Action and experiential learning

Action learning and experiential learning are both based on the belief that experience and constant reflection on experience are the keys to effective learning (Zuber-Skerritt 1992, 2002). Experiential learning is a holistic, integrative perspective that combines experience, perception, cognition and behaviour (Kolb 1984). Experiential learning shifts the onus from learning from the lecturer, as the sole s ource of knowledge, to students, who then become partners in the learning process and experiences beyond the classroom, for what such experiences can add to student learning.

The essential principle of experiential learning is that an individual learns best by doing something (Ward 2003). The philosophy behind experiential learning is to integrate students' experience with the curriculum and to combine senses, emotions, physical conditions and cognition in a holistic way (Kolb 1984). This shift of experiential learning in teaching and learning paradigms points towards more opportunities for students to engage in different forms of community engagement. Kolb and Kolb (2005) state that the theory of experiential learning is based on six propositions. Firstly, experiential learning emphasises that, in order to improve learning, the primary focus should be on engaging students in a process that best enhances their learning. That process should include feedback on the effectiveness of students' learning efforts and should also include a process by which students are involved in different experiences, namely concrete experiences, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active participation. Students who engage in such a process achieve new knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Secondly, experiential learning is facilitated best when the process draws out the beliefs and ideas of the student about a topic, to be examined, tested and integrated with new, more refined ideas. Thirdly, learning requires the res olution of conflicts between dialectically opposed modes of adaptation to the world. Therefore, conflict, differences and disagreement drive the learning process. In the process of learning, students are called upon to move back and forth between opposing modes of reflection and action, feeling and thinking. Fourthly, learning is a holistic process of adaptation to

the world. Not just the result of cognition, learning involves the integrated functioning of the total person - thinking, feeling, perceiving and behaving. The fifth characteristic states that learning results from synergetic transactions between the person and the environment. Finally, learning is the process of creating knowledge. Experiential learning theory proposes a constructivist theory of learning, whereby social knowledge is created and recreated in the personal knowledge of the learner (Kolb & Kolb 2005). One of the greatest educational theorists who advocated experiential learning was John Dewey. Dewey was opposed to the traditional educational system in which learners were passive recipients of knowledge. He viewed the role of the student in traditional education to be submissive, compliant and receptive. Hence, he emphasised the importance of hands-on education and argued that all educational activities should involve the learner, through active participation, in experiences linked to the knowledge that is to be acquired (Dewey 1938, cited in HEQC 2006a).

Dewey's central concept is experience and the social processes embedded therein. H e insists on the importance of action and practice (Dworkin 1959). Dewey's formula - experience plus reflection equals learning - serves as the progressive foundation for the development of different perspectives on experiential learning (Dewey 1963). Although Dewey never used the term service learning, his perceptions and philosophy of education informed and contributed to the pedagogy of service learning. In creating a new paradigm for pedagogy, Dewey considered the following five areas that can easily be related to service learning:

(a) Linking education to experience. Dewey proclaims that intelligence is the reorganisation of experience through reflection on action. Therefore, "we learn in the process of living" (Saltmarsh 1996:16). Dewey emphasised the importance of connecting theory and practice: action and doing on the one hand, and knowledge and understanding on the other. Saltmarsh (1996:15) summarises this expressively: "Learning is active; the learner is an explorer, maker, creator."

(b) Democratic community. Dewey describes education as a social process connecting the I to the we. All communication is educative: face-to-face

interaction, associated living and joint communicated experience are essential to education.

(c) Social service. Learning includes participation in a democratic community and contributing to social wellbeing. Dewey's perspective is orientated towards the wellbeing of society as a whole, interdependence of interest, positive opportunities for growth, and social rights and possibilities (Saltmarsh 1996:17). (d) Reflective enquiry. Reflective enquiry critically connects and breaks down the distinction between "thought and action, theory and practice, knowledge and authority, ideas and responsibilities". It provides an opportunity for the creation of meaning from associated experience (Saltmarsh 1996:18). Through reflective enquiry, actions are transformed into experiences, which are in turn transformed into learning (see Figure 2.3).

Figure 2.3: Transformation through reflective enquiry Source: Saltmarsh (1996:18).

(e) Education for social transformation. According to Saltmarsh (1996:19), Dewey believed that education is linked to social reconstruction and that it is a primary means of social transformation, and that schools have a role in the production of social change. The aims of learning from experience, a connected view of

Learning

Experiences

learning, social problem solving and education for citizenship, which are the cornerstones of service learning, are implicit in Dewey's writings (Eyler & Giles, 1994).

