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Our Approach: The Power of Experience
“At UNC, our distinct view of learning drives every executive development experience we design. This approach — we call it The Power of Experience — provides executives with sustainable methods for leveraging all of their experiences, in the classroom and in the workplace. For each executive the result is individualized, accelerated leadership development that continues throughout his or her career. ”
James W. Dean, Jr. –Dean, Kenan-Flagler Business School
Experiences have a huge impact on the decisions we make. Research indicates seventy percent of adult learning comes from experience. However, most organizations are not able to capture or build upon these experiences. Individuals don’t have or take the time to reflect on those experiences.
By leveraging The Power of Experience, adult learners are exposed to experiences from a number of influences presented in traditional and non-traditional ways. Our participants are challenged to think, reflect, and make decisions differently.
Whether participating in an action learning exercise or a simulation, our participants learn from the experience. Experiential learning enables them to learn from other participants, faculty, our staff, and even from their environment. Our goal is to create transformational learning that has a profound effect on how an individual thinks, learns and applies their new knowledge to business.
Tools we use to help leverage the Power of Experience include the ASPIRE© model and our software tool, ExperienceBase™.
The ASPIRE© learning model emerged from our philosophy of The Power of Experience. It integrates the fundamental dimensions of adult learning: Aesthetic, Social, Physical, Inspirational, Rational and Emotional.
We actively incorporate different methods of learning, realizing that critical learning occurs outside the classroom, as well through business simulations and team building exercises.
ExperienceBase™ is a multi-functional Web-based software tool that helps manage the process of learning. Experiences are captured and others can read how situations were handled, reflect upon the learning and enter their own experiences. This tool accelerates learning by sharing the experiences and reflections of others in work groups, programs, and used by virtual teams with similar job functions.
Recently, UNC Executive Development received an "Innovations in Executive Development" award for ExperienceBase™ by UNICON (International University Consortium for Executive Education). The award was presented to UNC Executive Development and five other schools from around the world at the annual conference held April 2008 in Australia.
Videos
Listen to UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Dean, James W. Dean, Jr. describe the importance of learning from experience.
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