Application of experiential learning to improve student engagement and experience in a mechanical engineering course

ABSTRACT

This paper introduced how a mechanical engineering course was redesigned by applying experiential learning theory to improve student engagement and learning experience. Design of machine elements has been considered by students to be a difficult course. Traditional teaching methods tend not to be effective in engaging students. Experiential learning is a philosophy of learning by doing. In applying an experiential learning approach to the course, the design project and workshop activities were restructured in such a way that students were engaged in direct experience and focused reflection to construct knowledge. By exploring a physical gearbox model, working on subtasks for the design project, having group discussions, raising questions, getting feedback, and moving forward for next subtasks, students experienced the learning cycles of ‘DO, OBSERVE, THINK, and PLAN’ many times. Course survey results showed that application of experiential learning helped to improve student engagement and learning experience significantly.     

新生代农民工经验学习研究——基于杜威的经验学习模型

杜威的经验学习模型是其经验学习理论的重要组成部分,对新生代农民工经验学习具有重要指导意义。借鉴杜威的经验学习模型,为更好地促进新生代农民工的经验学习,应激发学习动机,增强经验学习的积极性;立足现实生活,营造积极的经验学习情境;重视经验的作用,使学习内容与经验相联系;注重经验反思,培养批判性反思能力;倡导从做中学,采用多样化的学习方式。     

智慧环境下的体验式学习探析

智慧学习环境下的体验式学习是基于高端数字环境的一种新颖的学习方式,是包含感知、建构、融合与反思等多个环节的完整过程。在智能化时代,体验式学习离不开智慧型学习环境的支持。体验式学习体系的构建需要借助于信息技术创设真实情境,激发学生的深度体验;构建共享平台,实现现实与虚拟的"无缝"体验;采用智能技术,助推终身"体验"。     

基于体验学习理论的高职综合实践课程实施

高职综合实践课程是融合了技术知识学习和技术实践培养的综合性课程。基于体验学习理论,高职综合实践课程的教学应以工作项目为核心,采取由具体体验、反思观察、抽象概括和行动应用四个阶段构成的体验学习圈模式,使学生在做、思、学、再做的循环过程中生成经验。     

The contribution of reflective learning to experiential learning in business education

Abstract

Experiential learning theory states that reflection is just as important to learning as action. However, business educators often overlook reflection in their experiential learning activities, especially when it’s understood as a dialogue process. Drawing on reflective learning theory, we explored the case of an undergraduate business programme that has been combining experiential learning with three different reflective learning mechanisms for the past ten years. Results show that: (1) reflective dialogue is central for ensuring that impressions from experience translate into better-defined learning outcomes, (2) this dialogue process greatly benefits from a closely guided process, and (3) different reflection mechanisms contribute differently to the learning process. Considering how fast experiential learning has popularised in business schools, this study alerts educators to the importance of combining their experiential learning activities with a guided process of reflection. Otherwise, educators risk students extracting meagre, wrong or misleading impressions from their experience.     

Motivations for older adults’ participation in distance education: A study at the National Open University of Taiwan

The paper presents an enabling framework for experiential learning that connects with reflexive modernity. This framework places an emphasis on learning with others and on the role of theory, practice and reflection. A sociological argument is constructed for an alternative framework for experiential learning that derives from social theory. It is argued that reflection in learning connects with the concept of reflexivity in contemporary social theory. The arguments are developed through discussion of the following themes: (a) How does reflective learning in post compulsory education align with the needs of learners and reflexive modernity? (b) How can experiential learning provide a framework for more reflexive learning in education?     

Exploring an experiential learning project through Kolb's Learning Theory using a qualitative research method

Experiential learning pedagogy is taking a lead in the development of graduate attributes and educational aims as these are of prime importance for society. This paper shows a community service experiential project conducted in China. The project enabled students to serve the affected community in a post-earthquake area by applying their knowledge and skills. This paper documented the students’ learning process from their project goals, pre-trip preparations, work progress, obstacles encountered to the final results and reflections. Using the data gathered from a focus group interview approach, the four components of Kolb's learning cycle, the concrete experience, reflection observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation, have been shown to transform and internalise student's learning experience, achieving a variety of learning outcomes. The author will also explore how this community service type of experiential learning in the engineering discipline allowed students to experience deep learning and develop their graduate attributes.     

