EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

 

Experiential learning is a constructivist and heuristic way to help people identify changes necessary to their skills, attitudes and behaviours, then implement the changes for better performance.

Experiential learning (EL) is may be simply explained: learning by doing. 

Everyone has learned to walk or talk, not by being shown or told, but by practising and improving as time passed. Consequently, this method can be implemented in all sorts of situations with people from all walks of life. EL can be applied regardless age, education, experience, ability, background or culture

Within the field of Talent Development, EL can best be defined as:“developing personal understanding, knowledge, skills and attitudes through the analysis of, and reflection on, activity”.

In this definition ‘Activity’ is used as being 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 behaviours. 

One of the quickest ways to highlight the ways in which experiential learning differs from other methodologies is to take a look at what it is not:

In order to understand better the differences between EL and all the other methodologies you should pay attention to the following features:

1.      EL is not the writing of new information onto the blank slate of your mind.

2. Nor is it the act of memorising a rigid bank of knowledge.
3. EL is not a passive process that happens to a learner; rather it is an active process that engages them and invites participation.

Experiential learning stands in contrast to well-known theories of learning such as behaviouralism and implicit learning. EL brings a different theoretical perspective. EL focuses on the learning process rather than outcomes

Behavioural conceptualisations of learning suggest you can measure effectiveness of learning by the number of facts or habits a person has learned in response to stimulus questions or conditions. These elements of thought – or ideas – are fixed, and the goal is acquiring more of them.

EL suggests that ideas are not fixed; rather, they form and re-form through experience. Experience intervenes and because this is unique each time, so too are the resulting ideas. In EL, the measure of success therefore moves beyond acquisition of facts, and instead becomes lasting behavioural change, the development of skills and behaviours to respond to different situations, and an ability to apply this knowledge.

Learning is therefore an emergent process with the learner at the centre of the process: learning is based on where the participant is, their relationship with what has happened previously, and where they want to be in the future. It’s easy to see the appeal when compared to other theoretical approaches which define a rigid outcome and focus on making the learner reach it. The process of learning is grounded in experience. Implementing, testing, evaluating and refining ideas exclusively with reference to familiar experiences does not present an opportunity for learning, because experience must defy expectation to hold value.

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So, how can we structure an experience in a way that makes experiential learning possible?

First let’s take a look at the abilities a learner needs when having an experiential learning task:

1        Concrete experience 

2        Reflective observation 

3        Abstract conceptualisation 

4        Active experimentation 

 

1.     Concrete experience (CE)

Concrete experience abilities are those which allow a learner to engage openly in experiences. Without these, their interpretation risks being limited and skewed by bias.

2.     Reflective observation (RO)

Reflecting on an activity and its outcomes is a vital part of learning, and a learner needs to be able to reflect from multiple perspectives. Someone working through the first half of an individual review sheet to crystallise their understanding of an activity is engaging in reflective observation.

3.     Abstract conceptualisation (AC)

These abilities allow learners to integrate their observations and reflections into new theories, which act as the basis for the next set of abilities. Group discussion and completion of the second half of the individual review sheet allows a participant to form abstract conceptualisations about an activity.

4.     Active experimentation (AE)

Through AE, learners test the theories arrived at through the previous abilities. With these four abilities working in tandem, learners develop their understanding. Repeating the activity based  on the insights gained in the previous steps forms the active experimentation stage.

Experiential learning is made possible in situations in which each of these abilities is given the space to work. New experiences are presented with which learners can engage, then facilitation allows for observations to be discussed and new conceptualisations to be formed. The cycle is then repeated, giving learners an opportunity to test their new theories and build their understanding. 

Depending on the nature of an experience, the area of knowledge that contains it, and various other factors, the relationship between these abilities will be different.

 

Jean Piaget: 1896-1980

Piaget conceived experience, conceptualisation, reflection, and action as the basis for adult thought.

He believed that as we grow, we view the world in an abstract way and can construct our own meaning and knowledge as a result. This differs from children who have a concrete phenomenological interpretation.

Thus learning requires interaction between an individual and their environment. Concepts and schemas are assimilated from and accommodate to experiences, and if either of these things becomes dominant, learning is interrupted:

-        Too much accommodation and we imitate things and sculpt ourselves to our environment rather than learning from it.

-        Too much assimilation and we end up imposing ourselves with no regard for environmental realities.

As adults we are able to manipulate the balance of these two factors to make efficient learning more possible. In experiential learning this is achieved by tailoring the nature of the activity and providing suitable facilitation.

The experiential learning cycle

David Kolb drew inspiration from these ideas and distilled them down into the Experiential Learning Cycle, represented by the diagram below: 

Bibliography

What is Experiential Learning?  https://www.experientiallearning.org/info/what-is-experiential-learning