EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Definition Stages Events People learn naturally and in context by engaging the whole person's mind, body, and soul. Experiential learning takes advantage of this opportunity by being learner-centered, innovative, social, and noncompetitive. It uses a variety of learning styles, human senses, and multiple intelligences. Experiential Learning is more than mere "learning by doing." However, this common definition is more applicable to experience-based learning where one "does learning." Experience-based becomes experiential with the addition of reflection on the action. Experiential learning incorporates elements of reflection, integration, and continuation with action. ACTION (a challenging experience): The virtual team is given a task to complete or a problem to solve that requires teamwork. REFLECTION: They "look back on" their past experiences, extract the present lessons, and ready to transfer this as future learning. INTEGRATION: Team members transfer learning from their experience to change in the workplace. Change is not necessarily always behavioral (may be feeling or thinking). CONTINUATION: The organization provides the ongoing support resources to sustain or maintain learning and change at work. In virtual teaming, the role of the electronic facilitator is to enable or guide this cyclic process by presenting the challenging action, and then by asking carefully crafted questions that encourage lesson reflection, learning integration, and continued change. By utilizing tasks or problems that are very different from work, the electronic facilitator can encourage people to leave old habits of work behind and begin to experiment with new behaviors. Active events engage the participant by being meaningful, relevant, hands-on, concrete, novel, fun, and exciting. With carefully crafted questions, the electronic facilitator can convince virtual team members to see the metaphoric similarities between the active tasks or problems and their daily jobs. These analogous links enhance transfer of learning and lead to more permanent and sustained change back at the office. Our research has suggested six stages of evolution in the life of a typical virtual team: Orientation Confrontation Transformation Collaboration Fortification Culmination We believe that most virtual teams evolve through these six stages. Some may skip a stage, and others might repeat a stage, but this order appears to be the general progression that most virtual teams follow. A number of indicators identify the stage that has been achieved by each virtual team. 1) ORIENTATION is a chance for team members to meet and greet each other in a way that they become comfortable, familiar, and uninhibited. In this stage, they know names, personalities, and other attributes. 2) CONFRONTATION is the stage when interpersonal conflicts initiate, team members begin to take risks and trust one another, people start to give and take feedback, but they first learn from their mistakes. 3) TRANSFORMATION is where interpersonal conflicts get resolved, ground rules become accepted, and operating principles are created. At this time, people demonstrate their early breakthroughs in teamwork. 4) COLLABORATION shows further virtual teamwork breakthroughs as members perform together with efficiency and effectiveness. They also establish their criteria for evaluating the efficacy of their virtual team. 5) FORTIFICATION involves them in strengthening their existing productivity, sustaining their competence, maintaining their harmony, and supporting changes that they have pledged to make in the future. 6) CULMINATION ends the sequence with celebratory reflections on past accomplishments, termination of common tasks, dissolution of personal roles, and a restructuring of team relationships as necessary. The learning events and activities used in our unique brand of experiential learning come in six types: SOCIALIZATION games and icebreakers, TRUST and COMMUNICATION exercises, TOOLS of teamwork activities, TESTS of teamwork activities, teamwork SIMULATIONS, and CLOSURE with action planning. 1) SOCIALIZATION games and icebreakers introduce people, allow them to get to know one another, and lay the foundation for further development as a team. 2) TRUST and COMMUNICATION exercises build on these foundations of teamwork through appropriately supported risk taking, giving and receiving feedback, and learning from mistakes. 3) TOOLS of teamwork activities concentrate on the individual elements of teamwork (beyond trust and communication) such as cooperation, planning, decision making, conflict resolution, etc. 4) TESTS of teamwork activities verify the synergy of those combined teamwork elements in more difficult problem solving scenarios. 5) Teamwork SIMULATIONS present complex and challenging tasks that are work-related and solely presented in Multi-User Gaming domains (MUGs). Simulations are only intended for use as follow up with high performing and functional virtual teams. 6) CLOSURE with action planning comes at the end of a program and should be part of the celebration. Their purpose is to highlight learning and cement commitment to bring future change. Electronic facilitators, who offer virtual teaming programs, should match these program events and learning experiences to the evolutionary stages. We design our programs and learning events to coincide with each virtual team's stage of evolution. Click here to see a comparison chart that matches the sequence of internet learning experiences (and the introduction of new technology skills) to the relationship indicators for each of the six stages of virtual team evolution. Copyright © 1997-2005, virtualTEAMWORKS.com, All rights reserved, info@virtualteamworks.com