Transactional learning and sustainability co-creation in a university – business collaboration

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the learning outcomes of the project-based learning in a Master Class programme on sustainability carried out in collaboration by the University of Helsinki and a private company operating in global mining technology. The following two questions were addressed: Q1. What kind of sustainability competences do participants acquire in the Master Class? Q2. What is the role of PBL in the learning outcomes? Design/methodology/approach The study is based on an ex ante open-ended survey and post-ante interviews addressed to the participants. The data were analysed using the qualitative content analysis. Findings The findings show that the Master Class contributed to most of the competences under study. However, unlike in previous studies, systemic thinking is highlighted as a fundamental rather than a parallel core competence. Furthermore, the results also emphasise the role of emotions, which is insufficiently acknowledged and accounted for in sustainability education. Research limitations/implications The study focussed only on the learning outcomes of the participants (students) and not the other parties (such as company and researchers). Practical implications Future research should focus on affective dimension as a stepping stone to the transformational learning. In addition, the role of the systemic understanding in sustainability education should be highlighted as a core competence. Social implications The study revealed the overall positive impacts of the co-creation in university – business collaboration to the participants’ sustainability competences. Originality/value The study presents an empirical case study where the various competence frameworks were applied with a result of confirming the validity of the existing key competences, in particular the systemic understanding and showing the role of the affective dimension in the transactional learning.

Developing Intercultural Competence through Glocal Activity Theory Using the Connect-Exchange Study Abroad App

This chapter lays a theoretical foundation for the development of an emerging model of studying intercultural communication through problem-based study abroad pedagogy. At the center of this model is a new computer tool called the Connect-Exchange App, which is meant to facilitate transactional learning between users with varying cultural backgrounds. To research how different audiences might use the app, the authors draw upon activity theory to guide their iterative design process to facilitate users' deepening glocal, intercultural competence. Developing intercultural competence is a process of iterative experiences connecting, exchanging, and filtering information.

Transactional Legal Learning on the Web

‘Transactional learning’ at its simplest means learning from doing transactions. When professionals learn they often do so, as Donald Schön reminds us, by learning from within transactions – ‘knowing-in-action’. By this Schön means that professionals solve problems by constructing for themselves a repertoire of precedents, images and remembered actions. Problems are not solved by using rules alone, but are framed or constructed according to the repertoire. Professionals try out solutions for fit, re-frame, feed back to themselves, try out other solutions. The result is what Schön calls ‘;reflection-in-action’. According to him, this is what produces the doctor's “feel’ for a specific diagnosis, or a lawyer's ‘feel’ for a case, (Schon 1983).

Learning and Learning Capability in the Fordist and Post-Fordist Age: An Integrative Framework

In this paper we use the concept of ‘learning capability’ to integrate several frameworks regarding the changing nature of industrial organization and international competition. In doing so, we emphasize the primacy of learning and learning capability in the post-Fordist world of international competition, with a focus on analyzing Fordist and post-Fordist forms of learning at various levels and their differing impact on the learning capability of firms in a regional context. First, we examine the organizational arrangements that promote individual and organizational learning within the firm, with special reference to the Japanese practices of lean and flexible production. Second, we introduce the concept of transactional learning to delineate various forms of Fordist and post-Fordist learning that occur in the marketplace. After reinterpreting Porter's (1990) diamond model as a market structure for transactional learning, we extend his work by emphasizing the role of interfirm networks in facilitating learning and learning capability. The focus of this analysis is on the importance of trust and reciprocity in maintaining effective information flow and cooperation within these networks. In doing so, we discuss differences in the social construction of trust and networks and their corresponding impact on dominant forms of learning and learning capability. We further introduce the concept of spatial learning for analyzing the role of industrial districts as learning agents. We conclude the paper with an examination of the concept of learning infrastructure as a general construct for policymaking regarding regional development and international competition in the post-Fordist age.