Examining Curricular Approaches to Developing Undergraduates’ Innovation Capacities

The purpose of this study was to understand whether and the extent to which undergraduate students’ exposure to and participation in a set of innovation-specific curricular learning interventions promoted innovation capacities—a measurable set of self-perceptions and abilities students can develop to better engage in innovation. Through the use of a longitudinal design, we examined gains made by students enrolled in a “Leadership and Innovation” course, by students who participated in a theoretically designed, single-session innovation learning experience, and by students not exposed to any direct learning focused on innovation. The results of this study suggest that innovation capacity development was associated with exposure to theoretically designed innovation curricula. These results further emphasize the value of low-cost, short-duration efforts with respect to rapidly expanding curricula associated with developing students into innovators. We discuss these results and offer implications of our findings for future research and practice.