Beyond the classroom: Why experiential learning is the future

• 66.4% of Gen Z are dissatisfied with available learning resources at their companies
• 80% of Gen Z would come into the office for collaboration, mentoring and learning from others

These findings from the FDM whitepaper ‘Unlocking Gen Z’s potential to redefine the future of work’ reveal an interesting shift in learning and career development preferences.

Education 2030 has set the stage for learning and development for the next five years.

Academic institutions and professional skills providers are slowly moving away from traditional classroom-based teaching to offer more practical hands-on coaching.

At FDM we are continually evolving our skills development offerings to provide the best learning outcomes for our consultants which in turn convert to better talent solutions for our clients.

Traditional learning methods often lack the practical application and real-world context that are crucial for developing the skills our clients need.

FDM Skills Lab

The FDM Skills Lab is ideally positioned to provide a dynamic experiential learning experience for consultants. In our Skills Lab we immerse our consultants in hands-on, scenario-based activities that mirror the challenges they will face in their professional roles.

This approach not only accelerates the acquisition of skills but also fosters critical thinking, adaptability and problem-solving abilities, ensuring our consultants are not just knowledgeable, but also immediately effective on their assignments.

Gangotri Bhatt, Director of Skills Lab- UK & EMEA says –

‘The FDM Skills Lab centres around our culture of lifelong learning by adopting a Sprint-based learning methodology where consultants gain flexible, experiential, customised and hands-on learning to acquire skills tailored to client needs.

The new approach of Practices and Skills Lab will offer even more varied and dynamic career paths, with accelerated progression, through FDM’s specialist skills development programmes.’

For students and those looking to reskill or upskill, experiential learning is found to facilitate:

• Career readiness
• Knowledge retention
• Skills development

Career readiness

A National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) survey found that 92% of students want placements, work experience and internships to be a part of their university experience.

We spoke to some of our university partners to find out how they’re adapting their teaching to match the evolving learning expectations of students.

Jackie Lister, Employer-led Projects Officer at Nottingham Trent University said –

‘For many years NTU has aimed to develop the curriculum to offer a balance between theory and hands-on practice and this specifically includes ‘work-like experience’ – things like employer-led projects, briefs, workshops and professional competitions.

Previously this may have been extra-curricular or may have been informally included in employer-led activities as part of some courses, but since 2022 we include this experience in all our undergraduate courses, embedded into their curriculum.

This is a team effort – lead by academics and supported by our Employer-led projects team and our Student Development team.

Our aim is to give our students the opportunity to learn about how their academic knowledge could be applied in industry; to help them understand the different career directions their course could take them and to build their confidence and self-perception. They start to build a picture of their own particular strengths.’

Retention

According to a study published in the Journal of Experiential Education, students who participate in experiential learning activities demonstrate a 70% increase in knowledge retention compared to traditional learning methods.

Lara Cavill, Employer Engagement Officer at the University of Kent spoke about how the University is looking at implementing a more student focused, experiential way of working in the coming days.

‘We are moving much more towards authentic assessment which enables students to simulate ways that the knowledge might authentically be used in industry/ways that are more authentic to the subject matter. This means a move away from traditional 2- 3,000-word essays and examinations to more work with employers in the curriculum, more business simulations, and greater creativity in the ways in which students are able to apply theory to practical assessments.’

She further explains that –

‘With the increase in availability of learning materials (recorded lectures, asynchronous delivery, alternative assessment methods) students are more flexible in the ways in which they approach their learning. This challenges the notion of students being on campus for all of their studies, but still requires students to engage in their learning and take greater ownership and responsibility.’

Skills development

Employees learn 70% of their skills on the job and just 10% through formal training

Lisa Campbell-Blackwell, Employer-Partnership Advisor at the University of Bristol says –

‘Within the Careers Services we are seeking to connect employers to the curriculum post Covid by working in partnership with academics to identify areas of opportunity in order to complement academic delivery by enabling students to understand the real-world applications of their learning, to discover potential career pathways that relate to their discipline, and by preparing them to meet the skill demands of the workplace.  ​We recognise the importance of connecting employers in the curriculum to support our students’ experiential learning, be that through recruitment talks to specialist lectures, collaborating on teaching resources and contributing live content or evergreen resources.’

