All Annotations of Innovate: Preparing e-Learning Designers Using Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning[Preview]

saved by4 people, first byClay Leben on 2008-04-09, last byJanice Wilson Butler on 2008-07-23

• Preparing e-Learning Designers Using Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning
• • Describe the instructional problem to be solved.
  • Conduct a front-end analysis, including needs/opportunity assessment, audience analysis, and environment analysis.
  • Establish learning goals, objectives, and outcomes, and determine appropriate assessment methods.
  • Develop a project proposal that includes descriptions of appropriate learning activities.
  • Create a functional prototype, including interface and site design and site navigation.
  • Build a beta version of the educational Web site.
  • Develop an action plan outlining next steps, further development needs, appropriate technologies and tools, lessons learned, and future learning goals.

• Influenced by Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget, Kolb (1984) conceptualizes learning
  from experience in terms of four components, each of which requires learners to
  invoke specific abilities: Concrete experience draws on the learner's
  willingness to experience new things; reflective observation requires an ability
  to consider experiences from a variety of perspectives in order to find meaning;
  abstract conceptualization requires an ability to analyze and integrate new
  ideas and concepts, drawing logical conclusions through reflective consideration
  of new experiences; and active experimentation requires learners to apply new
  learning to practice, problem solving, and decision making, which leads to new
  concrete experiences (Merriam, Caffarella, and Baumgartner 2006). These
  abilities are integrated into phases of a cyclical process referred to as the
  experiential learning cycle (Figure
  1). Within the cycle each of these four components entails its own
  distinctive process for the learner:

  
  
  
  
  1. Experiencing (concrete experience): The learner begins with an experience of
     a concept or situation.
     
  2. Examining (reflective observation): The learner considers and examines the
     new experience from a variety of perspectives in order to find meaning.
     
  3. Explaining (abstract conceptualization): The learner looks for patterns,
     builds concepts, and tests theories, considering what was learned and drawing
     logical conclusions about its future implications.
     
  4. Applying (active experimentation): The learner draws upon previous insights
     to make decisions and apply concepts to new concrete experiences (Bolan 2003;
     Kolb 1984; Svinicki and Dixon 1987).
  
  

  The learning cycle may also be understood in terms of grasping and
  transforming experience; the grasping aspect of the cycle is represented by the
  activities of experiencing and explaining, and the transforming aspect of the
  learning cycle is represented by the activities of examining and applying (Kolb,
  Boyatzis, and Mainemelis 2000). In other words, there are two dimensions of the
  learning process. The vertical dimension—concrete experience to abstract
  conceptualization—represents learning from direct experience or from
  abstractions. The horizontal dimension—reflective observation to active
  experimentation—represents learning that occurs through reflecting on the
  experience or acting on the conclusions that have been drawn from the experience
  (Svinicki and Dixon 1987). The bottom line is that experiential learning
  emphasizes doing the task in order to learn it, which is a very context-based
  approach to the learning experience (Hansman 2001).

  
  

  Describing how experiential learning—and Kolb's model, in particular—can be
  used in instructional design, Svinicki and Dixon (1987) propose that certain
  commonly used teaching and instructional activities can support different phases
  of the cycle. They provide the following examples:

  
  
  
  
  • To foster concrete experience, instructors can employ readings, examples, or
    laboratories.
    
  • To foster reflective observation, instructors can assign journals,
    discussions, and brainstorming activities.
    
  • To foster abstract conceptualization, instructors can provide model-building
    activities, assign papers, or deliver specialized lectures.
    
  • To foster active experimentation, instructors can incorporate simulations,
    case studies, fieldwork, or final projects.
  
  

  In this way, Kolb’s model provides a functional framework for selecting and
  sequencing learning activities that support students as they learn from
  experience while working on a context-rich, real-world project.

• • Experiencing (concrete experience): The learner begins with an experience of a concept or situation.
  • Examining (reflective observation): The learner considers and examines the new experience from a variety of perspectives in order to find meaning.
  • Explaining (abstract conceptualization): The learner looks for patterns, builds concepts, and tests theories, considering what was learned and drawing logical conclusions about its future implications.
  • Applying (active experimentation): The learner draws upon previous insights to make decisions and apply concepts to new concrete experiences (Bolan 2003; Kolb 1984; Svinicki and Dixon 1987).
• • Experiencing (concrete experience): The learner begins with an experience of a concept or situation.
  • Examining (reflective observation): The learner considers and examines the new experience from a variety of perspectives in order to find meaning.
  • Explaining (abstract conceptualization): The learner looks for patterns, builds concepts, and tests theories, considering what was learned and drawing logical conclusions about its future implications.
  • Applying (active experimentation): The learner draws upon previous insights to make decisions and apply concepts to new concrete experiences (Bolan 2003; Kolb 1984; Svinicki and Dixon 1987).
• two dimensions of the learning process
• • To foster concrete experience, instructors can employ readings, examples, or laboratories.
  • To foster reflective observation, instructors can assign journals, discussions, and brainstorming activities.
  • To foster abstract conceptualization, instructors can provide model-building activities, assign papers, or deliver specialized lectures.
  • To foster active experimentation, instructors can incorporate simulations, case studies, fieldwork, or final projects.
• (Exhibit 2).