Transformative, Transactional and Transmissive Modes of Teaching in Action-based Entrepreneurial Education

Paper in proceeding, 2017

This paper introduces the notion of holistic education into the context of action-based entrepreneurial education, in order to develop a framework for achieving and understanding whole person development. The aim of the framework is to connect with a wider set of teaching and learning paradigms as a basis for instructional design and assessment, to bridge some of the fragmentation apparent in conceptual frameworks for entrepreneurial education. To facilitate this multi-facetted view on teaching and learning, we introduce a framework of transmissive, transactional and transformative teaching modes. In this framework, the transmissive mode relies upon traditional teaching methods; the transactional mode relies upon on self-directed problem-solving, collaboration and engagement in authentic learning environments; and, the transformative mode appreciates the whole learning person, how she connects with herself, others and the world. We argue that all modes are needed in order to achieve and understand whole person development, and that entrepreneurship teaching should be designed so that it offers a reservoir of rich and diverse experiences in an authentic learning environment. The three teaching modes are analyzed and discussed in relation to a leadership course assignment and eight selected citations from student deliverables in 2007. The citations represent an extreme sampling as the students had been running a tech venture during almost a year as the major vehicle of learning in their program, they had no prior entrepreneurship experience, and all of the selected students became and have remained start-up entrepreneurs since their graduation. The selected citations illustrate how transmissive, transactional and transformative teaching modes can be contextualized in action-based entrepreneurial education, and point towards that significant learning has emerged through the integration of different teaching modes. The richness of the citations indicate that action-based entrepreneurial education is a vehicle for a wide variety of learning outcomes. Accordingly, the introduced framework seems to hold promise as a basis for achieving and understanding whole person learning in this context. Practical teaching aspects are addressed, both around designing authentic learning environments as well as around designing and examining more tangible deliverables from students in such environments.