Experiential Learning

Tel:01943-862209 Email G.T.A.

Learn Through Experience with

Goodwill Training Associates

Accelerated Learning, Experiential Learning, Learning and Laughter

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There is nothing so easy to learn as experience and nothing so hard to apply. - Josh Billings

Few people even scratch the surface, much less exhaust the contemplation of their own experience. - Randolph Bourne

What one has not experienced, one will never understand in print.
Isadora Duncan

Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you. - Aldous Huxley

Experiential Learning or Learning by Doing.

This approach to personal development was developed from the work of a number of theorists including Kolb, Hahn and Johnson and Johnson. Experiential learning is more powerful and has a more lasting effect than conventional approaches. It is centred on learning by doing, but linked to facilitated reflection, theoretical models and behavioural experimentation. All stages are equally important and valid, but the practical emphasis is the key to its appeal and effectiveness. All of our workshops contain experiential activities, some involving the use of outdoor activities, which are an extension of the experiential approach. Activities are not undertaken lightly, but designed to highlight particular lessons or processes. They are also enjoyable and memorable, which enhances the learning.

The concepts of accelerated learning can trace their roots to those of experiential learning. We embrace these and other ideas, using a variety of media and themes to further enhance our training.

To create an

A Positive Learning Environment. People learn best in a positive physical, emotional, and social environment, one that is both relaxed and stimulating. A sense of wholeness, safety, interest, and enjoyment is essential for optimizing human learning.

Total Learner Involvement. People learn best when they are totally and actively involved and take full responsibility for their own learning. Learning is not a spectator sport but a participatory one. Knowledge is not something a learner passively absorbs, but something a learner actively creates. Thus A.L. tends to be more activity-based rather than materials-based or presentations-based.

Collaboration Among Learners. People generally learn best in an environment of collaboration. All good learning tends to be social. Whereas traditional learning emphasizes competition between isolated individuals, A.L. emphasizes collaboration between learners in a learning community.

Variety That Appeals To All Learning Styles. People learn best when they have a rich variety of learning options that allows them to use all their senses and exercise their preferred learning style. Rather than thinking of a learning program as a one-dish meal, A.L. thinks of it as a results-driven, learner-centred smorgasbord.

Contextual Learning. People learn best in context. Facts and skills learned in isolation are hard to absorb and quick to evaporate. The best learning comes from doing the work itself in a continual process of "real-world" immersion, feedback, reflection, evaluation, and re-immersion.

Accelerated learning has really one aim, though: to get results.

Why those who laugh the loudest learn the fastest.

We have believed for years that happy delegates learn more, that people who are enjoying themselves are more open to new ideas and ways of working. Research now supports and explains this phenomenon.

Effective ways of learning use different pathways in the brain, so people can remember things if they associate them with words or symbols. Robert Winston, professor, medical academic, TV face of science and life peer explains that learning something new means rearranging the way the brain works. Learning is about creating and strengthening the neurons between brain cells; the first time a signal crosses from one brain cell to another is the hardest, but as the signal crosses time and again, a more solid pathway is established.

Winston also tells us that learning the same thing in different ways is another powerful aid to learning; as is state of mind. If people are content they will learn more, equally there is dramatic evidence that a tired brain learns more slowly. If deprived of sleep, you will find it hard to retain anything you've learnt. Laughter is also vital, because when we laugh we breathe harder, our heart beats faster and we get more oxygen to the brain. This stimulates the release of serotonin, leading to feelings of contentment.

This doesn't, of course, mean we should all wear clown suits, nor that some serious issues don't need to be addressed in training sessions, but it does suggest that a balance with room for delegates to enjoy themselves and laugh a little will almost certainly enhance training programmes. We try to do this in any case, but it is reassuring to have it condoned and explained!

OK - some Cooperisms:

	I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day, but I couldn't find any.
	The police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks. They charged one and let the other off.
	A patient told the doctor, "I've got a bad back." The doctor said, "It's old age." The patient said, "I want a second opinion." The doctor said, "OK, you're ugly as well."
	I'm on a whisky diet - I've lost three days already.

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