A self-determined learning environment supporting change-makers

Building a Culture of Everyday Inquiry, Learning and Adaptation

“…COVID-19 constraints had delayed our ability to get them together face to face earlier on in their studies. Tauira experience of learning challenges in adapting to a different learning culture and positive programme success experiences were similar to earlier learners (Malcolm, 2020). However what surprised me was that we had significantly more feedback about programme improvements needed than previously, especially around improved onboarding, information and communication platforms and bicultural practice.…”

“…Learner contracts and pathways have been shaped by the learner with their learning facilitator, agreeing what needs to be learned, what learning activities/processes will support that learning and how evidence will be gathered and presented for assessment to demonstrate what has been learned in relation to programme requirements. Facilitation of transformative learning, particularly in the age of COVID-19, has involved working with an ongoing tension between structure and emergence (Malcolm, 2020). A culture of individual and collective inquiry-based learning and adaptive leadership amidst complexity has not only been central to the learner journey, but also for the learning facilitators leading the programme.…”

“…Building on earlier published findings from this DE work (Malcolm, 2020), this article is based on the authors' reflexive practice (Westoby, 2022) about the life of this programme. We each look back on the programme development processes we were involved in leading and the data/feedback/observations from our research to identify stories about significant pivots in thinking, actions, decisions and what supported their emergence.…”

Principles for Educational Innovation – A Developmental Evaluation Perspective

“…Rather we need to seek elegant educational responses that allow for uncertainty, non-linearity and emergence. Complexity also requires holding inherent tensions between structure and emergence, as the delivery stages of the programme make clear (Malcolm, 2020; see also our article in this issue).…”