Experiential learning

Shimer College students learning to cook by cooking, 1942.

Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience, and is more specifically defined as "learning through reflection on doing".[1] Hands-on learning is a form of experiential learning but does not necessarily involve students reflecting on their product.[2][3][4] Experiential learning is distinct from rote or didactic learning, in which the learner plays a comparatively passive role.[5] It is related to but not synonymous with other forms of active learning such as action learning, adventure learning, free choice learning, cooperative learning, and service learning.[6]

Experiential learning is often used synonymously with the term "experiential education", but while experiential education is a broader philosophy of education, experiential learning considers the individual learning process.[7] As such, compared to experiential education, experiential learning is concerned with more concrete issues related to the learner and the learning context.

The general concept of learning through experience is ancient. Around 350 BCE, Aristotle wrote in the Nichomachean Ethics "for the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them".[8] But as an articulated educational approach, experiential learning is of much more recent vintage. Beginning in the 1970s, David A. Kolb helped to develop the modern theory of experiential learning, drawing heavily on the work of John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget.[9]

Kolb experiential learning model

Experiential learning focuses on the learning process for the individual. One example of experiential learning is going to the zoo and learning through observation and interaction with the zoo environment, as opposed to reading about animals from a book. Thus, one makes discoveries and experiments with knowledge firsthand, instead of hearing or reading about others' experiences. Likewise, in business school, internship, and job-shadowing, opportunities in a student’s field of interest can provide valuable experiential learning which contributes significantly to the student’s overall understanding of the real-time environment.[10]

A third example of experiential learning involves learning how to ride a bike,[11] a process which can illustrate the four-step experiential learning model (ELM) as set forth by Kolb[12] and outlined in Figure 1 below. Following this example, in the "concrete experience" stage, the learner physically experiences the bike in the "here-and-now".[13] This experience forms "the basis for observation and reflection" and the learner has the opportunity to consider what is working or failing (reflective observation), and to think about ways to improve on the next attempt made at riding (abstract conceptualization). Every new attempt to ride is informed by a cyclical pattern of previous experience, thought and reflection (active experimentation).[13]

Figure 1 – David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model (ELM) [14]

→ Concrete Experience ↓
Active Experimentation Reflective Observation
↑ Abstract Conceptualization ←

Elements of experiential learning

Experiential learning can exist without a teacher and relates solely to the meaning-making process of the individual's direct experience. However, though the gaining of knowledge is an inherent process that occurs naturally, a genuine learning experience requires certain elements.[6] According to Kolb, knowledge is continuously gained through both personal and environmental experiences.[15] Kolb states that in order to gain genuine knowledge from an experience, the learner must have four abilities:

Implementation

Experiential learning requires self-initiative, an "intention to learn" and an "active phase of learning".[16] Kolb's cycle of experiential learning can be used as a framework for considering the different stages involved.[17] Jennifer A. Moon has elaborated on this cycle to argue that experiential learning is most effective when it involves: 1) a "reflective learning phase" 2) a phase of learning resulting from the actions inherent to experiential learning, and 3) "a further phase of learning from feedback".[16] This process of learning can result in "changes in judgment, feeling or skills" for the individual[18] and can provide direction for the "making of judgments as a guide to choice and action".[19]

Most educators understand the important role experience plays in the learning process. The role of emotion and feelings in learning from experience has been recognised as an important part of experiential learning.[16] While those factors may improve the likelihood of experiential learning occurring, it can occur without them. Rather, what is vital in experiential learning is that the individual is encouraged to directly involve themselves in the experience, and then to reflect on their experiences using analytic skills, in order that they gain a better understanding of the new knowledge and retain the information for a longer time.

