Technology-Facilitated Experiential Learning

As opposed to passive learning, experiential learning is a process of knowledge creation through learning experience transformation, according to David A. Kolb. Through transformative reflection, concrete experience derived from learning activities is translated into new concepts that are tested by students and used for future problem solving. According to Kolb, the key elements of this approach are (a) concrete experience (doing), (b) reflective observation (observing), (c) abstract concept formation (thinking), and (d) active experimentation (planning to test a new concept in a new situation). The process of learning from experience is also referred to as learning by doing (a term created by John Dewey and discussed in the works of Thomas M. Duffy, Donald J. Cunningham, and others) and experience-based learning. M. David Merrill has often said in many presentations that people learn what they do. This entry discusses the general approaches of experiential learning, the [Page 760]affordances of technology for experiential learning, and design principles for the use of technology in experiential learning.

Experiential learning has been further developed as an instructional strategy in which learners acquire knowledge through making meaning of their experience(s) in learning task engagements that occur in real-world settings (e.g., field trips, internships, and community service work). Learning tasks are typically designed using authentic and ill-structured problems. At the elementary school level, an example of experiential learning is studying biology in the field rather than reading books; students directly observe and interact with plants or animals. In this case, a learning task can be a report that estimates the impact of pollution on plants along with a plan to protect the local environment. When students write reports alone or in collaboration with others, they need to reflect and interpret what they have observed and recorded in the field in the light of prior knowledge. By making sense of their observations and reflections, they construct new knowledge.

Another example is the participation of civil engineering students in authentic building projects. Involvement in real-world projects creates valuable opportunities for the students to apply and test theoretical knowledge acquired from their structured learning and, more importantly, to build professional skills. Students learn directly from engineers how to design and carry out solutions in the context of a real project. These kinds of learning opportunities are virtually impossible in traditional classrooms. New knowledge and skills are developed through deliberate practice in a discipline-specific approach to solving problems encountered in a given project.

Technology can play an important role in supporting experiential learning, especially since the development of the Internet, social networking technologies, virtual realities, and mobile computing. A close examination of technology-facilitated experiential learning, therefore, has both practical and theoretical implications.