Discovery-based learning: what is it and why does it matter?
Play is an essential element of learning. Call it gamification, group engagement, experiential interaction – at its base, play is a deeply human, social baseline. Consider the basic structure of a Montessori school, where the basis of learning is through continual peer-to-peer interaction on varying subjects led by a facilitator (teacher/instructor) who can read the room and clearly guide and enable the methods and forms of communication. The efficacy of the discovery-based learning does not dissipate and then fully dissolve once a person reaches adulthood. There is an implicit value attached to a facilitator-led experience, particularly in the workplace, and it is feasible to achieve the level of engagement and learning objectives critical to improve performance even with the seemingly obtrusive obstacle of a computer screen.
Even before the life altering phenomenon of COVID-19, many businesses and organisations were relying on virtual learning to bring together employees from both national and international audiences. Truly it is remarkable that a virtual face-to-face gathering is feasible across oceans and timezones, and while enabling this level of connection through the virtual realm naturally has its challenges, it takes the work of a willing and eager audience in tandem with the skills of an apt facilitator.
Discovery-based learning: what is it and why does it matter to your organization?
Alot of the psychological research surrounding discovery-based learning focuses on students, and there is research suggesting that younger learners may have both negative and positive responses to discovery-based learning. In shifting the focus to adults exploring a different learning platform in a corporate setting, it becomes more evident that this learning style is greatly beneficial. There are a myriad of ways to understand what discovery-based learning actually is, and multiple published peer-reviewed journal articles offer an array of definitions. However, “common to all of the literature […] is that the target information must be discovered by the learner within the confines of the task and its material” (Alfieri, Brooks, Aldrich, & Tenenbaum, 2011). In the scenario of a group meeting for a corporation, this works on several levels. The individual involved in the task on hand has the potential to unearth and exhibit their personal skillset that benefits the overall organisation. While engaging with one another, colleagues have the ability to collaborate with a particular, shared focus, which inspires confidence and trust that in showcasing personal strengths, it can contribute to the overall vigor of the company or organisation.
There is a distinction, however, between discovery-based learning and discovery-based learning with the advantage of a facilitator. Richard Mayer conducts research spanning studies from the 1960s to the 1980s on the nature and benefit of this style of learning, as well as the healthy skepticism that may be geared towards this style. Looking specifically to the idea of constructivism in learning, both cognitively and and socially, he lands on the strong hypothesis that discovery-based learning with little-to-no guidance is not quite productive. Rather, he states that “the constructivist view of learning may be best supported by methods of instruction that enable deep understanding of targeted concepts, principles, and strategies — even when such methods require guidance and structure […] there is increasing evidence that effective methods for promoting constructivist learning involve cognitive activity rather than behavioral activity, instructional guidance rather than pure discovery, and curricular focus rather than unstructured exploration” (Mayer, 2004). Without being too bogged down in the language of psychological science, it is important to acknowledge and highlight that “instructional guidance” and “curricular focus” are distinguishing characteristics of an effective and rewarding discovery-based learning experience and can be assets to your webinars, company meetings and virtual, continuing education efforts.
Taking this beyond the theoretical, looking to the practical application of this learning style can bring us into the world of simulation and gamification. Having a group of peers or colleagues together, virtually or otherwise, each individual is arriving with a lived set of personal experiences. A well-trained facilitator will have the ability to encourage the sharing of these unique lived experiences and enable them to be mapped out in a broader discussion that capitalizes on everyone’s unique contributions. Q&A sessions, polls, surveys, etc. are certainly great for collecting and redistributing information in a more neat, packaged format, but the ability to navigate through a problem-solving, critical thinking based situation in realtime can be much more revealing of an individual’s talents and the overall power dynamic of the group, inspiring collective confidence. The collaborative effort of working through an issue with dynamic and investigative problem-solving strategies has the potential to foster not just a sense of camaraderie but also one of appreciation for what each person brings to the table. A facilitator-led atmosphere, moreover, contributes to the overall focus of the group and the contouring of the simulation itself. Knowing how to effectively pivot around the varying aspects of the given task is also beneficial.