Promoting metacognition in first year anatomy laboratories using plasticine modeling and drawing activities: a pilot study of the "blank page" technique

Many first year students of anatomy and physiology courses demonstrate an inability to self-regulate their learning. To help students increase their awareness of their own learning in a first year undergraduate anatomy course, we piloted an exercise that incorporated the processes of (1) active learning: drawing and plasticine modeling and (2) metacognition: planning, monitoring, reaction, and reflection. The activity was termed "blank page" because all learning cues were removed and students had to create models and diagrams from reflection and recall. Two hundred and eighty-two students responded to a questionnaire reporting qualitative feedback on the exercise. Based on student responses, the "blank page" activity was a positive learning experience and confirmed a need to teach metacognitive skills. From this pilot study, we established that drawing or plasticine modeling is an excellent vehicle for demonstration of the metacognitive processes that enable self-regulation: a known predictor of academic success.     

Exploring MBA Students’ Preferences for Experiential Learning

In 1992, the writer presented a core MBA subject about strategic management which used experiential learning as the major educational strategy, at an Australian university. At the start and end of the subject, students were surveyed about their preferences for the applied/theoretical orientation and the lecturer/student locus for the subject. This paper's aim is to explore how those preferences changed and why, using quantitative and qualitative information provided by the students. Generally speaking, the subject was well received and matched students’ expectations and ideals on the two dimensions. Moreover, their preferences for experiential learning grew as their experience of it increased through the semester. The experiential methods of case analyses and role plays were especially useful in explaining these preferences. However, the students apparently consider their management development to be more multi‐faceted than the two dimensions would indicate, involving various structures and forms of involvement within a context that is realistic to them. Implications for team learning and learning about experiential learning are developed.     

Independent Study in History

Increasingly, instructional pedagogies in learning contexts from classrooms to boardrooms are couched within experiential learning paradigms. The field trip is a teaching pedagogy that draws on experiential learning. The author aims to demonstrate how a field trip to Sea Islands, South Carolina, presents an opportunity for undergraduate anthropology students to experience a learning continuum from course readings and films to a firsthand experience. The effectiveness of the field trip as an instructional pedagogy is assessed. Best practices for incorporating field trips into instruction are presented.     

Examining the Impact of Pedagogy on Student Application of Learning: Acquiring,Sharing, and Using Knowledge for Organizational Decision Making

In this pilot research we examine the impact of two leadership development training programs on the ability of students to acquire knowledge, share knowledge, and apply knowledge for organizational decision making. One program emphasized concepts and case‐based application based on a technical learning paradigm. The other program used a game‐based computer simulation, Virtual Leader, grounded in an experiential or situated learning paradigm. After training, students from both programs engaged in a complex in‐basket exercise to examine the quality of their leadership and managerial abilities. In this exercise, participants from each training intervention worked with their trained cohort to accomplish a day of managerial work. Participants were observed and their individual and collective actions and decisions on behalf of the organization were evaluated. Using qualitative research we compared the organizational decisions associated with each group to determine which pedagogical technique resulted in the most effective application of student learning. While technical learning pedagogy was associated with greater information acquisition, the game‐based computer simulation (an experiential, social‐interaction oriented pedagogy) was associated with better decision quality and more shared cognition. Evidence suggests that students taught with the game‐based computer simulation collectively demonstrated a greater ability to apply what they learned.     

Interaction,Reflection and Learning at a Distance

The author's experiences as an online student are presented as a case study to examine the relationship between interaction, reflection and learning in distance education. Reflection as a dimension of experiential learning theory is summarised and examples of its use in distance education are discussed. Recommendations for course design that promotes the understanding of theoretical issues through personal experience are proposed.     

体验性学习与自我概念的重估

通过对杭州师范大学外国语学院教授杨小洪老师课堂的实地观察,探讨高等师范院校英语专业在教学中如何关注自我概念,追寻自我意义,如何使课堂成为学生和老师真实体验的生活空间,并由此引发学生和老师,学生和学生之间进行真实的对话,使学生体验到学习的成功与失败,最终达到心灵成长的教育目的。     

漫谈小学语文教学中体验式学习的应用

在新课程背景下,体验式学习模式成了小学语文教学的重要途径。小学语文教师要善于引导学生进行体验式学习,营造开放、轻松的语文学习氛围,开展形式丰富的课堂体验活动,激发小学生的学习兴趣,陶冶小学生的道德情操,提高学生的语文运用能力。本文结合实际小学语文教学经验,先分析了体验式学习的特点,进而论述了体验式学习在小学语文教学中的应用策略。     

新媒体、新技术体验学习的设计与实践

新媒体、新技术正以各种方式广泛而深刻地影响社会的方方面面,但是其在教育中的应用情况究竟如何?在新理念构建下的体验式学习环境中开展新媒体、新技术的学习是一个全新的课题。目前教师和学生对教学中引入新媒体与新技术并未给予足够的重视,一个很重要的原因是缺乏相应的学习体验。体验学习在促进学习者知识理解、激发学习者主动性、培养批判性思维等方面有积极影响。基于新媒体、新技术进行体验学习时,一方面要使物理环境遵循未来课堂、体验学习、场馆学习环境设计基本理念,以人为本,重视多角度、多方式地对事物进行呈现,尽可能地促进学习者直接经验的获取和反思;另一方面在体验学习活动设计时要将具体体验、反思观察、抽象概括、行动应用四个学习阶段贯穿其中,充分利用物理环境所提供的空间和技术支持,把获取经验(感知经验和领悟经验)与转换经验结合起来,实现体验学习过程的螺旋上升。     