We spoke to one of our own FDM Skills Lab coaches, Gregor Smith for his insights into the new ways of learning. He said –

‘As a coach, the shift to experiential learning and coaching has required us to abandon old habits and is now more attuned to the realities of the business world. Instead of enduring lengthy lectures and PowerPoint presentations, consultants engage in practical, real-world scenarios.

This method ensures they understand key business aspects such as market analysis, business case creation, data analysis, data presentation, board meetings, data manipulation, AI, requirements engineering, project management and support, risk assessment, benefits, change management, and more. Consultants benefit from the comprehensive support of the business coaching team and have access to a plethora of digital content to enhance their learning experience.’

We also reached out to FDM Consultants who shared their experiences of the Skills Lab.

What our consultants say

Gianluca Danieli will soon be starting a client assignment after completing his coaching in the FDM Skills Lab. He previously worked as a functional analyst in the ERP organisation at a global energy company and led a large migration project of 12,000 documents.

‘I will be starting a client assignment working on a CRM and website implementation project. The experience of presenting the business case to leadership within the Skills Lab environment was very helpful in understanding the big picture and what senior stakeholders are interested in.’

Liban Absheir is another FDM Consultant who previously worked in Project Management before joining the FDM Change & Transformation Practice. He commended the Skills Lab’s focus on coaching, advising and creating an environment where consultants can learn from each other and enhance their collaboration and teamwork.

‘I found the practical projects and simulating real-life scenarios were helpful, such as running end-to-end project, Excel learning, etc.’

‘Coaches demonstrated deep knowledge of data, project and business principles and practices. They were approachable, provided clear explanations, and offered valuable advice and insights that assisted the learning experience.’

We have now successfully run the Skills Lab coaching model for multiple groups and received positive feedback from consultants.

Anonymous feedback collected from consultants revealed what they found most challenging and what they enjoyed the most about our coaching. Most enjoyed learning Excel skills –

‘I enjoyed the opportunity to show off my Excel skills, as I feel this is definitely one of my skills when it comes to working on client assignment and to be able to discuss this with the coach and even pick up a few new tools to use when working in Excel.’

‘I found the Excel workbook the most enjoyable as I felt I refreshed my skills.’

Gregor explained that –

‘The consultants need to analyse five years’ worth of sales data. They extrapolate it from a server using SQL, normalise the data in Excel, to then gather insights about the company and how they compare to the market – all whilst supported by a coach and any required bite-sized learning sessions.’

This hands-on experience in a simulated environment is what gets our consultants ready to make a positive impact from day one of their client assignment.

More and more universities are beginning to adopt this approach to self-learning which is aimed at providing more flexible learning journeys for students.

Sarah Wenham- Faculty Employability Manager & Curriculum Lead- Student Careers Service at the University of Leeds spoke about a big restructure in their curriculum which they are designing with inputs from employers.

When it comes to learning, they are also developing their skills units, which involves a bitesize approach to learning different skills. Students watch videos and are tasked with articles, adopting self-learning which allows them to do things at their own pace.

‘We are shifting away from theory to practical learning and currently developing a new experiential workstream- this includes year in industry but also role plays/assessment/case studies and authentic assessment.’

The FDM whitepaper reveals another interesting stat:

66% of Gen Z believe changing companies is the key to career growth

This job-hopping trend is partly due to a lack of adequate training opportunities at their current workplaces which can be a barrier to their career progression.

By fostering a culture of continuous learning and upskilling organisations can be better equipped for adopting new technologies and improve retention of this new generation of workers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the top in-demand tech skills in the market. Technologists entering the workplace now must have a familiarity with AI tools and technologies. They will become key in every role across the board, not just technical positions working on AI projects.

At FDM, we in partnership with Microsoft, enable AI fundamentals learning through the AI900 course which covers: AI concepts, applications, data privacy, security, ML concepts/models, conversational basics, Bot services, NLP fundamentals and services.

Our approach to skills development is based on 30 years of industry experience and is constantly evolving in line with market trends and technology advancements. We have evolved to an experiential learning model to better align with the demands of the modern workforce and to enhance the effectiveness of our career development programmes.

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