Experiential learning in adult education is on the rise. A small private college in the southeast United States initiated a program that required 3 experiential learning projects to be completed in addition to coursework. The problem was that less than 8% of students had independently developed their first project. Instead, they completed a project proposed by faculty. This situation resulted in student dependency on faculty rather than promoting self-directed learning. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding about how to help students develop independent projects for the self-directed learning program. Experiential and self-directed learning theories formed the conceptual framework. The guiding question focused on how a select group of students described their ability to conduct a self-directed learning project. For this case study, individual interviews and documents were collected from 7 participants in the self-directed learning program. Analysis of the data by coding individual units of meaning revealed these 5 themes, which formed the basis of the findings: characteristics, self-motivation, lack of assistance received, personal gain, and advice for others. The commonly held major theme was personal gain. The second theme, goal setting, was discrepant. These were the major findings, which formed the basis for a proposed professional development training program for faculty facilitating the self-directed learning program. The implication for social change include emphasizing the importance of self-directed learning, supporting faculty for self-directed learning, and promoting lifelong learning. As a result of participating in this training, faculty will be better able to mentor students in the self-directed learning program.

This autoethnographic study details the researcher’s experiences as a high school student and as a new teacher—which eventually led to the creation, implementation, and 8-year life cycle of Mount Logan Discovery, a sixth-grade integrated outdoor experiential learning program in a public middle school. Routine field experiences established academic background knowledge, fostered relationships, built confidence, and provided purpose for curriculum standards. Perspectives of parents, students, colleagues, administrators, and donors add detail. This study responds to calls qualitative studies that focus on how outdoor programs are conducted, the descriptions of experiences and perceptions of students and parents, and how participants were changed through outdoor experiential learning programs. The primary research question was: What are the lived experiences of the researcher as a founder of a public middle school outdoor experiential learning program, from its inception to its closure? Though outdoor experiential learning is the main theme, this study is also about teaching reading and writing in authentic contexts, integrated science, and the struggle for constructivist-minded educators to humanize schools within high-stakes testing culture. From a theoretical standpoint, this is a story of constructivism in praxis. Participants described that outdoor field experiences improved their attitude towards school, their overall confidence, fostered relationships, established a strong classroom community, and boosted their academic performance. Students and parents emphasized the impact integrating literacy with field programs had on their writing and reading skills. Other themes that surfaced include the role of field experiences in building character and allowing students to find joy and happiness in the learning process. Parents and students alike indicated outdoor field experiences had a lasting impact on participants lives. The analysis also identifies six steps for putting principles of constructivism into practice in schools, recommendations for implementing new programs, and components of effective field programs. The narrative spurs parents, educators, administrators, and lawmakers to reflect on what really matters in schools. Until we change the way schools are evaluated, outdoor experiential learning programs like Mount Logan Discovery, and other attempts to enrich students’ educational experiences, will always exist on the fringes and in the shadows of public education, fighting for sustainability.

Driven 2 Teach is a privately funded program for history teachers in the state of Utah. The program emphasizes the importance of teacher travel to educate history teachers in the places where history happened. This study investigated the program’s influence on participant gains in learning about history and how to best teach about the past, social studies professional development, teacher beliefs, and changes in instructional practices. This study utilized a case study methodology, autoethnography, and six interconnected frameworks: Professional development, experiential education, site-based learning, pedagogical content knowledge, teacher beliefs, and professional learning communities. This study helps demonstrate the effectiveness of travel as a teaching method. Data from this study were used to answer the following questions: How do history teachers perceive their pedagogical content knowledge as changing as a result of participating in the Driven 2 Teach program? How do the experiences with Driven 2 Teach differ from other professional development experiences? How do history teacher beliefs about social studies education contribute to the changes in pedagogical content knowledge and instructional practice? How do these history teachers plan on changing instructional practices based on their new pedagogical content knowledge? The results of this study show that participants’ knowledge of historical content and how to best teach that content increased significantly. This study also found that more social studies professional development is needed in the state of Utah. Teachers’ confidence levels increased because of their experience with this program in regard to teaching history and social studies skills to their students. Participants, as a result of participation with Driven 2 Teach, are more likely to teach students’ skills using social studies content rather than merely teaching social studies through rote memorization. Participants want to incorporate more hands-on learning experiences for students, and use more primary source documents in their lessons. Traveling together to historical sites and other important places with other social studies teachers enhanced the learning of all involved and increased the retention of what was learned. Participants benefited from both planned and unplanned events, and had experiences that made them realize even more, the importance of social studies education and incorporating multiple perspectives when learning about the past.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between internships and Social and Emotional Competence (SEC). SEC was conceptualized as the combination of Emotional and Social Intelligence. Increasingly, areas of SEC have become the subject of research, because SEC enables people to use emotions advantageously to achieve desired outcomes. Measures of seven components of SEC (self-awareness, selfperception, self-regulation, self-motivation, self-ownership, empathy, and social awareness) were evaluated. Qualitative phone interviews were conducted with 21 undergraduate and graduate Communication students whom had recently served as interns. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Research questions sought to evaluate the effect of internships on (1) self-awareness and self-perception; (2) self-regulation and self-management; (3) self-motivation and career development; and (4) empathy, social awareness and relationship skills. The majority of subjects reported increases in all areas of SEC after the internship process. In addition, a formal survey of members of the Educators Academy of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) was conducted to compare internship guidelines by professors at other universities. Eleven professional educators responded. Results found that interns from University of the Pacific's Communication program were being held to the highest standard, in terms of supervision and guidance.

Background: The Corporate Accelerator (CA) trend has extended beyond high technology industries, gaining global traction across a variety of industries, such as in finance, healthcare, insurance, entertainment and consumer packaged goods. CAs are described as an approach that bridges the gap between corporations and startups, further supporting long-term growth and corporate renewal. When organized effectively, CAs provide a platform that allows both the established corporations and startups to tap into the resources of what one has and the other lacks. Despite its’ many opportunities, some aspects of CAs have also been criticized. In particular, CAs aim to fulfill their corporation’s goals which may lead to discrepancies between the goals of the corporation and the startup. This could potentially limit the level of innovativeness of the startups as well as other learning benefits they aimed to achieve from taking part in the program. Purpose: From an entrepreneur’s point of view, this study aims to understand the learning experiences CA programs offer for participating startups. Method: An instrumental collective case study was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews from five cases that represented five different CA programs. Conclusion: This study aims to elaborate the existing CA literature through providing insights about how individuals in startups develop new knowledge through taking part in CA programs. The findings of this study suggest that three main factors affect the startup individuals learning experiences in CA programs that consist of; (1) The need for learning that is built upon the background attributes of each startup individual and the stage at which the startup organization is at; (2) The different entrepreneurial support activities that offer the startups authentic learning, generative learning and acquisitive learning opportunities; (3) The learning network offered during the program that consists of corporations, facilitator organizations and other startup organizations that enable the startup individuals to acquire complementary knowledge resources across their own organizational boundaries. Moreover, the findings of this study illustrate that experiences gained during the program are transformed into entrepreneurial knowledge that constitutes to the individual's ability to recognize new opportunities as well as the ability to cope with the liabilities of newness.

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