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The purpose of this study was to understand perspectives of doctoral students about their compulsory online experience and aspects of their compulsory online experiences which were strongly associated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a disorienting dilemma.

Exploratory descriptive survey research was the approach taken. Notable descriptors and associations were interpreted based on statistical analysis complimented by respondent comments.

Respondents included students who were at various stages of completing their doctoral degree. Overall findings indicated preference for face-to-face classes, the switch to online learning was well-received, primarily as a result of perceptions of quick and supportive communication from doctoral program leadership, strong student and instructor connections, and high-quality collaborative opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic represented a disorienting dilemma provoking cognitive dissonance among doctoral students who were compelled to move from a hybrid to a completely online learning model. Fear, anger and discontent induced by broken assumptions were mitigated through shared experiences creating new meaning and habits of mind in the process of adjusting to new expectations. Study results reveal that engagement, collaboration and support among instructors and classmates eased the transformative process transitioning into online learning.

The results of this study provided real-time understanding of students' needs in order to be successful in the quest and persistence of doctoral study online. Though the process of seeking official and state approvals to move the educational leadership doctoral program fully online, program faculty made a series of teaching and program adaptations informed by these results.

Research about doctoral student experiences during a compulsory transition from a hybrid to online delivery model has not been explored and offers original perspective to improve future practice transitioning into online programs for student acceptance, engagement and retention.

The collapse of world economic systems brought the interconnectedness between business and global events sharply into focus. As Starkey points out: “leading business schools need to overcome their fascination with a particular form of finance and economics […] to broaden their intellectual horizons […] (and to) look at the lessons of history and other disciplines”. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence from three years of research on the Aston MBA suggesting that an emphasis on developing capabilities within a far broader, connected and reflexive business curriculum is what business students and practitioners now recognise as an essential way forward for responsible management education.

This research paper examines the reflective accounts of 300 MBA students undertaking a transdisciplinary Business Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability core module.

As Klein argues, transdisciplinarity is simultaneously an attitude and a form of action. The student reflections provide powerful discourses of individual learning and report a range of outcomes from finding “the vocabulary or the confidence” to raise issues to acting as “change agents” in the workplace.

As responsibility and sustainability requires learners, researchers and educators to engage with real world complexity, uncertainty and risk, conventional disciplinary study, especially within business, often proves inadequate and partial. This paper demonstrates that creative and exploratory frames need to be developed to facilitate the development of more connected knowledge – informed by multiple stakeholders, able to contribute heterogeneous skills, perspectives and expertise.