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Coronavirus (Covid-19) and Entrepreneurship

education
the entrepreneurship community

education community
Vanessa Ratten
La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract
Purpose – Covid-19 (coronavirus) has significantly affected education communities particularly in terms
of the massive shift towards online learning. This has meant a quick transformation of the curriculum
and learning styles to a digital platform. Despite the dramatic change, there is a lack of understanding
about what this means particularly for the community of entrepreneurship educators in the higher
education sector that rely on practical and immersive training for learning requirements.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a literature review that discusses how communities
of entrepreneurship education practitioners can deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. A review of the
current literature on Covid-19 and entrepreneurship education is conducted that highlights the need to
incorporate a community approach. This enables a better understanding about how communities of
educational stakeholders including teachers, students and institutions can facilitate a more proactive and
positive attitude.
Findings – The paper finds that managing the Covid-19 crisis is difficult for entrepreneurship educations
due to the need for practical and real life examples. This means the use of augmented reality and
artificial intelligence is needed to simulate the real environment. This will enable a more community
orientated approach to the study and practice of entrepreneurship.
Originality/value – This paper is among the first to suggest how this change has taken place and what
it means for educational management, thereby providing a unique and timely commentary about
how coronavirus has altered in positive and negative ways entrepreneurship education.
Keywords Community, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Education, Entrepreneurship education, Learning,
Management, Community of practice
Paper type
Viewpoint

Introduction
The world was surprised in early 2020 when a novel coronavirus (Covid-19) quickly
spread
from China to other parts of the world (Cortez and Johnston, 2020). Unlike previous
coronaviruses that were largely contained to specific geographic regions such as SARS
in North Asia and MERS in the Middle East, this new form of coronavirus rapidly spread
to other parts of the world (World Health Organisation, 2020). This disrupted
global interaction with countries closing borders and regions being shutdown (Alon et al.,
2020). As a result, most universities moved their teaching and online activities to an Journal of Enterprising
Communities: People and Places in
online format (Liguori and Winkler, 2020). While universities are used to natural disasters the Global Economy
© Emerald Publishing Limited
like bushfires, earthquakes and tornados, health crises such as Covid-19 that affect 1750-6204
society are less expected and harder to deal with. The last major worldwide health crisis DOI 10.1108/JEC-06-2020-0121

