Experiential learning: The development of a pedagogic framework for effective practice.
Despite a long lineage, the considerable body of literature on experiential learning is extensively a post 80’s phenomenon (Mulligan and Griffin, 1992). fey critiquing this body of literature it is possible to simultaneously destabilise the orthodox, 'hegemonic constructivist paradigm that posits a centrality of the learner, and identify several neglected areas which can be traced back to a philosophical heredity. In addressing these neglected areas this paper outlines the development of a richer conception of experiential learning that extends ‘beyond the usual definitions and arguments’ (Rickards, 2007: 430), bringing theory and practice together in a way that has been hitherto unseen in the existing body of literature (Nichol, 2002; Norris, 2006; Rickards, 2007). The research fieldwork, conducted to date over a period of over fifteen years, adopts a mode two research approach (Tranfield and Starkey, 1998), appropriate to the broad, multidisciplinary nature of experiential learning (Dillon, 2007). Through a complex synthesis of research material, published to date in a range of scholarly and practitioner journals, a significant milieu of emerging ,‘themes’ are identified and classified using a relational, multiple layered integration of theory and practice that culminates in a framework presented as an abstract, visual metaphor. This research acknowledges the intentionality of design, and considers the learner as a fully embodied self, sensuously and intersubjectively interacting with their outer world (Abram, 1997). The final framework is develops an interconnectedness of the outer and inner world experiences of the learner that suggestively links a number of concepts. The framework is recognised across a range of disciplines as grounded in solid and varied theory designed to be pedagogically useful to both novice and experienced practitioners.
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