Abstract:

The concept of "flow state" was popularized by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian-American psychologist. In a phrase, flow state can be summarized as an optimal state of intrinsic motivation where a person is fully immersed and engaged in an activity, leading to heightened focus, creativity, and satisfaction.

Humans have complex needs whilst learning: digital technologies bring an unprecedented amount of flexibility to the learners. Synchronous programmes can be attended from any location with a suitable internet connections and asynchronous learning may take place across time-zones around the clock. Early risers and night-time owls alike are free to plan their learning around their life.

The flexibility of digital technologies is immense which brings forward a significant challenge: just like ships were never meant to stay safely harbored in the ports, learners were never meant to stay confined in a classroom. Creativity and innovation are victims of the perpetual loops of boredom and anxiety of traditional learning environments. Whilst innovative pedagogies and ICT help expand the horizon of the "learnable" domain, making for an enthusiastic self-driven, self-exploratory learning experience, these methodologies lack to address the real-world flowing around the confined learning space.

"Panta rhei" is an ancient Greek phrase attributed to the philosopher Heraclitus. It translates to "everything flows" or "all things are in flux." This concept encapsulates Heraclitus's view that the fundamental nature of the universe is constant change, suggesting that no entity remains the same and everything is continuously changing. This reality is mostly uncaptured by today's entrepreneurial learning experiences: hackathons and active learning entrepreneurial courses, albeit collaborative, still lack sufficient exposure to the real world.

Out-of-the-classroom programmes bring a different dimension from the traditional education perspective. Learners are immersed into the context of the end-user, thus experiencing the customer journey in first person. These experiences allow students to explore STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in a more interactive and engaging way, fostering curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Education outside the classroom involves practical, real-world applications of STEM concepts, which may benefit from the infusion of different disciplines, such as arts and the humanities, pillars of the creative and cultural European industries.

The Bus School Baltica format pioneers out of the classroom education and to expose participants to the region that will be intersected by the new Rail Baltica railway line. These real world factors enhance the learning experience and help position it as an unique entrepreneurial education opportunity on the market.

The methodology of the training programme is Challenge Based Learning, which integrates real-world current challenges in sustainable mobility. The challenge providers are both municipalities and industrial stakeholders ecosystems in the sustainable mobility sector. The research evaluates the effectiveness of the delivery method outside the classroom for fostering an entrepreneurial mindset.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship, out of the classroom, innovation education, bus school baltica.