D-+Experiential+Learning

Experiential Learning Theory is based on the premise that experience plays a significant role in the learning process and that learners acquire knowledge through experience. Faced with a unique experience, learners will engage in the learning process by performing tasks within a specific environment, observing changes taking place and forming their own hypotheses and generalizations about their experience. Kolb describes experiential learning as a cyclical process where learners acquire knowledge through distinct stages, apprehension and comprehension, but it is during the reflection and experimentation stage that the transfer of knowledge occurs, where learners construct meaning and apply their learning to new situations.(Kolb, 2000)
 * Experiential Learning**


 * How Theory Operates**

Experiential learning requires the instructor to create an authentic and concrete experience where learning is within a particular environment, relevant to the guiding question or learning objective. Within that environment, learners perform tasks while simultaneously observing their environment. If the event / experience is social, meaning the experience is shared by others, learners may observe their interaction with others or how others react to the task or environment. Reflection may occur after the task is complete or during the learning process. However, the reflection portion is essential, because this is where learners have the opportunity to think about their experience, noting their feelings, social interactions, obstacles faced and tasks performed and formulate new ideas or theories, or most importantly develop schema which they will use later. Learners usually develop hypotheses and construct knowledge, as to develop new ideas and make sense of their experience. Learning is measured by whether the hypotheses and generalizations are tested and applied within new learning situations.


 * Theory in Action**

Experiential learning is seen widely in Service Learning, Internships and Field Work. Many students may experience a Service Learning project where they volunteer at a homeless shelter, cooking and serving meals as a way to understand the plight of the working poor or war veterans lacking mental health services. Another excellent example can be seen in the various mock elections set up and conducted by high school students where they engage their peers in a simulated voting activity. Students may be asked to create ballots, set up voting booths, and print election pamphlets which highlight the candidates and various propositions. On "Election Day", other students are invited to vote, and engage in the voting simulation. The end result is an authentic lesson on voting, rights of citizenship and democracy.

Many college students participate in Internships where they learn, on the job in a particular career field or social service. They usually work with an immediate supervisor or mentor and engage in a cognitive apprenticeship where the mentor gives them greater responsibility as they learn on the job.

Participant Observation or Field Work is where individuals join a group or enter an environment where they are engaged in the daily life of the subject they are studying or learning. For example, an Anthropology student may want to learn more about a particular culture or tribe of people by living with them for six months; working, eating, sleeping and participating in rituals, ceremonies or events. When you participate in the daily life of the group and have to make decisions based on the mores, values and practices of the group, your experience is significantly different from an outsider, looking in and observing.

In all of the above scenarios, the experience is authentic, it has meaning for the learner and it provides a context in which they can reflect, hypotheses and construct new theories about their experience.


 * Analysis and Discussion**

According to the UC Davis Center for Experiential Learning, "as a process, experiential learning is constructivist...whereby the learner builds understanding through a process of inquiry and reflection, with the goal of having learners understand the concept at a level that they can generalize and apply the understanding to new situations or other concepts they have learned." (Source:http://www.experientiallearning.ucdavis.edu)

Experiential learning involves the practical application of teaching and learning and provides learners with the opportunity to create schema. Learning is dynamic and social, and does not occur in isolation, as what happens in direct instruction and classroom / textbook learning. Learners are engaged within the context of their experience, where they can engage, hypothesize and test their theories within the same environment or context. According to Driscoll, context plays an important role in learning and that learning when context changes from learning to application.(Driscoll, Pg. 166)

Experiential learning is successful because it is meaningful and authentic. Therefore it is essential that the Instructor turned Facilitator, creates a unique experience, complete with specific activities that will guide student learning. If the activities lack structure or purpose, or if learners are missing instruction or key elements, learning will be haphazard and their findings inconclusive.

Other weaknesses perceived, based on personal philosophies or schools of thought, is that experiential learning can err towards misguided or open-ended learning. Learners may only engage in tasks, as a volunteer or a job to perform and fail to transcend through the various stages of the learning cycle described by Kolb. It is crucial that learners transfer their experience and observations to reflection and application of knowledge. Learning must occur in stages and the experience must have key elements in place to be successful. Therefore, the role of the instructor is a crucial component to the experience. In other words, instructors must create opportunities for personal reflection through journal writing, blogs, discussion or socratic seminars where students ask probing questions. In addition, instructors must create new learning situations where students apply knowledge gained from past experience to new situations. For example, an instructor may ask students to build a compost pile as a way to understand the personal and environmental benefits of organic farming. Students build the pile and watch it compost for three months, and as a follow-up activity, use the compost pile to fertilize an organic garden they later plant and harvest. When the crops are picked students can host taste tests where they invite others to blind test store bought vegetables with the organic vegetables they grew from the compost pile. This would take the learner through all stages of the experiential learning cycle.

Experiential learning is authentic and the acquisition of knowledge is contingent upon the learning experience and the role of the facilitator / instructor in the learning activities they design. Experiential learning does not elicit a particular behavior, nor does it reward learners for achieving the desired behavior. When students engage in experiential learning, the role of instructors are diminished in that they do not provide direct instruction, nor do they manipulate or control the learning environment. Learning is open-ended and knowledge is left for students to construct. However, what is learned and the acquisition of knowledge is more meaningful and lasting to the learner. Experiential learning creates schema and schema becomes the knowledge that individuals use to understand what they learn in the future.


 * Personal Understanding**

Experiential learning is essential for constructivist theory and its application to curriculum and pedagogy. From my experience, it is essential for building 21st century skills, i.e. collaboration, communication, synthesis and sorting information. Experiential learning creates opportunities for learners that will engage and excite them; moving from passive acquisition of information to knowledge construction. On a personal level, I designed a unit on recycling and composting with experiential theory in mind. I enjoyed watching students learn in a natural environment (on a farm or picking through trash) which was tactile and required them to use their natural senses to understand the importance of recycling and preserving the environment. If students are expected to experience learning and create hypotheses, their creativity will expand and develop.