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Policy makers have called for more entrepreneurship throughout societies as a response to the digital transformation. This paper argues that the rapidly changing conditions of the digital age indeed mark a change in the bases of entrepreneurship. Specifically, as adaptivity becomes key, a learning capacity and general ability to adapt becomes a critical factor in entrepreneurial activity. The paper identifies self-directed learning (SDL) as a fundamental competence in this regard and examines its role for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial competence.

The paper develops a theoretical framework for the role of SDL in entrepreneurship through a process of systematic review of previous studies that have linked SDL to entrepreneurship.

The formulated theoretical framework shows how SDL competence combines with experiential learning in supporting the kind of adaptivity needed for entrepreneurial competence, especially under more rapidly changing conditions. SDL competence also gains wider importance through enabling individuals to meet the demands of organizational changes in our highly volatile world.

SDL competence prepares individuals for entrepreneurship and resilience in face of rapid changes as well as for being more entrepreneurial in the conduct of their lives more generally. Fostering SDL competence can thus be regarded as an important objective of entrepreneurship education.

The described self-directed experiential learning cycle offers a novel perspective that clarifies how both self-directed and experiential learning competences are integral for understanding the basis of adaptiveness in entrepreneurial activity.

This paper aims to examine the impact of the learning management system (LMS), in promoting students’ self-directed experiential learning using the flipped classroom approach. This study further evaluates the effectiveness of integrating video lectures, perceived as a social interface, for students to watch, prior to their class session conducted in class.

This is a case study that investigated a group of undergraduate students of English as a foreign language (EFL) to identify the impact of the LMS TES BlendSpace in fostering their self-directed learning capacity, using a flipped classroom approach. Data were gathered through a qualitative approach from student interviews and observations of student activities and video-recordings uploaded on TES BlendSpace.

Flipped classrooms have begun to redesign learning spaces and promote active learning through video-enabled instructional practices. This study provides an overview of flipped classrooms and the benefits students’ gain from the wealth of online content posted on the LMS. The flipped classroom model has clearly shifted the learning paradigm, enabling students the autonomy of their self-directed learning pace and to become acquainted with the currency of video lectures that promote efficacious learning. This study concludes with implications for further research in this area.

This study has the potential to contribute towards the advancement of students’ self-directed learning and proposes its continued application for future EFL classes in this institution, as well as across all courses, to enable self-direction for all students.

The purpose of this paper is to start exploring the possibilities for makerspaces to function as a new learning space within academic library services in higher education (HE). This original research study ask two key questions: How is learning achieved and supported in makerspaces? What can academic library services bring to the effective organisation and support of makerspaces?

An extensive literature review is followed by a template analysis (King, 2012) of data from an online forum of three professionals operating makerspaces in academic library services in the USA and a discussion incorporating relevant educational theory and philosophy.

The three overarching learning themes found were: experiential learning (Dewey, 1909; Kolb, 1984), communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991) and self-efficacy through social learning (Bandura, 1997).

The one-week forum of three professional library staff provided detailed and informative data. Substantial field work with students will also be required to see how far this professional lens has provided insight into how students are learning and supported in these and other makerspaces.

The wider cultural implications are examined, including the potential social value of makerspaces as transformative creative spaces empowering communities and individuals.

This is the first study to date on the potential educational value of makerspaces within HE, and the specific support academic library services can offer if they choose to host a makerspace (including teaching information, digital and critical literacies).

This paper aims to link recent findings in cognitive neuroscience to better understand how andragogically informed instructional practices impact cognition and learning.

The research questions guiding the study is in what ways can the recent findings in cognitive neuroscience help to inform adult education theory, including andragogy in particular, to deepen our understanding of how andragogical instructional principles and practices can improve learning? We adopted Torraco’s (2005) integrative literature review approach of providing enough details regarding the selection of the literature and the identification and verification of emerged themes of main ideas.

The core assumptions of andragogy (self-direction, prior experience, readiness to learn and immediacy of application) have a connection to the neural networks related to memory and cognition.

First, this study provides fundamental foundations for combining cognitive neuroscience and adult learning to illuminate how cognitive neuroscience contributes physiologically to adult learning. Second, the findings in cognitive neuroscience related to the four assumptions for andragogy help to provide scientific explanations and interpretations for adult learning theories influencing human resource development (HRD), such as self-directed learning, experiential learning and role theory.

First, HRD practitioners could use the integrative approach between andragogy and the cognitive neuroscience to reduce the issues of learning activities in generation differences. In addition, cognitive neuroscience research may contribute to improving teaching and instructional techniques.

The contributions of this study is that it provides an integrative review about why and how anagogical principles work through the lens of cognitive neuroscience. Based on the findings, we suggested a model of adaptive cognitive neuroscience-adult learning structures.

Describes the experiences of participants in a self‐directed manager development programme. Qualitative data was collected from questionnaires administered at two points, one mid‐semester and the other at the end of the semester, over two years, in order to elicit information about the issues and drawbacks which were important to the students when engaged in self‐directed and experiential learning. The study was designed to examine participant views and thoughts in three main areas: the aspects of the approach they found most useful; the aspects they found least useful; and ideas about improvements to the programme or how things could be done differently from their own perspective. Reports the main findings which included a majority view that self‐directed approaches are more demanding than traditional approaches but worthwhile, leading to “deep” rather than “surface” learning. Sheds important light on the subjective experience of independent learning, which will be of interest to academics and organizations alike.