Reflection is a crucial part of the experiential learning process, and like experiential learning itself, it can be facilitated or independent. Dewey wrote that "successive portions of reflective thought grow out of one another and support one another", creating a scaffold for further learning, and allowing for further experiences and reflection.[20] This reinforces the fact that experiential learning and reflective learning are iterative processes, and the learning builds and develops with further reflection and experience. Facilitation of experiential learning and reflection is challenging, but "a skilled facilitator, asking the right questions and guiding reflective conversation before, during, and after an experience, can help open a gateway to powerful new thinking and learning".[21] Jacobson and Ruddy, building on Kolb's four-stage Experiential Learning Model[13] and Pfeiffer and Jones's five stage Experiential Learning Cycle,[22] took these theoretical frameworks and created a simple, practical questioning model for facilitators to use in promoting critical reflection in experiential learning. Their "5 Questions" model is as follows:[21]

These questions are posed by the facilitator after an experience, and gradually lead the group towards a critical reflection on their experience, and an understanding of how they can apply the learning to their own life.[21] Although the questions are simple, they allow a relatively inexperienced facilitator to apply the theories of Kolb, Pfeiffer, and Jones, and deepen the learning of the group.

While it is the learner's experience that is most important to the learning process, it is also important not to forget the wealth of experience a good facilitator also brings to the situation. However, while a facilitator, or "teacher", may improve the likelihood of experiential learning occurring, a facilitator is not essential to experiential learning. Rather, the mechanism of experiential learning is the learner's reflection on experiences using analytic skills. This can occur without the presence of a facilitator, meaning that experiential learning is not defined by the presence of a facilitator. Yet, by considering experiential learning in developing course or program content, it provides an opportunity to develop a framework for adapting varying teaching/learning techniques into the classroom.[23]

Experiential learning in schools

Alt text
THINK Global School students Yada and Charis engage in experiential learning with a Guaraní shaman in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina

See also: Experiential education

Experiential learning is supported in different school organizational models and learning environments.

Experiential learning in business education

As higher education continues to adapt to new expectations from students, experiential learning in business and accounting programs has become more important. For example, Clark & White (2010) point out that "a quality university business education program must include an experiential learning component".[25] With reference to this study, employers note that graduating students need to build skills in “professionalism” – which can be taught via experiential learning. Students also value this learning as much as industry.

Learning styles also impact business education in the classroom. Kolb transposes four learning styles, Diverger, Assimilator, Accommodator and Converger, atop the Experiential Learning Model, using the four experiential learning stages to carve out "four quadrants", one for each learning style. An individual’s dominant learning style can be identified by taking Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI). Robert Loo (2002) undertook a meta-analysis of 8 studies which revealed that Kolb’s learning styles were not equally distributed among business majors in the sample.[26] More specifically, results indicated that there appears to be a high proportion of assimilators and a lower proportion of accommodators than expected for business majors. Not surprisingly, within the accounting sub-sample there was a higher proportion of convergers and a lower proportion of accommodates. Similarly, in the finance sub-sample, a higher proportion of assimilators and lower proportion of divergers was apparent. Within the marketing sub-sample there was an equal distribution of styles. This would provide some evidence to suggest that while it is useful for educators to be aware of common learning styles within business and accounting programs, they should be encouraging students to use all four learning styles appropriately and students should use a wide range of learning methods.[26]

Professional education applications, also known as management training or organizational development, apply experiential learning techniques in training employees at all levels within the business and professional environment. Interactive, role-play based customer service training is often used in large retail chains.[27] Training board games simulating business and professional situations such as the Beer Distribution Game used to teach supply chain management, and the Friday Night at the ER game used to teach systems thinking, are used in business training efforts.[28]

Comparisons

Experiential Learning is more efficient than passive learning like reading or listening.[29]

Experiential learning is most easily compared with academic learning, the process of acquiring information through the study of a subject without the necessity for direct experience. While the dimensions of experiential learning are analysis, initiative, and immersion, the dimensions of academic learning are constructive learning and reproductive learning.[30] Though both methods aim at instilling new knowledge in the learner, academic learning does so through more abstract, classroom-based techniques, whereas experiential learning actively involves the learner in a concrete experience.

