#BigBeacon Twitter chat – Apr 13 – The Power of Mindset for Student Change Agents

There is little doubt that the goal of higher education should be to equip students for the world of tomorrow. But are engineering students fully equipped for that world if they continue to be educated with 21st century skills alone? Right now, faculty within the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) are working to change that outdated model by incorporating the entrepreneurial mindset in in curriculum and activities.

With faculty and universities collaborating in this way, what role do students play in this push for change?

During our next #BigBeacon Twitter chat, we will be discussing the power of students serving as change agents on- and off-campus, including through the University Innovation Fellows (UIF) program.

In short, the UIF program empowers students to become agents of change in higher education through a fellowship.

Fellows are leading a movement to ensure that all students gain the attitudes, skills, and knowledge required to address complex challenges and compete in the economy of the future. These student leaders create new opportunities that help their peers build creative confidence and develop an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset.

This mission of cultivating student change agents equipped with an entrepreneurial mindset is why KEEN has sponsored students to become fellows and encourages partner schools to participate.

Through this fellowship, students have a bias towards action and focus on framing problems as opportunities for creative solutions. Questions to ponder before the chat:

1. Why is student led change vital to higher education?
2. What is a #uifellow?
3. How does the UIF program improve or enhance engineering education?
4. Why is focusing on mindset just as important as focusing on skill set to equip students for their careers?
5. What does UIF do to ensure that students gain necessary attitudes, skills & knowledge to compete in the economy of the future?
6. Can you list some highlights of the UIF program and the impact it has had on students?
7. What happens once fellows go back to their campuses? Why is that important?
8. What is the value of analyzing one’s campus ecosystem?
9. Why is it valuable to identify relevant stakeholders and developing empathy for them?
10. What does the UIF experience do to change attitudes and dispositions of students?

Join us on Wednesday, April 13 at 8 p.m. ET, using the hashtag #BigBeacon, to discuss UIF, students as change agents, and how mindset equips them for the world of tomorrow.

How to Twitter Chat

If you’ve never Twitter chatted before, don’t worry; it’s very easy! First, get a Twitter account if you don’t already have one, and log in. At 8 PM ET on Wednesday go to twitter.com and type #BigBeacon into the search box on Twitter. Thereafter all the tweets with the hashtag #BigBeacon will show up on your Twitter page. To participate, simply express your opinion by sending a tweet, and be sure to append the hashtag #BigBeacon so other members of the Twitter Chat see you are posting. Alternatively, automate the hashtag search and append feature by using the free service Tchat at http://www.tchat.io.