Experiential Learning

Experiential Learning
Colin Beard

Coffee and Papers

.. to help students think about relaxed alertness and its affect on studies

Where do students read? How do students read? When do students read?

The technique encourages students to engage in reading. Colin provides a range of lliterature and the coffee. He allows students 60 minutes to browse a table of literature and to treat it as a newsagent.

The session not only demonstrates the importance of reading it also stresses the importance of finding positive spaces (learning environments) for reading (an essential part of studying that is not done as often as it should be by students) such as a café, quiet corner, etc. The development of a relaxed state of mind (known as ‘relaxed alertness’) is essential for this exercise. The session can also be used instead of part of a lecture, or as a working break for coffee.

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The hard work of selecting the ‘papers’ is done by the tutor – this helps get students kick started for reading and discussions. The popular metaphor and ambience of reading the Sunday Papers is offered to create the mood setting. The discussions on the topic ideally should move from simple issues to more complex issues creating an enjoyment in the debate and anchoring it in examples from press references is important. The session can also introduce how to do a reference for a newspaper too if there is time……….