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The study explores Degree Apprenticeship Identity (DAI) conceptualisation to enrich understanding to enhance work-integrated learning (WIL). Lived experiences of degree apprentices (DAs) are examined, and a model of DAI developed to support teaching and learning interventions on this relatively new and significant programme.

It draws pragmatically upon qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship from diverse backgrounds in a higher education institutes (HEI). Data were explored abductively, using thematic analysis to investigate common patterns that influence identity; investigating personal experiences, socio-economic and cultural background, educational context and social interactions.

Influential themes surfaced, including pride in work, supporting others, sharing experiences and belonging, facilitating DAI model formation. The model illustrates that DAI is composed of existing personal, necessary professional and power of learning transformation through social identity by interventions that encourage peer engagement, group reflection and group-actualisation.

As this is a small-scale exploratory study, it is not intended to be representative of wider populations, which results in generalisability of findings. Data were collected from a well-established closed cohort programme led by the researcher, previously programme director. Interviews generated a broad range of anecdotal evidence, surfacing valuable insights relating to DAI formation.

To enhance WIL, tutors can foster social interventions that encourage peer dialogue, heighten DAs sense of self as capable learners and increase confidence growth.

The research provides a DAI Model, a fresh approach to understanding ways to enhance WIL for DAs through a stronger focus on group identity through social interventions. This preliminary model presents an opportunity for further research; other apprenticeships, larger and/or open cohorts.

The aim of this study is two-fold: (1) to promote a model of youth participatory research and offer a window of understanding into how it can be enacted and (2) to understand youth perspectives on youth empowerment. This study asks: “how can youth help us understand youth empowerment?”

The study applies youth participatory action research (YPAR) and interpretative phenomenological analysis. The study illustrates how to enact a model of YPAR by engaging youth in the process of research in a youth-serving community non-profit organization.

This study sets out to make two important contributions, one methodological and one theoretical: First, the study contributes to our understanding of the opportunities and benefits of youth-engaged, peer-to-peer research. Specifically, this study promotes a model of youth participatory action research and knowledge making processes, and the associated social and formal benefits for youth. By extension, this study illustrates an approach to engage youth in formal contexts which has implications for both management and organizational studies and education. Finally, the study extends our understanding and conceptualization of the phenomenon of youth empowerment (as informed by youth perspectives).

The study offers insight into how to conduct youth participatory action research and specifically how to address two limitations cited in the literature: (1) how to authentically engage youth including how to share power, and (2) how to perform youth participatory action research, often critiqued as a black box methodology.

Teacher-led inquiry in school learning environments is the critical and systematic analysis of pedagogical practice in flexible and agile learning environments that teachers undertake as researchers of their own practice. It is an iterative approach, combining theory and practice, operates over reasonably short time spans and involves substantial collaboration and participation amongst peers. Akin to action research, it works most effectively when it is combined with evidence on what works (and what works well) and what does not, specifically as it relates to student learning outcomes. In this introductory chapter, the authors synthesize scholarly research to set the context for teacher-led inquiry in school learning environments. The authors discuss the challenges and opportunities for schools and educators embarking on evidence-based teacher-led inquiry as a powerful form of professional learning for contemporary teachers.

The integration of ESD is a complex problem. It calls for an innovative, student-centred curriculum, as well as professional learning and agency, by which university teachers feel empowered to change their practice and direct their peers and institutions towards ESD. This study aims to explore what university teachers consider to be the most important attitudes in supporting their agency to deliver Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) via a Problem Based Learning (PBL) programme.

This study presents a theoretical framework for professional agency comprising three domains: intrapersonal, action and environmental. A Q methodology is adopted to explore university teachers’ perceptions of the most important environmental factors in supporting their ability to deliver ESD via a problem-based learning (PBL) programme. Twenty-eight participants from six Southeast Asian universities took part in a PBL-based professional development programme designed to improve teachers’ ESD- and PBL-based skills and competencies.