occurred 100 years ago with the 1918-1920 Spanish flu pandemic (Kraus et al., 2020).
As a result, many countries adopted new health and working conditions. While
there have been other worldwide crisis such as the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks in the
USA, the current Covid-19 crisis has had significant health and workplace implications
particularly for educators (Bacq et al., 2020). Before the crisis, working and learning
from home was an option and often
JEC considered a luxury. This changed with the advent of the crisis that required a fast
migration of most educational environments to online or virtual. This makes the current
Covid-19 crisis complex due to the way it has changed how individuals conduct their daily
life and in particularly for universities in terms of the services they offer.
The impact of Covid-19 on the global education system has been profound and impacted
all areas of teaching, research and service. DeVaney et al. (2020, p. 1) states “at the peak
of disruption during April 2020, more than 1.6 billion students were affected, representing
over
91% of students in the world”. Thus, Covid-19 has resulted in a major disruption to the
education system much of which is still being understood due to the severity of its effects.
The Covid-19 crisis has simultaneously caused economic, health and social affects due to
its sudden onset with flow on effects felt in the education sector. Educational innovation
as a
significant form of innovation has received scant attention in the crisis management
literature (Ferreira et al., 2018). This is due to the emphasis in crisis management research
being on corporate response (Runyan, 2006), the development of capabilities (Parker and
Ameen, 2018) or how human resource management is affected (Lee and Warner, 2005). The
lack of existing literature on educational innovation in times of crisis may be due to most
previous crisis being defined to a specific geographic area and not resulting in worldwide
change like the current crisis. The rapid emergence of Covid-19 requires a focused effort
by university communities to change their behaviour to take advantage of the change
to a digital learning environment. This has meant a coordinated effort is needed amongst
all stakeholders in universities. There is no clear solution on how to cope with the
devastating nature of Covid-19, but an entrepreneurial spirit is needed by universities
(Bacq et al., 2020). This enables concerns about public health to be dealt with in a
more positive way by evoking principles regarding entrepreneurship education.
Leung et al. (2020, p. 194) describes public health as “not just about medical science of
epidemiology, diagnosis, and
cure, and it is also linked to social science, which includes politics, management, welfare
and public policy”. This means entrepreneurial universities can play a part in responding
to public health concerns from Covid-19 in a proactive and engaging way.
Much of the media attention on the impact of Covid-19 on education has had a negative
perspective without considering the positive effects in terms of a rapid increase in digital
skills and practices (Parnell et al., 2020). Educators have had to be innovative and this
represents a unique opportunity to change the existing status quo. Moreover, the prolonged
and enduring nature of Covid-19 has created a societal challenge. Despite the major shift
in society resulting from the Covid-19 crisis there is expected to be knowledge
spillover benefits that affect other aspects of society. This is due to the need for
innovation and creativity in how to handle the crisis (Ansell and Boin, 2019).
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, entrepreneurship educators have a unique
opportunity to repurpose their existing teaching methods to incorporate more digital
technology. This will enable more knowledge to be used in a digital format that can be
accessed in a timely and practical manner. As a result, the global community is rapidly
responding to the change in learning and teaching methods with educators having to
organize quickly new online delivery models. The learning outcomes of this spontaneous
action are still yet to be fully understood as the value of time-compressed action in
accelerating digital based education needs to be examined (Ferreira et al., 2018). This will
provide practical guidance to educators, students, researchers and policy makers about
building a quick response to a crisis. Moreover, it will stimulate the formation of
education-based learning efforts that harness the innovation opportunities derived from a
crisis. This will thwart the ongoing tension from Covid-19 as well as enabling other
innovations that might emerge from the crisis.
 This commentary aims at synthesising the challenges higher education providers are knowledge focus
facing during the Covid-19 crisis from a more positive perspective in terms of educational of a university
innovations. Thus, this article seeks to shed light on how entrepreneurship education has that involves
been affected by the Covid-19 crisis. This will enable approaches that try to identify and academic research
develop solutions. to be used for
other purposes.
Impact of Covid-19 on universities While this has
Higher education providers play a crucial role in supporting economies and promoting occurred through
societal well-being (Ratten, 2017). Quality of life is often associated with the commercial
connections people feel in a community and universities play a role in facilitating a sense research activities
of community. universities
The Covid-19 crisis has resulted in severe restrictions in terms of international mobility
not seen before. There is no known cure or treatment for Covid-19, which has led
to an unprecedented challenge for society due to the havoc and uncertainty it has created
(Leung et al., 2020). The freedom of movement has significantly curtailed as a result of
lockdown or
isolation strategies. Many universities have shut down and mandated working from home
