Outline
Ø Introduction.
Ø Definitions of experiential learning.
Ø History of experiential learning.
Ø Required skills for successful experiential learning.
Ø Importance of experiential learning.
Ø Types of experiential learning.
Ø Experiential Learning Principles.
Ø Experiential Learning guide lines.
Ø Experiential Learning Cycle process.
Ø Kolb's model of experiential learning.
Ø Experiential Learning (Carl Rogers).
Ø Experiential learning evaluation.
Ø Reference.
Introduction:
In simple terms, experiential learning is the process of learning from experience. For example, instead of learning from the book or in a lecture, getting an internship in that field may provide a valuable learning experience for the student.
Definition:
Experiential Learning is the process of learning by doing. By engaging students in hands-on experiences and reflection, they are better able to connect theories and knowledge learned in the classroom to real-world situations.
Experiential learning is a well-known model in education. Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984) defines experiential learning as "the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience."
It is the process of learning through experience, and is more specifically defined as "learning through reflection on doing".
Developing personal understanding, knowledge, skills and attitudes through the analysis of, and reflection on, activity’.
In this definition ‘Activity’ can include anything from an individual explaining an idea or completing a simple task to highly complex group interactions involving a wide range of mental attributes and behaviors.
Experiential learning is sometimes referred to as activity based learning or active learning.
History of experiential learning
The role of experience in education has a history that connects back to philosophical debates between rationalists and empiricists.
Rationalists argued that the information that is gained through one's senses is unreliable, and the only reliable knowledge is that which is gained through reason alone. Empiricists argued that knowledge is derived from empirical sense impressions, and abstract concepts that cannot directly be experienced cannot be known.
Educational psychologists such as John Dewey (1859-1952), Carl Rogers (1902-1987), and David Kolb (1939) have provided the groundwork of learning theories that focus on “learning through experience or “learning by doing.”
In 1787 the German philosopher Immanuel Kant resolved the debate by arguing that both rationality and experience have a place in the construction of knowledge. Indeed, the human mind imposes order on the experience of the world in the process of perceiving it. Therefore, all experiences are organized by the actively structuring mind.
John Dewey (1859–1952), perhaps the most prominent American philosopher of the early twentieth century, expanded on the relationship between experience and learning in the publication of his well-known book Experience and Education (1938). He argued that not all experience is educative. A given experience may increase a person's automatic skill in a particular direction and yet tend to land him in a groove or rut; the effect again is to narrow the field of further experience.
Kurt Hahn (1886–1974), considered to be one of the foremost educators of the twentieth century, contributed to experiential education as a practitioner worldwide. Hahn established academic schools, such as Salem in Germany and Gordonstoun in Scotland, and the Outward Bound schools, which total twenty-eight in Europe, the United Kingdom, Africa, Asia, Australia, and North America. In addition he founded the Duke of Edinburgh Award for involvement in voluntary, noncompetitive practical, cultural, and adventurous activities for young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. For Hahn, the entire school day–including curricula, daily routines, social life, and extracurricular activities–could be used to help young people develop social responsibility and high aspirations. Most important, it could also provide education and practice in the fundamental principles of democratic life.
Rogers considered experiential learning “significant” as compared to what he called “meaningless” cognitive learning.
Kolb also noted that concrete learning experiences are critical to meaningful learning and is well known for his Learning Style Inventory (LSI) which is widely used in many disciplines today to help identify preferred ways of learning.
Skills Required for Experiential Learning
1. Self-Awareness:
Self-awareness is capability to monitor one’s own emotions and reactions. When we have a solid and accurate understanding of ourselves, we are better able to reflect and make changes to improve ourselves and those around us. Without self-awareness, it is difficult to challenge the assumptions and beliefs required for change and growth.
2. Accountability
it is also difficult to learn, improve or change without creating responsibility for actions, beliefs, assumptions, behaviors, and methods.
3. The learner must possess decision making and problem solving skills in order to use the new ideas gained from the experience.
4. The learner must possess and use analytical skills to conceptualize the experience
5. The learner must be willing to be actively involved in the experience.
Importance of experiential learning
When students participate in experiential education opportunities, they gain:
- A better understanding of course material
- A broader view of the world and an appreciation of community
- Insight into their own skills, interests, passions, and values
- Positive professional practices and skill sets
- Self-confidence and leadership skill
- Opportunity to immediately apply knowledge. Experiential learning can allow students to immediately apply things they are learning to real-world experiences. This helps them retain the information better.
- Promotion of teamwork. Experiential learning often involves working in a team, so learning in this setting allows students to practice teamwork.
