Exploring Experiential Learning Activities:

Simulations, Role Play and Real World Interactions

Ken Monroe · Fränzi Ng · Kelly WarnockInstructional Designers @ TRU’s Open Learning

Presentation Outline:

• An experience of experiential learning

• The experiential learning formula

• Examples:• Simulations and experiments

• Role playing

• Real-world interactions

• Application in your classroom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA&index=5&list=PLBFF0B6080DA9E343

Reflect with Your Partner

1. What surprised you about this experiment?

2.

• What questions do you have now?

• What experiment(s) would you like to conduct next?

“Scientists have found that only… 20% of the fibers going to the brain’s primary visual cortex come from the retina; 80% come downward from regions of the brain governing functions like memory.

Richard Gregory, a prominent British neuropsychologist, estimates that visual perception is more than 90% memory and less than 10% sensory nerve signals.”Gawande (2008), Gregory (1998, p.5)

The History of Experiential Learning

• John Dewey

• Jean Piaget

• Carl Rogers

• David A. Kolb

Experiential Learning is related to but not synonymous with:

• Experiential education• Action learning• Adventure learning• Cooperative learning• Service learning• Free choice learning• Constructivism• Outdoor education• Problem-based learning• Interdisciplinary learning

2 Categories of Experiential Learning

Field-Based Experiences Classroom-Based Experiences

Definitions of Experiential Learning

“Intentional and reflective learning from experience.” U of Waterloo

“The strategic, active engagement of students in opportunities to learn through doing, and reflection on those activities, which empowers them to apply their theoretical knowledge to practical endeavors in a multitude of settings inside and outside of the classroom.” SFU

“Learning through reflection on doing.” Wikipedia, retrieved 14 Jan 15

vs. rote or didactic learning (e.g. lecture)

E + R = L“Experience plus reflection equals learning.”

John Dewey

How Do Students Experience Learning through …

• Simulations • Role Play • Real World

Interactions

By Jeff Sheldon via Unsplash.com (CCO 1.0)

Simulation

The imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/USMC-07117.jpg/800px-USMC-07117.jpg

Simulation: EverestOverview• Course: BUSN 6041:

Leadership & Organizational Development

• Assignment: 10%

• Length: 4-5 days to complete (6 day climb)

• Assessment: debriefing discussion

• Resource: Harvard Business Publishing ($13)

Everest Simulation

• Strategy: How well each team member shares information and makes sound decisions determines whether the climbers make it to the next camp and survive the climb.

• Goal: Reach the mountain’s summit.

• Challenges: Each hiker is faced with health-, weather-, and resource-related challenges.

Reaching the Summit: Management Techniques on the World's Highest Mountainhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFOqM1B6nuE

Highlights

http://harvardbusiness.org/sites/default/files/17901_CL_Everest_Sim_Sheet_Feb2013.pdf

Learning ObjectivesStudents will be able to:

• build, participate in, and lead effective teams

• solve problems and make decisions more effectively (in difficult situations when members have different information and opposing interests)

• explore how leadership approaches affect team performance in situations characterized by time, pressure, and competition

• recognize the relationship between authority, power, leadership, and group dynamics.

BUSN 6041 Feedback• Small class sizes (4 students)

• Students enjoyed the simulation

• Students went through the simulation 2-3 times. (Most did worse the second time, since they over-analyzed the scenarios and decisions.)

From Student:

• “I just want to say that the Everest simulation was a great assignment that was really interesting and enjoyable. Thank you for that.”

Simulation: My Virtual Child

Overview

• Course: SOCW 3551

Human Development

• Simulations: • MyVirtualChild, MyVirtualTeen, MyVirtualLife

• Key goals: • foster critical thinking; apply key concepts, experience

developmental principles in action.

• Resource: Pearson MyPsychLab. • Available for Developmental Psychology and Lifespan

Development courses.

Tutorial Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUY-XuC32SU

Scenarios / Issues

• Breastfeeding

• Discipline

• Socializing

• Aggression

• New babies

• Attachment

• Developmental tasks

SOCW 3551 Instructor Feedback“A couple of students did use it and told me that they thought it was interesting and stimulating in terms of their thinking about development… I'm hesitant to make the MyDevelopment Lab and My Virtual Life simulations required when there's so much reading to be done each week, but I think they're really helpful for OL students who don't have the opportunity for class discussions in the same way. I've really tried to focus on critical thinking and evaluation in the course, and I do think that the videos and simulations help with that, particularly with students who may struggle with the reading and whose learning style is more experiential.”

Psychology Experiments

http://www.infomart.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/5senses.jpg

Hands-on Assignments

“The submissions that I have seen so far...have been excellent - the students have been doing a good job meeting or exceeding expectations on activities like modelling the brain, neurons, sensation and perception activities.

PSYC 1111 Instructor Feedback

CC-License by Markus Spiske / www.temporausch.com

Role Playing

Talking in someone else’s shoes.

creative commons licensed (BY) flickr photo by Ran Yaniv Hartstein: http://flickr.com/photos/ranh/270486786

The Valkyries march to war with their god Odin

What is a Role Play

A role play requires at a minimum two people who are each assigned a persona within a defined scenario. “Talking in someone else’s shoes.”

