26th October 2023 our Founder Graham Cook will be hosting a session at DevLearn in Las Vegas. The session is number 611 and has the title "
Using an Experiential Learning Design Model to Drive Behavioural Change".
But what can you expect from it?
Training designers and facilitators are in search of more innovative methods to engage their learners. One such method that has garnered attention is gamification. While gamification can indeed serve as a stimulating tool, it's vital to understand the bigger picture – the concept of experiential learning.
Why relying solely on Gamification isn't enough
When tasked with creating training sessions with objectives such as "leaders must understand the behaviors for high-performing teams", it's easy to assume that incorporating game elements will suffice. This often leads to cognitive learning elements being integrated into the program, which predominantly focuses on theory, research, and models.
However, organizations' true objectives often lie beyond mere understanding; they aim for tangible changes in behavior and performance. Such transformations mandate affective learning elements. It's imperative to shift the paradigm from merely insisting on behavioral learning objectives to fostering experiential learning activities. These activities prioritize affective learning, which is more attuned to driving genuine behavioral changes.
Dive into Experiential Learning with us
In our session, we'll unfold the vast world of experiential learning, a culmination of three decades of insights gathered from designing various workplace training programs, organizational change initiatives, and experiential games for global organizations.
We’ll discuss how this relates to serious games and gamification and why these terms do not fully describe the wider and more useful term, “experiential learning.” We will also explore the experiential learning design process steps used to create an award-winning puzzle called Challenging Assumptions and consider several alternatives for how this might be used and the variety of learning outcomes that the same game can support. We’ll look at using the simple
Kolb Cycle Model when trying to maximize learning transfer from games in learning programs.
Finally, we will review how this experiential learning approach can be scaled up to an organisational level, helping to improve the success of organizational change programs and ensuring consistency of experiences in workshops and interventions.
Key takeaways:
- A learning design approach that can put experiential learning at the heart of workplace behavioral change
- How to understand ‘experiential learning’ in relation to serious games and gamification in workplace learning
- How to help groups generate their own learning content while keeping your learning programs engaging and effective
- Why behavioral objectives are necessary for almost every workplace learning design project
- What makes a good learning game and how it can be applied in several different ways to achieve different learning outcomes
- How you can build your skills as a learning designer/trainer/facilitator by using principles of experiential learning in the design and facilitation of workplace learning interventions
Tools discussed
Graham will cover physical (in-person) games and activities developed by our friends at
RSVP Design as well as the
digital/online/virtual games and activities we deliver through Experiential Learning Tools. The session will also cover the use of video conferencing platforms (like Zoom, MS Teams, Google Meet) and how these are used in conjunction with our activities.
See you in Vegas?
Join us in this enlightening session as we journey through the realms of experiential learning, uncovering the keys to unlock effective workplace training and behavioral transformation.
If you plan to be there drop us a message on Twitter/X.com at
@experientialLT. If you can't make it to Vegas and would like to learn more book a
demo of Experiential Learning Tools at a time that suits you on our Calendly page.
Experiential Learning Tools is a suite of tools that empowers trainers to deliver meaningful remote training sessions. You can get instant access to award winning activities like Colourblind and Simbols. Join the platform today.
