Lesson 3: Learning through a concrete experience
Recommended size of the group: Split into groups of four
Aims of lesson: Effective learning is when a person progresses through the four-stage cycle of having a concrete experience followed by observation, having a reflection on that experience which leads to the formation of abstract concepts (analysis) and generalizations (conclusions), which are then used as a hypothesis test in future situations, resulting in new experiences and a new and developmental phase of the experiential cycle.
Experiences and activities provide powerful learning opportunities for many individuals whose preferred learning style is learning from concrete experience and from active experimentation.
Objectives / learning outcomes of the lesson: We learn based on experience. With this role play exercise, the participants will be able to recognize their feelings, understand the meaning of culture differences and finally accept diversity. They are going to have a concrete experience, as they will encounter themselves actively in the situation via role playing.
This is an active experimentation through which learners will apply the idea onto a new experience and then through a domino effect and spiral learning to new concrete experiences thus creating a self-sustained cycle.
Apart from that, analysis and reflection on the experience will follow and thus, reflective observation will occur. Therefore, new ideas may rise, or existing ones may be modified. That will happen due to abstract conceptualization.
Resources: Printout of the case and the theory. Pen and a notebook. Space to work as a group.
Teaching method to be used in the lesson: In this lesson we are going to follow Kolb’s learning cycle and implement a role play activity within this framework.
Content
You are a new Human Resource manager in a company. Your name is John Crisp. Your study refers to Finance and you speak English, German, French and Portuguese. You were born and raised, lived and worked in Canada.
You need to hire 3 new employees for your department. You received CVs. You select three of those CVs and you call these people to have an interview.
The three candidates have the same level of education, same years of experience. All of them speak two languages, but not the same ones. The first one speaks English and French, the second speaks English and German and the third speaks English and Italian.
The first candidate is from Greece and is single. The second one is from Japan married with three children and the third one is from France divorced with two children.
Finally, you hire these men and it is time for them to work together in a project.
Your project is to re-organize your department since the company is thinking of outsourcing the HR department.
After the completion of the project, you and the new colleagues will take the responsibility of other departments. You have a short deadline and you need to work extra hours after the regular timetable.
Questions:
Do you believe that these four men can have a good working relationship?
Take each role of these men. Have a meeting to discuss about ideas. Behave with your cultural characteristics.
Evaluation
After the first meeting discuss with your instructor about this learning experience. How did you feel? Did you have good or bad feelings? What difficulties did you face? If you would do it again, what would you change? Are there any other suggestions for improvement that you would like to share? What did you learn from this role play?
If you would like, you can keep notes on a notebook.