“Let's Go round the Circle:” How Verbal Facilitation Can Function as a Means of Direct Instruction

Abstract

The facilitation of experiences through group discussion is well documented in adventure education literature. Using an ethnomethodological approach this article draws attention to how the leader in these facilitation sessions structures the discussions. It is argued that the current practice of facilitation based on verbal discussions conducted in a circular arrangement can function as a form of direct instruction. It is suggested that this form of facilitation offers limited opportunities for student creativity and favors leader sponsored accounts of student experiences. This research is significant in that it uses recorded data from facilitation sessions; it does not present an idealized or exemplary account of how the discussions should occur. The issues of power and knowledge, and in particular whose knowledge is privileged, are not peripheral for experiential educators. These findings question the positioning of the facilitator in the literature and call for a reappraisal of the way that verbal facilitation is commonly practiced.

The Substance Beneath the Labels of Experiential Learning: The Importance of John Dewey for Outdoor Educators

“…We would echo a number of recent critiques of this simplistic cycle, (Beard and Wilson, 2006;Brown 2004Brown , 2009Brown , 2010Fenwick, 2000;Seaman 2008,) and agree that conceiving experiential learning in the form of a cycle is not only problematic but provides an impoverished theoretical conceptualisation of outdoor education experiences. It is not necessary for the purpose of this paper to revisit comprehensive critiques of Kolb's model; we refer readers to the above citations, although perhaps Smith (2001) captures the tenor of many of these critiques when he suggests, the idea of stages, or steps, does not sit well with the reality of thinking.…”

“…A premise of this paper is that the conceptualisation of experience and experiential learning is dominated in the academic texts by the cyclical model associated with Kolb (1984) (Brown 2004, Seaman 2008), but we suggest that this model is presented as a reification and simplification of David Kolb's model of experiential learning. As previously argued by Greenaway (2008) models can be useful because they simplify and reduce complex and variable processes into a regular and standard pattern.…”

“…It can construe these outdoor experiences not in an holistic way (Seaman 2008), contextualising it in the life of the participant, but it can compartmentalize the experience (Brown 2004(Brown , 2009). This can then reduce the learning from the experience to identifying practical ways in which the undertaking of similar experiences might be made better in the future.…”

“…Furthermore it is unique to the individual and too often the facilitators of outdoor experiences presuppose or impose their own preconceptions of those experiences on the individuals, thinking they know what is in their best interests (Brown, 2004;Boniface, 2006). We should no doubt heed Brown's (2004) advice and move away from an exclusive focus upon what he refers to as going "round the circle" -the post activity review, led by the facilitator which attempts to draw out and acknowledge the learning from the activity. As he suggests, if "adventure educators wish to provide opportunities for students to express and articulate learning that reflects that experience, they may wish to explore other ways to facilitate this learning" (p. 170).…”

“…For a more detailed critique of Kolb's theories see Beard and Wilson, (2006), Brown (2004, 2010), Fenwick, (2000, Ord (2007;Seaman (2008).…”