Title: The study group method - how cooperative learning among peers contributes to experiential entrepreneurship education

Authors: Gustav Hägg

Addresses: Sten K Johnson Centre for Entrepreneurship, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Scheelevägen 15B, SE-223 63, Lund, Sweden

Abstract: The aim of this study is to analyse how the study group method aids student entrepreneurs when developing entrepreneurial knowledge through the experiential learning process, and why it is important to stimulate peer learning in an experiential entrepreneurship education context. Due to a more experiential perspective on learning, the environment in which students learn, what students learn and why students learn has changed, which creates new learning arenas that must be understood in order to advance our research on instructional methods in entrepreneurship education. This study analyses cooperative learning and provides insights on how it could be used as an instructional method in entrepreneurship education. The study addresses how different study groups create fruitful debates and discussions among students that provide arenas for developing self-awareness, equality toward peers and a space for sharing experiences bound to the entrepreneurial project. The sharing space creates a form of togetherness among students in the often lonely process that entrepreneurs face.

Keywords: collaborative learning; communicative learning; experiential entrepreneurship education; peer learning; researcher reflexivity; thematic analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2021.117932

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2021 Vol.44 No.1, pp.75 - 102

Received: 04 Jan 2019
Accepted: 05 Dec 2019
Published online: 05 Oct 2021 *

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