policies. As a consequence of these extraordinary changes, students and teachers are
behaving differently. Moreover, the dramatic reduction in physical contact has
impacted
socialisation strategies used in the classroom. At the same time, innovations to recreate
these socialisation behaviours have occurred in an online format. Inventive thinking has
meant that the same kind of teaching methods can be used online but in a different format.
In a technological world, universities are trying to engage more in the community as
the
success of a university lies in its relationship with the community. To do this, online
learning that can occur anywhere and at any time is used. A good higher education
system is defined as:
[. . .] one that maximises its returns (however defined) by creating knowledge and ensuring
society, in its intrinsic delivery, is served by a populace with a variety of skills, educated at
different yet complementary levels (Cremonini et al., 2014, p. 343).
Martin and Turner (2010) suggest that a recipe is needed to derive an entrepreneurial
university. This means considering what the key ingredients are and having a formula to
achieve a specific outcome. This analogy is useful when we think about the
various attributes entrepreneurial universities have that distinguish them from their
competitors. With this in mind, the Covid-19 crisis has resulted in a need for more
universities to be considered entrepreneurial. This will help them survive the financial
instability caused by the Covid-19 crisis and lead them to more aspirational goals (Gosling
et al., 2020).
Universities need to stay alert and be adaptive because of Covid-19. The uncertainty
caused by Covid-19 not only has posed an immediate threat to the financial sustainability
of universities but also provided a chance for innovation to flourish. Universities have
had to think differently and derive new learning, teaching and engagement practices
around social distancing. This has meant that universities have dived into a new digital
world much of which is unparalleled territory to adapt to the new environment (Ratten,
2017).
Universities are regionally embedded resources that contribute to the social fabric of
a
community (Scott et al., 2019). This means they develop knowledge capabilities that can be
a particularly useful source of innovation. Due to the different objectives amongst
stakeholders in a university there needs to be consensus about the best possible causes of
action. This means that to facilitate innovation there needs to be an alignment and
coordination amongst members of the university community. This enables the primary
Entrepreneurship education community
JEC engage in such as technology transfer there needs to be a specific focus on how to
alleviate the current Covid-19 crisis.
While there has been a worldwide trend towards online teaching, the rapid shift to all
teaching being conducted in an online format as a response to Covid-19 was unplanned.
This meant students and teachers did not have much time to transition to a digital
environment
that did not influence face-to-face contact. This has led to some dilemmas by educators
about how to engage with students in an online format while maintaining the same level
of
interaction as face-to-face formats (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2011). Those educators seeking to
incorporate more real-life scenarios might consider the impact of technology on interaction
and the availability of real life scenarios (Palali c et al., 2017). Having a practical and real-
life environment are important considerations for educators.
Experiential learning projects enable a collaborative learning environment that provides
a rich context to learn by doing. This means students can develop graduate learning
attributes such as critical thinking and problem solving skills that are valued in business
(Ferreira et al., 2017). In addition, the open-ended learning environment provides a way to
increase interpersonal and communication skills. These soft skills are increasingly being
needed in society due to more emphasis on personability (Ratten and Jones, 2018). In
addition, experiential learning is thought to provide a deeper and ongoing learning
experience as opposed to the theoretical focused studies of the past. This enables students
to feel more fully engaged and connected to the learning experience. Moreover, students
can
build on previous learning by continually building their knowledge
repository.
Higher education institutions are being held to account for the type of educational
experience they provide (Agarwal et al., 2020). Student bodies are also becoming more
interested in the student experience and linkage to job outcomes. This means that
students
need to be prepared for the types of skills they require in the workforce. To do this the gap
between education and job skills needs to be narrowed to take into account emerging
workplace trends. Recently, there has been more investment in work skills that incorporate
some form of digital technology. This is useful to deal with the workforce requirements
derived from the digital age. In addition, due to the rapidly changing world individuals are
reskilling to acquire necessary skills. This means that lifelong learning is encouraged to
acquire skills that are needed in the digital age.
Government policies have created a competitive environment for education funding. This
has meant an increased reliance on new funding sources especially international student
feeds. As this has been a global trend there has been an emphasis on focusing on subject
areas suited to international students. As a result, increased rivalries have emerged
amongst
education providers for student enrolments. At the same time, the countries that many
international students come from have increased the quality of their educational
institution.
Accreditation requirements for business schools in the form of AACSB and EQUIS are
also influencing educational policy.

