The application of self-directed learning in a marketing strategy capstone course

Capstone courses can create a space for students and educators to act as co–producers of desired learning outcomes which are directly relevant to the world of work. This study uses an auto–ethnographic case study approach to demonstrate how a mixed model learning approach evolved in a capstone marketing strategy unit in a marketing major at an Australian university. Student feedback on the course demonstrates the benefits of using dynamic self–directed learning tools including a marketing strategy simulation game and its associated reflective journal as an adjunct to the traditional static case study and essay–based pedagogies. The necessity for such an approach is based on the premise that the world of work in which the student is about to enter is one which is being increasingly affected by complexity and uncertainty and requires a different set of learning tools to equip students for this kind of work context.