Co-creation of experience and entrepreneurial learning

The purpose of our paper is to explore the challenges associated with enhancing entrepreneurial learning at the interface between learning and the entrepreneurial context (Harrison and Leitch, 2005). These are closely related to the question of how to design space – a place that learners want to return to because it engages them to participate with other people, rather than visiting a room. Such learning models already exist outside the business sphere. In art education the creation of a professional learning environment has a long tradition, and the linkage entrepreneurship education and art education may add new understanding of entrepreneurial learning. We gathered the empirical data during workshops for enterprises in the cultural and tourism business in Finland and Estonia. Our data show that new entrepreneurial propositions and innovative ideas are not created into a void environment but they are supported by an entrepreneur’s earlier experiences. The traditional role of the entrepreneurship educator has been that of expert. However, our research into micro and small businesses in the cultural and tourism sector provided evidence of the need to change that role. Being embedded in a community of practice, the educator not only transmits knowledge but preferably also acts as a co-creator in the learning community. However, further study is needed in order to develop a framework that encompasses change in the traditional roles of the learning environment.