Over the past year we have been publishing extracts from The New Learning Architect. We continue with the seventh part of chapter 11:
You don’t have to make a conscious decision to support experiential learning, as it will happen naturally as a matter of course. Having said that, there is much you can do encourage this form of learning through targeted interventions.
Experiential learning will flourish when:
- essential skills and knowledge have already been acquired through other formal and non-formal approaches;
- practical experience is critical to the process of refining and consolidating skills and knowledge;
- employees are motivated to take on greater responsibility or broaden their experience;
- the organisation is committed to a culture of continuous improvement and not of blame.
Top-down approaches such as benchmarking, job rotation, job enrichment, project reviews, performance appraisals, action learning, continuous improvement will all serve to promote and encourage experiential learning. Bottom-up activities, such as personal reflection, reflecting with others, blogging and learning from out-of-work activities, will all flourish in any culture that genuinely supports learning and development.
Coming next: Step 7: Implement and evaluate
Return to Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
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