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C. Candace ChouUniversity of St. Thomas

January 2011

Opportunities for Organizational Learning and Educational Training

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Kolk’s Experiential Learning Cycle

Do

ObserveThink

Plan

Kolb, David A. 1984. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

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Experiencing by taking in data with one’s senses

Sharing and/or reflecting about the experience in order to make sense of it,

Generalizing in order to develop abstraction and hypotheses from data generated by the experience

•Developing a new course of action as a result of the experience•Apply the new learning from the experience in real-world situations

Learning by Doing

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Six Learnings: A framework for curricula design & evaluation

Field trip

Team work

Role-play

presentation

Case study

Conversation starters

Lim (2009)

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Why Team-based Experiential Learning

• Development of relationship• Disequilibrium• Projection of inner self• Increased speed of decision making• Meta learning• Creation of a safe environment while

encouraging risk taking• Embodiment of learning

Heiphetz, A., & Woodill, G. (2010)

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Best Practices

• Loyalist College Border Simulation

• Michelin Group• IBM China HR new-hire

orientation• Ernst & Young auditor

training

Heiphetz, A., & Woodill, G. (2010

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Loyalist College Canadian Border Simulation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCUWcpVPtMM

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Practice Interview Skills

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28% Better Result

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Michelin Group Case Study

• A global tire manufacturer with factories in 170 countries

• Need to develop global standard processes and leverage best practices across the organization.

• The challenge was to train two hundred IS professionals in the US.

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Why

• The bad news is that all traditional training approaches failed. – Too many concepts– Not practical– Difficult to understand

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Second Life Came to the Rescue

• A virtual world-based program seems like a practical solution.

• Scenarios– A small team of people

attending a scheduled course under the supervision of an instructor

– A place for individual trainees to come back regularly for practice after attending the course

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Scenario-Based Learning

• Trainees went through a sequence of three workshops first.

• The final step is to create a road map for developing and installing the information systems applications.

• Trainees engaged in interactive exercises to meet their business targets while not exceeding budget constraints.

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User FeedbackI understand the EA methodology

(%)

Second Life appropriate to learn

about EA (%)Very true 60.7 59.5True 35.6 38.0Somewhat True

3.7 2.5

Not True 0 0

Cost: $100,000 in preparing the training environment in Second Life.

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Lesson Learned• Total immersion invoked an intense

gamelike passion: Trainees would not leave until they had completed all exercises.

• Second Life allowed Michelin’s training staff to pack a lot of interactive learning experiences within a very short amount of time, cutting training time.

• It is easy to create “reality” in a virtual world; hands-on workshop helped understand concepts and provided immediate feedback

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IBM Recruit & New Hire Orientation

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Why

• Provide immersive experience in IBM culture, history, and organization and promote team spirit by collaboration

• Developed by IBM China HR team

• 600 participants

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Learning Activities

• Blue Pathway Exhibition Hall: A 3D space for candidates to review IBM history, organization, values, career development, securities, and other information.

• Blue Pathway Summer Island: A team-based content co-creation project. The virtual teams planned, designed, and developed contents on separate parts of the island.

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Formats

• Synchronous meetings• Access self-paced

asynchronous learning materials any time

• Organized team-building, collaboration, and leadership-building activities that strengthened corresponding skills.

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Feedback

• High levels of satisfaction from post project interviews

• Tremendous cost saving compared to real-life events

• Significant measureable reduction in spending required to orient new hires

1. Simulation: Ernst & Young Cookie Factory for Auditors

•A global consulting and accounting company in more than 140 companies with more than $24B in revenue•Experimental training exercise for junior auditors

http://2b3d.net/eymovie.htm

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Ernst & Young

• The Challenge– New hires spent an average of 130

hours mostly in the classroom training during the first year

– Inventory observation (IO) is the essential skills

– Not all new accountants master the process when they are on the ground

• Why 3D– Develop various scenarios to help

new auditors through a 3D learning experience.

Graphic: http://www.brandon-hall.com/workplacelearningtoday/?p=4357

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Ernst & Young• Making the case– Conduct a pilot to address 2

questions1. Can participants learn as much

as they do in F2F classes2. Does completing a ILE

(immersive learning experience) more effectively prepare the participants than a traditional ILT (instructor-led training)?

Graphic: http://www.brandon-hall.com/workplacelearningtoday/?p=4357

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• The solution– Orientation– Content learning via videos,

information kiosks, and interactive games

– Tour the factory– Begin inventory observation

process– Conclude with final

compilation activity

http://www.outsourcing-journal.com/mar2009-acs.html?email011369

•The Results and Lesson Learned

• 3-D learning better prepared new auditors

• Cost-effective alternative to on-site training

• Capture the knowledge of retiring professionals

• Need proper orientation and computers for staff

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References

• Heiphetz, A., & Woodill, G. (2010). Training and collaboration with virtual worlds: How to create cost-saving, effecient, and engaging programs. New York: McGraw Hill.

• Lim, K. Y. T. (April 2009). The Six Learnings of Second Life: A framework for designing curricular interventions in-world [Electronic Version]. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 2. Retrieved April 17, 2009 from http://jvwresearch.org/.

• Zielke, M. A., Roome, T. C., & Krueger, A. B. (April 2009). A Composite Adult Learning Model for Virtual World Residents with Disabilities: A Case Study of the Virtual Ability Second Life® Island [Electronic Version]. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 2(1). Retrieved April 17, 2009 from http://jvwresearch.org/.