The Future of Education

Experiential Learning (EL) is widely evidenced to have positive impact on academic learning and transferrable personal and social skills [1; 2]. Nevertheless, it is little used in higher education yet. This project aimed to create a tool for course designers to gauge to what degree their course is ‘experiential’, and guidelines on how they can systematically apply factors of EL to increase students’ learning and growth. A framework for EL was constructed of six factors reported in key literature and research in experiential education: Agency, Authenticity, Continuity, Emotional Engagement, and Reflection [3]. A quasi-experimental case study approach was taken to test the framework by eliciting students’ views on four university courses that were rated as highly ‘experiential’ by international experts on EL. Online surveys with past and current students (n=93) elicited key learning and challenges, and views on specific course aspects. A scoring system quantified the relevance students attributed to each framework factor. Scores underwent statistical analysis and were cross-checked with the word responses. In addition, semi-structured, qualitative group interviews were conducted within all current cohorts (10 interviews, 25 students). All six factors demonstrated to be beneficial to students’ learning and growth, although with different relevance and connections. The factor with the strongest impact on student growth was Authenticity. Students reported that a ‘real life’ connection made the course more meaningful, and helped them see more value for their future life (Continuity). The factors Agency and Support showed an inter-relation requiring a delicate balance: Paired T-Tests produced a weak yet significant correlation between the Means of these two factors (correlation .348 at sign .001, Sig (2-tailed) .000; n=83). Qualitative analysis revealed that students felt too much Support constricted Agency (‘spoon feeding’) while lack of Support left some overwhelmed (i.e. too much Agency). For many students the key was to feel like support was available if needed. Finally, students who were guided to Reflection reported higher growth. Past students scored their course experiences overall more positively than current ones, presumably because they had more time to reflect on their experience, and saw more evidence of its future application value (Continuity). In summary, the proposed EL framework held across widely different courses and disciplines. The interaction of certain factors suggests strategies for optimising the learning and growth that students can gain from a course.

Keywords: experiential learning, higher education, course design, agency, authenticity, continuity. 

References:
[1] Silberman, M. (Ed.) (2007). The handbook of experiential learning. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
[2] Beard, C., & Wilson, J. P. (Eds.) (2009). Experiential learning. A best practice handbook for educators and trainers. London, Philadelphia: Kogan Page.
[3] Beames, S. (2018). Experiential education: Defining features for curriculum and pedagogy. In: The University of Edinburgh's Teaching Matters blog. URL:
https://www.teaching-matters-blog.ed.ac.uk/experiential-education-defining-features-for-curriculum-and-pedagogy/