Discussion: View Thread

I suggest trip to see the movie _The Game_ with Michael Douglas and Sean
Penn would be profitable to those of you who use experiential games in
your work/class.


______________________
Great Optimism,

Dutch Driver
Abilene, TX
Hm. Telephone: 915.698.7217
mailto:ddriver@cs1.mcm.edu

Well, I saw it and don't see it of value for my teaching. What
sort of 'profitable' baggage did you unload from it Dutch?

Dutch Driver wrote:

> I suggest trip to see the movie _The Game_ with Michael Douglas and Sean
> Penn would be profitable to those of you who use experiential games in
> your work/class.
>
> ______________________
> Great Optimism,
>
> Dutch Driver
> Abilene, TX
> Hm. Telephone: 915.698.7217
> mailto:ddriver@cs1.mcm.edu

On Tue, 16 Sep 1997, Charlie Wankel wrote:

> Well, I saw it and don't see it of value for my teaching. What
> sort of 'profitable' baggage did you unload from it Dutch?

Ethics. With the rising use of ROPES/COPES/Outward Bound-type courses,
the question raised for me is "What are the limits on the experience?"

Without going into the particulars for those who have not seen the movie,
the first casualty was Personal Comfort followed closely by Truth and a
series of steps regressing the character down Maslow's Hierarchy of Human
Motivation. I thought the movie full of motivation and manipulation
techniques that could act as discussion fodder for students and
professors alike.


______________________
Great Optimism,

Dutch Driver
Abilene, TX
Hm. Telephone: 915.698.7217
mailto:ddriver@cs1.mcm.edu

>I suggest trip to see the movie _The Game_ with Michael Douglas and Sean
>Penn would be profitable to those of you who use experiential games in
>your work/class.
>
>
>______________________
>Great Optimism,
>
>Dutch Driver
>Abilene, TX
>Hm. Telephone: 915.698.7217
>mailto:ddriver@cs1.mcm.edu

Dutch,

I think the word game has a manipulative connotation that those of us who
use experiential exercises try to avoid. It seems to me that the
responsible use of experiential exercises does the opposit of what you are
implying. The goal is to create clarity, not confusion, a sense of
self-efficacy, not loss of control, careful debriefing tied to specific
learning goals, generalizable learning and more. But maybe most importantly
is a difference in intent. Clearly experiential exercises can and have been
misused but comparing them to Michael Douglas's experience in "The Game"
does not seem warranted.

Cheryl