Work-in-Progress: Validation of Connections and Creating Value Assessments

This work-in-progress (WIP) research paper reports the initial validation efforts for two Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) focused indirect assessments. As we face an increasingly global market, graduating engineers with the ability to approach their work with both a technical and business orientation is critical. The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) was created to meet this need. Central to this network is the instillation of EM into current and future engineering students through Entrepreneurial Minded Learning (EML) in engineering coursework. Specifically, an EM is operationalized through the 3Cs: curiosity, connections, and creating value. At our institution, we developed both direct and indirect assessments to holistically assess students' ability to exercise each of the 3Cs. While the curiosity assessment used was developed externally, our connections and creating value indirect assessments were developed in-house. A previous research team at our institution developed Entrepreneurial Mindset Learning objectives (EMLOs) which guide our implementation of EML in some of our engineering coursework and applied them in the creation of items for both indirect assessments. EFA work was previously conducted and yielded four factors for our connections indirect assessment (integrate outside information; consider social, economic and environmental factors; define connections; make connections within engineering design) with a total of 18 Likert-scale items and three factors for our creating value indirect assessment (creating value within engineering design; attitudes and approach toward value creation; create value for others) with a total of 22 Likert-scale items. The face and content validity efforts of the connections and creating value indirect assessments are the focus of this WIP. Engineering instructors with expertise in EM were invited via email to participate in an online survey to begin assessing their face and content validity. The validation survey consisted of a subset of items from both indirect assessments. Participants were asked to rate the clearness, relevance, and alignment of the items relative to the construct they measured. The participant feedback is discussed in this study as well as the future steps for validation of the survey instrument.