(f) Kolb's (1984) theory of experiential learning. Despite numerous refinements and applications of the experiential learning theory, the well-known model of David A Kolb (1976; 1981; 1984) and his associate Roger Fry (Kolb & Fry, 1975) remains a central reference point for discussion. Kolb and Fry (1975), building on the ideas of Piaget, Dewey and Lewin (1951), explored the processes associated with learning from experience. They regarded experiential learning as a strategy integrating education, personal development and work (see Figure 2.4 below).

Figure 2.4: Experiential learning as the process that links education, work and personal development

Source: Kolb (1984).

Kolb's (1984) concept of experiential learning explores the cyclical pattern of learning from experience through reflection to conceptualising and action, returning to further experience. These four elements or stages can be explained as follows (Kolb 1984; Smith 2001; Atherton 2011):

Personal Development

Education Work

Experiential learning

(a) Concrete experience. Concrete experience corresponds with direct practical experience, as opposed to something which is theoretical but perhaps more comprehensive and represented by abstract conceptualisation. Within service learning this might involve doing something for someone in a community or service agency. Zlotkowski (2001:25) agrees with the above statement, claiming that higher-order thinking grows out of real-life experiences.

(b) Reflective observation. Reflective observation concentrates on what the experience, or its connotations, means to the individual. It requires observation, examination, analysis and interpretation of the impact of a specific concrete experience. Active experimentation transforms the theory of abstract conceptualisation by testing it in practice and relates to its denotations. Bringle and Hatcher (1999) regard reflection as a crucial element in transforming concrete experience into knowledge. Zuber-Skerritt (2001) maintains that all individuals, in reflecting on their everyday experiences, create a worldview or lens, which determines their future behaviour and strategies.

(c) Abstract conceptualisation. The next step in the experiential learning cycle gives meaning to discoveries by relating them to other discoveries or other forms of knowledge. Through abstract conceptualisation, theories or explanations of why something happened are formed. This may be followed by the beginning of general rules describing the experience; or the application of known theories in conceptualising the experience.

(d) Active experimentation. Taking further action and testing conceptualisations and their implications in different situations form the focus of this stage. The person learning makes a connection between learning experiences, the theoretical grounding of these experiences and the real world. Active experimentation transforms conceptualisation: testing abstractions in practice, and constructing and modifying the next concrete experience.

Kolb and Fry (1975) argue that the experiential learning cycle is flexible and that it can begin at any one of the four points. The learning cycle should therefore be approached as a continuous spiral (Atherton 2011:1). The experiential learning cycle provides a conceptual framework for the unique blending of hands-on experience and learning

with reflection as the vital link, for example real-life simulations (case studies), role- plays, fieldwork, internships and many more. Kolb's (1984) cycle can also be used as a map to structure the environment for service learning: giving students the opportunity to achieve appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes, and enhancing the development of a higher level of competence. Due to the sharing of similar philosophical assumptions, action learning, which can be defined as "learning from concrete experience and critical reflection on that experience" (Zuber-Skerritt 2002:114), is sometimes used as a synonym for experiential learning.

Kolb's (1984) experiential learning cycle provides a theory for learning that is well applied to community engagement as it requires the concrete experience of social realities of communities outside the institution. It outlines a process for interpreting those experiences, and processing them and acting on them. The cycle is particularly useful for service learning as the service serves as experience. Reflection upon the experience is mandated, links to academic theory and the curriculum are requisite, and the intention is to provide enhanced service to the organisation and communities with which the students work. This experiential learning cycle is relevant to the outcomes for the service agency hosting students because Kolb's cycle represents the movement of students from direct experience to action at the service agency. It provides a better understanding of how service learning students are expected to take their experiences in community development agencies, reflect upon them, link them to abstract concepts and theories, and ultimately apply them in the context of the organisation in the interes t of the community of intended benefit (Carmichael 2009:232). Figure 2.5 below illustrates this learning cycle.

Figure 2.5: Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle in the Context of service learning Source: Carmichael (2009:232)

If Carmichael (2009:232) evaluated Kolb's (1984) learning cycle within the context of service learning (see Figure 2.5), the concrete experience would take place in the community or organisation. The reflection or reviewing process followed by the abstract conceptualisation stages could take place in study groups, self-study or the classrooms, where theories and concepts would be discussed in the context of the concrete experiences. The reflection should be structured to lead to deeper learning and to encourage a particular focus or point of view (Bringle & Hatcher 1999). This will

Concrete Experience Abstract Conceptualisation Active Experimentation Reflective Observation Community Experience Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle Academic Experience

enable the learner to answer the question "Why?" and to contextualise the problem, which in turn facilitates adult learning (Knowles & Holton 2000).