How to Enhance the Student Experience with Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory

While some students still go to university solely for theoretical knowledge, most want to apply it in the workplace. According to a report by Wiley, 81% of students consider real company-led projects like internships an integral portion of their higher education journey.  

In recent years, more higher education students have been enrolling to join a specific career or to increase their earning power within their current industry. This trend emphasizes the growing need for experiential learning to provide students with appropriate levels of workforce readiness. 

Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory is the most widely accepted model, significantly shaping our understanding of learning through doing. It highlights the role of experiences in helping learners reflect, conceptualize, and apply knowledge. 

This article will explain experiential learning and propose methods for integrating Kolb’s Theory within your institution. It will enable educators to create more engaging, hands-on learning experiences that boost student retention and skill development.  

What Is Experiential Learning and How It Enhances Skill Development 

Experiential learning describes the internalization of knowledge through actions related to the academic content being taught. Traditional applications of this concept include internships and job shadowing, but they are increasingly used in digital settings, such as online simulations.  

These activities boost knowledge retention and provide helpful context to the material being taught in class. Students gain real-world skills through experiential learning and join the workforce with a leg up that allows them to integrate into their employer’s processes faster. 

Overview of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) 

David Kolb introduced ELT in 1984, building on the work of other education academics to emphasize the importance of direct experience in learning. Kolb theorizes that learning is profoundly learner-centric and that the traditional intake of passive information is outdated. 

The two main pillars of his theory are experience and reflection. A fascinating aspect of Kolb’s work is the principle that knowledge acquisition isn’t accomplished by memorization but through constructing meaning from lived experiences.  

Navigating the Four Stages of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle 

Kolb outlines four stages of learning present in ELT. Each step generally happens sequentially, as shown below, but specific steps can happen repeatedly to internalize or improve the knowledge. 

An important note is that Kolb didn’t intend for his theory to upend the traditional teaching model but rather to improve it. Many of the stages below outline well-known exercises but are enriched by students’ experiences as outlined by their curriculum.  

Concrete Experience 

While the following stages can be completed out of order, concrete experience is almost always the starting point in ELT. In this stage, the learner participates in real-world circumstances or tasks, such as internships or field trips. The goal is to create immersion in the subject matter. 

Learners at this stage aren’t expected to analyze or reflect on the experience at hand. The objective is to create a foundation for further learning through direct contact, providing adequate context for further discoveries or realizations.  

Reflective Observation 

Once a student has been subjected to the experience, they must ponder on what they lived to identify potential patterns, gaps in their knowledge, how to improve, and most importantly, their level of enjoyment towards the task.  

The most common way to achieve this is with a graded essay describing their activity, which can also be done through active in-class discussion. This step perfectly exemplifies the need for a combination of experiential and in-class learning models. 

Abstract Conceptualization 

As the experience becomes familiar to the student, they will begin to view their situation more abstractly and develop a framework to accomplish their goals. This is also why it’s a good idea to have the “concrete experience” stage sooner rather than later in a program.  

Beginning the experiential steps sooner in a degree leads to earlier abstract conceptualization, allowing students to course correct and select classes that will close the gaps they identified. 

Active Experimentation 

This stage emphasizes the iterative nature of learning, which is often revisited throughout a person’s career. Ideally, it occurs between internships to the same degree but can also involve applying lessons from internships to a first job. 

Kolb’s theory is technically a self-repeating cycle. In some cases, students will stay at the active experimentation stage, and others will keep redoing all the steps to acquire new knowledge.  

How Kolb’s Learning Styles and Their Impact on Learners 

Kolb’s theory also outlines four different learning styles. It’s important to note that these categories are not determined by a specific cycle stage but rather by how students grasp and transform the experiences they are subjected to.  

Kolb identifies four learning paradigms representing different student types. He offers guidelines for catering to and integrating all learning styles into a course, ensuring a more inclusive approach to education that addresses diverse preferences and enhances overall learning effectiveness. 

Divergers 

These learners are imaginative and gather information from multiple angles before taking action. Divergers thrive in creative solutions and rely on their emotional intelligence to solve situations. 

Focus on group discussions and collaborative projects to cater to these learners. The experiential opportunities should be open-ended and open to interpretation by students to keep them engaged and learning. 

Convergers 

This category is practical and solution-oriented. It prefers to apply the knowledge it has gained in its education to solve problems. Convergers focus on reaching a great solution with little regard for the collaboration aspect of work. 

These learners often prefer to work in fields like engineering, technology, or management, where they can progress through their accomplishments. They usually thrive during the experimentation stage and will prove very resilient in their pursuit of success. 

Assimilators 

While Assimilators thrive in theory like Convergers, they prefer organizing information into clear frameworks. They excel in classroom settings but benefit from ELT due to their strength in abstract conceptualization. 

Assimilators prefer well-structured content with logical explanations and detailed presentations. Projects that engage them would include mind maps and diagrams that refer back to their experiences.  

Accommodators 

Accommodators learn almost exclusively through interactive experience and transform this knowledge into usable processes through experimentation. They are often the best recipients of ELT but need a little push when sharing what they have learned. 

These learners often work in roles relying on adaptability, such as entrepreneurship, trades, or sales positions. The best activities to engage them involve hands-on participation, such as labs or fieldwork.   

Understand the Benefits and Challenges of Experiential Learning 

ELT isn’t meant to replace traditional learning models but to emphasize the importance of experience in the learning process.  

While the application of this theory is almost entirely positive, it does pose challenges in certain situations:  

Benefits 

The main benefits of ELT include: 

• More personalized learning experiences lead to better knowledge retention and strong workforce readiness.  

• Hands-on application of theoretical concepts that can give students a peek into their future career potential and perhaps correct their course.  

• Promotes the development of practical and soft skills, which can be challenging to foster otherwise. 

Challenges 

Some of the challenges commonly associated with ELT are: 

• The limited availability of real-world opportunities in specific educational contexts can be solved through creative internship design and out-of-the-box offers to students. 

• Potential mismatch between experiential learning styles and traditional assessment methods. However, this shouldn’t be much of an issue following Kolb’s directives to engage each learning style. 

• Reflective practices must be integrated thoughtfully into fast-paced educational environments. Internships must be carefully planned with teachers to give them the same weight and support as students receive in a traditional assignment.  

While ELT poses some challenges, it significantly improves curriculum design by making learning more dynamic and engaging. As digital learning expands and face-to-face interactions decrease, educators need to adopt experiential methods to help students develop practical skills and maintain a deeper connection to the material. 

Experiential Learning in the Digital Age: A Roadmap for Educators 

Kolb’s theory considerably changed the higher education industry’s view on learning and how to keep students engaged in the classroom. Like most frameworks, ELT should continue to be interpreted and integrated into classes in new and innovative ways.  

Through methods like gamification and immersive digital experiences, institutions can find creative ways to provide students with hands-on experiences at scale, even in remote learning situations.   

As institutions evolve, adopting experiential learning will be vital in shaping the future of education. Educators must embrace this approach to offer the next generation more engaging, relevant, and practical learning. 

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