HDX offers experiential simulations that preempt the possibility of colleagues multi-tasking or becoming too distracted by something not immediately related to the group effort and task at hand. For instance, the Shift Gaminar speaks directly to the reality of a changing world and human adaptability. Critical choices must be made in the moment and many of these decisions will press participants to explore beyond their comfort zone, much like a real world stressful or challenging situation. It is easy to talk about doing something that is uncomfortable, but actually doing it is another story. Participants in this type of simulation are guided to be both pragmatic and clever in working towards a solution, where adaptability undoubtedly occurs both in responding to the scenario, as well as to the individuals they are working with on the task. Critical thinking does not happen in a vacuum, and these simulations and gaminars actively encourage participants to pool their resources and strengths in an effort to not just learn about themselves but more broadly about the changing world around them.
Spicing up your webinars
The link between training and ROIs is not direct. But beyond bringing value to work processes, training enables employees to stay relevant and perform at desired levels. Changes in the macro-environment have however forced organizations to rethink their training strategies, and instructor-led classroom training is fast being replaced by webinars, e-learning programs, etc.
Webinars may feature a facilitator, so a trainee has multiple ways to grasp an idea or a concept. As a discovery-based learning experience, this engages people and is one of the finest ways of learning transfer.
Webinars are vastly growing in the popularity received for the past decade or so. The underlying reason is that a webinar may be the best way to facilitate communication among corporate employees. Face to face presence in a board room is not required.
A trainer or a manager can interact with the trainees or employees partly over a webinar, even while they may not be present at a common physical location. Similarly, employees located at a separate branch office can also comfortably attend a webinar without having to fly to the main office.
There are characteristically several ways in which webinars overcome the limitations presented by corporate classroom training sessions:
- Increases collaboration
Reaching out to even more people is simplified by the means of webinars. One can train not only the people who are present at the office but also the people who are located a distance away.
In case, some key personnel who need to attend a meeting are not present, conducting a meeting becomes pointless, in some cases. When a webinar is created for the benefit of all attendees, they can all attend the same irrespective of where they are located.
- Remote workplace
Organizing training sessions and meetings for employees located at a remote workplace is always a difficulty because visiting the head office repeatedly for meetings is difficult.
Webinars make a nice solution in such cases. Employees at a remote location are likely to pay additional heed to the webinars. This helps them be sure of what is expected of them.
Driving engagement with webinars nevertheless becomes difficult at times
Driving engagement and participation with your attendees sitting behind their computer screens nevertheless becomes difficult in several cases, while presenting a webinar. Learner engagement is a quintessential metric for the success of a webinar, and if a webinar fails to drive engagement, it does not meet its purpose well.
A few of the conventional methods for making webinars more interactive are Q & A’s, polls, live chats, and surveys, blending your webinar with experiential learning activities. Such activities deliver an exponential boost to engagement levels, and the participants restrict their tendency to multitask. As a discovery-based learning experience, webinars add value to trainees and the organization as a whole.
Use of gamified learning in webinars
Facilitators nowadays use implements of gamified learning in the webinars. This helps in several ways. Just as an instance, by reviewing scores in real-time, further training can be accordingly paced. Similarly, gamification encourages independent learning and induces learning retention.
This goes to show that even in the era of digitalized and self-paced learning – the value of facilitator-led experience is unparalleled.
Digital Team Building Activities in a World that Works Remotely
Remote working trends show that many employees have been anticipating a remote working (r)evolution for years – coveting Slack hours, Zoom meetings, and working from bed in their oldest tracksuit, and those who have forsaw the need for digital team building activities, were just waiting for the future that has just arrived
Employers, not so much…
2020 however, has seen the remote working trend erupting into a full-blown Work-from-Home (WFH) movement, with Amazon, Google, JPMorgan, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, PayPal, Salesforce and thousands of other companies around the world compelled to create innovate WFH models. And while the availability and ease of use of technologies to collaborate and stay in constant contact have long been in place, the question remains:
How will remote-working companies maintain their identity, common purpose and culture?
