Master Class Series
Just because you run an activity doesn’t mean you are facilitating experiential learning.
Many trainers are familiar with experiential activities and debriefing techniques. Yet when the learning doesn’t emerge as expected, we often respond by asking more questions, explaining the learning ourselves, or concluding that participants simply aren’t open to reflection.
But what if the problem began long before the debrief?
Experiential learning is more than an activity followed by reflection. The quality of learning is shaped by how the experience is designed, what participants actually experience, what they become aware of, and how the facilitator reads and responds to what is unfolding in the room.
The Craft of Experiential Learning invites experienced trainers and facilitators to rethink some of the assumptions behind how we design and facilitate experiential learning — and explore what it really takes to create experiences from which meaningful learning can emerge.
The Craft of Experiential Learning goes beyond conducting activities and asking reflection questions. It explores the finer craft of intentionally designing experiences that create the conditions for insight — and skilfully reading, adjusting and facilitating those experiences as they unfold.
And because experiential learning cannot be learnt simply by talking about it, this three-day workshop is experiential by design. You will experience, examine, design and facilitate experiential learning, while having your existing assumptions and practices challenged along the way.
This is not a workshop for collecting more activities. It is an opportunity to develop the judgement, awareness and facilitation skills to understand why an experience works, what to do when it doesn’t, and how to adapt it to the people in front of you.
Distinguish different forms of experiential learning
Recognise the differences between interactive learning, learning content experientially and learning from experience — and how Skill-Based, Content-Based and Experience-Based approaches require different design and facilitation choices.
Design for experience, not just activity
Move beyond choosing or replicating activities. Learn to unpack the learning outcome into the experiences participants need to encounter, and intentionally design conditions that make those experiences more likely to emerge.
Create stronger experiences through Trigger Design
Explore how intentional triggers can increase the quality of an experience and create the conditions for those important AHA! moments that make participants naturally want to reflect.
Read the experience and adapt in real time
Develop your ability to notice what participants are actually experiencing — rather than simply following the activity as planned — and make purposeful adjustments when the intended experience is not emerging.
Connect experience to reflection
Learn to craft reflection questions that respond to what participants actually experienced while remaining connected to the learning intent — so that debriefing becomes less about pulling answers from participants or leading them towards a predetermined response.
Facilitate awareness, challenge and meaningful learning
Explore the finer skills of noticing, naming, flagging, framing, intervention and holding space — including how to work responsibly with the uncertainty, challenge and risk inherent in experiential learning.
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