"LOLA" is the acronym for Live Online Learning Activity. It is an interactive exercise that is incorporated in an online training session. Different types of LOLAs work in different contexts to achieve different training purposes.
Kinesthetic LOLAs require the participants to undertake some physical activity to explore some aspects of a training topic or learning strategy.
Why Conduct Kinesthetic LOLAs?
Here are some of the advantages of using kinesthetic LOLAs:
They move the online training session beyond the computer keyboard and screen.
They provide a welcome change of pace from physical passivity.
They enable the participants to process the information through touch and movement.
They tap into Kinesthetic intelligence (as labeled by Howard Gardner).
They build muscle memory to increase retention and recall.
Here are five examples of kinesthetic LOLAs:
Polite Requests
This kinesthetic LOLA demonstrates our tendency to jump into action without listening completely to the other person’s request. Give a series of simple requests (such as touch your nose). Tell the participants to follow your request—but only if you say “Please” at the end. Give random instructions, simultaneously performing the action yourself. Follow some of your instructions with the word “Please”. Most participants will obey your instructions even without the “Please”.
Kinesthetic Roleplay
This kinesthetic LOLA involves a physical activity to provides a change of pace from listening and talking. Tell the participants that they are going to participate in a roleplay—without talking. Appoint a random participant to be the judge. For the first round, tell everyone to act out a round of boxing. Request the participants to continue their kinesthetic roleplay for 30 seconds. Ask the judge to select the participant who played the role realistically and vigorously. Repeat with more roleplays that involve intense physical activities such as hiking, climbing a rock, cycling, swimming, running a sprint race, performing yoga, and waking on a treadmill.
Blindfolded Drawing
This kinesthetic LOLA demonstrates the differences between the first and the second time a novel activity is undertaken. Make sure that everyone has a sheet of paper and a pencil. Ask the participants to blindfold themselves – and draw a face within a minute. Later, ask the participants to remove their blindfolds and hold their drawings to the camera. After everyone has displayed their pictures, invite the participants to yell out words that describe how they felt during the drawing activity. These words are likely to include uncertain, incompetent, strange, and pessimistic. Repeat the activity (of putting the blindfolds back on, drawing and displaying a face, and yelling out feeling words) for another round. Compare the participants’ feelings between the first and second drawing exercises.
Mime
This kinesthetic LOLA rewards the participants for their ability to communicate nonverbally through gestures and body language. Specify an adjective (such as impatient or narrow) and ask the participants to communicate this word silently through miming. After a few rounds with adjectives, specify an adjective plus noun combination (such as angry bird or rapid turtle) to be conveyed through silent miming.
Grab a Metaphor
This kinesthetic LOLA uses typical objects found in an office room (example: a stapler) as a metaphor for the training topi (example: giving feedback). Ask the participants to move away from their computer and pick up any small object found nearby. Invite a random participant to show the object and describe it. Invite the other participants to open their mics and makes statements relating the features and functions of the object with the training topic.