Entrepreneurship education
Entrepreneurship educators face the challenge of reducing the gap between teaching
online and providing experiential learning. Pressure from the Covid-19 crisis has
accelerated
the need for more creative ways to deal with this challenge (He and Harris, 2020). While
entrepreneurship educators have long proposed the use of experiential activities with the
curre cability of their teaching styles. To maximise the learning experience, more participatory
nt styles of learning
Covi
d-19
restri
ction
s this
has
been
hard
to
do.
Expe
rienti
al
learn
ing
provi
des a
way
for
stude
nts
to
learn
by
doin
g.
This
teach
ing
philo
soph
y has
gain
ed a
stron
g
follo
wing
by
entre
pren
eursh
ip
educ
ators
who
pride
them
selve
s on
the
real-
life
appli
have been advocated. This enables entrepreneurship students to deal directly with reality Entrepreneurship
by analysing then reflecting on the experience (Anggadwita et al., 2017a, 2017b). This education
increases a student’s ability to connect with the business community thereby
enabling a better transition between student and practitioners. community
The primary goal of entrepreneurship education programs is to equip students with
practical knowledge to act in an entrepreneurial manner. While in many cases this
involves being an entrepreneur it can also mean behaving entrepreneurially in a certain
context. To do this the bridging of skill gaps particularly in terms of developing an
entrepreneurial capability is required. This requires the use of both hard and soft skills in
terms of thinking, learning, personal development, business knowledge and task-specific
skills need to be encouraged (Dana, 1992).
Entrepreneurship educators need to refresh their programs to stay relevant. This means
recognising the role of stakeholders (students, government, industry, professionals,
community) in co-creating value. As a consequence, educators must practice what they
preach to achieve a societal impact. More students are digital natives as they are tech-
savvy and rely on information technology. This means instant access to information
through knowledge platforms is expected. To do this, educators need to rely on new
delivery modes whilst taking advantage of traditional formats.
New learning modes include blended and asynchronous learning that enable a mixture
of
online and face-to-face content. Moving forward it is likely that even after the Covid-19
pandemic subsides there will be a lasting legacy of online learning (Kirk and Rifkin,
2020). This will require technology to play a pivotal role in entrepreneurship
education. As endeavours are made to reinvigorate the curriculum new ways of
embedding technology will emerge. Due to the increasing influence and voice of digital
natives, more interaction with technology is expected (Gërguri-Rashiti et al., 2017).
Nevertheless, it is expected that the use of experiential learning will remain essential in
entrepreneurship education. This means active learning strategies are likely to incorporate
some degree of augmented reality to cope with the social distancing restrictions. Thus,
entrepreneurship educators must learn to balance experimental-led education with current
societal needs (Anggadwita et al., 2017a,
2017b). To do this, more technology in the form of simulation games is likely to be
incorporated into teaching methods. This will enable the creation of authentic learning
environments for students that emphasis entrepreneurship. In addition, as industry
relevant education is needed for entrepreneurship, there is likely to be more university-
industry collaboration. This will stimulate student’s curiosity by enabling knowledge
exchanges (Ramadani et al., 2018). Thereby giving meaning to complexities of
current business practices resulting from Covid-19. Ultimately, students will be better
prepared for the workforce due to their usage of technology.
While the digital revolution in education has been discussed for some time in the past
there was a reluctance for many teachers to embrace the digital world. The Covid-19 crisis
has changed this with digital teaching and learning methods becoming mandatory. As a
result, there has been an upskilling and increased usage of digital formats. The Covid-
19 crisis has undoubtedly affected the education area more than others due to the need to
teach online because of social distancing policies.
Education innovation capabilities can be defined as improvements in terms of
education
based on distinct advantages. This means emphasising educational practices that can be
improved based on tactical advantages (Ratten et al., 2017). This means universities
should design and implement improvements in educational innovations as a response
to the Covid-19 crisis. During the Covid-19 crisis students demands and behaviours
have fundamentally changed. This makes it important for universities to rely on
innovation for
JEC survival. As students need to learn from home and decline physical contact, they need to
pay more attention to online formats. This means universities need to pay more attention
to strengthening their online teaching methods. Furthermore, as the education industry
relies on student enrollments, they can recover from the crisis faster by leveraging online
teaching methods. This will means going forward universities will have a lot of
experience and knowledge about online teaching.
Education innovation strategies are defined as commitments to improving or using new
teaching and learning practices. This enables universities to use effectively innovations
that meet the demand of students and offer superior value. The education industry has
been
heavily influenced by the Covid-19 crisis, but at the same time, a caring culture has resulted
among education stakeholders. The move to online teaching has created a sense of
community and facilitated increased bonds among students. Due to the isolation many
have
felt during the crisis, having online teaching is needed in terms of continuing a social
interaction. Due to more concern about mental health during the crisis, educators have
provided a way to connect to people. At the same time, many students are studying
online
there has been a sharp decrease in occupations that many students are employed in. This
has meant classes have provided the necessary care and interaction that is needed.

