Kolb’s emphasis on the cyclical nature of learning aligns well with contemporary understanding of professional development as an ongoing process rather than a one-time event. Organisations increasingly recognise that effective professional learning requires opportunities for concrete experience, reflection, conceptualisation, and active experimentation. The theoretical elegance of Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and learning styles framework finds its true value in practical educational contexts.
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The Institute for Experiential Learning (IFEL), a global service organization committed to promoting Kolb Experiential Learning through consulting, training, coaching, assessment, research and a community of practice. The particular function that he explicates in this work, one that he elaborates throughout his later works, is the alpha function, so named to preserve it from contamination by a penumbra of preconceptions and other associations. “Freud did not carry his investigation of attention far, but the term, as he uses it, has a meaning I would investigate as a factor in alpha-function.”
“learn from experience” is a principle that spans the entire project lifecycle, from initiation to closure. Lessons learned during the project should be recorded in the lessons log and shared for future projects. It’s also important that every project team member takes responsibility for seeking out lessons rather than waiting for others to offer them.
For example, emotion plays a vital part in how we experience things. We all have memories that are strong because of how they made you feel. In education there tends to be a clear emphasis on cognition while emotion is hardly part of the conversation.
As Piaget’s cognitive development theory suggests, children in the preoperational stage (roughly ages 2-7) learn primarily through concrete experiences rather than abstract reasoning (Piaget, 1952). This natural tendency aligns perfectly with the concrete experience stage of Kolb’s cycle. A primary school integrated experiential learning into its environmental education programme. Children began with sensory exploration of natural environments (CE), then documented and discussed their observations (RO). Teachers guided them in understanding ecological concepts (AC), which students applied through conservation projects in the school grounds (AE). The programme demonstrated strong learning outcomes across different learning styles and improved environmental awareness and attitudes (Weil & McGill, 1989).
- In his view, meaningful learning is an ongoing, recursive process rather than a one-time event or the passive acquisition of information.
- Finally, Bion returns to the K link and, in light of his experiences with psychotic patients, contrasts it with the –K link, that which denudes the sense data of meaning to prevent realizations from developing.
- Practitioners help children process their experiences with questions like “What did you notice?
- However, by the end of the unit, we had an elderly vet come speak to the class, and all the students listened with great attentiveness and respect.
- First-year students began with direct experiences through industry site visits (CE), followed by guided reflection sessions (RO).
Similar to other creative professions the learning experience design process typically includes research, experimentation, ideation, conceptualization, prototyping, iteration and testing. It is not a linear, systematic, and methodical approach, but an iterative, creative, and exploratory approach. Such an approach is best suited for creating original designs with unique characteristics for a specific group of people in a specific context. This isn’t necessarily the easiest or quickest process, but it is a process that allows you to come up with the best possible designs. Next, we need to reflect to successfully learn from our experiences.
Many expand rather than reject Kolb’s framework, suggesting its fundamental value despite specific critiques. These methodological concerns do not necessarily invalidate Kolb’s insights but suggest caution in how the theory is interpreted and applied, particularly when making claims about individual learning styles. Cox et al. (2014) suggest that team coaching based on experiential learning principles is particularly effective for helping teams navigate complex challenges and develop new capabilities collectively. Schön (1983) distinguishes between “knowing-in-action” (tacit knowledge demonstrated through practice) and “knowledge-about-action” (explicit theoretical understanding). Self-directed learners work to develop both types of knowledge and the connections between them. Cox et al. (2014) note that effective self-reflection requires both retrospective analysis (examining what happened) and prospective thinking (considering implications for future practice).
For example, I was surprised by my students’ behavior while teaching a unit on war veterans. We took the class to a nearby cemetery to find gravestones from people who died during the war. Some students had never known a military veteran, and they didn’t understand how to show appreciation or empathy. They would say hurtful things or act disrespectfully at the graveyard. In collaboration with the The Institute for Experitential Learning we support a group of practitioners who continue to refine and share knowledge of Experiential Learning Theory.
