Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development

by David A. Kolb

Experiential learning is a powerful and proven approach to teaching and learning that is based on one incontrovertible people learn best through experience.Now, in this extensively updated book, David A. Kolb offers a systematic and up-to-date statement of the theory of experiential learning and its modern applications to education, work, and adult development. Experiential Learning, Second Edition builds on the intellectual origins of experiential learning as defined by figures such as John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget, and L.S. Vygotsky, while also reflecting three full decades of research and practice since the classic first edition. Kolb models the underlying structures of the learning process based on the latest insights in psychology, philosophy, and physiology. Building on his comprehensive structural model, he offers an exceptionally useful typology of individual learning styles and corresponding structures of knowledge in different academic disciplines and careers. Kolb also applies experiential learning to higher education and lifelong learning, especially with regard to adult education. This edition reviews recent applications and uses of experiential learning, updates Kolb's framework to address the current organizational and educational landscape, and features current examples of experiential learning both in the field and in the classroom. It will be an indispensable resource for everyone who wants to promote more effective in higher education, training, organizational development, lifelong learning environments, and online.

Genres: Education, Psychology, Teaching, Nonfiction, Business, Leadership, Research

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1983

Reviews

[Fred Cheyunski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Knowledge Generation Schema - Going back and forward to trace key roots in my intellectual/professional life and current manifestations, I got into Kolb’s book. There are more recent versions, but I went with the version as it was available to me at the time. Glad for the exposure to the first edition of this classic, I was able to better to discern the way Kolb’s work has evolved. Furthermore, I was impressed by the breadth of the author’s work as a framework for understanding not only experiential learning but also broader learning and knowledge generation.

The book’s contents include a Foreword (by Warren Bennis, eminent group dynamics/organization development pioneer and educator), Preface and Introduction, then 31 Chapters in Eight Parts. The main Parts consist of (1) The Foundations of Contemporary Approaches to Experiential Learning, (2) The Process of Experiential Learning, (3) Structural Foundations of the Learning Process, (4) Individuality in Learning and the Concept of Learning Styles, (5) The Structure of Knowledge, (6) The Experiential Learning Theory of Development, (7) Learning and Development in Higher Education, and (8) Lifelong Learning and Integrative Development. (The second edition, issued in 2014, has these same major sections, but they are grouped into the three overarching segments of Experience and Learning, The Structure of Learning and Knowledge, then Learning and Development; there are also a revised Preface and Introduction as well as “Updates and Reflections” in each of the 8 parts listed above along with a Bibliography and Index amended accordingly).

There is so much in this compact book, but the aspects that stood out for me revolved around Kolb’s diagrams and tables as well as the many sources he incorporates. For instance, on pg. 42, the author’s chart summarizes the four essential dimensions of the experiential learning process where one has a concrete experience (CE), engages in reflective observation (RO), then through abstract conceptualization (AC) to help explain and through active experimentation (AE) to test one’s new understanding. On pgs. 96 and 97, there are depictions that show the traits of those who tend to emphasize one of these dimensions as their dominant learning style and ways these characteristics line up with personality types and education specializations as well as professional careers, jobs, and adaptive capabilities. Similarly, the figure on pg. 124 indicates how the four styles (divergent, assimilative, convergent, and accommodative) translate into different structures of learning, knowledge, and fields of inquiry. Figures on pgs. 126 to 127 provide more details on correspondence of learning styles and academic fields. A complex drawing on pg. 130 illustrates the structures and progressions in careers in line with the four dominant styles of learning. The diagram on pg. 140 represents how one progresses in experiential learning and the four styles through affective, perceptual, behavioral, and symbolic complexity in acquiring, specializing and integrating one’s identity and sense of self.

If the previous summary is difficult to follow, the pictures and Kolb’s text really lay things out in a straightforward and engaging manner. Furthermore, the background and derivations tie back to such thinkers as John Dewey and William James, Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Freire (see my reviews of Menard’s “Metaphysical Club,” Jones and Brazzel’s “NTL Handbook,” Gopnik’s “The Carpenter and the Gardner,” and Freire’s “Pedagogy of Freedom”). The author’s narrative also informs the differences among academic disciplines along with career development choices and stages (see my reviews of Huber and Morreale’s “Disciplinary Styles” as well as Schein’s “Career Dynamics”).

The detail backing up Kolb’s assertions and his survey results can be a bit much at times. However, this version is essential providing underpinning of Kolb’s approach which he continued to refine in numerous articles over the years and in second edition of this book. Also, in this first edition one can see where further development would likely come as in the last chapter and sure enough in subsequent writing Kolb goes a long way in filling in such detail even though experiential and lifelong learning is a continuing saga. Read this classic to get into ongoing knowledge generation schema.

[Sasha Vaniev · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is indeed a quite heavy but rich academic book that explains the philosophy of experiential learning, underpins its principles and implications.

For me, as an experiential educator and trainer, it was indeed rewarding to understand deeper the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) from educator's perspective as well as to see author's updates and reflections on ELT from the original work written in 1984.

[Tomek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Becomes all but unintelligible after the first few chapters by becoming completely mired in theory and jargon.

[Sarah Milne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, I know this is a fundamental text. But my gosh, it was boring! I mean, some of the ideas were pretty cool, but the text itself...zzzzzzzz

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

what a waste of time. i just could not finish this book. why do professors assign the worst possible books for their courses?

[Sarita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wonder who is working while the dream is... dreamt. Actually, I wonder why we keep working whilst they dream the dream!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful for my personal philosophy assignment - 3*