An entrepreneurial response to the Covid-19 crisis

The overall characteristics of a crisis include a severe disruption to activity that occurs in
a surprising manner (Bogle and Sullivan, 2009). There is generally a low probability of a
crisis occurring but when it does there are catastrophic results. Due to a crisis
occurring very
quickly there is not much time for decisions to be made (Shrivastava, 1993). This makes
planning for a crisis difficult due to the uncertainty about when and how it will occur.
During a crisis companies will have to learn new ways to adapt (Doern et al., 2019). The
impact of a crisis depends on how an entity handles the disruption, which means entities
who see a crisis as an opportunity to learn will perceive it in a more favourable way
(Williams et al., 2017). A crisis provides entities with a chance to change and learn very
quickly (Grewal and Tansuhaj, 2001). This means during a crisis it might be hard to see its
benefits so it will take time to understand the effects. Due to the danger associated with a
crisis there can be some hesitation in acting (Buchanan and Denyer, 2013). This
means
emotions associated with the uncertainty need to be managed in a proper way. Wenzel et
al. (2020) suggest that there are four ways organisations respond to a crisis:
retrenchment, persevering, innovating and exit. Retrenchment means a strategic
change in the way
resources are used in the market. This means changing business practices to lessen
resource costs. This can mean a decrease in performance in terms of the associated cost
cutting measures. Whilst retrenchment provides immediate financial relief it can result in
hardship
in the long term. This means instead of reacting in a knee jerk way to a crisis there should
be a well thought-out strategy about potential causes of action (Ramadani et al.,
2017). Persevering means an organisation continues operating in the same way in the
hope that
things will change. To do this may require financial support until an organisations
cashflow either returns to normal or can be altered. This means the organisational culture
stays the same whilst the crisis occurs as it is anticipated that things will get better.
This means
maintaining things as they are and not taking any drastic change. This can be helpful in
terms of riding out change that has a fluctuating nature. By having a perseverance
strat ess or technological depending on the benefits it brings to an organisation. As
egy, innovation is required for competitiveness reasons a crisis
it
can
enabl
e an
orga
nisat
ion
to
not
chan
ge
and
conti
nue
its
oper
ation
s
(Ratt
en et
al.,
2017)
.
Inno
vatin
g
refer
s to
any
kind
of
chan
ge
that
is a
direc
t
resul
t of
the
crisis
.
This
type
of
inno
vatio
n
can
vary
from
prod
uct,
proc
enables an organisation to think in new ways (Ratten et al., 2017). This opens up a As the
plethora of opportunities in terms of new market entry and additional revenue. It can education sector
also mean a wakeup call in terms of what is required to compete in the future. Innovation affects many
is considered as necessary in today’s global environment also when a crisis occurs it can other parts of
be harnessed as a way to deal with uncertainty. Innovation enables an organization to society such as
reflect on its current position in the market and to build a new business model. This tourism the
enables alterations to occur that can bring better long-term results. It can also provide a overall
way for an organisation to analyse what is currently being done to seek affects have been
improvements. This means new revenue models can be introduced due to a shake-up in large. The level of
current business practices. By thinking in a novel way innovation provides a coping disruption to
strategy. This enables additional benefits to be produced that may not have originally educational
been considered. By taking a proactive approach innovation enables things to progress in systems will
a more fruitful way. Thereby making an organisation stronger and more resilient in the continue to be felt
future. Exit refers to divesting or withdrawing from the market. In times of severe for some time. In
economic hardship, this strategy may be the only viable option. It can enable an conjunction with
organisation to limit its financial losses in a short period. An exit strategy is considered the changes in the
as the most severe change to make as it does not consider potential market change. education system
However, by exiting the marketplace, it can enable new businesses to emerge that can has been an
reflect in a better way current market conditions. increase in online
Due to the large size of universities normally they have crisis procedures in place. courses. Most
However, universities had
the current Covid-19 crisis is unprecedented and never before has international travel been not considered the
affected to the same extent. This means the size and contribution universities make to a effects of a health
