Assignment 2i: Revisiting Personal Learning Questions
Participating in an international internship was my first official learning experience abroad. Prior to this experience, all my credited learning was completed in a classroom setting. After being introduced to the experiential learning cycle I realized that I had been subconsciously learning this way my entire life in a variety of settings outside of the classroom. To an extent, the experiential learning is a process that is natural to humans. This opinion can be demonstrated by the notion learning from our mistakes. We act, observe, evaluate, and we react and in the same way or a different way based on our evaluation. However, there are aspects to the experiential learning cycle that
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Based on my practice of the theory, experiential learning is far more stimulating and rewarding than the conventional classroom learning that I am used to. With this cycle, I am in charge of what I want to learn, and I am also responsible for obtaining results. When I came to a conclusion based on my reflections, I felt a sense of accomplishment. Conversely, coming to conclusions often meant unfolding another round of questions. I found that the more I discovered the more there was to discover. This was a uniquely frustrating and invigorating process. At times, I was set back when I received the answer to a question only to be introduced to another underlying component to the topic. Each cycle that I completed felt like chipping away layers of a question to receive my answer. In that sense, I was quite encouraged by the cyclical process because I wanted to know what next step would come of my analysis. Since I find experiential learning is stimulating and rewarding, the lack of a true answer after my first round of learning was exciting at …show more content…
Running into challenges displayed to me the complexities of experiential learning. There is a certain amount of trial and error required to perform experiential learning. When one technique does not work we need to change the way we approach the situation. I felt as though I was steering a boat that represented my learning plan. I had to adjust the sails as I saw fit and sometimes that boat was nowhere near its destination, rather it was in the middle of the ocean. Reviewing my initial action plan to answering my questions showed me how little I knew about my host country as well and how naïve I was. A lot my approaches required human interaction and assumed quick results. With the use of the experiential learning cycle, as I began to understand the environment I was in I also learned how to take action within
Learning is important for countless reasons, the most important reason being that it molds a person into who he or she is. What people choose to learn, and also what they choose not to, create the core of their opinions as individuals. Though people do not admit it or openly declare it, it is fair to say almost everyone is self centered. Because of this, and the fact that learning dramatically affects a person, learning is not only thrilling, but also expressive. Furthermore, since learning is expressive, its meaning varies from person to person, therefore making each person’s experiences with learning unique and life changing.
Mezirow, who is the developer of the transformative learning theory, asserted that the innate nature of humans is to necessitate comprehension and significance of the experiences encountered in life. Mezirow further contended that the transformative learning theory affords the learner the possibility to understand...
Transformational learning is a procedure that leads students to scrutinize the roots of their assumptions and preconceptions and, as a result, it has deepened their awareness to change their attitude and perception towards life, others and the affairs of the world. Philosopher Maxine Greene emphasizes that meaningful learning involves a process of disclosure, reconstruction and generation. She practically points out that when learners encounter dislocations, and have realized that their old inherited recipe for solving problems are no longer effective, their immediate central concern is to “mentally ordering his own life-world” by looking at the meaning of their experience in light of a new perspective. There are three main mental components of transformative learning, namely: First, the experience; Second, the inner meaning and; Third is the reflection. Mezirow point out that rational thinking and reflection takes place as a response to disorienting dilemma. This mental examination of an experience, serves an opportunity to process imaginative ways of accessing new values, new meaning perspectives that dynamically resolve the problem. Because of this, significant life learning transformation perspective is
Kolb’s learning cycle is used to break up the learning process into different stages, such as doing, reflecting, conceptualizing and experiencing (Kurian, 2013, p.162). The use of Kolb’s learning cycle (1984) has a wide impact on the advancements in learning. Within the four stages, the practitioner would have taken part in a task and would have noted down their observations. At this stage the practitioner would have begun to see the positives and negatives of the task that they have just carried out. From then on the practitioner will form new ideas from the observation notes. Later, being able to use these new ideas to plan their task effectively. Once the practitioner has implemented their task, for the second time with the new ideas. Kolb’s learning cycle (1984) begins again. However, Kolb’s model has been criticized due to the fact that it does not give a wide range of detail about the process of reflection, and lacks evidence. It can sometimes be seen as rigid and sequential (Trodd, 2012,
Reflection is a significant component of pre-registration education (Davis et al.2000). Hillard (2006) claims that for practitioners to learn from an experience they need to go beyond description and should reflect on their experiences in practice as this could potentially uncover any underlying influences, motivations and knowledge. Reflecting on an experience could then be identified as a process to bridging the gap between theory and practice (Bulman & Schutz, 2004).
