Abstract:

STEM skills gap in European level compared to other regions across the globe is widening: In Europe STEM students account for around 2% of student population, whereas in other world regions this percentage is up to 20%. Also, in spite of the increasing recognition of entrepreneurship as a source of job creation, empowerment and economic dynamism, there have been no systematic attempts to look at it from a youth angle, towards STEM sector. It is necessary more than ever before to inspire, motivate and assist students and young people to study and gain STEM entrepreneurship skills and ensure that the next generation of professionals have strong competencies and entrepreneurship spirit and fulfill the demanded work qualifications.

In this paper, we present the formulation of an entrepreneurship training framework on STEM domain that is based on learning in virtual worlds. We present the formulation of an entrepreneurship training framework on ICT domain that is based on learning in virtual worlds. The educational environment utilizes infrastructure and pedagogical approaches based that rely on gamification to promote deeper understanding of the challenging concepts of entrepreneurship. Various courses for entrepreneurship in various areas of ICT sector are formulated to promote interest young people with innovative and state of the art content. Students can find innovative e-courses with advanced educational material on Entrepreneurship and can select the courses to study. The aim of each of the topics is to support the development of entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviours, as well as building skills and knowledge of an enterprising person. The educational content of the courses comes in the form of textual and multimedia presentations and offers students the possibility to study theoretical aspects of the domain. Virtual scenarios and learning activities can engage students in particular situations which simulate real world conditions. The 3D virtual reality educational environment utilizes pedagogical approaches that are based on gamification principles allowing students to study in immersive ways as well as in game-based learning activities on real challenges that can be found in business environments. The game-based learning activities can help students gain necessary skills, helping them to tackle everyday obstacles on their entrepreneurial pathways. Students can participate in learning activities as individuals or in teams, study the context of the activity and make proper and suitable decisions. The objective is to offer theoretical background topics and entrepreneurship intentions to students as well as the values of entrepreneurial culture and help them to achieve the necessary education that will enable them to materialise their ideas. The courses address a wide range of topics from basic steps to formulate a start-up, to examining financing opportunities, managing and business administration topics, ICT technologies, business plan development, SWAT analyses, marketing and many others. Example cases of successful companies, applications, products and entrepreneurs are also analyzed and presented to the students.

A preliminary analysis of the areas of the STEM domain that are of great importance and interest to young people was carried out to drive the formulation of the corresponding courses in the virtual world environment. The study revealed quite interesting results.

Keywords:

STEM, ICT, VIRTUAL REALITY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP