A trailer from T&D Extra:
Action learning is an increasingly popular approach to producing innovative solutions for organizational problems and for developing management talent. Action learning programs involve small groups that meet regularly to take action on critical, real problems while explicitly seeking learning from having taken that action. Usually, the learning aspect is facilitated by a learning coach who is skilled in using the collective experience of group members to create learning opportunities.
There are several ways you can design an action learning program, depending on your learning objectives. But the flexibility of action learning can also lead to confusion if you're exploring action learning for the first time, depending on what examples you come across. Making matters more complex for the novice is the potential for confusing action learning with other experience-based learning approaches, such as outdoor venture trips and simulations.
Reprinted from T&D Extra. Copyright 2000, the American Society for Training & Development (www.astd.org). Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