region pandemic like
can help them navigate some of the uncertainty. Due to the long-term horizon of Covid-19 and the
universities it is important to think about how the Covid-19 crisis will affect it in the future. level of change
Many individuals in a university including students, teachers, alumni and the required was more
community are emotionally connected. This means a university will tend to have built up significant than any
some goodwill that they can use in times of a crisis. By having long-term relationships other
with stakeholders, universities can behave more responsibility. This means closely
aligning strategic decisions regarding the Covid-19 crisis with the universities mission and
values. As such, universities tend to focus more on the bigger picture and long-term
relations than short term fluctuations. By doing so
gives priority to the entrepreneurial approach used by
universities.
Crisis situations come with a need for fast and effective decision-making (Kuckertz et
al.,
2020). This means some strategies need to be devised that can enable more innovative
solutions to be used. Many universities have responded in a decisive way by
implementing entrepreneurial measures. This enables them to safeguard their
reputation for a longer period. The scope of the Covid-19 crisis is unusual and requires
entrepreneurial behaviour (Leung et al., 2020). Universities are following different
approaches to deal with the crisis
much of which depends on their geographic
location.
The worldwide use of online teaching that was mandated to curb the spread of the
virus
has generated a wide use of digital technology. At the university level, the move to digital
working meant working from home initiatives. As a result of the economic shutdown and
related digital work environment appears likely to fundamentally change the education
industry. It will also accelerate the trend towards online learning and provide new
opportunities for novel teaching methods to emerge. Given the breadth of change
coming from the Covid-19 crisis, educators need to urgently incorporate an entrepreneurial
mindset.
Entrepreneurship education community
JEC previous crisis. Due to the continued campus closures, students, teachers and the
community are still being affected. As a result, many universities are continuing their
online teaching with no specific data set for a return to campus classes. This has meant
changes in the academic year to incorporate more online and shorter semesters as well as
changes to the existing schedules. This has made it difficult for entrepreneurship
educators who rely on interactive and real-life immersion for their teaching methods. The
ability to replicate a real- life experience in an online environment is difficult. This has
created a high level of unpredictability for entrepreneurship educators who need to plan
their courses. However, given the nature of entrepreneurship students meaning the
teaching of innovation and creativity, entrepreneurship educators should be able to adapt.
The rich campus experience students sign up for can be replicated in some ways in a
digital environment. In addition, digital learning provides additional tools such as the use
of emojis and geographical flexibility that is not possible with face-to-face teaching.
Immersive technologies such as augmented reality have become more popular in education
fields such
as engineering that require practical examples. This has meant an acceleration in the use
of artificial intelligence as a teaching tool to complement existing methods.
Due to the likely continued restriction of international student mobility, educators will
have to reimagine online experiences. This might mean using advanced digital teaching
methodologies to combine a physical and online presence. This means reassessing
current
teaching practices to provide new learning opportunities. By doing this it can enable
a
reconfiguration of teaching styles to take into account new societal practices such as
social distancing. The use of online lectures needs to incorporate interactivity such as
student polls and real-time feedback. In addition, promoting a more collaborative learning
experience that incorporates community participation is required. This will enable peer
learning to emerge that facilitates a better learning experience. To do this, the use of
online breakout groups, student presentations and live discussions is required. More live-
streamed events based on the principles of open innovation should be encouraged. This
means giving students more autonomy and choice of how they learn in an online
environment. To do this crowd-sourced learning activities can be used that bridge the
theory/practice gap. This will enable the transformation of physical classrooms to an
online classroom with additional technology features. An overview of the main
changes as a result of the Covid-19 crisis on entrepreneurship education are
presented below in Figure 1.

