Experiential Learning

“Learning through Experience and Reflection”

 

Definition of Experiential Learning

Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience and is more specifically defined as “learning by doing” such as working for a company as an intern. Hands-on learning is a form of experiential learning but does not necessarily involve students reflecting on their product.

 

History of Experiential Learning

David Kolb is an American psychologist and educational theorist. He attended Knox University for his undergraduate experience, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University (McLeod, 2017). Though Kolb is responsible for the research and findings of the experiential learning theory, he was able to build from the ideology presented by American philosopher John Dewey (Field,2002). Dewey was an American psychologist during the 1900’s. He continued building upon Lev Vygotsky findings on the correlation between children and active learning (David, 2016). Dewey’s theory stresses the importance of learning through experiences and that for children to grasp concepts of knowledge,  learning must be action-based.  Dewey included in the ideas of constructivism that students are to use real-world problem-solving skills to gain understanding (Young & Liepolt, 2004). He goes on to elude that public and private school systems must begin including real-world problem-solving strategies into the school’s academic curriculum alongside general studies. Kolb takes these findings and creates a framework for educators to implement in order to get the maximum academic success from students by including reflective observation. He introduces his Learning Style Inventory. that supports educators in providing an idea of how instruction should be delivered. Kolb’s experiential learning theory works on two levels: a four-stage cycle of learning and four separate learning styles. He takes the holistic perspective of which includes experience, perception, cognition, and behavior.

 

The Experiential Learning Cycle

Kolb’s experiential learning style theory is typically represented by a four-stage learning cycle in which the learner ‘touches all the bases’:

1. Concrete Experience – (a new experience of the situation is encountered, or a reinterpretation of existing experience).
2. Reflective Observation (of the new experience. Of particular importance is any inconsistencies between experience and understanding).
3. Abstract Conceptualization (Reflection gives rise to a new idea or a modification of an existing abstract concept).
4. Active Experimentation (the learner applies them to the world around them to see what results).

 

 

Example of Experiential Learning in a K-12

 In a classroom, if a mathematics instructor is in the midpoint of a unit about percentages and decimals. One might suggest that the educator will allow students to participate in a project. Students are to come up with a store (grocery, clothing,music., etc), set prices for their items, create a sale for certain items and configure the prices of the items after the original price. While completing this activity, students are able to conceptualize their understanding of percentages and decimals (Bennings, 2018). 

Examples of Experiential Learning in Higher Education

• Internships– Provides students the opportunities to test out a career field prior to starting their career. These experiences can be paid, unpaid, remote or for institutional credit. 
• Apprenticeships– Allows students to receive an experienced mentor in a specified career field.
• Practicums– Often requires prerequisite courses of study. Students are placed in a supervised environment. Students will be often asked to apply the knowledge acquired during the course study.
• Service-Learning– One of the more prevalent to the field of experiential learning in which can be beneficial to both students and communities. Students are able to perform a job and reflect on the experience. Service Learning gives an opportunity to attack complex issues within the community.
• Clinical Experiences– Provides “hands-on” experiences that inter-correlate with an area of study. Clinical experiences are often used in areas of studies such as nursing programs. 
• Simulations – Fictitious stories are created to resemble that of authentic results or outcomes. 
• Fellowships– Are created to provide aid to students who are conducting research in a course of study.  
• Fieldwork-allows students to explore and apply content learned in the classroom in a specified field experience away from the classroom. Fieldwork experiences bridge educational experiences with an outside community that can range from neighborhoods and schools to anthropological dig sites and laboratory settings.
• Student Teaching -provides teacher candidates an opportunity to put into practice the knowledge and skills they have been developing in the preparation program. Student teaching typically involves an on-site experience in a partner school and opportunities for formal and informal candidate reflection on their teaching experience.
• Undergraduate Research– increasingly common at universities across all disciplines. The goal is to involve students with actively contested questions, empirical observation, cutting-edge technologies, and the sense of excitement that comes from working to answer important questions.
• Study abroad– provides an opportunity to learn in another culture, within the security of a host family and a host institution carefully chosen to allow the transfer of credit to a student’s degree program.
• Volunteering-allows students to serve in a community primarily because they choose to do so. Many serve through a nonprofit organization sometimes referred to as formal volunteering, but a significant number also serve less formally, either individually or as part of a group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Develop an Experiential Learning Activity

The video explains the importance of having a step-by-step process for creating an activity that allows a student to learn by experience and reflection. 

1. What’s the objective? Designers are to include the rationale behind the project. Here is where awareness is brought to the project. 
2. What components of learning will be in the experience? Designers are to establish instructional learning outcomes.
3. What kinds of environments naturally lend themselves to these behaviors? Choose an activity with the appropriate approach to learning.
4. What kind of theme will best serve the experience?
5. Give your activity a title. Make it appeasing to your audience.
6. Create an outline that supports the product. (Flight, 2017)

 

Technology Introduces New Forms of Experiential Learning 

Experiential learning and technology together make room for new ways of engaging students in multiple ways. These experiential spaces can include simulated workspaces, research labs and clinical settings to name a few. Virtual reality, augmented reality and machine learning or AI are creative spaces which are being explored for multiple purposes in many areas of study. Students get to explore to attain new knowledge while applying the knowledge they have within the simulated arena. These opportunities offer little to no risks or adverse situations while at the same time allowing learners to retry processes for subject mastery.  

