This article reports findings on two studies that explored undergraduate perspectives of experiential learning as a pedagogy that can produce impactful outcomes that align with Makiguchi's concept of Soka (value-creating) education. The twin studies examined perspectives of undergraduate faculty and students by investigating how experiential learning is viewed in terms of its impact on students' sense of happiness and satisfaction, acquired knowledge and skills, and potential for positively contributing to societal welfare. The article addresses how experiential learning provides critical opportunities for students to create value for making significant impact on the wellbeing of both the students and the wider society. Ten instructors and twelve students from a small university in Toronto, Canada, answered a series of identical questions in confidential semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed for themes related to Makiguchi's values of beauty, gain, and good. A key finding from the analysis suggests that instructors and students agree on the primary importance that experiential learning holds for the value of personal gain (among other things knowledge and skill acquisition), while the values of beauty and social good were seen to be important, but of lesser significance. It is noted that while certain limitations to the research exist, nevertheless, it is suggested that incorporating value creating principles within undergraduate course learning objectives may provide opportunities for encouraging more transformative reflection and action for learners, not only in the pursuit of their own individual happiness, but also for the broader societal context.

This article reports on meta-synthesis research that examined contemporary scholarship on global citizenship for the purpose of identifying a possible alignment with Daisaku Ikeda’s views on global citizenship. Thirty relatively contemporary scholarly articles on the subject matter were examined using a qualitative meta-synthesis methodology. Ikeda’s speech entitled ‘Thoughts on education for global citizenship’, delivered over 25 years ago at Columbia University’s Teachers College, USA, contains his most frequently cited ideas on the salient conditions required for global citizenship. As Ikeda is a thoughtful and prolific author on the subject of global citizenship, there is merit in exploring the alignment of his ideas about this concept with those articulated in contemporary scholarship. Conducting a meta-synthesis through the lens of Ikeda’s essential elements of global citizenship has helped to identify potentially useful contributions to the global citizenship discourse. This article highlights salient common themes of global citizenship uncovered through the meta-synthesis research, as well as providing an alternative definition of global citizenship gleaned from the findings.

No abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives and experiences of educators who practice Soka (value-creating) pedagogy in their teaching and learning environment. Methodology: The participants were educators who were teaching, or had taught, in a formal public or private education system in Canada and were also affiliated with the Soka Gakkai International Association of Canada Educators Group. An online survey was distributed to the educators describing the study and requesting their participation in a semi-structured interview. Fourteen survey respondents were chosen for an interview. Results: The study’s findings revealed important themes concerning how Soka education positively influenced the educators’ relationships with their students, how teachers structured their teaching and learning environment, how teachers perceived their role as educators, and how the teachers’ Buddhist spiritual practice inspired and guided their application of Soka education. Limitations: The findings are best interpreted within the study’s limitation of selecting participants from a teacher population that would likely perceive Soka education in a largely favorable light. Contribution: Our research poses potential inquiries for further study, given the novelty of the finding that identified how teachers used their Buddhist practice to inspire and advance their teaching. This aspect of teaching practice is not widely represented to date in the Soka education discourse and may have implications for future investigation.