Open to outcome: A practical guide to Teaching and Learning Experiential Reflection

Open to outcome: A Practical Guide for Facilitating and Teaching Experiential Reflection by Micah Jacobson and Mari Ruddy.

“Participants will discover the learning that is true for them, not predetermined outcomes decided for them by the facilitator.”

Open to Outcome presents a learning cycle model built around five questions designed to take experience in a group setting and connect and apply experiential learning to real life. The 5 Question Model easily applies to groups of varying ages and skill levels and can be used to encourage leadership and mentoring roles among peers.

The authors use their field-tested technique to generate group discussion that increases individual member participation, learning, and internal reflection. They round out the book with essential how to’s as well as some innovative and creative ideas to spice up the process.

A wonderful book for teachers, group facilitators, coaches, and others who work in an experiential or educational setting, Open to Outcome presents tools to heighten the learning experience.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One: What Is Learning?
Chapter Two: Creating Space & the Facilitor Mind-Set
Chapter Three: The 5 Questions
Chapter Four: Keep the Conversation Moving
Chapter Five: Make It Experiential!
References

Excerpt
Framing the Experience
The philosophy of The 5 Questions model is one of being “open to outcome,” which is to be open to the learning that can emerge from the individuals and the group. This does not preclude having learning objectives.

In every learning situation, a good facilitator will always be thinking about the objectives of the experience. You might even have possible learning scenarios in mind. For example, when teaching a lesson on the Civil War, you may want students to learn about specific economic factors that provided the subtext for the conflict around slavery. In a work group low ropes course, a facilitator may hope that colleagues face some of their conflicting behaviors and maybe even come to see that they can successfully overcome them. You are not at cross purposes with being open to outcome if you come into the learning environment with objectives that center around your hopes for the experience at hand. These objectives help the participants frame their experience.

How do you successfully frame an experience and remain open?

Your objectives should focus on the process rather than the content. This means concerning yourself with how the group learns and the quality of the learning environment. It does not mean deciding exactly what the group will learn. In fact, it means most likely not knowing what the group will learn but remaining open to what that learning could be.

How then can your objectives best be achieved?

Focus on keeping objectives behavioral and cognitive in scope rather than content-directed. For example, if you are doing a workshop on diversity, rather than orient yourself toward a particular leaning, i.e., “We are a judgmental species and participants must change their own internal stereotypes,” focus instead on the quality of the experience, i.e., “Participants will have the opportunity to look closely at their own biases and engage in an honest dialogue about them.”

Reviews

"If this book were a movie, it would get four stars and two thumbs up from me. Not only do the authors fulfill their promise, providing facilitators and teachers with an 'effective method for … debriefing with groups' using the 5 Questions, they also provide loads of useful tools to make facilitation even more effective." Chris Cavert, Teacher, Facilitator, Trainer, Author

"Open to Outcome and The 5 Questions model are valuable and effective tools for a facilitator's diverse bag of tricks. The emphasis on 'coaching' rather than 'teaching' truly fits with the philosophy of experiential education and the idea of giving learner's control over their learning experience." Jennifer Stanchfield, MS, Experiential Educator, High 5 Adventure Learning Center

"The 5 Questions model provides a concrete structure within which one can explore any experience. I have used it with students, peers, family, and friends, in a corporate environment, and as a method to self process my personal experiences. I find The 5 Questions to be an incredibly valuable component of my teaching and learning." Jolene Kemos, Teacher, Executive Search Consultant, Santa Cruz, CA

“The 5 Questions just work! I couldn’t believe how my group actually got the point when I just asked the questions!” –Andy, Senior, Vintage High School

“Mari and Micah know adolescence. I have watched them work, and their skill and intuition is obvious. They have not only crafted a successful facilitation technique, they have applied it to an age group that is so often isolated. Open to Outcome provides teachers, coaches, and group leaders the insights and the questions to transform learning for youth. It demands the full participation and integrity of the participant learners, a vital element if the input is to be lasting and transformative.” –Dr. Terry Kneisler, Superintendent, Reynolds School District, Fairview, OR

“Ruddy and Jacobsen live the principles at the heart of experiential learning and articulate them in a way that can be applied with versatility in any group context. Open to Outcome is an easily understood and accessed touchstone to help facilitators stay on point, stay in close relationship with their group, and remain open to learning themselves. I will be recommending this book.” –Kylea Taylor, M.S., M.F.T., author of The Ethics of Caring

“The Open to Outcome in-service session was energizing, humorous, and thought-provoking. Teachers appreciated the researched-based approach to engaging students in dialogue instead of allowing them to be passive observers. The 5 Questions model is a simple, easy-to-use process for every classroom situation.” Jim Bennet, Principal, Lemoore High School, CA

“I use The 5 Questions model almost every day in my classroom. Amazingly, I now have begun to observe students using it on themselves! This process has truly transformed my teaching.” –Erin Noyes, Health Teacher, Olympia High School, WA

“The 5 Questions are important to examine after any situation because life is learning as you go along. It is important to stop and ask yourself what you learned from a particular experience. You learn by applying past lessons/experiences to current and future situations.” –Eileen Cronin, Graduate, St. Mary’s College

More Information
Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: Wood N Barnes (October 30, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1885473592