· Improved motivation. Students are more motivated and excited about learning in experiential settings. Experiments are exciting and fun for students, and they will be passionate about learning.
· Opportunity for reflection. Students using the experiential model are able to spend time reflecting about what they are experiencing and learning. This is valuable as they are able to better retain information when they can think about what’s happening to them.
· Real world practice. Students can greatly benefit from learning that helps them prepare for the real world. Experiential learning is focused on using real situations to help students learn, so they are then better prepared for their future.
Types of Experiential Learning:
Experiential learning can be divided into two major categories: field-based experiences and classroom-based learning.
1. Field-based learning
It is the oldest and most established form of experiential learning. Field-based learning includes internships, cooperative education, and service learning.
2. classroom-based experiential learning
can take a multitude of forms, including role-playing, games, case studies, simulations, presentations, and various types of group work.
Experiential learning in the classroom has been growing in breadth and depth.
Forms of experiential learning
§ Internships:
A more broad term used to describe experience-based learning activities that often subsume other terms such as cooperative education. The student may work with practicing professionals, complete a project, attend public events, interview and observe constituents and employees. The student may or may not be paid for this experience. When attached to a classroom course, a student may spend several hours a week volunteering in an agency, supporting co-curricular activities, or observing people in their natural environments. The mission of this experience may be to support the integration of theory and practice, explore career options, or foster personal and professional development.
§ Service learning :
This term is used to denote optional or required out-of-classroom community service experiences/projects attached to courses or a separate credit bearing experience. The location may be the broader community outside the university or one embedded in co-curricular activities. In these experiences, students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity to better understand course content and gain a broader appreciation of the discipline and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.
§ Cooperative education:
Mostly a part of professional programs, students gain practical relevant work experience over a period of multiple terms that intersperse their coursework.
Students alternate work and study, usually spending a number of weeks in study (typically full-time) and a number of weeks in employment away from campus (typically full-time). Alternatively, cooperative education may occur when students simultaneously attend classes part-time and work part-time during consecutive school terms in an intentionally planned and coordinated way. Students receive academic credit for cooperative education when the experiences meet the criteria for credit (i.e., faculty supervision, reflective components, evidence of learning). The purpose of these programs is to build student’s career skills and knowledge.
§ Clinical education :
This is a more specifically defined internship experience in which students practice learned didactic and experiential skills, most frequently in health care and legal settings, under the supervision of a credentialed practitioner. It is often is a separate credit-bearing course tied to a related theoretical course or a culminating experience after a sequence of theoretical courses.
§ Student teaching :
This experience is specific to students in pre-professional and pre-service teacher education who are gaining required and evaluated experience in supervised teaching.
§ Practicum:
A relative of the internship, this form of experiential learning usually is a course or student exercise involving practical experience in a work setting (whether paid or unpaid) as well as theoretical study, including supervised experience as part of professional pre-service education.
§ Undergraduate research experience:
Students function as research assistants and collaborators on faculty projects.
§ Community-based research :
Faculty and students cooperate with local organizations to conduct studies to meet the needs of a particular community. Students gain direct experience in the research process.
§ Field work :
Supervised student research or practice carried out away from the institution and in direct contact with the people, natural phenomena, or other entities being studied. Field work is especially frequent in fields including anthropology, archaeology, sociology, social work, earth sciences, and environmental studies.
§ Study abroad :
Students usually engage in courses at higher education institutions in another country. The experiential learning component is the cultural immersion which provides novel challenges for navigating living in a new place. The coursework connected to a study abroad can also include internships and service-learning experiences.
§ Interactive simulations
Students engage with academic content through content-specific activities such as simulations, demonstrations, archival or design work and/or role-plays. Activities are designed to simulate “real-life” situations.
§ Labs
It provides hands-on application of course concepts in a controlled environment, including activities such as observing, measuring, testing and experimenting. Labs may be scientific or technological in nature; however, other types of labs may also qualify, such as language lab.
§ Case studies
It provides an opportunity for students to apply their learning to real-life scenarios by working through complex, ambiguous real-world problems. Learners are encouraged to work out their own approach to defining, analyzing and solving the challenge.
Experiential Learning Principles
1. Emphasis is on how learning can be applied
2. Relates to participant goals.
3. Relates to participants past experiences.
4. Encourages debate and challenges ideas.
5. Respect for the opinions of participants.
6. Encourages all participants to be a resource for the instructor and the group.
7. Treat participants like adults.
8. Gives the participants elements of control.
Experiential Learning guide lines:
· Experiential learning occurs when carefully chosen experiences are supported by reflection, critical analysis and synthesis.
· Experiences are structured to require the learner to take initiative, make decisions and be accountable for results.
