Experiential Learning

Yesterday I was assigned to the Experiential Learning Committee.  Today I started a quick survey (via google) of the most popular or common stuff.  There is Kolb and Kolb and Kolb who apparently had a big old stick up his butt and did not feel it was important to review the theories or ideas of other disciplines.  He did however come up with a very nicely balanced model that makes perfect sense while having very little reference to reality.  Going further, I found Kurt Lewin who's work is characterized as "Little read now because of his tortuous pseudo-mathematical style, but the grandfather of many current ideas."  What a foot note to one's life work!

More recently, we have Phil Race and his ripple theory, a sort of intersectionality approach with recent focus on assessment.  His ideas seem cogent enough but he obviously has trouble with power point and should perhaps refrain from publishing power point presentations.  We run across Peter Jarvis, Peter Honey and John Dewey (who is credited with the congealing the underlying philosophy that the subjective experience of learning determines what is actually learned.)  Also Confucius and Aristotle but not in any meaningful way.

My conclusion after this very short survey is that Experiential Learning, the field of education in educational settings, is as pointless as large class lectures.  Somehow I feel that my fellow committee members may not be very open to my ideas and suggestions.  I did find Dewey's objections to "free" learning quite interesting in that his premise seems to be that people "naturally" learn through experience but that the experience has to be carefully crafted to have any value.

I was excited.  Now I'm feeling rather grim. 

• ATHERTON J S (2010) Learning and Teaching; Experiential Learning [On-line] UK: Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/experience.htm Accessed: 31 August 2010
• http://www.learningfromexperience.com/
• http://wilderdom.com/experiential/elc/ExperientialLearningCycle.htm