Human actions are designed to achieve intended consequences and governed by a set of environment variables. We believe that for an engaging learning experience, the difference is how the governing variables are treated in designing actions to achieve the intended consequences and to openly inquire about conflict. We are strongly critical of the transmission of mere "facts" as the goal of education. Our view of education is to enable practice and help learners achieve critical consciousness on technical subject.

Our learning philosophy is founded on the principles of Cooperative inquiry; Developmental Action Inquiry, and Action Research, and focuses on four different types of knowledge: propositional knowing (as in contemporary science), practical knowing (the knowledge that comes with actually doing what you propose), experiential knowing (the feedback we get in real time about our interaction with the larger world) and presentational knowing (the artistic rehearsal process through which we craft new practices).

The learning process includes these four stages at each cycle with deepening experience and knowledge of the initial proposition, or of new propositions, at every cycle. The learning cycle at ETI is a “way of simultaneously conducting action and inquiry as a disciplined leadership practice that increases the wider effectiveness of our actions. Such action we believe helps individuals, teams, organizations become more capable of self-transformation and thus more creative, more aware, more just and more sustainable.
Built on the principle of Action research our pedagogy is problem centered, client centered, and action oriented. It involves the client system in a diagnostic, active-learning, problem-finding, and problem-solving process. The pedagogy also sets in motion a long-range, cyclical, self-correcting mechanism for maintaining and enhancing the effectiveness of the client's system by leaving the system with practical and useful tools for self-analysis and self-renewal. Our learning philosophy and model is intended to meet the challenge of creating effective and engaging instruction that’s easily deployed for our customers. Our design, development and quality assurance standards and processes are all geared toward ensuring that each course meets your expectations for the best learning possible.

The design of each course starts with the definition of user-focused, role based performance objectives for an individual. We then initiate the learning with a role based assessment and proceeds to the selection of instructional strategies; preparation of a learning plan and implementing learning activities appropriate for those objectives. Upon completion of the learning, we then collect feedback to check if the objective was achieved as desired.

Frequent practice questions or exercises along with assessments measure users' achievement of those objectives. This robust, yet flexible, design methodology creates an instructionally sound framework for the design and development of highly interactive, engaging, and transformational courses—regardless of the content focus or level of learning.

The competency development cycle begins with a series of planning actions initiated by the client and the change agent working together. The principal elements of this stage include a preliminary assessment, data gathering, feedback of results, and joint action and plan for learning. In the language of systems theory, this is the input phase, in which the client system becomes aware of problems as yet unidentified, realizes it may need outside help to effect changes, and shares with the consultant the process of problem diagnosis.

The second stage of competency development is the action, or transformation, phase. This stage includes actions relating to learning processes (perhaps in the form of role analysis) and to planning and executing behavioral changes in the client organization. As shown in Figure 1, feedback at this stage would move via Feedback Loop A and would have the effect of altering previous planning to bring the learning activities of the client system into better alignment with change objectives. Included in this stage is action-planning activity carried out jointly by the consultant and members of the client system. Following the workshop or learning sessions, these action steps are carried out on the job as part of the transformation stage.

The third stage of competency development is the output, or results, phase. This stage includes actual changes in behavior (if any) resulting from corrective action steps taken following the second stage. Data are again gathered from the client system so that progress can be determined and necessary adjustments in learning activities can be made. Minor adjustments of this nature can be made in learning activities via Feedback Loop B (see Figure 1). Major adjustments and reevaluations would return the OD project to the first, or planning, stage for basic changes in the program.