As J. Daniel Hess writes in his book, Studying Abroad/Learning Abroad, reflection on our actions is one of the most difficult things that a foreigner does. He writes, “How does one effectively grasp the meaning of a critical event and the essence of a new culture, understanding it in sufficient depth not only to appreciate its dynamic complexities but also to function comfortably as a participant.” These questions were always in my mind especially as I was by myself. In hindsight I may have tread too carefully in some areas. Hess describes the difference between the theory-application model, and the action-reflection-response model. Hess encouraged all intercultural travelers to learn by reflecting on past event rather than simply reading
The ability to reflect critically on one’s experience, integrate knowledge gained from experience with knowledge possessed, and take action on insights is considered by some adult educators to be a distinguishing feature of the adult learner (Brookfield 1998; Ecclestone 1996; Mezirow 1991). Critical reflection is the process by which adults identify the assumptions governing their actions, locate the historical and cultural origins of the assumptions, question the meaning of the assumptions, and develop alternative ways of acting (Cranton 1996). Brookfield (1995) adds that part of the critical reflective process is to challenge the prevailing social, political, cultural, or professional ways of acting. Through the process of critical reflection, adults come to interpret and create new knowledge and actions from their ordinary and sometimes extraordinary experiences. Critical reflection blends learning through experience with theoretical and technical learning to form new knowledge constructions and new behaviors or insights.
I found Kolb's (1984) model of experiential learning a useful way to summarize the process if individual learning. The cycle begins when we each experience the world through our senses. Kolb calls this step ‘concreate experience', to indicate that he does not mean the various experiences we have through books or plays, but real-world experiences. Examples of concrete experience could be as varied as sitting through a boring meeting or suffering the distress of losing a job. Kolb suggest that to learn from our experiences we must engage in a second step of consistency reflecting on what has occurred. This step he calls ‘reflective observation'. We are able to reflect on much less than what occurred in the actual experience. Reflection is selective and influenced by our expectations. The third step in the learning cycle is making sense of what we have experience. In other words, ‘abstract conceptualization'. The final step in Kolb's model is ‘active experimentation'. At this step, we test out the meaning that we have constructed by taking action in the world – which then leads to new experiences. Kolb has shown that over time we tend to get more proficient at some steps of the process that at others, thus we develop a learning style preference. Kolb has noted all the steps are necessary, the smallest alteration to any of these steps can make the learning process less
Reflecting back on how every human has the capacity to learn once born caused my understanding of the meaning of learning to
Stage 2 of Kolb’s 1984 four-stage Experiential Learning Model, involves reflective observation of an experience. The cycle treats reflection as an imperative part of learning. Upon reflection of the patient counselling scenario, I have realised that actually experiencing an event, rather than simply observing, has proven effective in my learning. This is supported by Bonwell and Eison (1991) who discuss how active learning is important in aiding student education.
Nevertheless, I recognize that there is plenty of room for improvement. I enjoy the practical and investigation aspect, also that I can use my past experience which makes this learning style exciting. But, I understand that there are many factors that I have to work on so I can better understand what it is being communicated and increase my learning power. For example, I understand that it would be more beneficial if I spend more time analyzing the issue and the options presented before making a decision. This approach will eliminate many improvised answers and it would take care of the problem in a long term instead of just as a temporary solution. There are many other factors, not just for the accommodative style, for improving one’s learning abilities that are very important and always have to be taken in
Experiential Learning is a powerful form of learning. As stated by Lewis and Williams “In its simplest form, experiential learning means learning from experience or learning by doing. Experiential education first immerses learners in an experience and then encourages reflection about the experience to develop new skills, new attitudes, or new ways of thinking.” (1994, p.5). Learning through experience is something that each one of us do in our daily lives, often on a subconscious level. Rather than reading, viewing or thinking of how to do something with experiential learning we can learn by doing. Traditional teaching or training may not always be the best way for all students in both the educational setting or corporate setting to learn. Often when you use reading a book, or listening to a lecture the
Since we talked many ways and type of adult learning. In the sixth chapter,I recognized that experiences are so important to adult learning. Deway (1963)pointed out “not all experience are educative, some experiences may be the factor of leading a wrong way and I do really agree with this statement. Then, the next section described Kolb’s model of learning by experiences. Meanwhile, other adult educators developed three models from different perspectives. Jarvis(2006) considered the deep into a processing ; Tennan and Pogson(1995) tried experiential learning in an instructional angle ; Fenwick(2003) more prefer put philosophical lens of viewing the experiential learning. This is the most engaged part to learning. While the next section about “reflective practice ad situated cognition” was distanced of learning in this chapter. That is not means I repudiate these are two other ways to explore the relationship between experience and learning, it need to be
Most of life's situations are learning experiences. People can learn what activities are right or wrong for them by experiences these emotions in different situations. These learning experiences can take place at home, school, the workplace, or anywhere else. The three major experiences that have given me confidence in my ability to learn have all taken place at Penn State University.
One-way my time spent during my fieldwork has improved my own learning is how I manage the way I learn. During my fieldwork, I observed many ways the teacher adjusted her lessons to accommodate different learning styles for her students to enhance their learning. This made me think of my own cognitive learning style and how I learned and processed information. These types of adjustments made by the teacher to improve learning, helped me better understand