Antipolis Formation – practical guide: learning and teaching
This practical guide presents some of the teaching rules applied during our courses. A pathway of learning and sharing that allows learners to build their skills progressively and effectively.
Learning: a natural need
According to the very first Greek philosophers, human beings have a natural need to know. Is there a crowd gathering on the pavement opposite? I would like to know what is going on. I notice an unexpected building, shape or colour in the distance, and I want to go and see what it is. Look at our babies, our budding learners: they want to know everything, see everything, try everything.
Learning is necessary for our development, both personally and professionally. We learn throughout our lives, in different ways and in different contexts.
A trainer passes on their knowledge. To do so, they have different methods that they adapt to their audience. They constantly have to juggle between the volume of knowledge they teach and the consolidation of that knowledge, which must be durably fixed in the learner’s memory.
In this article, we set out our view of a few fundamental teaching principles. But whatever method is used, the goal remains the same: the learner must have been enriched by their trainer’s knowledge. And better still, they must be able to acquire new notions independently on their own.
Whether we call it science, method or theory, it has been studied and put into practice for several millennia. From Socrates to Célestin Freinet, the most learned have always been aware that the transmission of knowledge is paramount to the survival of the species.
In this article, Antipolis Formation tries to share its vision of teaching, the key to a successful course.
Some proven teaching methods
Learning begins where the learner’s knowledge ends. The teacher must first find out what the learner already knows and what motivates them. They must apply the method they feel most comfortable with, and also the one they know from experience to be the most effective for the subjects covered and the audience being trained.
Let us mention a few:
- Learning through personal reflection, the reflective approach:
The learner works alone or in a group on solving a problem without prior explanation. They must draw on their personal resources to find the means of solving the problem set. They then have to explain the path that led them to their result and so understand the thinking mechanism that took them to the solution.
If they reach a dead end, they see for themselves that they have gone in the wrong direction. Alone or with the help of their trainer, they analyse the reasons for this wrong turn and make new decisions. They are enriched by this experience and develop new thinking mechanisms.
- Spiral teaching
During their pathway, the learner will come back to the same subject several times, but through different entry points and in the light of different contexts. Their knowledge of the subject will be enriched by new methods of analysis. They will master several routes to the result and each time they will enrich their knowledge with new elements.
- The cooperative exercise
The trainer forms groups (by affinity, level of knowledge or other criteria, the colour method for example). The objective is set. Each person contributes their share to produce a result on time.
Working in a company is only conceivable through interaction between the different players in a project. The success of the project depends on good coordination within the group. In a training situation, learners are taught to coordinate with the different contributors. This method highlights the human dimension of the members. The success of the project hangs on the coordination effort between the participants.
- Lectures
Reserved for academics and certain experts who hold cutting-edge skills in a particular discipline, in front of an audience waiting to learn.
The lecture is modernising by opening up to interaction with students. It evolves according to the expectations gathered from its audience. Student participation in the course improves learning performance.
- Brainstorming: from discussion comes enlightenment
Brainstorming is one of the most widely used techniques in building group work. Led by a moderator, it is used to gather as many ideas as possible and extract the most effective essence from them. No idea is ruled out in advance, but a single line of approach will be defined afterwards.
- The case study
This involves working through an example given by the trainer or already experienced by one of the learners.
It is an active teaching method that draws learners into the heart of a real situation. This situation obliges the learner to deploy all kinds of resources and transferable skills. The project is deconstructed by identifying the elements put in place at every stage of its construction, from the foundation up to the achievement of the objective. The learner puts themselves in the position of a decision-maker and must gauge the knowledge they have acquired to determine whether it is effective in the given situation.
- Questioning method
The trainer questions the participants, collectively or individually, who must make an effort of introspection and put forward relevant hypotheses. The trainer must push the learner to their limits to guide them to the end of their idea. If the answer is incomplete or there is no answer, the teacher rephrases the question and makes sure that the learner has fully understood the context.
See our course catalogue.