How enterprise education can promote deep learning to improve student employability

This paper focuses on identifying the approaches students take to their learning, with particular regard to issues of enterprise, entrepreneurship and innovation when comparing the traditional lecture format to a more applied, practice-based case study format. The notions of deep and surface learning are used to explain student learning. More active methods of teaching (such as discussion and case studies) promote a deep approach; and work elsewhere has suggested that these methods are more effective than lectures for the promotion of thought. For this study, questionnaire surveys were used to determine whether there was a difference in approach to learning between most and least beneficial course modules, and between the lecture-based and more applied, practice-based case study formats. The findings indicated that deeper learning results from a more active approach, with students who adopted deeper learning being better able to apply their learning in different entrepreneurial contexts.