Alternative learning
We believe that change begins to happen, when we educate using participatory and active learning tools.
This means that we dare to take point of departure in the participants' experiences, and build courses around these.
We work with these concepts and methods in mind:
Arousel & Inspiration
The first step for a change to happen is to inspire to new possibilities, and news ways of thinking. Something new and alternative has to be considered in the mind of the learner for any kind of movement to happen. One of the ways to do this is through art to produce surprise and astonishment.
Art has strong potential power for transformation. John Dewey once said: ”The power of art is to be genuinely transformative, to modify irrevocably our habitual ways of thinking, feeling and perceiving”. (1918) Or when the museum of art in public spaces, Køge, Denmark plant street art around the city, the idea is to make people stop, and allow new thoughts and ideas to enter. On a tour, a guide from the museum explained this process: “The short breath that happens when people are being surprised, washes the inner blackboard clean for a split of a second and make space for new thoughts and ideas”.
Chancepartout use arousal and inspiration as main components in educational planning. We use them, for instance, when we create forumplay and let the audience play with dolls instead of using their own bodies. Or when we are inviting participants to draw their own organisation, in order for them to go deeper into their memory and understanding of how people move about and where they meet and communicate.
Forum Play
Forumplay is a great tool for giving thoughts and ideas a bodily shape and movement. A central component of the learning process is training and forum play is excellent for this.
Forum Play is a case based roleplaying learning method for training difficult situations with the purpose of achieving new perspectives and means of action. We use forumplay as a preferred method for training different situations or practicing new skills. On the side, Carina is working with Simon in a company that works primarily with forumplay. More info about forum play (in Danish): britandersen.dk
Group Learning
Small group learning is a way of using more resources in the room, and not only the facilitator’s resources and competencies. It is a way to set up a learning environment that draws upon the unique experiences of each individual in the group. Every individual participant in a group develops his or her own learning objective (within a project), and the groups work together on understanding and driving the collected process forward through presentation and feedback sessions. Also, when participants coming from the same organization work in groups, their learning and the tools they develop, will have more possibilities for being transferred back to the working place.
Chancepartout focus on creating such a room, where there is space for both individual and collective learning. This is because, some skills are difficult to develop in isolation and call for interaction with others, like when we together with our participants develop interview guides. Then it becomes very handy to have a group of people that we can ask before we try out our questions in real life.
Self-evaluation & Reflection
Transfer
Transfer is a ground concept in our work. Transfer occurs when something which is learned in one context can be transferred to another context and acted upon.
The design of the learning process depends on the purpose and the aim with the training. Do they participants become better at problem-solving, or work with motivation or their understanding of a given subject, etc. We identify training gaps with you and then focus on the transfer mechanisms. When designing a learning process, we take a closer look at the transfer mechanisms in order to understand what possibilities and limitations that matters in every learning situation. This way, we take into account what is meaningful to learn for each individual to make sure that it is possible for the participant to translate knowledge into his or her own context. This involves asking many questions, because we often presume how things are connected, and the only way to make sure that we understand the reality of the participants is by asking questions. Forum play is an example of a training tool that facilitate transfer, because the method takes the every-day-life experience of the participant as a point of departure, and gives body to thoughts and ideas.
Aesthetical Learning Processes
The use of aesthetical learning processes is a way to open up imaginary fields and to kick off the creation of new visionary ideas. Making use of our senses is vital for extraordinary learning processes. When looking to come up with ideas on how to solve societal challenges, including different learning styles in the way of teaching is fundamental. Some people are more auditive, whereas others are more visual learners. Adding our senses in the room also makes it possible for a group to connect with each other and relate on a more human and less formal level. And we simply learn better, when we involve our whole bodies and feelings in the learning process and not just our cerebral parts.
Action Based Learning
The action based learning at Chancepartout is inspired by educational theorist; David A Kolb’s learning cycle. Kolb’s model explains how experiences are developed into learning by being reflected upon, conceptualized, and re-experienced with the new concepts.
Often normal workshops and seminars only present the concepts for participants, making it challenging to apply these in work life. Chancepartout has a passion for creating the whole learning experience, where we visit all steps in a learning cycle – up to several times – through the mantra; ACT→REFLECT→APPLY
For Chancepartout, action based learning is thus practiced by letting participants; ACT out situations →REFLECT on the experiences → APPLY new tools and concepts → ACT out new ways of handling similar situations → REFLECT on these → APPLY new concepts, etc. etc.
Experience Based Learning
We might be experts in creating participatory learning platforms – but we cannot claim to have experience in your particular field.
Experience based learning is about building on and acknowledging experiences in a learning situation. Chancepartout sees participants as coming with their own strong background and experiences, and we use this capacity to create a common learning curve, where participants grow on each other’s inputs. In building adult learning platforms, the key to create change and excitement is to activate the highly valuable experience, which is in the room.
Experience based learning is also a point-of-departure for Chancepartout. We create our learning methodologies on real issues and challenges, experienced by our participants, and it is our passion to make the learning as close to real situations as possible in order to create the best transfer back to work life.