Little Planet Learning is a pioneer in the use of technology to support group learning experiences. Many technology-based training programs make the faulty assumption that the optimal learning configuration is one person in front of a computer — because people can learn anytime and anywhere at their own pace. Unfortunately, this approach generally violates a cardinal rule of learning: People learn complex life skills best in social/community experiences.

At the core of challenge-based learning is the notion that there are no simple answers to complex problems, and that group interaction is the key ingredient for getting people to challenge their assumptions and beliefs and accept new insights. The process is designed to be particularly efficient in transferring knowledge from classroom to real-world situations — and it is radically different from the typical “I teach, you listen” PowerPoint presentation. Learners are immersed in an experience and learn by solving problems instead of passively receiving non-contextualized information from an expert.

The Challenge-Based Learning Cycle ^(TM) was created to provide a group learning experience that:

• Engages the hearts and minds of learners in powerful experiences that teach them to thrive in complex real-world situations.
  
• Teaches learners to change and grow—and to discard outworn assumptions.
  
• Delivers consistent research-based learning experiences to widely-distributed audiences through facilitators without being reliant on them for subject matter expertise.

Little Planet’s research has proved the efficacy of challenge-based learning in many large scale deployments:

• A Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company hired Little Planet to re-engineer its sales training process to help new hires gain a deep understanding of customers as well as an appreciation of both sales and medical concepts.
• After the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested billions of dollars in educational reform efforts, it engaged Little Planet to teach school principals across the United States how to move beyond management into true leadership.
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services turned to Little Planet to create a program to teach nurses around the country how to remain functional in weapons-of-mass-destruction or terrorist attacks.