· Throughout the experiential learning process, the learner is actively engaged in posing questions, investigating, experimenting, being curious, solving problems, assuming responsibility, being creative and constructing meaning.
· Learners are engaged intellectually, emotionally, socially, soulfully and/or physically. This involvement produces a perception that the learning task is authentic.
· The results of the learning are personal and form the basis for future experience and learning.
· Relationships are developed and nurtured: learner to self, learner to others and learner to the world at large.
· The educator and learner may experience success, failure, adventure, risk-taking and uncertainty, because the outcomes of experience cannot totally be predicted.
· Opportunities are nurtured for learners and educators to explore and examine their own values.
· The educator’s primary roles include setting suitable experiences, posing problems, setting boundaries, supporting learners, insuring physical and emotional safety, and facilitating the learning process.
· The educator recognizes and encourages spontaneous opportunities for learning.
· Educators strive to be aware of their biases, judgments and pre-conceptions, and how these influence the learner.
· The design of the learning experience includes the possibility to learn from natural consequences, mistakes and successes.
Role of teacher during experiential learning
Here are four common roles that the teacher plays in experiential learning.
ü Teacher as facilitator
Most classrooms still involve the teacher as the authority with students as passive recipients. However, teachers who are well-versed in experiential education act as facilitators. This means putting the student at the center and involving them in the decision making and problem solving. The teacher as facilitator also means facilitating the transfer of knowledge to the real world.
In this role
§ Develop strong relationships with students.
§ Recognizes and encourages spontaneous opportunities for learning.
§ Setting a positive climate for learning.
§ Clarifying the purposes of the learners.
§ Sharing feelings and thoughts with learners
Typical activities include brainstorming and group discussions.
ü Teacher as subject expert
As subject experts, teachers help learners
o To organize and connect their reflections to the subject knowledge base.
o They often teach by example, modelling and encouraging critical thinking.
o Organizing and making available learning resources
o Design of the learning experience includes the possibility to learn from natural consequences, mistakes and successes.
To be able to do this competently demands teachers learn continuously. The need to constantly develop themselves is paramount to their students’ improved achievements.
ü Teacher as standard setter/evaluator
The standard setter or evaluator role is crucial for subject areas with precise performance requirements. In this role, teachers will often adopt an objective, results-oriented style to help learners evaluate their learning. This approach fosters the development of thinking, deciding and acting learning styles. Typical learning activities include case studies and simulations.
ü Teacher as coach
The role of coach is a collaborative and encouraging style of teaching that helps learners apply knowledge to achieve their goals. With this approach, teachers often work one-on-one to personalize the experience based on the student’s own life context. The role of coach involves providing feedback wherever possible and using instructional techniques such as fieldwork and applied projects.
If experiential education is defined as ‘learning by doing’ then the learning experiences designed must support an immersive experience. The student plays an active role in the experience, followed by reflection as a method for processing, understanding and making sense of the experience. Although no longer front and center, the teacher plays a more crucial role than ever before to orchestrate learning in their classroom.
Role of student in experiential learning
Ø The student role becomes more active.
Ø The student has responsibility and ownership over the process of learning.
Ø The student being independent and self-directed learning.
Ø Students interact with the surrounding area, whether in the geographic features, natural spaces, built environment.
Kolb’s six main characteristics of experiential learning
1. Learning is best conceived as a process, not in terms of outcomes.
2. Learning is a continuous process grounded in experience.
3. Learning requires the resolution of conflicts between opposing modes of adaptation to the world (learning is by its very nature full of tension)
4. Learning is a holistic process of adaptation to the world
5. Learning involves transactions between the person and the environment
6. Learning is the process of creating knowledge that is the result of the transaction between social knowledge and personal knowledge.
Experiential Learning Cycle process
1. The Experience itself. This can be a scheduled activity, current event, or an unexpected discussion. The experience is the thing that happens.
2. Publishing. Participants reflect on their personal journey through that experience. In the publishing phase, participants are only reflecting on themselves.
3. Processing. Participants reflect on observations that other participants who shared the experience had. This is the chance for participants to consider what happened in, and to, the group.
4. Generalizing. Participants think about other times where they had similar feelings or observations. During this phase, participants are stretched to think about the experience. They work to relate it to other aspects of their life.
5. Applying. Participants think about things they learned from the experience. A successful application has participants consider how they can “apply” what they learned. Ideally, as a result of the experience, participants will have more successful outcomes in the future
Model of experiential learning
Kolb’s model of experiential learning
The theoretical model of experiential learning is grounded in the humanistic and constructivist perspective, proposing that we are naturally capable to learn, and that experience plays a critical role in knowledge construction and acquisition. In other words, learning occurs when someone creates knowledge though experiential transformations (Kolb, 1984).
