21st Century Learning refers to the shift away from instructor-led educational instruction towards a fluid participatory learning environment of co-creation, co-learning, collaboration and transparency (Bolstad et al., 2012). Among the various skills the 21st century learner is expected to develop during his/her university apprenticeship are communication, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, innovation, information literacy and problem solving. Intrinsically, Kreiling and Paunov (2021) from the OECD state that knowledge co-creation is the process of the joint production of innovation between industry, research and possibly other stakeholders, notably civil society knowledge co-creation with initiatives such as projects, mechanisms or diverse institutional arrangements ranging from joint laboratories to industry-led innovation ecosystems. Extracurricular activities indeed provide possibility to reinforce the lessons learned in classroom, offering students the opportunity to apply academic skills in a real-world context which is considered as part of a well-rounded education (National Center for Education Statistics, 1995). This paper endeavours to present some cases of university students’ experiences and capabilities development during their knowledge co-creation activities in extracurricular projects assigned to them. Three case studies in relation to three extracurricular projects are presented to illustrate this initiative. The experiences of 7 university students from the School of Business Management and Finance (SBMF), University of Technology, Mauritius (UTM), were interviewed with respect to the most pertaining 21st century skills they developed during their collaboration in research projects undertaken at the university. Their experiences are (i) linked with skills developed and (ii) the positive outcomes of project initiatives in which they were involved.

Authors:
Diroubinee Mauree-Narrainen, University of Technology Mauritius, Mauritius

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Diroubinee Mauree-Narrainen is a School Teacher/Instructor at University of Technology Mauritius in Mauritius

See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule

Bookmark