Setting out across the sea of monsters: Bringing learning design into mediator training

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21255
• Published date: 01 September 2019
• Date: 01 September 2019

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Setting out across the sea of monsters: Bringing

learning design into mediator training

Sabine Walsh

Head of Curriculum Innovation, Mediator

Academy, London, UK

Correspondence

Sabine Walsh, Head of Curriculum

Innovation, Mediator Academy, London,

UK.

Email: sabine@mediatoracademy.com

Abstract

As online education increases its foothold in higher and

professional education, educators must face the challenge

of bringing experiential learning activities such as role-

play into online settings. Mediation courses rely heavily

on role-play, but are increasingly moving online. This lit-

erature review will ascertain to what extent online media-

tion training is being considered, and how experiential

learning can be brought into the online classroom. Sugges-

tions will be made as to how such courses can be informed

by the theory and practice of effective learning design so

as to improve the experience of, and outcomes for online

students of mediation.

1|INTRODUCTION

We behave as if we are content to live on two sovereign islands, one for academics and

one for practitioners—separated by an uncharted sea, full of monsters. (Honeyman,

McAdoo, and Welsh, 2001, p. 1, quoted in Macfarlane & Mayer, 2005, p. 259)

The discussion around integrating theory and practice more closely is not a new one. Many disci-

plines suffer from a gap between theory and practice, and the field of conflict resolution is only one

of these. This gap becomes most apparent in the context of education and training in this field, where

practice is taught without sufficiently addressing theory. Macfarlane and Mayer (2005), in hypothe-

sizing that education and training in conflict resolution “offer a practical and conceptual nexus

between the worlds of theory and practice”(p. 260), nonetheless found that in reality, little theory

was being used in training by those delivering it, despite the same individuals putting great value on

the development of theory and research in the field.

The theory(ies) that Macfarlane and Mayer (2005) were referring to are those underpinning the

field of conflict resolution. This article aims to explore the even more significant gap between the

Received: 12 September 2018 Revised: 5 April 2019 Accepted: 12 May 2019

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21255

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2019;37:79–94. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 79

practice of teaching conflict resolution, and a different set of theories, namely those that inform the

design and delivery of effective learning, generally, and those that apply to learning online, more

specifically.

Mediation training is delivered in a variety of contexts and formats throughout the world. Most

education and training providers have traditionally emphasized small group teaching, interactive,

workshop-style approaches and, particularly, the use of role-play and simulation (Walsh, 2015). The

latter also forms the basis for many organizations' assessment of mediator skills for the purposes of

professional accreditation. As awareness of mediation as a dispute resolution option grows, so does

the interest in such courses internationally.

At the same time, demand for online learning has been growing exponentially, particularly in the

higher and professional education sectors, with online enrollments continuing to grow year on year,

and an increasing focus on teaching job-specific skills online (Friedman, 2018). Online higher educa-

tion enrollments now outpace ordinary enrollments in university and changing demographics and

employer needs are driving a radical shift in how learning is being accessed and consumed (Fong,

Schroeder, & Halfond, 2017). Many courses are moving into the online environment, and mediation

is no exception. In both higher education and professional training contexts, those designing and

delivering mediation education are under pressure to offer their courses online (Holon IQ, 2019;

Online Learning Consortium, 2016).

This paper aims to test, using a literature review, a hypothesis that the author has formed based

on her professional experience in designing mediation courses, teaching mediation, assessing media-

tors, and externally evaluating training courses. This hypothesis is that, in general, online mediation

courses are designed and delivered without much, if any, consideration of approaches to, and best

practice in online learning and learning design, to the potential detriment of the courses in question

and the experience, therefore, of students taking mediation courses online.

Mediation and conflict management is one of a range of topics and disciplines that are now being

both practiced, and taught online, having previously been confined to the boardroom or the class-

room (Becker et al., 2017; Rainey, 2017). This raises many questions about various aspects of online

education (Webster, 2017). Wing and Rainey caution against transmuting the theory of face-to-face

conflict resolution practice to the online domain without adapting it to the new environment, and the

same holds true for the learning of mediation online (Wing & Rainey, 2012).

The deficiencies in foundational theories for online course design are relatively well documented,

as are their consequences. “Professional development of instructors in new technology-based educa-

tion has also been concentrated on operating continuously evolving technological tools without pro-

viding valuable theoretical underpinnings or reliable research. This often resulted in ineffective

classroom applications and/or superficial renovation of traditional educational practices that did not

produce significant gains in the learning”(Serdyukov, 2015, p. 62).

The review will be structured as follows: After a brief discussion of trends in mediation training

and education in general, the focus will be on role-play and simulation, and their delivery in the con-

text of fully online and blended courses. As the quantity of literature on online mediator education is

minimal, some forays will be made into the discussion of other, analogous disciplines being taught

online such as negotiation, online dispute resolution (ODR), and other forms of conflict management.

In reviewing this research, an attempt will be made to ascertain to what extent theories of learning

design and pedagogy have helped inform the design, or at least, the discussion of the training

reviewed, and where it may help in addressing problems, or filling gaps identified. It is hoped that

the outcome will be to show how even a basic knowledge of pedagogy and learning design theory

can assist in designing high-quality online mediation courses incorporating the highly valued

80 WALSH