According to Kolb’s model of experiential learning, effective learning occurs in four stages:
1. Concrete experience: The learner encounters a new experience or engages in a reinterpretation process of an existing experience.
2. Reflective observation: The learner reviews and reflects on the new experience and identifies any inconsistencies between experience and understanding.
3. Abstract conceptualization: Through the reflective process, the learner creates a new idea/concept or modifies an existing abstract concept – analyzing the concepts and forming conclusions and generalizations.
4. Active experimentation: The learner plans and tries out what was learned and is able to apply the new knowledge to other situations – conclusions and generalizations are used to tests hypothesis and thus the learner engages in new experiences. As figure 1
It is possible for the learner to enter at any of these four stages and follow them through their sequence to acquire new knowledge. For effective learning to occur, the learner should complete all four stages of the model and no one stage can stand alone as a learning procedure.
Figure1 Kolb's model
Listed below are some examples:
Learning to ride a bicycle:
] Reflective observation - Thinking about riding and watching another person ride a bike.
] Abstract conceptualization - Understanding the theory and having a clear grasp of the biking concept.
] Concrete experience - Receiving practical tips and techniques from a biking expert.
] Active experimentation - Leaping on the bike and have a go at it
Learning a software program:
] Active experimentation - Jumping in and doing it.
] Reflective observation - Thinking about what you just performed.
] Abstract conceptualization - Reading the manual to get a clearer grasp on what was performed.
] Concrete experience - Using the help feature to get some expert tips.
Kolb's Learning Styles
Kolb theorized that the four combinations of perceiving and processing determine one of four learning styles of how people prefer to learn. Kolb believes that learning styles are not fixed personality traits, but relatively stable patterns of behavior that is based on their background and experiences. Thus, they can be thought of more as learning preferences, rather than styles.
Diverging:
] They are able to look at things from different perspectives.
] They are sensitive.
] They prefer to watch rather than do, tending to gather information and use imagination to solve problems.
] They prefer to work in groups, listening with an open mind and receiving personalized feedback.
Assimilating
] They require good clear explanation rather than a practical opportunity.
] They are less focused on people and more interested in ideas and abstract concepts.
] They prefer readings, lectures, exploring analytical models, and having time to think things through.
Converging
] They can solve problems and will use their learning to find solutions to practical issues.
] They are more attracted to technical tasks and problems than social or interpersonal issues
Accommodating
] This learning style is prevalent within the general population.
] They have the ability to learn from primarily “hand-on experience.
] They are attracted to new challenges and experiences, and to carrying out plans.
] Uses trial and error rather than thought and reflection.
] Good at adapting to changing circumstances.
Experiential Learning (Carl Rogers)
Roger’s theory of experiential learning was devised based on his views of psychotherapy and humanistic psychology. Roger believed it was important to include feelings and emotions into education. He further believed the goals of education should be changed to include personal change and self-knowing. Thus, Rogers had a keen interest in learning that leads to personal growth and development, which became the basis of his theory.
Rogers distinguished two types of learning: cognitive (meaningless) and experiential (significant). The former corresponds to academic knowledge such as learning vocabulary or multiplication tables and the latter refers to applied knowledge such as learning about engines in order to repair a car. The key to the distinction is that experiential learning addresses the needs and wants of the learner. Rogers lists these qualities of experiential learning: personal involvement, self-initiated, evaluated by learner, and pervasive effects on learner.
To Rogers, experiential learning is equivalent to personal change and growth. Rogers feels that all human beings have a natural propensity to learn;
The role of the teacher is to facilitate such learning. This includes:
(1) Setting a positive climate for learning.
(2) Clarifying the purposes of the learner(s),
(3) Organizing and making available learning resources,
(4) Balancing intellectual and emotional components of learning
(5) Sharing feelings and thoughts with learners but not dominating.
According to Rogers, learning is facilitated when:
(1) The student participates completely in the learning process and has control over its nature and direction.
(2) It is primarily based upon direct confrontation with practical, social, personal or research problems,
(3) Self-evaluation is the principal method of assessing progress or success.
Rogers also emphasizes the importance of learning to learn and an openness to change
Experiential learning evaluation
Assessment is integral part at experiential learning process. It provides a basis for learner and teacher alike to confirm and reflect on the learning and growth that has is occurring.
Without appropriate assessment tool ,educator might not realize that significant learning occurred.
The Challenge of Assessment
] The assessment of experiential activities presents a unique problem to instructors
We need to develop assessments that measure success in both the process and the product—each area may require separate learning outcomes and criteria.