The results indicate that the participants were confident in their ability to implement PBL and saw PBL as an approach suitable for addressing current educational, professional and societal challenges. This study offers a series of recommendations to help university teachers develop their ESD and PBL practices.

Although the literature on human agency is extensive, research surrounding teachers’ professional agency in the context of ESD and PBL in higher education is lacking. The present study addresses this gap by capturing individual teachers’ beliefs, perceptions and views and by using Q methodology to examine the subjectivity of study participants.

Large class sizes are becoming the norm in higher education against concerns of dropping learning qualities. To maintain the standard of learning and add value, one of the common strategies is for the course convenor to proactively monitor student engagement with learning activities against their assessment outcomes and intervene timely. Learning analytics has been increasingly adopted to provide these insights into student engagement and their performance. This case study explores how learning analytics can be used to meet the convenor’s requirements and help reduce administrative workload in a large health science class at the University of New South Wales.

This case-based study adopts an “action learning research approach” in assessing ways of using learning analytics for reducing workload in the educator’s own context and critically reflecting on experiences for improvements. This approach emphasises reflexive methodology, where the educator constantly assesses the context, implements an intervention and reflects on the process for in-time adjustments, improvements and future development.

The results highlighted ease for the teacher towards the early “flagging” of students who may not be active within the learning management system or who have performed poorly on assessment tasks. Coupled with the ability to send emails to the “flagged” students, this has led to a more personal approach while reducing the number of steps normally required. An unanticipated outcome was the potential for additional time saving through improving the scaffolding mechanisms if the learning analytics were customisable for individual courses.

The results provide further benefits for learning analytics to assist the educator in a growing blended learning environment. They also reveal the potential for learning analytics to be an effective adjunct towards promoting personal learning design.

This paper aims to explore how a new type of workplace training program can be created that truly enables participants to move from words to action. Recognizing the need to understand trainee–work environment dynamics the authors criticize training efforts that center on targeted learning events, instead highlighting the role of preparation and following up. In doing so, the authors tackle the lack of guidance practitioners experience when designing and implementing workplace training programs.

The authors present action research on a pilot workplace training program focused on wellbeing in an academic work setting. The data collection draws from the case study tradition. The authors collect data through interviews (21), field notes of participant observation (3 occasions), participant-produced written materials and a feedback survey.

The authors find that restorative practices, workplace mediation and reteaming enhance the participants’ perceptions of self-efficacy and agency. Throughout the training program, facilitators observe the dynamics of the situation and take part in discussions to encourage exploration and reflection. Thus, facilitators likely need a coaching mindset.

The theoretical contribution stems from an in-depth exploration of trainee–work environment dynamics and novel insights brought to workplace training from adjacent fields of research. The authors introduce a framework for planning participatory workplace training and organizational development programs, which answers a call from practitioners.

Traditional robot arm trajectory planning methods have problems such as insufficient generalization performance and low adaptability. This paper aims to propose a method to plan the robot arm’s trajectory using the trajectory learning and generalization characteristics of dynamic motion primitives (DMPs).

This study aligns multiple demonstration motion primitives using dynamic time warping; use the Gaussian mixture model and Gaussian mixture regression methods to obtain the ideal primitive trajectory actions. By establishing a system model that improves DMPs, the parameters of the nonlinear function are learned based on the ideal primitive trajectory actions of the robotic arm, and the robotic arm motion trajectory is reproduced and generalized.

Experiments have proven that the robot arm motion trajectory learned by the method proposed in this article can not only learn to generalize and demonstrate the movement trend of the primitive trajectory, but also can better generate ideal motion trajectories and avoid obstacles when there are obstacles. The maximum Euclidean distance between the generated trajectory and the demonstration primitive trajectory is reduced by 29.9%, and the average Euclidean distance is reduced by 54.2%. This illustrates the feasibility of this method for robot arm trajectory planning.

