Irene Bews Ally Sangster adventurascotland.co.uk

Adventurascotland

IzmirOctober 2010

Innovative DidacticsExperiential Learning

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Adventurascotland

Theory of experiential learning

• Experiential learning utilises participants own experience and their own reflection rather than lecture and theory to generate understanding and transfer of skills and knowledge

• Experiential learning is a learner centred approach which starts with the premise that people learn best from experience

• Experiential learning is learning-by-doing

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Adventurascotland

Benefits

• Experiential learning – actually ‘doing’ something, discovering what it is like, how it makes you feel, what it means, i.e. experiential learning is your experience and no one else's

• Effective due to its holistic approach of addressing cognitive, emotional and the physical aspect of the learner

• Process that cultivates learning self-sufficiency

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Adventurascotland KOLB’S LEARNING CYCLE

ObservationReflection

ExploreTheory

ActiveExperimentation

Experience

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Adventurascotland

Learning Cycle

• Experiential learning incorporates continuous improvement by repeating the learning wheel over and over

• The more learners use the experiential learning cycle the more they will realise continuous improvement

• Continuous improvement is said to be a journey without an end

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Adventurascotland

Experiential learning versus the comfort zone concept

Experiential learning often takes place outside of this zoneHOWEVER

• Learners remain in control of the learning process

• If placed in great discomfort – learners become pre-occupied with comfort reinstatement rather than experiential learning

• Whilst stretched/challenged during experiential learning, learners are not placed in a position of great discomfort.

• Experiential learning generates enjoyment as learners know that their experimentations resulted in success.

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Adventurascotland

Principles of experiential learning

• People learn best from their own experiences and their own reviews  

• What people do is more important than what they know  • Renders behaviours and attitudes visible and thereby can

become acknowledged and then addressed  • Not enough to explain to people what to do, they must be

shown how to actually do it and then how to improve it  • Moves beyond knowledge and into skill by generating a

learning experience - the more experience the greater the skill  

• Achieves change in behaviour and attitude  • To be remembered over a long period of time the learning

process should be enjoyable, motivating and rewarding

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Adventurascotland

The experiential learning environment

• Respects the individuals ideas and choices  • Gives the individual the right to 'confront' difficult situations

with the view to their resolution  • Provides opportunity to take on challenge in an atmosphere

of support and caring (the challenge may be intellectual, emotional, physical, mental, or all four)  

• Generates space and time to stand back and reflect when pressures or doubts become too strong  

• Cultivates a realisation that the attempt at doing something new or different is more significant than the result   

• Produces an awareness that effective learning requires small controlled steps outside comfort zones

Experiential Learning

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Experiential Learning

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Irene Bews Ally Sangster adventurascotland.co.uk

Adventurascotland

Izmir

October 2010

Innovative Didactics

Reviewing

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Why review?• Adds value to the experience• Getting unstuck• Achieving objectives• Opening new perspectives• Developing observation and awareness• Caring• Encouraging self expression• Using success• Providing support• Empowering

Adventurascotland

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

What is reviewing?

• reflecting on experience • analysing experience • making sense of experience • communicating experience • reframing experience • learning from experience

Adventurascotland

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Benefits of reviewing

• In touch with learners' perspectives. • Develops their communication skills. • Develops learning skills (yours and theirs). • Adds value to what is already happening. • Benefits become more tangible. • Generates evidence for evaluation. • Clarify and achieve objectives. • Transfer of learning more likely. • LEARNERS ENJOY IT!

Adventurascotland

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Benefits of ACTIVE reviewing

• Engages all learning style preferences. • Better integration between talk and action. • Provides more ways to communicate, learn and

develop. • Produces more dynamic, enriched and focused

reviewing. • Better access to intuitive and tacit knowledge. • Pays more attention to the experience of

reviewing. • Generates more effective learning from

experience. • is even more enjoyable!

Adventurascotland

Reviewing

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Reviewing

Irene Bews Ally Sangster Adventurascotland

Irene Bews Ally Sangster adventurascotland.co.uk

A mind that is stretched by experience will never go back to its old dimensions

(proverb)

Adventurascotland