] The outcomes of experiential learning can be varied and unpredictable
. How one student chooses to solve a problem will be different from another student, and what one student takes away from an experience may differ for his or her peers. Also, in experiential learning, the process is as important as the final product. Therefore,
In experiential learning, these two types of variables are often uncontrollable, and thus have to be accounted for when developing assessment methods.
Precursor variables “exert their influence prior to the beginning of an experiential education experience.” They are “the antecedent that an individual ‘brings into’ the experience.”
These variables include:
- Prior knowledge and experience: “Participants with more or less past background and knowledge have both the ability to learn and benefit from (or not benefit from) different lessons from the experience.”
- Demographics: The age, sex, and socio-economic status of students have an impact on what students learn.
- Pre-experience anxiety, motivations, and expectations: These three items can “influence a participant’s readiness to learn, engage in, and benefit from the experience.”
- Self-selection into a specific program or experience: The various reasons for why each student has chosen to participate in an experiential learning activity can create fundamentally different cohorts every time the program is run. The inherent differences between groups or individuals are often difficult to isolate from the “variance between experiential education experiences.
Concomitant variables “often arise during an experiential education experience and influence the outcomes during, or immediately after, that experience
These variables include:
1. Course specifics: This refers to the structure of the program, including the length, the specific activities, and the influence of the instructors.
- Group characteristics: The attributes and characteristics of the individual students make each group different. This impacts both their individual experiences as well as the experience of the cohort.
- Situational impacts: These “specific, non-structured, or unanticipated events” can have both a positive or negative effect on learning.
- Frontloading for evaluation: This is a type of experimental bias in which the instructors or students “consciously or unconsciously influence the student results because of the evaluation process.” For instance, instructors might alter the experience to match the findings they hoped to see, or students “might, through a pretest, be predisposed to learning certain course outcomes.
Post-experience variables exert their influence after the completion of an experiential education activity. These variables include:
- Social desirability or self-deception positivity, in which students respond to an evaluation survey with what they think instructors want to hear, rather than what they really feel.
- Post-experience euphoria, in which a short-term feeling of excitement and accomplishment obscures the true feelings of a participant.
- Post-experience adjustment or re-entry issues refer to the time that students need to adjust back to “normal” life after they complete their experiential activity. Collecting data during this period may not reflect how the student will feel after they get some distance from the program.
Effective assessment methods must be able to take these variables into account, and be able to both “separate perceived learning from genuine learning” as well as capture accurate levels of growth and change in students to accomplish this. To set about creating effective assessment methods, Qualters suggests asking the following “essential questions”:
1. Why are we doing assessment?
2. What are we assessing?
3. How do we want to assess in the broadest terms?
4. How will the results be used?
With the answers to these questions in hand, instructors can then go about developing their assessment strategy. Qualters recommends the use of Alexander Astin’s I-E-O (Input-Environment-Output) model:
- Input: Assess students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes prior to a learning experience
- Environment: Assess students during the experience
- Output: Assess the success after the experience
Assessment Strategies
Some of the following strategies can be used to assess experiential learning:
] Allowing students to define how their work will be judged: They choose what criteria will be used to assess their work, or help create a grading rubric.
] Creating a reflective journal or a portfolio
] Reflection on critical events that took place during the experience
] Essay, report, or presentation (could be arts-based, multimedia or oral) on what has been learnt (preferably with references to excerpts from reflective writing)
] Self-awareness tools and exercises (e.g., questionnaires about learning patterns)
] Short answers to questions of a ‘why’ or ‘explain’ nature (e.g., “What did you learn during this assignment? What did you not learn that you would like to?”)
] One-on-one oral assessments with the instructor
] A project that develops ideas further (individually or in small groups)
] Self-evaluation and/or group evaluation of a task performed
Checklists and rubrics
A checklist is a straightforward and accessible way to communicate assignment expectations. It should list the criteria that would define an excellent assignment. These criteria should be described such that each can be answered with a “yes” or “no”, enabling students to self- or peer-assess prior to handing in their work.
To provide feedback on journals and other methods of assessing students’ experiential learning, instructors can develop a checklist or rubric.
These tools have several benefits:
] Articulate clear, specific criteria on which students’ work will be evaluated, so that students and instructors have a common understanding of expectations for the assignment. Criteria should be related to the desired learning outcomes – what you want students to be able to know, do, or value as a result of the experience/assignment.
] Permit students to self- or peer-assess their work prior to submitting it, potentially resulting in higher quality submissions.
] Offer a systematic approach to providing feedback.
] Students can see their strengths and possible areas for improvement.
إرسال تعليق