Experiential Learning

Experiential Learning (Kolb, 1984) is a course design framework that:

• Is a holistic approach which emphasizes the critical role of experience
• Promotes learning through experience and discovery (an on-going process)
  • Learning occurs from experience (doing)
• A cyclical process of creating knowledge (personal and social)
  • Requires resolution for learning to occur via adaptation
  • Students experience, reflect, generalize, and test (Cowan 1998)
• "Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience," (Kolb, 1984, p.38)
  
  • "..a process in which experience is reflected upon and then translated into concepts which in turn become guidelines for new experiences," (Saddington, 1992, p 44)

Design Framework

Experiential Learning Framework is designed in an on-going cyclical process. Each cycle consists of:

Concrete Experience

• Purposeful and active to provide a common experience on which to build learning
• Examples include: readings, examples/demonstrations, brief research projects, fieldwork, laboratories, basic experiments, film clips, problems/scenarios, observations, simulations, games, small group discussions, photographs/images, debates, practical exercises, creative exercises, etc.

Reflective Observation

• Using questioning and/or group discussions
• Examples include: blogs, diaries, peer analysis and feedback, critiques, short reports, event summaries, journaling, brainstorming, rhetorical questioning

Abstract Conceptualization

• Interpreting events and identifying key relationships
• Comparisons between the original experience and what has been learned since
• Examples include: projects, analogies, model creation/construction, theory propositions, concept mapping, summaries, sequencing facts/events, framing and explaining events

Active Experimentation

• Implementing what they have learned
• Planning suggests anticipated outcomes (predictions)
• Refinement and revision within specific context(s)
• Examples include: case studies, role play, authentic games, problem solving, laboratories, fieldwork, simulations, authentic applications

 

Key Design Principles

• Identifying meaningful concrete experiences
  • This may be different for EACH student (although similar in topic/focus) depending on development
  • Stimulates further inquiry, thought, and analysis
  • Identify how skills, concepts, and knowledge would be applied

• Reflection questions need to be thoughtfully constructed to lead to thoughtfully constructed concepts
  • Questions should be:
    • Broad (open ended, variety of responses and perspectives, seeks possibilities)
    • Specific (examples, alternatives, linked to experience, if-then, seek justification and clarification)
    • Engage all students
    • Seek to determine changes in comprehension
    • Both individual and group oriented
      • Consider alternatives to verbal interactions (written, diagramed, anonymous, electronic formats, etc.)
• Conceptualization provides guidelines and frameworks for future experimentation
  • Assimilation and synthesis of theories, facts, perspectives, etc.
  • Create new perspectives, possibilities, and what ifs
• Experimentation further refines conceptualization and enables more accurate prediction of future outcomes
  • Testing of the newly developed guidelines and frameworks
  • Refinement and adaptation of these

Course Design Process

• Identify the threshold concepts skills, knowledge for the course.
• Determine assessment strategies
• Review the Experiential Learning cycle
• Determine readings, activities, and experiences that will help students attain threshold concepts, skills, and knowledge

Design Resources

• Experiential Learning - UT Austin
• Experiential Learning - Northern Illinois University
• Facilitating Reflection - University of Vermont
• Learning Together - Loyola University
• Levett-Jones, T. (2007). Facilitating reflective practice & self-assessment of competence through the use of narratives. Nurse Education in Practice, 7(2), 112-119
• Reflection - Indiana Univervisty, Purdue University - Fort Wayne
• Reflection Facilitation Manual - Elon University
• Self-Authored Integrated Learning (SAIL) - Northeastern University
• Tsingos, C., Bosnic-Anticevich, S. & Smith, L. (2014). Reflective practice & its implications for pharmacy education. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 78(1): 18

References

• Cowan, J. 1998. On becoming an innovative university teacher: Reflection in action. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University
• Kolb, D. A., Rubin I. M., & McIntyre, J. (1971). Organizational psychology: An experiential approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
• Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
• Saddington, J. A. (1992). Learner experience: A rich resource for learning. In J. Mulligan and C. Griffin (Eds.), Empowerment through experiential learning: Explorations of good practice, (pp.37-49). London, UK: Kogan Page