Encourage people to head back into your training environment and take on the challenges again. In Dewey’s words, ‘there is an intimate and necessary relation between the process of actual experience and education’. These experiences could be anything in our personal or professional lives. This could include trying a new recipe, performing a daily task at work or simply missing a tpyo (well spotted!). Concrete experience describes the hands-on personal experiences that we learn from.
Experiential Learning Activities
Now we know the theory, let’s explore how you can add experiential learning to your structured workplace training programme. Experience-based learning is so effective because it helps establish lasting behaviour change. After all, rather than simply understanding a new subject or gaining a skill, we develop new habits and behaviours. Learning experience design is an interdisciplinary field of expertise.
Wilfred R. Bion was born in India in 1897 and educated at Bishop’s Stortford College in England. During World War One he served as a tank commander in France, and was awarded both the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1918 for his actions at the Battle of Cambrai. Bion studied history at The Queen’s College, Oxford, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1922, before studying medicine at University College London.
Keeping the people you design for and their goals at heart will improve every learning experience. Designing a learning experience that enables a learner to reach the desired learning outcome doesn’t happen by accident. Another important factor in the reflective observation stage of experiential learning is observing and learning from the experiences of others. While learning experience designers aim to have a big impact on the learner, not every experience can nor should be life changing. You need to strike a balance when it comes to the impact that you design for.
Effective mentors and coaches guide professionals through the experiential learning cycle, helping them reflect on experiences, develop conceptual understanding, and apply new insights in their practice. Reflective practice, a cornerstone of professional development in fields like education, healthcare, and social work, draws heavily on Kolb’s emphasis on reflection as a critical component of learning from experience. Structured approaches to professional reflection, such as those described by Schön (1983), help practitioners develop deeper insights from their everyday work experiences. For Reflective Observation, online discussion forums, reflective journaling activities, guided questioning prompts, and video-based debriefing sessions can help learners process their experiences. Digital tools like e-portfolios can support documentation and reflection on learning experiences over time. Effective implementation involves http://tracylarson.livepositively.com/technology/is-meetheage-safe-a-realistic-review-from-a-longtime-online-dater/ not just cycling through these stages but also providing multiple entry points that accommodate different learning style preferences.
The widespread adoption of Kolb’s approach in professional development contexts reflects its alignment with contemporary understanding of workplace learning as an ongoing, experience-based process. By providing a structured framework for translating experience into knowledge, Kolb’s model helps professionals develop the adaptive expertise needed in rapidly changing fields. Kolb’s model has encouraged organisations to develop more balanced learning programmes that engage all four learning modes.
The Significance Of Learners’ Relationship To The Learning Experience
Both Kolb’s (1984) learning stages and the cycle could be used by teachers to critically evaluate the learning provision typically available to students and to develop more appropriate learning opportunities. For Reflective Observation, teachers can facilitate discussions, journaling activities, questioning sessions, and structured debriefings that help students process their experiences. The instruments should be used with appropriate caution, recognising their limitations and avoiding deterministic applications that might restrict rather than expand learning opportunities. As Moon (2004) notes, the goal should be to use these tools to develop learning flexibility rather than to reinforce fixed approaches to learning. Dewey’s criticism of traditional education as the transmission of static information parallels Kolb’s emphasis on active engagement with experience rather than passive reception of information (Dewey, 1938). Both theorists recognize learning as an active process rather than passive reception.
They act much like scientists as they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world. His theory contributed greatly to our understanding of how children learn, develop, and grow. Desired learning outcomeThis focus on the learner also applies to the learning outcome. In the definition of LXD at the start of this article a “desired learning outcome” is mentioned. A learning outcome is desirable when it is relevant, meaningful, and valuable to the learner. That’s what’s been missing in more conventional learning where you know what to learn but often not why to learn it.