Technology enhanced learning in a higher education context Building bridges by student empowerment and regional development

The aim of this article is to describe how and to what extent an institute of higher education can support the learners and local actors in taking advantage of the new social networking services. The empirical data was collected from three educational pilot studies carried out in higher education contexts. According to our study, collaborative learning and student-entrepreneur cooperation increased the entrepreneur's social media capabilities and empowered students. Capabilities related to networking in virtual space proved to be more challenging, calling for a long-lasting cooperation and understanding of social networks.