Hall of Fame
Experientialists
The history of learning theory has consistently shown the importance
of 'learning by doing'. Yet much formal learning delivery is devoid
of experiential learning. It is left to informal learning, applying
our knowledge and skills in the real world, that most of this 'learning
by doing' takes place. Theorist after theorist has shown the importance
of practice, yet few learning professionals and institutions pay
it more than lip service.
Of course, experiential learning need not mean real experience
in the real world. It can also mean the delivery of compressed experience
through simulations. A flight simulator is no less experiential
than a real aircraft. In fact, one could argue that it is more experiential
as it can deliver scenarios and conditions that one may never encounter
in real life. We are finally entering an era where technology can
deliver experiential simulations at relatively low price, not only
for pilots, but for doctors, managers and a whole range of skills
that we need to learn and apply.
Kolb, famous for his experiential cycle, drew on a rich tradition
from Dewey onwards to pull together a model for experiential learning.
It is simplistic and needed modification. Schank is more concerned
with an experiential model based on his own cognitive theories on
learning through failure and scenario-based learning. In his case
this is backed up by real content, produced using case-based reasoning
and simulations.
Read more about Kolb
Read more about Schank
|
