I have just returned from a 3-day sojourn on an idyllic Norwegian island where with 16 other people we ‘worked’ to find ways to bring Campus NooA to a higher level. I put the word ‘worked’ in inverted commas because it didn’t feel like work at all. After a while the experience reminded me of a series of visits I made to the island of Achill on the west coast of Ireland under the EU’s Intensive Seminar programme as well as the Managing Cultural Diversity seminars offered by The University of Applied Sciences, Koblenz over a winter weekend. This made me wonder about the ingredients for a learning experience which leaves participants feeling that they have just taken part in something extremely special. So here is my recipe for a transformative learning experience.- A structured timetable with a skeleton programme
- Participants are present of their own free will
- Learning takes place in a relatively restricted physical space eg an island
- Connectivity is present but limited
- Visible thinking
- Good food
- Pleasant social atmosphere
- Common goal or focus
In Norway we had great weather, great hosts, great participants and great food. My only regret is that I missed good stuff because my understanding of spoken Norwegian is not up to scratch. So maybe I should add a common language to the list of ingredients which I plan to use as a guideline when planning my next face to face event.