Experiential learning
is learning through reflection on doing, which is often contrasted with rote or
didactic learning. Experiential learning is related to, but not synonymous
with, experiential education, action learning, adventure learning, free choice
learning, cooperative learning, and service learning. While there are
relationships and connections between all these theories of education,
importantly they are also separate terms with separate meanings.
Experiential learning
focuses on the learning process for the individual. It is often used
synonymously with the phrase experiential education, however, while
experiential learning considers the individual learning process, experiential
education should be considered a broader philosophy of education. As such, it
is concerned with issues such as the relationship of teacher and student, as
well as broader issues of educational structure and objectives. An 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. In business school,
internship, and job-shadowing opportunities in a student’s field of interest
are elevated as examples of valuable experiential learning which contribute
significantly to the student’s overall understanding of the real-time
environment.
A third example of
experiential learning is learning how to ride a bike, a process which can
illustrate the widely known four-step experiential learning model (ELM) as
purported by Kolb 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".This experience forms "the basis
for observation and reflection" and he or she has the opportunity to
consider what is working or failing (reflective observation), and think about
ways to improve on the next attempt made at riding it (abstract
conceptualization). Every new attempt to ride is informed by a cyclical pattern
of previous experience, thought and reflection (active experimentation).
Figure 1 –
David Kolb’s Experiential
Learning Model (ELM)
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, for a genuine learning experience to
occur, there must exist certain elements. According to David A. Kolb, an
American educational theorist, knowledge is continuously gained through both
personal and environmental experiences. He states that in order to gain genuine
knowledge from an experience, certain abilities are required:
- The learner must be willing to be
actively involved in the experience;
- The learner must be able to reflect on
the experience;
- The learner must possess and use
analytical skills to conceptualize the experience; and
- The learner must possess decision making
and problem solving skills in order to use the new ideas gained from the
experience.
Implementation
Experiential activities
are among the most powerful teaching and learning tools available. Experiential
learning requires self-initiative, an "intention to learn" and an
"active phase of learning". Kolb's cycle of experiential learning can
be used as a framework for considering the different stages involved. 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". This
process of learning can result in "changes in judgment, feeling or
skills" for the individual and can provide direction for the "making
of judgments as a guide to choice and action".
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. 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. 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". Jacobson and Ruddy, building on Kolb's
four-stage Experiential Learning Model and Pfeiffer and Jones's five stage Experiential
Learning Cycle, 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:
- Did you notice...?
- Why did that happen?
- Does that happen in
life?
- Why does that happen?
- How can you use that?
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. 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", traditionally
called a "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.
Experiential
learning in schools
Think Global School is
a four-year traveling high school that holds classes in a new country each
term. Students engage in experiential learning through activities such as
workshops, cultural exchanges, museum tours, and nature expeditions.
The Dawson School in
Boulder, Colorado, devotes two weeks of each school year to experiential
learning, with students visiting surrounding states to engage in community
service, visit museums and scientific institutions, and engage in activities
such as mountain biking, backpacking, and canoeing.
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". 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. 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 accommodators. 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.
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. 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.
Comparisons
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. 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.
