Some questions must have arisen about the possibility of teaching entrepreneur-ship with any teaching methods. Professional educators claim that entrepre-neurship is an element that can be developed and learnt. For example,
profes-the formulation of abstract generalising rules used not just to describe a specific event but all similar events; the developed knowledge is verified with experiments.
19 D.C. Thatcher, Promoting Learning…, p. 32.
20 J. Washbush, J. Gosen, An Exploration of Game-Derived Learning in Total Enterprise Simulations,
“Simulation & Gaming” 2001, No. 32, pp. 281–296; R.E. Wood, J.F. Beckmann, D.P. Birney, Simula-tions, learning and real world capabilities, “Education + Training” 2009, No. 51, pp. 491–510.
21 J. Wolfe, G. Bruton, On the Use of Computerized Simulations for Entrepreneurship Education, “Simu-lation & Gaming” 1994, No. 25, pp. 402–415.
22 P. Thavikulwat, Computer-Assisted Gaming for Entrepreneurship Education, “Simulation & Gam-ing” 1995, No. 26, pp. 328–345.
23 R. Tunstall, M. Lynch, The role of simulation case studies in enterprise education, “Education and Training” 2010, Vol. 52, No. 8/9, pp. 624–642.
Andrzej Poszewiecki 40
sor W.D. Bygrave from Babson College, a leading American business teaching institution, claims that:
‘Yes, entrepreneurship can be taught, although we cannot guarantee that we will create a new Bill Gates or Donna Karan, just like a physics professor has no guar-antee to educate a new Albert Einstein and a tennis coach to train a new Serena Williams. But if you give us students showing predisposition to establishing busi-nesses, we will turn them into better entrepreneurs24’.
A positive correlation between special educational programmes and business ac-tivity is confirmed by G.T. Solomon, P.H. Dickson, and K.M. Weaver in the sur-vey article entitled Entrepreneurial selection and success: does education matter.
The authors have drawn such conclusions after analysing more than 50 studies published in scientific magazines in 1995–2006. Also the previous revisions of literature from 1985–1994 have led to the conclusion that entrepreneurship can be learnt, stimulated, and strengthened through education. Interestingly, other research conducted on 100 directors of businesses, i.e. persons whose views come from the business practice, showed their belief that while it is hard to in-fluence one’s personality, the definite majority of knowledge necessary to be an entrepreneur can be learnt25 .
Some authors present a different opinion, which does not mean that it dif-fers by 180 degrees. P. Lewin claims that entrepreneurship can be learnt but it cannot be taught to someone else26. It can mean that nobody can teach future businessmen how to take decisions. They have to learn it themselves through experience and observation until they can predict that some choices will be right.
Therefore, some time is necessary to gain knowledge of entrepreneurship. And various poor or unprofitable decisions or businesses that are doomed to failure may appear on the way to success.
Conclusions
Teachers of entrepreneurship face a major challenge to create learning con-ditions that comply with the environment where the youth grow. The present students mature in the epoch of computer experiences27 . It is important to re-direct the approach both of universities and students to make them aware that a university does not exist only to prepare graduates to the roles of a specialist or technical expert but rather to make a graduate capable of moving smoothly from
24 The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship, W.D. Bygrave, A. Zacharakis (ed.), John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken 2004, p. 2
25 Study entitled: M. Balicka, Kształtowanie postaw przedsiębiorczych studentów poprzez programy edukacyjne na przykładzie analizy efektów realizacji projektu: Jak uruchomić własny biznes – program sz-koleniowo-doradczy dla studentów, Warszawa 2010, pp. 4–6, www.stolicabiznesu.warszawa.pl/index.php/
ida/803/?getFile=384:0 [access: 9.04.2012].
26 P. Lewin, Entrepreneurial Paradoxes: implications of radical subjectivism, http://www.utdallas.
edu/~plewin/EntrepreneurialParadoxes.pdf, p. 7.
27 R. Tunstall, M. Lynch, The role of simulation case studies in enterprise education, “Education and Training” 2010, Vol. 52, No. 8/9, pp. 624–642.
Methods of developing entrepreneurial skills 4141 the world of science to the world of work as a person who can bring new ideas into a business, who is flexible, and ready for further education.
To create this type of a graduate who is flexible and competent when faced with different and constantly changing needs of industry, universities need to adopt an approach to designing and transferring a curriculum that will encour-age to act and will be targeted outside. Traditional learning theories born out of the rational premise that learning is an individual activity, i.e. a linear process with a beginning and end, seem to be becoming more and more detached from reality and requiring significant modifications.
It is also noteworthy that in case of using simulations and games for busi-ness entrepreneurship, an important role is played by the proper preparation of a teacher to the didactic process. Only the fulfilment of this condition can pro-vide the complete use of the simulation and game potential. Otherwise, the di-dactic effects of using new tools may be insignificant while teaching with simu-lation may turn into the thoughtless clicking exercise and moving to next pages.
Therefore, the conclusion drawn by a number of scholars28 is that it is neces-sary to prepare and train teachers properly. Even teachers who are keen players do not have to know how to use games for didactic purposes. Therefore, teacher training is an important condition for achieving the final success. Teachers have to study closely each and every game and have to feel comfortable with them.
They should set the targets of a game and its main premises so that students can take most advantage from playing.
Summing up, it seems that the trend that is becoming increasingly visible globally is the necessity to formulate curricula that will develop entrepreneur-ship among university students, both in terms of content and methods. Enterprise classes at universities should focus on practice as much as possible and should use modern teaching tools that enable to develop greater involvement of stu-dents and provide a more effective process of knowledge transfer. The content and methods of work with students have to be adapted to the course level and type as well as the objectives of classes. Thirdly, curricula should not include entrepreneurship in a too narrow scope, to prevent the paradox of limiting the entrepreneurship classes to the study of business plan preparation.
28 Best practices for using games and simulation, http://www.siia.net/index.php?option=com_
docman&task=doc_view&gid=610&tmpl=component&format=raw&Itemid=59 [access: 9.04.2012].