Expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing is high­ly effec­tive for skill acqui­si­tion. But when in-per­son ses­sions aren’t pos­si­ble, a vir­tu­al work­shop can pro­vide an alter­na­tive solu­tion. Cre­at­ed by Mike Rother, Kata in the Class­room intro­duces the Improve­ment Kata. Using an online spread­sheet, teams engage in the work­shop and have fun while learn­ing about the Improve­ment Kata and its prac­ti­cal applications.

The vir­tu­al Kata in the Class­room work­shop uses an online spread­sheet. Learn how to con­vert the text to numer­als and meet spe­cif­ic for­mat­ting cri­te­ria, ulti­mate­ly con­sol­i­dat­ing the con­vert­ed text into a sin­gle col­umn. Learn how to use vir­tu­al meet­ing soft­ware used to facil­i­tate this activity.

To ensure a smooth vir­tu­al work­shop expe­ri­ence, it’s essen­tial to con­duct a pre-work­shop meet­ing to address tech­ni­cal issues and famil­iar­ize par­tic­i­pants with the soft­ware. Learn how to share a blank online spread­sheet, per­form a respon­sive­ness test, and prac­tice the break­out room func­tion­al­i­ty for team activities.

This mod­ule includes a step-by-step process for facil­i­ta­tors to guide par­tic­i­pants through prac­tic­ing the Improve­ment Kata vir­tu­al­ly. This includes break­out room dis­cus­sions, plan­ning exper­i­ments, doc­u­ment­ing results, and debrief­ing the coach­ing cycle.