The ACE Experiential Learning Institute (FELI) is five-day professional development experience designed for community college faculty, staff, and administrators. The FELI is an experiential workshop involving more than fifty exercises and activities. These activities include but are not limited to large group discussion, small group sharing and presentations, movement activities, role-playing and reflection. ACE structures the activities to create a community of learners, and asks that all attendees be prepared to participate fully as active learners. We use many different pedagogical techniques to allow for learning and growth in unexpected ways, as well as, to keep participants fully engaged throughout the day. We ask that participants attend each day in full as each exercise builds on the previous one and rapport is built within the group as the days unfold. Each FELI group is capped at 25 participants to ensure time for each participant to be heard.

The FELI workshop challenges participants in many ways:

• You will be asked to closely examine reality versus your perceptions in the areas of working styles, listening abilities and communications techniques.
• You will experience the difference between outside-in learning and inside-out learning.
• You will be asked to practice authentic communication and understand the value of self-awareness and self-disclosure as vehicles for the transformation of education.

A majority of participants report that they experience significant renewal and inspiration upon completion of a FELI.

The FELI can be offered as a stand-alone professional development activity or as a part of the process of bringing an ACE program to a college.

The FELI is the first step for faculty interested in teaching ACE classes.

This workshop simulates the transformative learning incorporated into the ACE Bridge Semester program for students.