Almost a month has passed since I wrote the paragraphs below.  I stopped short of posting it because I thought I should just let it sit for a while, let my rage subside completely and decide when my head is cool whether I should share my thoughts with the universe.  Well.  I do.  So here goes. 

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When we signed up for an extra-curricular learning session, we consciously set aside time and organise ourselves and prioritise the learning session over other activities such as precious time with family or private time with oneself. 

This evening, as I sat through a “Reflection Session” with the ONL organisers and listened to an explanation on the learning process, I felt my stomach turned.   I felt the respect for the time and effort of everyone involved was taken so very lightly.  

There were two sessions where half the participants didn’t show up because we were not on the same page about the zoom ID.  We had gone to different Zoom rooms.  The fact that half the participants didn’t show up again for the session because of a completely preventable error was casually tossed off as “a learning process” made the sting hurt even more.  “You wouldn’t have understood the importance of having the same zoom ID if this didn’t happen, right?!”

Yes, I do subscribe to the philosophy of learning by experiencing or learning from the process.  But where do we draw the line?

There are certain things that does not need learning by experiencing.  Just as we do not reinvent the wheels every time we ride our bicycles or drive our cars, we certainly do not have to learn to organise our classes in the same place and tell our students to go figure out where the next class will be.  Or do we?  Apparently, we do, say the ONL facilitators!  

What should be done, as I have strongly recommended, is that facilitators should be told in no uncertain terms at the start of the program that they have to organise their class rooms in advance and stick to one regular spot to make sure no one ever have to waste time hunting for the classroom.  No “ifs”, no “buts”, no “because”.  The learning experience of the learners takes precedence.  The learners are here to learn from the facilitators and from each other.  If they missed a session because of the negligence of a few, they would have wasted the time and effort their put aside to participate. No one should have to pay for a preventable negligence.

So please, do not term / classify / attribute a real organisational error as “experiential learning”,  because, what happened to us was anything but.