Entrepreneurship education: the case for adopting the team-based learning approach

Entrepreneurship education makes extensive use of experiential learning, but the experiential activities are often not underpinned by established theory, or rely on a narrow base of theory informed by the research interests of the teaching staff (Fiet, 2000a). Students often resist theory classes, perceiving them as boring and irrelevant (Fiet, 2000b). Fiet argued for teaching through a combination of theory and activity, where the relevance of theory is clearly demonstrated through activities based on problems the theory purports to explain or solve. The Team-Based Learning approach (Michaelson, 2002) is a specific technique that facilitates this process, and yet has not been widely adopted by entrepreneurship educators apart from Michaelson himself. This discussion paper compares the TBL process with the pedagogical principles outlined by Fiet (and supported by other research in entrepreneurship education), reports a specific experience of using TBL in an integrative business unit, and calls for wider adoption of TBL in entrepreneurship teaching.