Abstract: In response to a number of drivers, including a wish to increase student internationalisation and diversity, a new global MBA in Educational Leadership was designed and developed by Tampere University of Applied Sciences in Finland. This online, distance education program provided the opportunity for the inclusion of innovative design and pedagogy that would challenge both faculty and learners to rethink traditional instructivist learning models and relationships. This paper uses elements of collaborative autoethnography and thematic analysis to examine the experience of two students among the global cohort of learners on this degree program. The program was designed to encourage deeper learning and motivate students to explore beyond the learning objectives, using a framework of distributed, networked knowledge. Using ideas from Connectivism and Rhizomatic learning, students were required to co-create individualized authentic assessments that were relevant to their own context.