Various terms have been used to label
the process of learning from experience. John Dewey (Dewey and Dewey 1915)
discussed “learning by doing,” while Wolfe and Byrne (1975) used the term
“experienced-based learning.” The term
“trial and error” learning is used to explain inductive
learning processes. The AACSB Task Force (1986) used the term “applied
experiential learning,” combining the learning from the “real-world” Situation
with the necessary condition of the application of concepts, ideas and theories
to the interactive setting. The term “experiential learning” will be used here,
but it is intended to cover the same domains as the other terms.
The AACSB Task Force (1986, p. 3)
defined applied experiential learning as: A business curriculum-related
endeavor which is interactive (other than between teacher and pupil) and is
characterized by variability and uncertainty.
Most discussions of the concept by
ABSEL participants have referred to the original (to ABSEL) definitional work
by Hoover (1974) at the first ABSEL conference. He drew upon the work of Rogers
(1969, p. 5), who defined the essence of experiential learning as: It
has a quality of personal involvement-the whole-person in both his feeling and cognitive
aspects being in the learning event.
Using this definition as a springboard,
Hoover (1974) made the point that experiential learning involves more than just
the cognitive learning generally stressed by management education. In addition
to the affective domain mentioned by Rogers, Hoover also stressed the learning
of behaviors. In a subsequent paper (Hoover and Whitehead 1975, p. 25), the
following definition of experiential learning was given:
Experiential learning exists when a
personally responsible participant cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally
processes knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes in a learning situation
characterized by a high level of active involvement. (EXPERIENTIAL)
EXPERIENTIAL, W. I.
(n.d.). WHAT IS EXPERIENTIAL?
