What specifically does an experiential instructor do to make the principle of relevance, conviviality, emergence, and social skills come true in the class? The specific practices that we use to facilitate learning involve an orchestrated interaction of three elements:

The learners, the target knowledge—what you want the students to learn (for example, in a Microsoft Word workshop we want all learners to know how to use the application correctly; in a Spanish class, they should acquire knowledge about the language, grammar, conversation and writing skills) and the resources available to teach (this is the time to prepare the instruction, the instructor’s knowledge of the subject matter, available books and other materials, all the knowledge that the learners already know, the class equipment, the available technology for the course, etc.).

The three key practices defined in the model are the following:

  • From the intersection of target knowledge and resources in the diagram, the practice of selecting content (turned into hands-on learning activities through the design of instruction)
  • From the intersection of learners and resources, the practice of setting the climate (hosting and convening the learning session, building the learning space)
  • From the intersection of target knowledge and learners, the practice of facilitating learning conversations (making learning collaborative and subordinate to analysis and inquiry through critical thinking and dialogue)

The experiential instructor—as a learning facilitator—makes the principles of relevance, conviviality, emergence, and social skills in the class through the practice of the following:

  1. Selecting the learning content (turned into learning activities in the preparation phase)
  2. Setting the learning climate
  3. Facilitating learning conversations In the practice of my leadership innovation workshop, I know that there is a learnable art and craft in doing this work. It might be worthwhile for you to ask yourself a learning environment like this can deliver for you…