Longitudinal Assessment of Engineering Student EM Using the ESEMA Self-Report Survey

In order to meet industry expectations of engineering graduates, measuring longitudinal growth of Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) is necessary. Industry expects to hire engineers with a wide range of both entrepreneurial and technical skills, making it crucial to understand how students are developing their EM over the course of their undergraduate programs. This has led to the development of numerous assessment strategies including self report surveys such as the Engineering Student Entrepreneurial Mindset Assessment (ESEMA). This study addresses the gap in longitudinal EM assessment by administering the ESEMA survey across the first four semesters of the undergraduate curriculum. The ESEMA breaks down EM development into six distinct sub-constructs: Altruism, Empathy, Help Seeking, Ideation, Interest, and Open Mindedness, and students are instructed to rate their agreement with various statements relating to each sub-construct on a five-point Likert scale. Data was gathered from two cohorts of students who were asked to complete the survey during the start of the fall and end of the spring semesters of their first and second year. After examining the data, it was found that students across both cohorts reported the highest values for Open Mindedness (4.52-4.54) and had the lowest scores for Ideation (3.24-3.40) in all four semesters. We also saw significant growth in Empathy and Help Seeking across these four semesters. Out of the two cohorts of students, there was a smaller sub-population which completed the ESEMA during all four semesters, allowing for examination of the same students' mindset development. The results of the analysis that followed the same group of students showed that in addition to showing growth in Empathy and Help Seeking, the students in this sub-population significantly increased in their Interest and Open Mindedness scores. These results seem to indicate that curricular interventions which encourage teamwork, collaboration, and designing solutions for real world problems can help students develop in multiple of the sub-constructs associated with EM.