Action learning scenario

As a trainer, I like working with what I call “action learning settings”. This basically means designing the workshop in a way that learning happens in a good mix of experiencing something and then talking about it and reflecting upon the experience.

Workshop designs are like recipes for cooking: It’s not just the amount of the ingredients that counts, it’s also their quality. And as with any recipe, things can work out perfectly, but they can also go terribly wrong. So for a trainer, going into an action learning workshop can be fraught with tension. Will things work out? What if they don’t…?

Recently, we had the pleasure of “cooking something up” in Laos that turned out beyond and above expectations. Our trainees were a group of journalism teachers of the National University of Laos. The topic was “interviewing” and the setting we had chosen for this training session was a press conference.

Our trainees played the interviewers in this mock press conference. The interviewee was the German ambassador to Laos, whom we had invited to our session.

We had prepared the mock press conference with our trainees. We had researched questions to ask the German ambassador, but there wasn’t much information in the Laotian media about him yet: the ambassador had only recently been assigned to his post in Vientiane. Of course there was information about him in German and English, but it was hard for our trainees to find information in Laotian. As always, the language barrier was a big obstacle for any kind of research in Laos.

Robert von Rimscha, German ambassador to Laos

Ambassador Robert von Rimscha spent 90 minutes with our group. A full hour for the press-conference-style interview and 30 minutes of evaluating the experience from both sides.

For the Laotian journalism teachers, this was a unique occasion to approach someone this “high-ranking”, as they described the ambassador.

The scenario gave them a chance to experience what real-life journalism feels like and to practice their interviewing skills. At the same time, this simulation of a real-life situation showed them a possible setting for practical journalism training.

As trainers, we were grateful the ambassador shared both his time and his experience: Having been a journalist himself before working as a politician and diplomat, he offered a rich blend of insights from many perspectives. And as we were off-the-record and off-air, he sometimes forgot about his diplomatic wording and gave clear opinion, personal profile and background information. All perfect ingredients for cooking up an “action learning setting” that fostered learning for workshops to come.

by Daniel Hirschler

For more information check out these articles

Educators embark into a new era of journalism in Laos

Creating confidence in the classroom

Active acquisition of knowledge to solve concrete challenges creates confidence. And that’s something you need when you have to teach journalism to a classroom full of young Laotian twentysomethings, as do the instructors at the National University of Laos (NUOL).

These instructors are currently students themselves: they’re taking part in journalism teachers’ training and coaching, which is organized in partnership with DW-AKADEMIE’s Asia team.

At a workshop in December we reviewed some of the progress made so far. “I have more confidence in teaching these subjects now,” said one of the younger colleagues. Others agreed.

One senior lecturer brought along a revamped version of a project the training participants had created the previous September – a newspaper made from scratch. It was a showcase item at NUOL’s 15th anniversary celebration in November.

The instructors-in-training had put tremendous effort into producing it, and that has really paid off in their daily work. Here’s why:

Getting down to basics

The task we had set ourselves was quite simple: Create a newspaper. From scratch. In three weeks time.

There are several good reasons for choosing such an exercise. Creating a newspaper is low-tech. If necessary (and if you don’t mind creating only one copy), it can be done with paper, pens, a scissor and glue.

It’s also very tangible, easy to talk about, perfect for discussions in dual-language settings (in Vientiane we use Lao and English with translation in our workshops).

Most importantly, it’s a very generic form of journalism – and thus a good foundation for discussing the core elements of journalistic work.

Active participation instead of passive listening

Creating a newspaper from scratch turned learning into active acquisition of knowledge to solve concrete challenges. Much better than hearing lectures on writing, style, research, etc.

Among the many questions discussed during the production of the newspaper were issues like “What will be our editorial guideline?” (As opposed to the more passive “What is an editorial guideline and what is it good for?”) “What should our layout look like?” and  “Are we on track time-wise, quantity-wise, quality-wise?”

As a result of such exercises that produce tangible results, the university teaching staff are not only gaining a new understanding of journalism practice itself, but also experiencing first-hand fresh and viable ways of conveying knowledge to their students.

By Daniel Hirschler