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The post-pandemic era shaped by COVID-19 has compelled universities to reimagine their learning experiences, adapting to new educational requirements and heightened expectations. However, this transformation brings forth novel pedagogical requirements and learning limitations. In today’s educational landscape, learners seek active and relevant learning experiences that seamlessly integrate interactivity, crisis awareness, and global challenges tied to a resilience and sustainability perspective. To address this imperative, our work introduces an experiential learning lab to articulate Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and authentic assessment principles. By incorporating real-world events as study scenarios, higher-order skill challenges, and self-regulated learning in alignment with reflective and practical activities, we aim to enhance students’ engagement and learning relevance. To illustrate practical implementation, we propose a case study methodology regarding an experiential learning lab for operations management education. Specifically, we delve into a case study centred around the Social Lab for Sustainable Logistics, involving a circular economy challenge as a learning experience during the post-COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary results indicate that the experiential learning lab helped to create the learning experience in alignment with intended learning outcomes. However, further instances of such learning experiences are necessary to explore the contribution and applicability of the lab across diverse settings and disciplines.

IntroductionDisruptive uncertain events often necessitate universities to abruptly shift from face-to-face to remote online learning, posing challenges to instructional quality and learning outcomes. Remote online instruction may lack social interaction, educational resources, and practical activities, hindering effective learning.MethodsThis study presents an experiential learning framework designed to foster active learning experiences amidst disruptive uncertain events. The framework incorporates such events as study situations to enhance student motivation and engagement. A methodology for designing learning experiences is proposed, with a focus on incorporating real-world disruptions into educational settings.ResultsA case study is presented, detailing the implementation of the framework in supply chain management and logistics education at a private university in Bolivia, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that the novel learning experience positively impacted student motivation and engagement, facilitating the achievement of learning outcomes.DiscussionThe initial implementation suggests that the novel learning experience positively impacted student motivation and engagement while achieving their intended learning outcomes. However, further instances of utilizing the proposed framework are necessary to ascertain its generalizability and effectiveness across diverse contexts and situations. Identifying similarities or invariances will help validate the applicability of this approach in different educational settings affected by disruptive uncertain events.

One of the largest gaps about the superior educational system in Bolivia has been that undergraduate students enter the job market unready to face the complex reality and dynamic environment that companies have. Traditional methodologies in classroom establishes roles where the professor gives the student specific content to be learnt in the class and later applied in a fictional scenario. However, students may not see clearly how to take the content from lectures to a real context. Therefore, it is important to implement methodologies that bring students and teachers out of their comfort zone and allow them to analyse real companies’ problems, proposing solutions and developing competences that are relevant to reality. On the other hand, from big to small companies, face different concerns daily: Efficiency, productivity, customer service, among others. Many of those issues may be trivial, however, routine usually blind the decision-maker to identify and seek for solutions. With the help of a fresh perspective provided by higher education students, companies would be able to identify, display resources and attention to small routinary problems. The implementation of experiential learning methods, such as Challenge-based learning, is an important alternative for both universities and companies due it offers a win-win relationship between them with direct and clear benefits and advantages. This paper gives special attention to micro companies, which are often beyond the scope of industrial and educational innovation activities, due to lack of interest, knowledge, or the preconception that because of having simpler processes, these businesses should not be given attention to.

Purpose: This study aims to present a conceptual framework aimed at promoting educational innovation in supply chain management and logistics (SCM&L). The framework can help to design active learning experiences regarding student learning outcomes that tackle current challenges in the discipline. Emphasizing the significance of linking students' learning to real-world scenarios, the framework enables reflective learning through hands-on engagement in a constructive alignment, overcoming existing pedagogical limitations in the field. Design/methodology/approach: This study presents a qualitative research methodology that relies on the case study method. Three instances are presented to illustrate educational efforts of active learning in countries of Latin America, Bolivia, Mexico and Peru, linking real-world relevant situations to disciplinary teaching and learning. Findings: The innovative learning experiences introduced in this study transform real-world SCM&L operations into distinctive educational opportunities. These experiences facilitate learning not only within traditional classrooms but also in urban areas of the Latin American region, enabling students to interact with educational partners in authentic settings to achieve their intended learning outcomes. These experiences are characterized by their focus on establishing meaningful connections between learning and local communities, businesses or specific contexts. Research limitations/implications: The study recognizes various limitations of conceptual, methodological, execution-related and research process aspects. First, not all academics in the SCM&L discipline may universally acknowledge the importance of educational innovation and active learning experiences because of limited pedagogical awareness. Moreover, execution-related limitations arise from the demanding nature of incorporating active pedagogical approaches into courses, as they can be resource-intensive and time-consuming. Regarding research process limitations, the case study limits generalizability and broader inferences because of its particular views and locations, which require further investigation with other instances across other disciplines and geographical regions for validation. Practical implications: The practical implementation of this framework within the MIT SCALE network for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) demonstrates its potential in meeting diverse academic and institutional expectations and providing educational benefits to students. Social implications: The study makes a valuable contribution to prioritizing and coordinating pedagogical research by investigating the success of learning outcomes achieved through active and experiential implementations in various contexts. It provides inspiring examples of innovative learning experiences that can drive new developments not only within the LAC region but also in other areas, prompting a shift away from traditional educational approaches. Originality/value: This research presents a conceptual framework, which is developed from the insights obtained in the three learning experiences to guide future efforts in SCM&L education. The findings demonstrate how to structure active learning experiences based on authentic assessment and illustrate the potential for increased cooperation among institutions in Latin America. It also promotes the recognition of novel SCM&L active learning experiences and highlights some of the benefits of this approach.