinking (IO); • Inverted classroom;
skills a mentoring process; • Self-awareness efficiency; • Valuing ideas (IO); • World café.
2. Identify and develop • Empathic listening; • Working with others (IA);
mentorship skills through • Giving & receiving • Spotting opportunities (IO).
the mentoring program; feedback.
3. Implement mentorship
skills learned in the class.
M3 1. Understand the importance of • Giving & receiving • Spotting • CBL (challenge based learning);
Ecosystem collaborating with industry to approach the feedback; opportunities; • Company/employer visits
interaction real life to students; • Problem solving; • Learning Focus group;
2. Identify relevant industry partners that can • Communication; through experience; • Job shadowing.
improve the knowledge of the students; • Cooperating with others. • Valuing ideas.
3. Establish collaborative partnerships with
industry to develop visits and training as
facilitation techniques;
21 FEEF METHODOLOGY
4.
ITINERARY
4.2. PR3: FEEF BLENDED EDUCATION where a selection of facilitation techniques are
TRAINING ITINERARY AND MATERIALS. described in detail, including reflection questions on
which future skills are trained by using the technique.
Working with the basis of the principles defined Additional features will be added to further elaborate
by the FEEF methodology, and in close synergy with on extra skills to be trained by these techniques.
the MOOC designed in PR2, the consortium has
created a tool-kit for teachers and educators to By implementing the facilitation techniques in
succeed in developing classes using facilitation their classes, teachers will help reducing the gap
techniques. between academic world and real-life and as a
consequence, extra skills will be developed.
The FEEF tool-kit is based on innovative
educational and didactic approaches and learning A short understanding of the facilitation
activities that aim at providing teachers with a new techniques that will be described in detail (how to
set of skills and competences that they can put in implement & evaluate) can be found in the toolkit &
practice in their classes and work as coaches/ MOOC.
facilitators to the students’ needs. The main element
of innovation is its focus on enhancing the role of the • Focus group: brings together a small group
educator to become a facilitator/mentor to their of people to answer questions in a moderated
students. This will promote a deeper awareness of setting.
the teaching process, so that the educator can make
adjustments to the curriculum versus following a • Bridging café (world café): a FEEF technique to
prescribed path. Also, the teacher will be able to bring together people from business & academia
identify new ways to structure the most effective to discuss pre-defined topics
activities and routines, to develop or incorporate new
strategies for student achievements and to foster • Challenge-based learning: is a technique for
higher levels of engagement and career vision. learning while solving real-world challenges in a
collaborative and hands-on way.
The material can be used and adapted by the
teachers and educators according to their needs and • Game-based learning or gamification: the use
availability of infrastructure. We will also provide of game design elements in non-game learning
educators, as mentioned before, with entrepreneurial contexts; lessons from the gaming domain are
mindset and soft skills like problem-solving, critical applies to change behaviors in non-gaming
thinking, teamwork, creativity, that will help them to situations. Gamified learning improves student
successfully engage their students in the learning attitude, engagement, and performance.
process.
• Job shadowing: students observe someone
4.2.1. CREATING A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE AND A within the industry within their day-today role in
TOOLKIT. order to understand how they do their job and
what life is like in a workplace. It aims to get an
In PR3 we have developed a toolkit which can be insight rather to hands-on experience.
used by other educational institutions and educators
as a reference on how to design, adapt, implement • Inverted (or flipped) classroom: a blended
and/or measure facilitation programs. learning method in which a self-directed learning
phase (individual phase) takes place before the
The toolkit is a step-by-step practical guide classroom-learning phase. It gives a twist to
22 FEEF METHODOLOGY
4.
ITINERARY
22 FEEF METHODOLOGY
21 . ANNE5
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