Teaching Technique - Training Resource Group 1982

Critique the teaching of OB in your class. Which learning cycle is your OB instructor following while helping you learn OB?

His teaching technique is very interactive. He uses the Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC) (as mentioned in Wilma J. Gormly and James A. McCaffery, Design Components of an Experiential Training Session, Training Resource Group. 1982 as his method of teaching. This cycle consists of seven stages:

1. Goal: In this stage the instructor informs the group about the aim and purpose of the activity and the goal that is intended to be achieved. He introduces the topic and explains what it is about.

2. Theory: The group is then given an opportunity to get a clear understanding of the goals of the session, and allows them to explore additional issues or raise concerns. All the concepts in the concerned topic are explained and analyzed.

3. Experience: This is an activity in which the group is provided with an opportunity to ‘experience' a situation relevant to the goals of the training session. Here the students are given assignments, questionnaires or case-studies through which they have the opportunity to analyze a real-life situation with the help of the theoretical knowledge they received.

4. Processing: The group then shares their individual experiences and reacts to the experience. They analyze and reflect upon the experience through discussion. The instructor guides and manages the processing of information. He encourages all the members in the group to participate in the discussion and contribute their ideas and opinions.

5. Generalising: They then determine how the patterns that evolved during the experience phase of the learning cycle relate to the experiences of everyday life and seek to identify key generalizations that could be derived from the experience.

6. Applying: Using the insights and conclusions gained from the previous steps, the participants