Adult learners often experience uncertainty, isolation, and, in graduate school, angst about meeting program requirements. Therefore, graduate students created and facilitated a seminar series and preliminary examination study group. The experience, however, transcended seminars and study meetings to build relevant and meaningful community. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine adult peers in community for support and learning. Major findings included participants built community for support and learning, using programming as foundation for building a community of practice (CoP), with peer mentoring playing a major role. The findings also feature participant voices and share programming ideas for adult learners and educators.

This qualitative study's purpose was to evaluate how undergraduate business students' perspectives, skills, and behaviors evolved through corporate social responsibility (CSR) education taught with a focus on critical thinking and sustainable problem solving. Business schools are struggling to incorporate CSR into their curriculum despite interest from students and pressure from accreditation agencies. This article primarily contributes practical tools for business schools teaching students to apply critical thinking skills and concepts gained through their business education to develop solutions to economic, social, and environmental problems. Instructors taught the following topics: definitions of CSR, the triple bottom line, stakeholder theory, exposure to social problems, businesses' roles in exacerbating or mitigating social problems, specific sustainable solutions companies and nonprofit organizations have implemented, and analysis of public companies' sustainability reports. Topics were taught using critical thinking tools, such as a decision-making model, a funneling exercise, a root problems activity, and reflection and metareflection. The instruction followed a specific teaching model to promote critical thinking skills development, which can be implemented by other faculty. We found CSR concepts motivated students by giving them the tools and confidence in their abilities to solve meaningful problems and learning outcomes for both CSR and critical thinking were achieved.

Human resource development principles have important applications for everyone, including marginalized populations. Particularly relevant to marginalized groups are issues of work development and growth, as impacted by individuals' confidence and ability to transfer skills to different contexts. In this qualitative study, we explored the experiences of a particular group of marginalized women, namely those transitioning out of the sex trade and into legal employment. Study participants included 10 women who have been out of the sex trade from between 3 and 20 years. We found that, in their transition to lawful work, the women began with low job self‐efficacy. Traditional influencers of self‐efficacy were key to aiding their transitions. The most important factor was reflected efficacy, which occurred through their experiences receiving coaching from leaders of the exit‐assistance organizations and employers. This coaching helped the women reframe their skills and attributes gained in the sex trade into employable qualities valued in lawful work. The present study contributes to our understanding of supervisors' roles in helping employees develop self‐efficacy. We conclude with ways in which employers and organizations can aide employment transitions as well as build skills transfer and job self‐efficacy through modes of reflected efficacy and coaching in positive, professional relationships.

In this article, the authors examine the value of survivor leaders in organizations helping women transition out of the sex trade and how organizations can best utilize survivor leaders. They interviewed 10 women who have been out of the sex trade from between 3 and 20 years. They found survivor leaders (a) created relatability for participants exiting out of the sex trade, (b) modeled a hopeful future, and (c) mitigated power issues. The authors uncovered three ways organizations can engage survivor leaders: (a) on boards, (b) in paid staff positions, and (c) as volunteers. They discuss the ethical and financial issues associated with organizations using unpaid and paid survivor leaders. Furthermore, the authors recommend practical ways organizations can improve by engaging survivor leaders in peer education, policy setting, and management. They also encourage organizations to view survivors as experts. The authors’ findings move adult education beyond a focus on peer education to considering peer leadership.

Undergraduate students enrolled in a large research university walked 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago (Camino) as a culminating experience of a course designed to foster high-impact learning, specifically learning about themselves as leaders and global citizens. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore undergraduate students’ perspectives about the impact of the experience on their leadership development. The course design incorporated leadership theory and high-impact learning practices to provide students with an innovative and in-depth learning experience unique from a classroom setting. A thematic analysis of student post-Camino metareflections gave insight as to how students perceived their development as leaders and what elements of the experience students perceived to be most impactful. Interpretation of the findings was informed by leadership development literature identifying the metacompetencies and competencies of a leader. Other business schools could incorporate the findings regarding leadership development and the effectiveness of the specific course experience to implement their own programs. We provide recommendations and outline resources other universities would need for structuring similar innovative, high-impact learning experiences designed to enhance students’ leadership competencies.