Work-in-progress: Embedding entrepreneurship in the computing curricula

Two projects at Arizona State University at the Polytechnic campus blend a range of student engagement activities to promote entrepreneurship. The first, "from. EDU to COM", engages students with industry entrepreneurs through on-campus events (colloquia and a Polytechnic showcase event), student engagement projects with SMEs, and internships. The second, "Agile Methods for Entrepreneurship" proposes eurricular modifications, cohort programs with the Polytechnic's business school, lab-oriented practice with ASU's University Technology Office, and an off-campus 2-day workshop with students and real-world entrepreneurs, among other activities. Besides being housed in the same academic unit, these projects also share a common, differentiating approach. First, both emphasize a "learn by doing" approach consistent with the Polytechnic mission. Second, both engage students in entrepreneurship through a variety of activities. We believe the latter point is especially important; in our view entrepreneurship is often promoted through a single highly visible activity. Our approach embeds entrepreneurship across the spectrum of student engagement. This reflects our belief that students must engage repeatedly with entrepreneurs to understand and adopt this cultural norm. In this paper we describe our entrepreneurial engagement activities and discuss preliminary results from the first year of our experience.