 

Experiential Learning and Virtual Reality

 

 

Designing For Virtual Reality and The Impact On Education

 

Research on Internships and Experiential Learning Programs

A current review of the research on experiential learning programs shows that nearly three-quarters of student respondents believe they received skill that can be used directly for employment and nearly half sought out their advisement faculty and were actively engaged in their communities (Forsythe, G., Wilson, M., & Mackie, K.)

Employers participating in the survey stated that nearly 45% of their new hires came from their internship program. Most employers support faculty supervised and evaluated internships and “feel students who participate possess the skills and knowledge needed for success at their company.” (Forsythe, G., Wilson, M., & Mackie, K.)

 

Experiential Learning and  University Classroom Credit

Higher learning educational institutions are adding formalized opportunities for students to have learning experiences in addition to the ones inside the classroom and during direct instruction. These programs support student-centered learning in multiple ways. 

At most University’s like UGA there are six experiential areas they focus on for college credit:

Creative- Open experiences, ambiguity and safe open environment opportunities.

Global- These are the learning abroad opportunities 

Internships- These are academic based workplace experience opportunities

Leadership- These are an academic and professional workplace, community and creative leadership opportunities.

Research- Faculty-mentored research at the undergraduate level 

Service- Community service opportunities and engagement

 

Boiling Green Experiential Learning Cohort

Case Study- 

The experiential learning activity gathered students from a first-year college English writing class at Bowling Green University. Students were instructed to research and meet and interview one, publicly known, veteran. Students were given the option to interview virtually or face-to-face. Each student had to choose from a list of veteran community advocates and collect their first-person narratives. The project gave the student the opportunity to research, engage in a community outreach activity while fostering experiences with writing and data collection. In some cases, it also fostered an interest in oral history. The students would experience collecting and interpreting human memories of women veterans to foster knowledge and human dignity, as well as gaining a better understanding of veterans’ military experience to present to a broad and diverse audience. Students 18-25 had knowledge of various technology tools to record and display the final product to include Microsoft Office Suite Adobe Creative Cloud and Google Enterprise. The students facilitated the collection of first-person narratives and created oral history narratives in audio and video form and created a mini digital exhibit online hosted on a website.

The students spent approximately 10 hours over the semester gathering research in preparation for the initial interview and spent 30 minutes to an hour interviewing the veteran. The final writing portion for the class is the website that is posted below.

There were three virtual lectures introducing the students to the topic of experiential learning, the interviewing and researching process for live subjects and the veteran and military community. Prior to the activity students were queried if they knew a veteran or had a military family member. Within the class of the 12 students who participated none had a significant knowledge or relationship with veteran or the military community. After the class students reported having a significant appreciation for and understood more clearly the sacrifices and contributions that veteran and military professionals give up for our country. They also reported wanting to meet and interview other veterans outside of the classroom setting for future projects and community service. One student chose to work with a non-profit specifically supporting veteran populations in the local area. 

 

 

Resources Experiential Learning

 

Glossary: 

 

Artificial Intelligence- the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages

Augmented Reality– a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view.

Cognition– Act or process of knowing

Holistic– incorporating the concept of theory that whole entities as fundamental components of reality have an existence other than as the mere sum of their parts

Conceptualization– The act of conceiving a thought 

Experiential– Involving or based on experience and observation.

Machine Learning- an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed.

Student-Centered Learning- refers to a wide variety of educational programs, learning experiences, instructional approaches, and academic-support strategies that are intended to address the distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations, or cultural backgrounds of individual students and groups of students

Veteran– a person who served in the military  during war or peacetime

Virtual Reality-  3D computer-generated simulation environment that can be interacted with visual and sensory tools that create a realistic representation of a non-real environment.

References: 

Chorazy, M. L., & Klinedinst, K. S. (2019). Learn by Doing: A Model for Incorporating High-Impact Experiential Learning Into an Undergraduate Public Health Curriculum. Frontiers in Public Health,7. 

David L, “Social Development Theory (Vygotsky),” in Learning Theories, July 23, 2014, https://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html.

Field, R. (n.d.). John Dewey. Retrieved May 2, 2019, from https://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey

Flight, E. (2017, July 21). Retrieved May 03, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td8uzXif0jk

Forsythe, G., Wilson, M., & Mackie, K. (n.d.). Learning by Doing: Postsecondary Experiential Education. Retrieved from https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/adultedpseee/

Kirk, K. (n.d.). Theory – Engaging Study Abroad. Retrieved May 2, 2019, from https://sites.google.com/site/engagingstudyabroad3/why-engage-why-reflect/theory

Mavodza, J. (2017). Integrating Experiential Learning Into Information Literacy Curriculum. The Experiential Library,3-14. 

McLeod, S. (2017). Kolb’s Learning Styles and Experiential Learning Cycle. Retrieved May 2, 2019, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html

Moore, D. T. (1983). Perspectives on Learning in Internships. Journal of Experiential Education,6(2), 40-44. 

Peterson, D. (2019, April 20). Why Experiential Learning Is a Powerful Tool for Adults. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-experiential-learning-31324

Wernhuar Tarng, Chia-Jung Chen, Chi-Young Lee, Chih-Ming Lin and Yu-Jun Lin, Application of Virtual Reality for Learning the Material Properties of Shape Memory Alloys, Applied Sciences, 10.3390/app9030580, 9, 3, (580), (2019)

The 12 Types of Experiential Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved May 2, 2019, from https://experiencelearning.utk.edu/types/

Authored by: Morgan Bennings and BriGette McCoy