Fostering the skills necessary for self-directed learning (SDL) competence could be considered the most essential goal of formal education, especially due to uncertainty and changing conditions – exampled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, SDL competence can afford a person the ability to adapt to changing social contextual conditions, thus facilitating personal growth and development – even in the face of volatile and rapidly changing social contextual conditions. The aim of this study is to explore, theoretically, the contextual quality of educational experience necessary for learners to secure adaptive meaning-making: in order to meet the demands of our changing world.

To date, research has failed to comprehensively identify exactly what type of educational experience is necessary for such an adaptive meaning-making process during SDL. The present theoretical paper attempts to redress this concern.

Highly contextualized educational experience is necessary to enable contextual-specific, adaptable, meaning-making. Two constituents of contextualized educational experience are proposed: contextual-specific information available during the educational experience; and contextual-specific meaning schemes resultant from the educational process.

This novel work presents an important argument that education should encourage learners to construct knowledge that is adaptable and transferable to their context, rather than automatized knowledge that is not adaptable or transferable. This is a key concern for persons who face rapidly changing social contextual conditions and therefore should be given consideration in both the design of education and in further research on SDL. Like a vaccine in an arm provides a certain protection against COVID-19, fostering our populations’ SDL competence is fundamental for affording persons with an ability to meet the demands of our rapidly changing world.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the provision and reported outcomes of Experiential Entrepreneurship Education (EEE), from learner, educator and university perspectives, in order to reflect upon the progress of the Entrepreneurial University. It proposes a conceptual framework for integrating the multiple stakeholder perspectives for an “education led” and student-focused Entrepreneurial University, something yet to be identified from existing research and, consequentially, future research.

A reflective literature review explores the depth and breadth of EEE provision in Universities, noting: what is taking place, who is involved, where EEE is situated (within the university context), and how the knowledge base is informed. From these reflections, a conceptual framework is proposed as a means of exploring and categorizing progress towards a student-focused Entrepreneurial University through education experiences.

The literature review is largely informed by case studies developed by educators reflecting on student learner experiences for the purpose of course enhancement. These case exemplars provide the resource for emergent, bottom-up strategy that could support the Entrepreneurial University. However, the role of the University is less researched, in terms of providing context and external strategic relationships to resource EEE and deliver a more planned approach to the Entrepreneurial University. The Entrepreneurial University and EEE are mainstream agendas and the development of both must consider the role and contribution of the University in terms of strategy formulation and implementation.

This study takes a holistic view, seeing EEE and the Entrepreneurial University as connected agendas. The student-focused Entrepreneurial University cannot result from emergent, bottom-up strategy alone and thus there is a need to address the role of top-down resource-based University strategy in creating real progress. The paper provides a conceptualization, for the purpose of analysing and informing the relationship between EEE and the Entrepreneurial University that places the University as a key stakeholder, and in doing so asks that scholars and educators build the knowledge base not only from cases of good practice but also from the review of strategic management within Universities.

Presents a case study of the International Management Centres (IMC), a private provider of management education and development programmes which are based on the principles of action learning and action research. Draws on rich data compiled from an evaluation of IMC′s action learning Diploma, MBA and PhD programmes which was conducted during 1992. Compares the findings, based on semi‐structured interviews with the stakeholders of the IMC MBA programmes, with the literature on adult learning, self‐directed learning, experiential learning and critical thinking. Documents and illustrates by examples that managers can successfully operationalize action learning and action research methodologies to bring about organizational, professional and personal development as well as productivity improvements. In conclusion, discusses the implications for traditional management education and development programmes.

It is possible for civil engineering (CE) students to graduate from a degree programme without gaining experience on a construction site. The implementation of virtual field trips using virtual reality (VR) in CE education is a development that can address this phenomenon and help facilitate the consolidation of abstract theories into tangible competences. This project aims to solve a fundamental CE education problem: once a structure has been completed, it is often impossible to see how it was built; hence, how can you demonstrate the construction process to a student?

This research used the opportunity of a new campus library development to record its construction sequence. This was achieved by visiting the site eight times to take panoramic stereoscopic photos of the construction process. By its nature, using VR as a didactic tool facilitates experiential learning, but this project also incorporates discovery learning and situated cognition to develop students’ understanding of the construction process.

The use of VR in education is becoming increasingly common, but the explicit pedagogy used in these environments is rarely obvious or stated. This project draws upon current VR education discussions and explores the development of a VR environment with a pedagogical context.

The development of the VR resource draws upon the pedagogical frameworks of discovery learning (Bruner, 1961) and situated cognition (Lave and Wenger, 1991). A further unique aspect of this research is the use of stereoscopic cameras to capture the library’s construction over time.

Business schools have been under fire for their alleged inefficacy in developing students’ managerial skills in MBA programs. On the basis of extant learning theories, the purpose of this paper is to propose a reconsideration of learning goals and assessment procedures for managerial skill development within MBA education.

The authors review the literatures on stage, experiential, social, and action learning theories to identify pedagogical suggestions for optimal skill development and to highlight the constraints program administrators and teachers face in efforts to advance students’ acquisition of complex managerial skills in MBA classrooms.

Conceptually, the authors argue that an emphasis on mastering complex managerial skills – as an expected learning outcome – might be an overly ambitious goal that can lead to neglecting early attainments in skill acquisition and create false impressions of MBA program failure. Furthermore, the authors discuss how MBA programs could consider the use of newer evaluation procedures for evaluating skill development.

The paper calls for greater attention to intermediate stages of managerial skill development for establishing learning goals, the consideration of knowledge structures for assessing the degree of skill development, and a focus on managerial skill development as a life‐long process.