Experiential Learning

John Dewey’s Experiential Learning

Dewey took a progressive approach to the design and implementation of experiential opportunities in education. Implementing experiences in the learning process include the genuine embodied life experiences of the student. All experiences should include opportunities for student contact and communication because human experiences are decisively social. Students will have more opportunities to engage the educational content and increased opportunities to learn how the content can be applicable to real-life scenarios when educators incorporate experiential learning. Experiential learning can be constructed by the progression students undergo and the contexts involved. Education should enhance student learning from one stage of development to the next. For experiential learning results to occur, student experiences should be contained in the lesson.

The principle of continuity refers to understanding that the future should be accounted for in each phase of the educational progression. Each experience impacts the quality of future potential experiences. As stated by Dewey, education should not only supply students with content knowledge but also with a model for how to function as a citizen. Continuity exists in each student due to previous experiences affecting future experiences.

Student attitudes, feelings, and beliefs toward educational technology tools are formed from an initial experience. Educators should ensure that initial experience is positive, engaging, and related to practical examples in order for students to develop a positive continuity toward educational technology tools. According to Dewey, the principle of continuity is required for learning to be considered experiential. However, more than just the principle of continuity is needed for an educational environment to be experiential.

Carl Rogers’s Experiential Learning

Carl Rogers was a psychologist in the mid-20th century and a staunch believer in student-centered learning. He supported the principle that experiential learning was parallel to student transformation and development. Rogers argued experiential learning opportunities are more significant when accompanied by cognitive forms of education. Rogers suggested using students’ feelings and emotions in their educational process. Learning is enhanced when the educator has an understanding of a student’s frame of mind during the teaching and learning process.

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