In our educational environment, the learning objective will require the participants to apply the skills they have learned.

Some popular role play scenarios are:

• Customer Service training - Dealing with a difficult client• Leadership training - Providing feedback to an employee• Negotiation modelling – different stakeholders negotiate a solution to

a problem or issue.

HLTH 3101 : Client- Directed Care Management is intended for professionals working in the health care system and/or upper-level students in the health degree programs who wish to develop their knowledge and skill in a client directed approach to care management.

The course deals with theory of care management within a client-directed service philosophy and provides a framework to apply this theory to client care situations.

This is an on-line co-hort based course. Over the past two/three years, sections are consistently at capacity with 25 students per session.

HLTH 3101 – Client Directed Care Management

Stages of Role Play

Planning

Assigning

PreparingCompleting

Assessing

Planning

The role play is designed to allow participants to practice the Ethical Decision Making process. This process is discussed in the learning material of the module. The role play is therefore the practical application of that process.

In designing the role play, the developer chose a common situation from the field. One that students, as practitioners have likely come across, or one that they would likely come across in the future.

The experience emulates the give and take negotiation that occurs in a Client directed care management team.

Client – 75 years old. Emphysema and Arthritis. Veteran. Wants a scooter to help get around better.

Client’s relative – visits regularly. Helps with groceries. Worried about the scooter idea as they’ve seen deterioration in health. But wants him/her to get out more.

Care Manager - responsible for managing this Client directed process and implementing the Ethical Decision Making process

Community Occupational Therapist – must provide independent recommendation of ability to function

Veterans Affairs representative – must approve or reject application for funding of scooter.

Assigning

Roles are gender neutral in order to be distributed out randomly to all students.

Preparing

• Groups of 5. Each group has a unique and private discussion forum area in BB Learn

• Each person assigned a role. Care is taken not to assign someone a role in which they have professional experience. E.g. an O.T. would not be assigned the Community O.T. role

• Faculty checks in with all groups to ensure understanding. Reinforces the message that all further communication is made “in role” until the end of the assignment

• Role Player’s are encouraged to research and contact real people if they are unfamiliar with the role.

• The duration of the role play is 14 days, due to the nature of the course.

Completing

Faculty member needs to check in with groups regularly and monitor the discussion.

There have been situations where the faculty has had to remind groups about the Ethical Decision Making process is being followed, asked people to review assumptions and ensured that the Client Directed nature of the team.

AssessingEach group shares their top 4 top resolutions in a Discussion Forum that is common to the whole class. This is the first time that groups will see what different groups have done.

This Discussion Forum component contributes 5% of the course grade. Assessment is based on a rubric which defines criteria about quality of decisions, following the Ethical Decision Making process, timeliness of responses. There is not an assessment of the resolutions.

Each individual is required to write a reflection of the activity including what went well, what caused conflict, any insights they gained about the different “team member” roles.

The Reflective Journal accounts for 15% of the final grade. The journal entry on the Role Play is a part of this 15%.

OutcomesStudents• The experience varies based on the effort put in. • According to the faculty member, a large majority of students like the

exercise and comment on how it has opened up their thinking process. • Many in the reflection journal comment that they believe the assignment will

have a positive influence on future actions.

InstructorThe exercise satisfies the desire to have an authentic learning experience given the vast practical experience of the students. Highlights the following course learning objectives:• Application of Client directed approach to care management• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving• Team work

Educational Advantages of Role Playing• It encourages individuals, while in role, to reflect upon their knowledge of a

subject.

• Individuals are required to use appropriate concepts and arguments as defined by their role.

• Participation helps embed concepts.

• It gives life and immediacy to academic material that can be largely descriptive and/or theoretical.

• It can encourage students to empathize with the position and feelings of others

Jarvis, L., Odell, K., & Troiano, M., (2002). Role Playing as Teaching Strategy. Available at http://imet.csus.edu/imet3/odell/portfolio/grartifacts/Lit%20review.pdf

Project EnROLE: http://www.uow.edu.au/cedir/enrole/rp_repository.html

Some Resources

What in my curriculum is more effectively taught

with experiential learning?

E + R = L“Experience plus reflection equals learning.”

John Dewey

Experiential Learning Model

1. Concrete Experience

2. Reflective Observation

3. Abstract Conceptualization

4. Active Experimentation

Kolb, 1984

The Essence of Experiential Learning

• Reflect on the experience using analytical skills

• Student-focused, student-generated

• The student is directly involved with the experience

• Learning is perceived as authentic

• Low judgment, mistakes are ok

• Primarily learning from the process (not content)

York University

In courses with experiential learning:

+ Higher student engagement

+ Better outcomes

- More time & work for students and instructors

- Lack of clarity on the goals & standards (messy)

Rhonda Lenton, Robindra Sidhu, Sidak Kaur, Mark Conrad, Brian Kennedy, Yvette Munro, Richard Smith

Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, 2014

What in my curriculum is more effectively taught

with experiential learning?