Experiential learning: Past and present
Experiential learning: Past and present
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体验式学习:过去和现在
DOI:
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发表时间:
1994
期刊:
影响因子:
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通讯作者:
C. Williams
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
L. Lewis;C. Williams
In its simplest form, experiential learning means learning from experience or learning by doing. Experiential education first immerses adult learners in an experience and then encourages reflection about the experience to develop new skills, new attitudes, or new ways of thinking. During the last decade experiential learning has moved from the periphery of education to the center. No longer supplemental to the acquisition of content, experiential approaches are considered fundamental to meaningful learning. What accounts for this shift in perspective? First, there has been a dramatic change in our conception of learning. We have moved away from behaviorist notions of teachers as purveyors of knowledge and learners as passive receivers. Current cognitive, humanistic, social, and constructivist learning models stress the importance of meaning formation. Therefore, models of good practice in adult education must utilize leamers’ previous experiences in order to enhance their current and future learning. Second, in the last few decades, higher education has experienced an unprecedented influx of adult learners. Adult learners bring to the learning setting a wealth of prior experience and are eager to draw upon their background and previous learning in the classroom. Responsive teachers are able to capitalize on the prior experience of their students as a catalyst for new learning. Third, in today’s rapidly changing environment there is an increased demand for flexibility and the capacity to leverage previous knowledge and experience in new and different ways. Educators are being held accountable for what learners know and are able to do. The pressure for accountability has caused educators to design competency-based measures of learning and experiential techniques for assessing learner outcomes. The corporate sector, too, has called for greater accountability to justify the large sums of money spent on education and training, as it has been difficult to assess the transfer of trainNEW DIRECTIONS FOR AWL1 AND CONTlNUNG EWCATlON, no. 62, Summer 1994 0Jo~xy-BlU IN., Publlshen 5