Managerial implications
Entrepreneurship educators need to adapt to the new normal in which online learning
dominates the global education industry. Thus, managers need to shift their focus from
thinking about whether teaching will go back to face-to-face methods to embracing digital

Pre-covid-19 During covid-19 Post covid-19

Face-to-face teaching No Face-to-face teaching Social distancing based

face-to-face teaching

Return to blended
Blended learning Fully online teaching and
learning with more
methods learning
emphasis on digital
Figure 1. methods
Pre and post-Covid 19
Asynchronous and
changes in Prac cums and Augmented reality and
experien al learning scenario planning synchronous learning
entrepreneurship to increase flexibility
education and availability
formats. This means educators need to invest time and energy in learning new digital a unique
platforms that can further enhance the learning experience for students. Due to the opportunity to
ongoing nature of Covid-19, there is much uncertainty existing in the international incorporate more
education industry, which means continual innovation is required. Managers at creativity and
universities need to incorporate this uncertainty into their forecasting about future trends, innovation into
thereby thinking in a proactive and futuristic manner about new learning and teaching educational
methods. To do this might include the use of artificial intelligence or augmented reality experiences,
that provides a bridge between reality and simulated business environments. Education thereby facilitating
managers can help alleviate the fear and uncertainty felt by many entrepreneurship the transition to
educators by promoting a culture of innovation that emphasises empathy. In this way the digital technology.
ongoing uncertainty from the Covid-19 crisis is acknowledged but at the same time a Therefore, there
positive attitude is fostered amongst educators. This will provide a way to move are immense
forward in terms of producing empathetic learning modules that encourage students to opportunities for
think about positive implications from the Covid-19 crisis while building on previous entrepreneurship
teaching styles, thereby using a more complimentary approach to linking previous educators to use
education styles with the new normal that emphasises digital interaction. their existing
skillsets to derive
Future research new
suggestions
Due to the Covid-19 crisis being a recent and ongoing event, there are a lot of
opportunities for future research on entrepreneurship education. Most importantly, new
research is needed that links crisis management with entrepreneurship education. This
will enable a better
understanding about what entrepreneurship educators are doing to cope with the
uncertainty and rapid shift to online learning. More studies are needed on teaching and
learning innovations that have resulted from the Covid-19 crisis. This includes focusing
on
different ways entrepreneurship educators have fostered an inclusive learning
environment by providing different teaching tools. Thus, research is needed particularly
from a case
study basis on how entrepreneurship educators have responded to the Covid-19 crisis and
what type of techniques they have used. Future research could focus on explaining in
more depth different case studies and the way entrepreneurship educators have
embedded an
innovation paradigm. In addition, more longitudinal studies are required in particularly
from the pre- and post-Covid environment to see what has changed in entrepreneurship
education. This would enable a better understanding about how communities
of
entrepreneurship educators have come together to foster better learning and teaching
practices. Future research could contrast in more detail positive and negative experiences
of
entrepreneurship educators to discuss how context has affected teaching methods. This
could include more research into different geographic contexts to see whether there is
a
correlation between a countries level of Covid-19 and their emphasis on entrepreneurship
education. More research is required on whether there has been an increase in interest in
entrepreneurship education as a way to respond to the Covid-19 crisis or whether there has
been no change. This would provide some interesting research about how Covid-19 has
changed entrepreneurship education and what needs to be done in the future.

Conclusion
This commentary article has provided an overview of how the Covid-19 crisis has
affected the higher education sector. As a result of the quick shift to online learning and
teaching methods, the digital disruption to education has been quickened. This presents
Entrepreneurship education community
JEC techniques that can enable a more contextual learning environment. This will provide
useful for entrepreneurial universities that will need to think about new revenue streams
while building on existing ones. It is hoped that the discussion provided in this article will
provide suggestions and help for how to cultivate an entrepreneurial education
experience as the result of the Covid-19 crisis.

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of product recalls on firm value”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 81 No. 5, pp. 30-48.
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Corresponding author
Vanessa Ratten can be contacted at: v.ratten@latrobe.edu.au

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