See also

Wikiversity has learning materials about Experiential learning

People

See also

References

  1. ↑ Felicia, Patrick (2011). Handbook of Research on Improving Learning and Motivation. p. 1003. ISBN 1609604962.
  2. ↑ The Out of Eden Walk: An Experiential Learning Journey from the Virtual to the Real, Edutopia, January 3, 2014. Retrieved 2016-03-16
  3. ↑ Action Learning - How does it work in practice? MIT Sloan Management. Retrieved 2016-03-16
  4. ↑ The Power of Experiential Learning, 4-H Cooperative Curriculum System.Retrieved 2016-03-16
  5. ↑ Beard, Colin (2010). The Experiential Learning Toolkit: Blending Practice with Concepts. p. 20. ISBN 9780749459345.
  6. 1 2 Itin, C. M. (1999). Reasserting the Philosophy of Experiential Education as a Vehicle for Change in the 21st Century. The Journal of Physical Education 22(2), 91-98.
  7. ↑ Breunig, Mary C. (2009). "Teaching Dewey's Experience and Education Experientially". In Stremba, Bob; Bisson, Christian A. Teaching Adventure Education Theory: Best Practices. p. 122. ISBN 9780736071260.
  8. ↑ Nicomachean Ethics, Book 2, Ross translation (1908).
  9. ↑ Dixon, Nancy M.; Adams, Doris E.; Cullins, Richard (1997). "Learning Style". Assessment, Development, and Measurement. p. 41. ISBN 9781562860493.
  10. ↑ McCarthy, P. R., & McCarthy, H. M. (2006). When Case Studies Are Not Enough: Integrating Experiential Learning Into Business Curricula. Journal Of Education For Business, 81(4), 201-204.
  11. ↑ Kraft, R. G. (1994).Bike riding and the art of learning.In L. B. Barnes, C. Roland Christensen, & A. J. Hansen (Eds.), Teaching and the case method.Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
  12. ↑ Loo, R. (2002). A Meta-Analytic Examination of Kolb's Learning Style Preferences Among Business Majors. Journal of Education for Business, 77:5, 252-256
  13. 1 2 3 Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. p. 21
  14. ↑ http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/gradschool/training/resources/teaching/theories/kolb Retrieved October 28, 2012.
  15. ↑ Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in adulthood: a comprehensive guide. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
  16. 1 2 3 Moon, J. (2004). A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning:Theory and Practice. London: Routledge Falmer. p. 126.
  17. ↑ Kolb, D (1984). Experiential Learning as the Science of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  18. ↑ Chickering, A (1977). Experience and Learning. New York: Change Magazine Press. p. 63.
  19. ↑ Hutton, M. (1980). Learning from action: a conceptual framework, in S. Warner Weil and M. McGill (eds) Making Sense of Experiential Learning. Milton Keynes: SRHE/Open University Press. pp. 50–9, p.51.
  20. ↑ Kompf, M., & Bond, R. (2001). Critical reflection in adult education. In T. Barer-Stein & M. Kompf (Eds.), The craft of teaching adults (p. 55). Toronto, ON: Irwin.
  21. 1 2 3 Jacobson, M. & Ruddy, M. (2004) Open to outcome (p. 2). Oklahoma City, OK: Wood 'N' Barnes.
  22. ↑ Pfeiffer, W. & Jones, J. E. (1975). A Handbook of Structured Experiences for Human Relations Training. La Jolla, California: University Associates.
  23. ↑ Rodrigues, C. A. (2004). The importance level of ten teaching/learning techniques as rated by university business students and instructors. Journal Of Management Development, 23(2), 169-182.
  24. ↑ ELENA project leader
  25. ↑ Clark, J., & White, G. (2010). "Experiential Learning: A Definitive Edge In The Job Market". American Journal Of Business Education, 3(2), 115-118.
  26. 1 2 Loo, R. (2002). "A Meta-Analytic Examination of Kolb's Learning Style Preferences Among Business Majors". Journal of Education for Business, 77:5, 252-256
  27. ↑ http://www.multimediaplus.com/2014/07/08/experiential-learning/
  28. ↑ Faria, Anthony J. "4" (PDF). Business Simulation Games after Thirty Years: Current Usage Levels in the United States in Gentry (ed.) Guide to Business Gaming and Experiential Learning. The University of Michigan: Nichols/GP Pub., 1990. pp. 36–47. ISBN 978-0893973698. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  29. ↑ Skill Pyramid
  30. ↑ Stavenga de Jong, J. A., Wierstra, R. F. A. and Hermanussen, J. (2006) "An exploration of the relationship between academic and experiential learning approaches in vocational education", British Journal of Educational Psychology. 76;1. pp. 155-169.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, May 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.