Experiential Learning in an Online Setting: How Entrepreneurship Education Changed During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, more than 90% of the world’s student population went through an unprecedented and sudden transition to distance learning. Although this was a challenging time for instructors across all disciplines, entrepreneurship educators faced the unique dilemma of preserving the experiential nature of entrepreneurship education in the online environment. We look at how entrepreneurship educators addressed experiential learning through online education during the pandemic and some of the solutions adopted given the experiential, hands-on nature of entrepreneurship education. We review the first wave of literature on the topic, and we offer the results of a recent survey of entrepreneurship educators who are members of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). In doing this, we have added to a growing literature on the shift of entrepreneurial education to an online setting.