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to no. 10
Horary Astrology
to no. 12
Natal Mandala
to no. 7
Dynamic Organization
to no. 9
Firesign Theater
[08] Experiential/
Transgressive Learning
ABSAdomain no.: 8
[Primary] Knowledge type: Conventional
Role in ABSAprime's worldview: Very high
ABSAlink(s): TBA [via ABSAdomain interaction]
Degree of Difficulty: Both easy and difficult
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. -- John Dewey
The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change. -- Carl Rogers
"Education is the practice of freedom, the means by which people deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world. -- Paolo Freire
"The single biggest barrier to learning is the belief that you already know the answer. -- Chris Argyris
If ABSAprime is known for anything in the world of teaching, it would almost certainly involve her work with simulations. Beginning in Spring 2006, she taught a series of courses which explored complex organizational communication problems by means of, first, students becoming expert in a particular space and time in history (relying on scenarios both realistic, as with labor relations in outback Australia at the turn of the last century [Waltzing Matilda, Spring 2013], and fantastical, as with time-traveling Nazi hunters [Ratcatcher, Spring 2018]). For each simulation, that traditionally-delivered knowledge was absorbed and tested, via 24 to 28 scholarly articles, in the first three weeks of the course.
Following their immersion in some of the sociohistorical contexts of the simulation problem, the class would be responsible for constructing solutions to their respective, recreated worlds, based on the readings they'd done, and presented in the form of a multi-act, multi-scene (usually numbering 12 to 16 scenes) dramatic stage play, complete with costumes, makeup, props, and so on.
Throughout, students relied on themselves and (maybe more importantly) upon each other, working through numerous scenarios as they constructed the play that would detail their solution(s), act by act, interaction by interaction, choosing in the process numerous verbal and nonverbal encounters. It all built up to the last class session, which was the public presentation of the play, on a “legit” theatrical stage, with a “live” audience.
Unlike conventional teaching, where any consequential work is shared only between teacher and student (and sometimes others in the class)—the teacher tells, you write, and then they read--in experiential learning the consequence is to be found in what you do publicly (and that's even more true of transgressive learning, which we'll take up momentarily). In other words, presentation of the simulation solution can be seen as an “acid test” of learning: if you really didn’t understand things, how could you explain these matters to someone unfamiliar with you and the conditions which led to a view of the circumstances in which the simulation players find themselves?
And if you think this is just an exercise in free-form fantasy, guess again. The whole solution is based on how effectively the participants absorbed their “crash course” in scholarship on their subjects, those first three weeks of the semester. In other words, they worked, based not only on their imaginations, but upon being superbly informed about the knowledge (from topical experts) that underpins and supports their creative process.
All this is intended to simulate a process to deal with “real-life” organizational challenges and thereby suggest a template for possible future application, consisting, essentially, of three stages: first, become (extremely) well-informed; second, give free rein to alternative imaginings of possible solutions (showing also, obviously, why some should be rejected); and third, make the payoff something consequential.
It was all made to be something "consequential" through a public performance of a play comprising several acts (usually three), and numerous scenes (usually 12 to 14), performed just as a "real" play, complete with props, visual effects, makeup, costumes...the lot. In the audience were fellow students, parents (who, surprisingly, were all wildly enthusiastic about this unusual style of teaching (memorably, one particularly enamored parent asked, "Why couldn't college courses be taught like this when I was a student?" Our only answer: this was the night you were supposed to find out...and although that, as a reply, sounds very frustrating, it is actually dead on target 😘
ABSAprime's work in these areas comprises, at its base, two stages: (1) experiential teaching/learning, and (2) transgressive teaching/learning. Of these two, experiential is prior and transgressive subsequently grows out of it (knowledge must first be assessed experientially, followed by praxis involving, necessarily, transgression [learn what needs to be fixed, then do it]). Experiential learning concentrates on the role of experience in pedagogy; transgressive learning foregrounds the responsibility (by students and teachers), having perceived things experientially, to engage in activism by putting into practice what they have learned via experiential (and similar, let’s call them, “nonconventional” approaches) in and about the classroom. Another way to put it: learning experientially wakes you up, but learning transgressively makes you want to do something about it.
For example, in the first simulation, The Trial of Saavedro, the question was posed, “is Saavedro [a character in the video game Myst Exile] primarily a freedom fighter or a destructive anarchist?” Since the Myst “universe” is imaginary, my class had to focus its “fix-it” mechanisms (determining guilt or innocence) on treating the imaginary as real.
Hence, the ten people in class, as their final performance, put Saavedro, the “wild man” of the interplay of scenarios, on trial for the harm he was rumored to have caused the family of Atrus (inventor of the Age-spanning linking books), which is the primary storyline of the game. Five students comprised the prosecution, the other five for the defense.
"As Below, So Above"
[Graphics by Descript's Overlord and Microsoft's Powerpoint. Background videos by Wix.com].
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