When you engage the world around you, including other people you might encounter, you’ll find a fresh perspective.
Hopefully, you can then reframe your challenge and find your next step. This out-in-the-world audio experience helps you get “unstuck” on a challenge you choose. You will find inspiration in unexpected places, take time for intentional reflection, and practice reframing problems. Use it on your own or with a group whenever you feel stuck on a challenge.
How does it work?
Getting Unstuck is self-paced and takes about two hours. All you need is a mobile device connected to the internet to stream audio, plus earbuds, a notebook, and a pen.When you feel done with one part, hit play on the next track to skip to the next. Some tracks have music on the end to keep you company as you walk from one place to another.
The activity
Step 1. Make sure you have what you need. Getting Unstuck is a guided audio experience that takes place outdoors, out in the real world. Carve out about 2 hours for setup, the walk, and a group debrief. Each person needs a mobile device to stream audio from the internet, a pair of earbuds, a notebook, and a pen. And of course, whatever clothing they need to spend 2 hours outside.
If streaming audio is not an option, participants can download audio to their devices before they start.
Step 2: Introduce Getting Unstuck and send participants out.
Step 3. Go for a walk. Ask participants to make sure they have everything they need (see above) and ask them to navigate to the audio stream on their mobile devices.
Once they’ve pulled up the page, tell them to plug in their earbuds, grab their notebook and pen, and head outside. Once outside, they hit play. Once participants hit play, the audio track will guide the rest of their journey.
Each participant will end up in a different location based on the choices they make along the way—make sure they know how to get back to a group meeting place when they're done.
Step 4: Debrief. Decide what you want the debrief to focus on:
The content: framing a challenge, taking action to find a fresh perspective on that challenge, intentional reflection, and finally the act of re-framing the challenge (most teams will pick this).
The format: the act of learning through an immersive learning audio experience (suitable for educators or education students).
A common debrief structure we recommend has three layers: What? So what? Now what?
What?
Discuss what happened. Let participants share their own highlights. Ask them to pair up and share with a partner first, then hear a couple of comments shared in the big group. Questions to get them started might be:
A. What was it like framing a challenge for yourself? What action did you take to find a fresh perspective? How did you reframe your challenge in the end?
B. What was it like learning through an audio walk? or How did Getting Unstuck affect your learning?
So What?
A. What did you learn from this experience about taking an action to re-frame your challenge? Why is this important?
B. How do different modes of learning affect your experience? When are you most engaged? When do you learn the most?
Now What?
A. How will Getting Unstuck change how you approach challenges in the future?
B. How will this experience influence how you think of your role as a teacher? What can you do to make your learning experiences more immersive and active?
Credits
Tania Anaissie, Erik Olesund
Related Resources
Inspiration Walk
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