Crash: Using a Popular Film as an Experiential Learning Activity in a Multicultural Counseling Course

Crash (P. Haggis, 2004) depicts the intersection of race, ethnicity, religion, and social class in a culturally and politically charged environment. The result is a film that places the viewer in situations that are void of simple right and wrong solutions. The authors describe an experiential learning activity that is based on using Crash to stimulate student awareness and reflection as a part of their affective development. Reactions from students to the use of Crash as a teaching tool are shared. Implications for counselor educators and supervisors electing to use this film to address multicultural counseling competence are presented.     

Promoting higher levels of reflective writing in student journals

This paper traces the development over several years of an initiative involving student journals that was introduced into a tertiary science education course for pre‐service teachers to promote enhanced learning of how to teach science. Very soon after introducing the journals into course work the lecturer began engaging in ‘unplanned’ informal reflection (reflection‐in‐action and reflection‐on‐action) when she witnessed the shallow, often trivial nature of her students’ reflective writing and the lack of pedagogical insights they were gaining from the exercise. Motivated by her own ongoing scholarship the lecturer introduced purposeful coaching of reflective skills into her pedagogy to scaffold students’ learning and promote more useful reflection. The impact of these interventions on students’ reflective capabilities and learning were investigated using a formal action research cycle. Findings indicate that student teachers’ reflective skills improved and resulted in deeper and more focused thinking about how to teach science for learning.     

MAKING AGING "REAL" FOR UNDERGRADUATES

While there is ample evidence that introductory aging courses can enhance students' appreciation of older adults and aging issues, few studies report the impact of such courses on students' view of their own aging. We developed a one-credit, undergraduate course, "Introduction to Aging," to sensitize students to the aging experience, the diversity of the aging population, and the value of intergenerational communication. To achieve these goals, the curriculum was developed and taught using transformational learning methods that emphasize attitude and belief changes through self-reflection. This article shares the responses of students to an experiential, web-based exercise "Calculating Your Life Expectancy" that was assigned to "situate" students in the aging process. Our findings demonstrate that this exercise is an excellent transformational learning tool to stimulate student thinking and discussion of their own aging.     

Changing students’ and teachers’ concepts and constructs of knowledge in RE in Greece

ABSTRACT

Based on a qualitative research (2012–15) this paper is concerned with the identification of concepts and constructs of knowledge in RE. It is based on participative enquiry and educational action-research methodology. Over a three-year period, the researcher, teachers and the students of a High School in one of the most difficult social, economic and pedagogic environments in Greece collaborated and the resulting data were analysed by a team of independent researchers using quantitative and qualitative techniques. Findings point to the consideration of knowledge in education as an experience in which the content (what) of education is as important as the process (how). RE teaches an additional invaluable language with different religious meanings of concepts, which facilitates students’ communication with self and others, and offers an interpretation of the world. Such religious literacy is essentially provided at school in the framework of multi-literacies and is a result of an intersubjective process of the interconnection between thinking, reflection and action on what the curriculum positions on the top of the didactic triangle (content, teacher, student). In that process, to ‘know what I know’ and to provide ‘events with meaning’ based on experiential learning and its principles, is of inestimable value.     

Transformational Teaching: Theoretical Underpinnings, Basic Principles, and Core Methods

Approaches to classroom instruction have evolved considerably over the past 50?years. This progress has been spurred by the development of several learning principles and methods of instruction, including active learning, student-centered learning, collaborative learning, experiential learning, and problem-based learning. In the present paper, we suggest that these seemingly different strategies share important underlying characteristics and can be viewed as complimentary components of a broader approach to classroom instruction called transformational teaching. Transformational teaching involves creating dynamic relationships between teachers, students, and a shared body of knowledge to promote student learning and personal growth. From this perspective, instructors are intellectual coaches who create teams of students who collaborate with each other and with their teacher to master bodies of information. Teachers assume the traditional role of facilitating students’ acquisition of key course concepts, but do so while enhancing students’ personal development and attitudes toward learning. They accomplish these goals by establishing a shared vision for a course, providing modeling and mastery experiences, challenging and encouraging students, personalizing attention and feedback, creating experiential lessons that transcend the boundaries of the classroom, and promoting ample opportunities for preflection and reflection. We propose that these methods are synergistically related and, when used together, maximize students’ potential for intellectual and personal growth.