Teaching "Concertation" : the Acceptance of Conflicts and the Experience of Creativity Using La Francilienne Cd Rom

In this paper , I will describe and discuss my use of La Francilienne Cd Rom I developed with my colleague Alain Lempereur, Law Professor at ESSEC Business School, Paris. As a Professor in the ESSEC Department of Environment, I use the Cd Rom as the basic tool for my course "Concertation , Decision and Local Democracy". The Cd Rom's simulation of a concertation process on a highway project allows me not only to teach basic concepts and methods of negotiation and mediation, as we will see, but also to enhance two important concepts in public decision processes in planning and environment: conflicts and creativity. The students are given the opportunity to experience then to discuss conflicts and creativity in a quasi-real setting. These experiences and discussions, which come close to an internal change for the students, help them to integrate the negotiation and mediation concepts and methods taught. This internal change will be conceptualized using transitional thinking theory and experiential learning theory. A narrative will show the students' internal change occurrence along the course. We will see that La Francilienne Cd Rom offers a relevant context and tool for it.After a presentation of the course, I will continue with a detailed narrative of how I use the Cd Rom and will finish with a discussion on several important choices made in my pedagogical approach.