Benefits of Experiential Education

  • Its fun.
  • The lessons stick better.
  • It gets at issues in a safe way.
  • Gets people thinking.
  • Did we mention fun?

 4 Types of Workshops

  • Teambuilding- Starting a new team.
  • Team Discovery- Analyze an existing team.
  • Team Redevelopment- Helping a problematic team.
  • Skill Development- Develop specific character, community, and leadership skills as a group without the focus of building a team.

Tools for building Character, Community, and Leadership

  • Portable Initiatives
  • Low Ropes Course
  • Rock Climbing
  • High Ropes Elements
  • Alpine Tower
  • Cooking Workshops
WHAT WE DO...
What is Experiential Education
Experiential Education is a method of teaching where experiences are used as the lesson plans or teaching tools.  A facilitator sets up an activity and sees that the group does it safely.  The facilitator then guides a time of reflection on what has occurred in an attempt to capitalize on any teachable moments.

Why it works...
Peter Senge talks about learning and change for organizations in his book The Fifth Discipline.  In it, he says that humans learn based on consequences.  This is the law of cause and effect.  The difficulty is that often our consequences do not immediately follow our actions. In the meantime, there are often many other things that take place that could be interpreted as causes for the results received. 

Experiential education is a valuable tool for more than its memorable nature.  It gives direct feedback as to whether or not actions or reactions are leading to the desired outcome.  In essence, a group must go through several challenges or initiatives as a team.  Following each activity is a discussion of what happened.  

The purposes of these activities are three-fold.  First, they are designed so that they seem unlike the real world.  In this way, they allow participants to demonstrate basic habits of interaction without a lot of habitual personal fronts or masks.  Second, they allow the group to analyze behavior in a safe environment.  Third, they present an opportunity to safely experiment with other behaviors and have instant feedback on their success. 
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Last Revised: Wednesday, March 26, 2008