This paper presents an ecological/evolutionary approach to enterprise education. Ecological approaches are used at the University of Tasmania to heighten the awareness of students to a raft of difficult to observe environmental factors associated with developing enterprising ideas. At Sheffield University, the discovery and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities is viewed as a co-evolving system of emerging business ideas, and routines/heuristics respectively. It is argued that using both approaches enables students to develop a greater awareness of their situated environment, and ultimately the degree of fit between their learning process and a changing external world. The authors argue that in order to improve the chances of longer-term survival what is needed is a new level of organisation where the individual is capable of developing a representation of the external world that he or she can use to sense the appropriateness of local decisions. This reinterpretation of events allows individuals to step back and examine the broader consequences of their actions through the interpretation and anticipation of feedback from the environment. These approaches thus seek to develop practice-based heuristics which individuals can use to make sense of their lived experiences, as they learn to evolve in an increasingly complex world.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Enterprise education; Evolutionary approach; Ecological approach; Entrepreneurial behaviour
Research Division:	Education
Research Group:	Curriculum and pedagogy
Research Field:	Economics, business and management curriculum and pedagogy
Objective Division:	Education and Training
Objective Group:	Learner and learning
Objective Field:	Learner and learning not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Jones, C (Dr Colin Jones)
ID Code:	97295
Year Published:	2014
Deposited By:	Australian Innovation Research Centre
Deposited On:	2014-12-10
Last Modified:	2015-04-23
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