It wasn’t until I started working in my current role at UNC Charlotte that I started to develop an understanding of the importance of Continuing Education. With a constantly changing and growing workforce the demand for new technology, the latest skills, and certifications are vital.
Continuing Education departments whether they are apart of a University or inside a corporate entity typically offer courses and programs that professionals need to keep licenses up-to-date, teach the latest skills – technical or soft, and help advance the depth and breadth of one’s education. They also help employers by educating their current and incoming workforce with customized training programs specific to their business needs.
Wanting to grow in this area is why I chose the Training and Development concentration for my graduate studies in Instructional System Technology. By understanding and then developing training programs that work in corporate, higher education, government and military environments, I aim to create programs that not only produce results for organizations but entertain while advancing the learner.
While researching corporate training methods I ran across some great articles on incorporating just that – entertaining experiential learning strategies for workplace learning.
Experiential Learning
Take Aways:
- Experiential learning can happen in a classroom, at work, or on-the-job.
- It is necessary that the experience is not simply seen as a simulation, rather, the activity is it a relative facsimile to the learners every day.
- The Learning management software (LMS) needs to effectively manage and track experience-based learning events… however, working to change organizational culture is more important than an LMS platform.
- Keep in mind Malcolm Knowles’ four principles of andragogy
Experiential Learning includes:
- Role Playing
- Games
- Case Studies
- Simulations
- Problem Solving
- On the job Training
When NOT to use Experiential Learning:
As excellent as experiential learning is, it is not the ultimate solution to training for all positions. This is especially true of high-risk ones like surgeons, nuclear engineers, etc.
I was very fortunate to have a quick session with ISPI Charlotte back in November: The Most Effective and Responsible Training Techniques for High-Risk Professions, with Gary DePaul (Gary DePaul Leadership Consulting).
The session covered how high-risk professions differ and what frameworks can work for them. Gary’s book, The Most Effective and Responsible Clinical Training Techniques in Medicine was used as a reference and the topic was extremely interesting!
