What is experiential learning? Part 2

Just presenting a 'hands-on' exercise does not mean you’re using an experiential learning tool. The activity has to have an element of unexpected learning within it. The trainer must take a backstep from the learning environment and become a challenger or a last resort consultant. The trainees direct the learning environment.

A simple example is a game I designed for trainees learning about marketing for the first time. There were some important concepts we needed to get across to them without using the time-honoured PowerPoint-Talking-Heads scenario they were so used to. Instead, I designed a game that took a number of production and employee faults/issues/challenges and created them as obstacles on a classic roll-the-dice board game. I controlled all the ‘issues’ so it was far from experiential learning.

I added an extra learning challenge, however, in that the rules insisted that counters on each lane of the double-track could not get further apart than three spaces. The learning outcome from that would come out in discussion – employee skills and production rates are interlinked. But it was still not experiential learning.

In a group more open to different types of learning, I could have turned this into an experiential learning challenge. Sure, I would have given the board, and the basic rules/format, to the teams but I could have left the teams to come up with their own version of the game to illustrate given goals.

Let’s look at how that would have fitted into the parameters of experiential learning:

• A process of thinking – They would have had to use the KWL (What I Know,/What I want to know/What we learned) process to research and test the process


• Team work and good communication – They would need plenty of team work to do the research and design the rest of the game


• Role recognition – They would have had to acknowledge team member skills and assign roles


• Time and project management – They would have had to apportion time to tasks
  
• Managing conflict – They would need to manage conflict if there were disagreements about what needed to be included


• Group decision-making – And of course they would have to use good decision-making to come to a successful conclusion

If you would like to use the boardgame as a method of teaching about productivity issues I have arranged a generic set with blank cards that you can download free. You will need some light card to stick the boardgame onto, and to create the cards, plus dice and counters.

The set gives some examples of issues you might adapt to suit your industry. Then you can decide whether you want to control the learning about the issues or let your trainees use their own knowledge about production issues to create a game.

What is experiential learning? Part 1

Experiential learning can best be described as 'learning by doing' in a safe environment where failure is okay and leads to new learning.

Experiential learning exercises parallel real life roles and result in learning that can be applied to real life work situations.

The exercises are designed with specific goals to be achieved, but few ‘rules’ so that the teams participating can tackle the exercises in any way that achieves the goals. Well-designed tasks set the bar high but are known to be achievable, although ‘second-goes’ are common and allowed.

Experiential learning is more to do with:

• A process of thinking
• Team work and good communication
• Role recognition
• Time and project management
• Managing conflict
• Group decision-making

The actual outcome/task achievement is a secondary consideration and is used more as a tool to change behaviour.

Experiential learning for the trainer is often fraught with tension because you have to stand back and let things happen, even bad things like communication breakdown, arguments and defections. On the plus side you will watch as participants have ‘Eureka’ moments. Above all, participants should learn that they already have answers, or at least one part of an answer; their task is to uncover the answers and contribute them to the improvement of the group.

The intensity of the learning rests on how well you handle the wash-up session; discussing the ‘what went wrongs’; analyzing what could have been done differently; touching on the emotions of team dynamics. The latter area of learning will succeed best if you, the trainer, are comfortable with talking about such issues, and depends on how entrenched the ‘anti-soft’ site culture is. For this reason experiential learning works best with a group that has worked together for a while and built up some trust between members.

9-day fortnight a reality but day 10 missing cash and training

My comment: The New Zealand Government has made a tactical error in removing the incentive for training in its 9-day fortnight. The country had an invaluable opportunity to upskill its workforce without impinging on productivity. Instead employees WILL enjoy an extra day off but won't enjoy the day's lost pay. Basically the small recompense is 'pay to do nothing'. Employees are being asked to underwrite a shaky economy instead of stretching the grey-matter and using the chance to improve their effectiveness at work.
9-day fortnight a reality but day 10 missing cash and training

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