It provides a new method for the trajectory planning of robotic arms in unstructured environments while improving the adaptability and generalization performance of robotic arms in trajectory planning.

The paper follows Jason Cope's (2011) vision of a holistic perspective on the failure-based learning process. By analyzing the research since Cope's first attempt, which is often fragmentary in nature, and providing novel empirical insights, the paper aims to draw a new comprehensive picture of all five phases of entrepreneurial learning and their interplay.

The study features an interpretative phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews with 18 failed entrepreneurs. Findings are presented and discussed in line with experiential learning theory and Cope's conceptual framework of five interrelated learning timeframes spanning from the descent into failure until re-emergence.

The study reveals different patterns of how entrepreneurs experience failure, ranging from abrupt to gradual descent paths, different management and coping behaviors, and varying learning effects depending on the new professional setting (entrepreneurial vs non-entrepreneurial). Analyzing the entrepreneurs' experiences throughout the process shows different paths and connections between individual phases. Findings indicate that the learning timeframes may overlap, appear in different orders, loop, or (partly) stay absent, indicating that the individual learning process is even more dynamic and heterogeneous than hitherto known.

The paper contributes to the field of entrepreneurial learning from failure, advancing Cope's seminal work on the learning process and -contents by providing novel empirical insights and discussing them in the light of recent scientific findings. Since entrepreneurial learning from failure is a complex and dynamic process, using a holistic lens in the analysis contributes to a better understanding of this phenomenon as an integrated whole.

With the growing need for employees to be innovative, public-sector organizations are investing in employee training. This study aims to examine the effects of a combined Lean Six Sigma and innovation training, using action learning, on public-sector employees’ creative role identity and innovative work behavior.

The authors studied a public service agency in Singapore in which a five-day Lean Innovation Training was implemented, using a combination of Lean Six Sigma and Creative Problem-Solving tools, with a simulation on day one and subsequent team-based project coaching, spread over six months. The authors administered pre- and postintervention surveys among all the employees, and initiated group interviews and observations before, during and after the intervention.

Creative role identity and innovative work behavior had significantly improved six months after the intervention, enabled through senior management’s transformational leadership. The training induced managers to role-model innovative work behaviors while cocreating, with their employees, a renewal of their agency’s core processes. The three completed improvement projects contributed to an innovative work culture and reduced service turnaround time.

Starting with a role-playing simulation on the first day, during which leaders and followers swapped roles, the action-learning type training taught all the organizational members to use various Lean Six Sigma and Creative Problem-Solving tools. This nimble Lean Innovation Training, and subsequent team-based project coaching, exemplifies how advancing the staff’s creative role identity can have a positive impact.

Climate change poses risks to society and the demand for carbon literacy within small and medium-sized enterprises is increasing. Skills and knowledge are required for organizational greenhouse gas accounting and science-based decisions to help businesses reduce transitional risks. At the University of Copenhagen and the University of Northern British Columbia, two carbon management courses have been developed to respond to this growing need. Using an action-based co-learning model, students and business are paired to quantify and report emissions and develop climate plans and communication strategies.

This paper draws on surveys of businesses that have partnered with the co-learning model, designed to provide insight on carbon reductions and the impacts of co-learning. Data collected from 12 respondents in Denmark and 19 respondents in Canada allow for cross-institutional and international comparison in a Global North context.

Results show that while co-learning for carbon literacy is welcomed, companies identify limitations: time and resources; solution feasibility; governance and reporting structures; and communication methods. Findings reveal a need for extension, both forwards and backwards in time, indicating that the collaborations need to be lengthened and/or intensified. Balancing academic requirements detracts from usability for businesses, and while municipal and national policy and emission targets help generate a general societal understanding of the issue, there is no concrete guidance on how businesses can implement operational changes based on inventory results.

The research brings new knowledge to the field of transitional climate risks and does so with a focus on both small businesses and universities as important co-learning actors in low-carbon transitions. The comparison across geographies and institutions contributes an international solution perspective to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.