“Tell me…I will forget”
“Show me…I may remember”
“Involve me…I will understand”
Like this Chinese proverb suggests we learn better when we are involved in an active experience. Experiential learning can take on many strategies according to Dr. Sivasailam Thiagarajan, Ph. D. These strategies are designed and deployed when different outcomes are required.
Here at Excellence Training LLC we do learning differently. This is not traditional class room training where the students are partially engaged. We use games and activities that involve the students. Students learn more by interacting with each other and the topic at hand. Check out our courses here.
Excellence Training LLC uses many strategies including…
- Action Learning involves a combination of action and reflection by a team solving complex, strategic problems in the participants real-world. Team members apply existing skills and knowledge and create new skills, knowledge, and insights through continuously reflecting on and questioning the problem definition, the collaborative behavior, and the ensuing results.
- The Case Method involves a written account of a real or fictional situation surrounding a problem. Participants work individually and in teams to analyze, discuss, and recommend appropriate solutions and to critique each others’ work. In some cases, the facilitator may recount the actual decisions implemented in the participant’s real-world situation on which the case was based.
- Closers are activities conducted near the end of a session. They are used for achieving such purposes as reviewing main points, tying up loose ends, planning application activities, providing feedback, celebrating successful conclusion, and exchanging information for future contacts.
- Coaching Activities involve an individual (the coach) supporting the learning or performance improvement of another (the coachee) through interactive questioning and support. The process usually includes the coach and the coachee establishing goals, the coach observing the coachee, offering relevant feedback, suggesting suitable activities, and helping the coachee’s professional and personal growth.
- Creativity Techniques provide a structure that enables participants to solve a problem or to utilize an opportunity in a creative fashion. These techniques are useful not only for learning new skills and knowledge but also for directly improving the performance of a team.
- Interactive Stories are fictional narratives that involve participants in a variety of activities. In one type of interactive story, the facilitator presents the story and discusses its significance in a debrief. In another type, the facilitator pauses at critical junctures in the middle of a story and invites listeners to play the role of a character and make appropriate decisions. In still another type, participants themselves create and share stories that illustrate key concepts, principles, or procedures.
- Jolts lull participants into behaving in a comfortable way and deliver a powerful wake-up call. They force participants to re-examine their assumptions and revise their standard procedures. Jolts typically last for a few minutes but provide enough insights for a lengthy debriefing.
- Openers (also known as icebreakers) are activities conducted near the beginning of a session. They are used for achieving such purposes as previewing main points, orienting participants, introducing participants to one another, forming teams, establishing ground rules, setting goals, reducing initial anxieties, and stimulating self-disclosure.
- Role Plays involve participants assuming and acting out characters, personalities, and attitudes other than their own. These activities may be tightly or loosely structured and may involve a participant assuming multiple roles or reversed roles.
- Structured Group Discussions use a self-contained instructional format designed for helping team members learn together. The activity is facilitated by a mediated system (such as an audio tape, a videotape, or a computer) that presents information, specifies a discussion topic, imposes time limits, and provides feedback in the form of model responses and checklists.
- Simulation Games help participants experience an event close to the real experience-without experiencing the real event itself.