One of the key tools Heen employs to activate learning and self-reflection in the Workshop is student-driven roleplaying, with students invited to bring to class a real conflict in their life.  Students bring everything from frustration with roommates and friends to disagreements with peers to drawing boundaries with a boss or another authority figure.  Students then conduct an intense, videotaped roleplay and coaching exercise with classmates and faculty to unpack where they’re getting stuck and what options for resolution might not be obvious to them, resulting in practice and reflection. This personal approach to experiencing negotiation invites students to focus on the process, rather than the outcome, and particularly on areas where they may have been less successful.

It’s important to Heen that her students discover that moments of failure, regret, frustration, and surprise are often the key moments of learning that deserve careful reflection. This reframes the way they learn in the give-and-take experience of negotiation, or any other interaction in which one person is trying to influence another. This is emphasized by the Workshop’s approach to grading, which is not based on negotiation outcomes, but on evidence of the students’ mastery of a set of analytical frameworks and their own growth in self-awareness. Heen and her faculty colleagues act as role models by letting students know from the start that the faculty will be “fellow learners in the classroom.” They still lead the way, but acknowledge when mistakes are made. This shifts the mindset for students away from thinking of negotiation as something they must “win” in the classroom. 
 

The benefits

Pairing student engagement through personal stakes in a roleplaying exercise with the adoption of a reflective practice in the classroom offers multifaceted benefits. Heen's approach aims to not only foster critical thinking, but autonomy, preparing students to become lifelong learners who can adapt to new challenges and reflect on their experiences to continually improve. As students practice negotiation skills in real-world situations throughout the Workshop, with cases getting more complex over the semester, they reflect on their application of concepts and strategies taught in class. In her dynamic classroom, Heen limits the lecture time and asks students to roleplay, write reflections, and read and comment on other students’ reflections. These exercises allow students to gain a deeper understanding of their own decision-making process, breeding self-awareness that extends beyond the classroom. 

“We really think of teaching as a negotiation—negotiating with students for their willingness to be engaged, to try something new, to own their mistakes and be open and self-reflect. As faculty, we need to be role modeling that ourselves and be fellow learners in the classroom alongside our students.”

The challenges

 Implementing reflective practices requires creating an environment where students feel safe to share their thoughts and experiences, even those that involve failure or uncertainty. From the get-go, Heen and the teaching team demonstrate openness to making mistakes and learning from them, but emphasize that the role of the teaching team is to “put the invitation [to engage in open reflection] squarely in the students’ court” and provide ample opportunities for them to grow. Faculty must be cognizant of what their own limits are and what qualified resources are available at the University in terms of grappling with some of the personal – and perhaps traumatic – cases that a student might choose to bring to the Workshop. Supplemental training for faculty on listening and de-escalation techniques can go a long way in letting the students know they are in a safe space. At the same time, Heen finds that for many students, the focus on making mistakes is disconcerting because “failure muscles are often underdeveloped” in highly successful individuals. However, the teaching team sees this course merely as a starting point, with a goal of providing students with the skills and frameworks needed to keep growing their skillset and reflecting on their approaches after the course finishes. 
 

Takeaways and best practices

• Align Assessment with Learning Goals.
  The grading philosophy in Heen's classes aligns with the focus on the process of learning negotiation and the students’ reflection of their learning. Grades are not based on negotiation outcomes. Instead, they are based on the rigor of students' analytical thinking and their self-awareness and sense of responsibility. This emphasizes the goal of viewing negotiation as a give-and-take conversation rather than a conflict that must be “won” by a single party.
• Embrace “Tell, Show, Do.”
  The Negotiation Workshop is aligned with a “Tell, Show, Do” model where the three forms of instruction are presented in different orders each week. Lecturettes, research examples, modeling, and simulations come together to provide students with multiple modalities of learning. Heen notes that “you don’t always need to start with ‘Tell’, and it shouldn’t be the biggest piece of the session,” but ensuring that each dimension of the model is present captures attention and meets the needs of different learners. Faculty can guide students to find answers for themselves to encourage critical thinking and autonomy.
• Practice, Reflect, Repeat.
  Heen's students negotiate every day, practicing the skills they learn in class. They also write reflections on their experiences, focusing on key moments where they made a choice that led to unexpected outcomes. Focusing on these moments of realization and challenge not only helps students learn to think critically about their experiences, but encourages them to take responsibility for their choices.

Bottom line

Ongoing reflection enables students to develop their sense of self-awareness and to learn from their mistakes. Despite challenges, modeling the approach can help to normalize failure and uncertainty, creating a space where students not only learn from their own experiences through roleplaying personal scenarios, but from others’ as well.