Citizen scholars: cultivating 21st century graduate competencies in business education

Abstract

Purpose – This study has two objectives: (1) to identify gaps in the citizen scholar framework by comparing and synthesizing the relevant pedagogical literature and (2) to illustrate how 21st century graduate capabilities can be cultivated through teaching practices using the citizen scholar framework. Design/methodology/approach – We briefly synthesize the relevant citizen scholar pedagogical frameworks and approaches. We use two case studies in two large classroom settings in Ireland and Australia to demonstrate how the citizen scholar attributes can be developed through curriculum design and multiple forms of assessment. Findings – We identify that there is a need for digital literacy to be placed as a fifth attribution cluster in the citizen scholar framework. We also demonstrate that these graduate competencies can be developed at scale by embedding the citizen scholar framework in teaching practices. Practical implications – We offer a practical implementation mechanism for cultivating 21st century graduate competencies, which will help further embed citizen scholar in pedagogy strategies, thus empowering learning at scale in business education. Originality/value – The current study makes the first attempt to identify significant attribution gaps in the citizen scholar framework by synthesizing and mapping the relevant approaches. Detailed examples of curriculum design from the two countries also offer new insights into the implementation of a citizen scholar framework.

Keywords

• Citizen scholars
• Connected learning
• Challenge-based learning
• Experiential learning