The two “e”s in Unleesh
I had a leg up starting my journalism career. No doubt about it.
While other cub reporters were learning the ropes, fumbling with open records requests and startled by hard deadlines and even harder editors, I felt like a seasoned pro.
During my junior and senior year in college, I was lucky enough to participate in a unique program called the Capitol Reporter. Basically, for entire semesters, journalism students staffed a real working newspaper, from reporting to design. At the helm was a seasoned, gruff newspaper editor retired from the local daily who brought with him years of wisdom and the colorful vernacular of a newsroom. The paper was real. It broke stories, brought down lawmakers and served as a wire service for small newspapers that didn’t have resources of their own.
Years later as an editor I would wince at interns or new hires who came to daily newspapers with Masters degrees in journalism from prestigious schools with professors who theorized aplenty, but had never worked in a newsroom. These novices just weren’t ready.
Experience matters.
Over the years, much has been discussed about both “experiential education” and “experiential learning.” So much so, that in the academia world it is frowned upon to suggest that the two are interchangeable.
Experiential education is a “philosophy” while experiential learning is a “process.” Regardless, the goal of both is “learning by doing,” which is the core principal we subscribe to.
We believe in David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model.
His model states that for learners to gain knowledge:
The learner must be willing to be actively involved in the experience;
The learner must be able to reflect on the experience;
The learner must possess and use analytical skills to conceptualize the experience; and
The learner must possess decision-making and problem-solving skills in order to use the new ideas gained from the experience.
We didn’t spell Unleesh with two “e”s by accident. We believe that proper job training doesn’t happen by reading a pamphlet or taking a multiple choice quiz after watching a video.
Instead, we have built a mobile app that allows a learner to engage with training and provide proper reflection in a much more enjoyable and impactful way than traditional systems.
We aren’t changing the content. In fact, in most cases we can take the content already being used by a company and transform it into meaningful lessons without the company having to do much all. We are simply creating more meaningful learning experiences that in turn will make employees more knowledgeable and productive.
Experiential Education matters in the workplace as much as it does in academia. And that’s why we created Unleesh. With two “e”s, of course.
Travis Henry Chief Content & Product Officer
