How do we understand ‘Effectiveness’ in STEM Experiential Learning?
Event overview
Across more than four decades, an increasing number of educators have come to view effective learning as an inherently experiential process that integrates ‘…experience, perceptions, cognition and behaviour’ (Kolb 1984). This can be realised through a wide variety of mechanisms, and a substantive body of research has illustrated just some of the ways experiential learning can be designed and delivered, and what experience learners have.
Despite the popularity of experiential learning, work to assess its effectiveness and impact – and to rigorously design effective experiential learning opportunities - is still quite new. More recent research has begun to outline the profound complexity in concepts of both ‘learning’ and ‘experience’ (Beard 2023), and the deep challenge involved in effective designing such experiences. Yet, in a HE sector under considerable financial pressure, and with students’ time undergoing constant reprioritisation, learning formats that are cost- and time-effective has never been more important.
In parallel to this runs the question of how evaluation, and research-informed practice, can support high quality effective learning experiences. Studies using control groups are few and far between, but the work that does exist at this level substantiates experiential learning having a positive impact on social and cognitive development. Some of the more objective and already quantified impacts – such as academic attainment – can be straightforward to measure. Others may be more diffuse, more abstract, rely on insights from stakeholders outside the University environment, require robust student self-insight, or are realised outside the window of observation available to educators.
The Dyson Institute was founded in 2017 – originally on a degree apprenticeship model – to provide a catalysing environment in which Dyson’s future engineering leaders could grow. Now, with 3 graduating cohorts employed in Dyson globally, we are committed to gathering data about the effectiveness of our model and the impact of our graduates. Join us at the Dyson Institute, where we invite colleagues across the sector to share case studies of evidenced impact of experiential learning through a lens of methodology, effectiveness and research.
Participants will leave having been challenged to develop a holistic and multi-faceted understanding of experiential learning, with a framework through which to design and/or evaluate effective experiences, new research/evaluation ideas, and an action plan for their personal research agenda in this space.
After the event, presentations and material will be archived by the Institute of Experiential and Skills Based Learning at https://iesbl.substack.com
Event agenda
Please arrive from 10:00 for coffee and informal networking, ahead of a prompt 10:30 start.
Professor Colin Beard, Emeritus Professor of Experiential Learning at Sheffield Hallam University. Co-founder of the Experiential Learning Design Institute, Hong Kong.
Professor Beard’s keynote will introduce his philosophy of ‘Let the learners do the learning’. As institutions realise that learning is no longer solely about teaching, telling, and instructing with a focus on knowledge transmission, the need to design experiences that will facilitate learning becomes pressing.
Whilst this involves a shift in focus to design, educators are rarely taught about the processes of designing learning experiences. Teachers and students increasingly need to become architects of learning experiences and it is important to understand the complex processes of designing experiences ‘for’ learning as well as the experiences ‘of’ learning. These two elements need to be carefully interwoven if learning is to be successful.
The word ‘doing’ is often a particularly challenging aspect of experiential learning. We must ask the question: what we mean by doing? Some people also talk about experiential learning as ‘active learning’, but do we mean physically active, or emotionally active, sensorially active or cognitively active? Colin will argue that the word doing should be replaced with the word experiencing. Humans learn by utilising capacities that are hundreds of thousands of years old and yet educational and learning strategies failed to embrace this complexity.
The keynote speech will introduce seven of the most important human capacities for learning and will outline how these capacities can be utilised for learning. Learning design principles also offer value directly to students so they themselves can maximise their learning. Colin will introduce concepts such as the ‘diamond and the egg timer’, the notion of everything having a ‘beginning, middle and end’, and the idea of ‘learning route maps’. These principles raise the consciousness, awareness, and noticing of the learning processes.
Finally, the speech will present a provocation that will guide the rest of the day’s activities: how the idea ‘making learning visible’ can catalyse a change in assessment and evaluation, from a purely cognitive to a more holistic and robust evaluation of experiential learning.
A student-led overview of the experience at the Dyson Institute.
Lunch will be provided; please make us aware of dietary requirements through the booking process.
Towards a shared and personal research agenda.
Attendee Information
Please register by 6th June for your free place; travel costs are your own.
The event is being held at the Dyson Institute on the Dyson campus in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Full details will be provided within your booking confirmation.
Please note: the Dyson Institute operates a closed campus policy, only visitors who have registered in advance can attend, you will be turned away by security if you have not registered.