The answer lies in digital learning and development and digital team building activities through gamification, but let’s first have a quick run-through of why it’s important.
Teamwork Is Critical to Business Success
The guy who wrote Star Wars, Matthew Woodring Stover, said
“If you take out the team in teamwork, it’s just work. Now who wants that?”
Each individual has different talents, weaknesses, communication skills, strengths, and habits. When teamwork is working, the whole team would be motivated and working toward the same goal in harmony – with the following benefits for both the employer and employee:
- For the organisation, teamwork maximises shared knowledge, and stimulates productivity and performance, creativity, enterprise innovation, problem solving and company culture.
- For the individual, teamwork is critical to expand skillsets by learning from each other, and building and maintaining human connection, communication, support, morale and fellowship.
It’s clear that one of the most powerful reasons for teamwork is to get results. And team building is one of the best ways to for employers to establish and develop trust, performance, communication, conflict management and mentorship.
In the “old normal” work-from-office days, the solution would be simple: Let’s plan a team building event that is fun and motivational, and will magically build skills like communication, planning, problem-solving and conflict resolution.
Maybe, if there is budget surplus, there might actually be two teambuilding events a year. Right?
But what does “team building” mean in a remote WFH environment, and how would it work?
Challenges of Remote and digital Team Building Activities
Firstly, it’s important to know that remote working does not automatically mean a loss in employee productivity – one of the concerns shared by many employers new to the WFH operational model.
In fact, a two-year study, led by Professor Nicholas Bloom from Stanford University, highlighted that remote workers are in fact 13% more productive than in-office workers and take fewer sick days. Further research revealed almost a quarter (23%) of remote workers are more willing to put in extra hours to complete tasks.
Researchers agree when it’s done right, telework can improve employee productivity, creativity and morale.
Most workplace leaders will admit that it’s hard to get a group of individuals to work together smoothly.
Yet building and maintaining a successful team that cohesively work together is no simple task, even when everyone shares an open-plan office environment. But when you have to do it remotely, the challenges of building a collaborative and enthusiastic team becomes threefold:
- Google Hangouts is just not the same. In a remote working model, employees, particularly younger ones, will miss the lack of social interactions. Part of the camaraderie at work is seeing your co-workers, going out to lunch together or having a drink coffee after work.
- No more Trampoline Park. Or kite surfing, or playing Twister in the boardroom. This means all learning and development needs to be digital, with the power of motivating employees intrinsically…and remotely.
- Modern learners are short on attention span. Which means you have to keep them engaged and stimulated where they feel most comfortable – online. (Keeping in mind that the same employees who are desperate to work in their PJs, might be the ones rolling their eyes at the thought of traditional teambuilding…)
Fortunately, in the new remote WFH era, learning and development, as well as remote teambuilding activities have become much more captivating.
Doing it right: remote and digital Team Building Activities Through Experiential Learning
Over the last decade, experiential learning has become increasingly popular and more widely used to engage employees in interactive learning and development activities. As part of the remote experiential learning process, gamification engages employees in different ways. It uses game principles and techniques to create recognition (stimulating progress), feedback, fun and collaboration.
Human Development Solutions have gone beyond the hype, developing digital gamification solutions like SHIFT, NAVIGATOR and more to engage remote employees in different ways, by:
- Making the work of employees more enjoyable, creative and efficient by associating learning with the fun of playing games and being in competition;
- Engaging employees in experiential learning – building knowledge by collaborating to solve real-world problems;
- Using simulations, role plays, project-based learning, and other immersive educational experiences in real workplace situations;
- Using gamification as a feedback loop when employees practice skills in a real scenario, for example, if a team member is unable to receive a badge, fails to increase his or her score, or cannot advance to the next level, it serves as indicator that there is area for improvement on that particular learning module.
