What is experiential teaching?

Answer 1

Experiential Training and Development (ETD) is an approach to individual, group, and organizational learning that engages people, using action, reflection, application, and performance support. ETD combines the methods of experiential learning, adult learning and organization development. Definition From the Experiential Training and Development Alliance ====== A. ETD is a set of human and organizational services rooted in the provider's knowledge of the client system, and aimed towards the healthy and profitable evolution of people and organizations. B. Learning involves an integration and/or change in the thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and behavior on the part of individuals, groups, and/or organizational cultures. C. Learning is a product of experience. Experience-based learning (action alone) becomes experiential when the elements of reflection (reflection optimizes learning), transfer (transfer applies learning), and support (support maintains transfer) are present. D. The capacity to learn as an adult is more effective when the whole person is engaged - the thinking, feeling, and behavioral domains. For example, information that is synthesized with emotions, values, and actions produces learning that is more lasting than mere memorization of facts. E. Training involves transferring specific "task-oriented" learning between similar settings. For example, a project-management spreadsheet or employee appraisal system, newly learned through a classroom, can then be applied in the job. F. Development involves transferring general "process-oriented" learning between very different settings. For example, collaborative problem solving or conflict resolution approaches, learned in a team building session, can then be applied back in the office. G. ETD providers and businesses grow and develop by continually striving to offer high value to the clients and marketplace as they evolve. This requires an adequate focus on client organizations' business outcomes (e.g. effectiveness, efficiencies, quality, cost) as well as individual participants' needs, and ETD models and methodologies. = = = C. Service Areas = ETD practitioners serve client organizations in any one or a combination of three areas: Relationship Development -- services which enhance interactions and motivate individuals through short-term events. Examples include energizing, incentive/reward, networking and celebration events. These events are purposeful and incorporate elements of reflection, transfer and support, as distinct from entertainment and recreation events, which do not. Performance Enhancement -- training in skills and competencies that results in improvement of personal, team and organizational effectiveness. Examples include communication skills, executive coaching, performance management and conflict resolution. Consultation/Intervention -- services addressing the interaction between behavior (individual.leadership, and team) and business setting elements (e.g. reporting line structures, communication and decision-making processes, incentive / compensation systems). Activities may include analyzing misalignments among these pieces, advisement on possible growth / change initiatives, and coaching. From the DEEP document

Answer 2

Experiential teaching is a model which promotes learning by doing. By being hands on in the learning process, people learn and retain more information and are able to transfer the skills learned during the process to other areas of their life. Talking and verbal processing is in the periphery of the experience, as opposed to learning by lecturing. Failure is also part of the learning process. During experiential learning, people are not necessarily taught how to do something but how to find out the answer to problem they are looking for through trial and error.