Opportunities for Organizational
Learning and Educational Training
C. Candace Chou
University of St. Thomas
January 2011
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Kolk’s Experiential Learning Cycle
Plan
Do
Observe
Think
Kolb, David A. 1984. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of
Learning and Development. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 2
Learning by Doing
•Developing a new course
of action as a result of the
experience
•Apply the new learning
from the experience in
real-world situations
Generalizing in order to
develop abstraction and
hypotheses from data
generated by the
experience
Experiencing by taking in
data with one’s senses
Sharing and/or
reflecting about the
experience in order to
make sense of it,
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Six Learnings: A framework for curricula design & evaluation
Field trip
Exploring
Conversation
starters
Team work
Expressing
Collaborating
Championing
Being
Case study
Role-play
Building
Lim (2009)
presentation
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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
10
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 Feedback
Very true
True
Somewhat
True
Not True
I understand the
EA methodology
(%)
60.7
35.6
3.7
Second Life
appropriate to learn
about EA (%)
59.5
38.0
2.5
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 leadershipbuilding 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
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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
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
questions
1. Can participants learn as
much as they do in F2F classes
2. 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
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•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
http://www.outsourcing-journal.com/mar2009-acs.html?email011369
References
• Heiphetz, A., & Woodill, G. (2010). Training and
collaboration with virtual worlds: How to create costsaving, 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/.
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