The Power of Experiential JANET EYLER

IN HIS COMEDIC PERSONA of Father Guido able to use what they know, to have the ca- Sarducci, Don Novello captured the central pacity for critical analysis, and to be equipped challenge to educators in the liberal arts: pro- for ; personal, social and in- viding an education that sticks and is usable. tellectual goals are intertwined. Yet programs Father Guido’s solution was to bypass an ex- designed to develop students’ personal, social, pensive four years of liberal education; in his and economic capacities are often separated “five-minute university,” students would pay from the core academic experience. twenty dollars and spend five minutes learn- Experiential education, which takes students FEATURED TOPIC ing what the typical college graduate remem- into the community, helps students both to bers five years after bridge study and life in the world graduation. In eco- and to transform inert knowledge into knowl- nomics, that would be supply and demand; edge-in-use. It rests on theories of experiential Experiential in Spanish, como esta usted and muy bien. For learning, a process whereby the learner inter- education can lead any of us who have traveled to Madrid and acts with the world and integrates new learn- tried to call on our college Spanish, this strikes ing into old constructs. to more powerful a chord. academic learning The challenge for liberal educators is to de- Experiential education and help students sign learning environments and instruction so Within professional programs, there is a long achieve intellectual that students will be able to use what they tradition of including field experiences as a learn in appropriate new contexts—that is, way to build practitioner skills and facilitate goals commonly to enable the transfer of learning. This is, of the move from theory to practice. Two of the associated with course, a bigger challenge than the one recog- most common forms of workplace learning are liberal education nized by Father Guido. Graduates need not and the . In only to remember what they learn, to develop cooperative education, students alternate pe- and retain a “broad knowledge of the wider riods of paid work with campus study or split world (e.g., science, culture, and society) as their time between the workplace and the well as in-depth study in specific area of inter- campus. While cooperative-education pro- est,” but also to have “a sense of social respon- grams have waned, are increasing. sibility, as well as strong and transferable Most college students now complete an in- intellectual and practical skills such as com- ternship. Career centers at liberal arts col- munication, analytical, and problem-solving leges, disciplinary journals devoted to college skills” (AAC&U). Effective citizenship re- curricula, and the popular press are keeping quires students to be knowledgeable, to be up a steady drumbeat encouraging faculty members to support, and students to obtain, JANET EYLER is professor of the practice of educa- internships in order to ease the transition to tion at Vanderbilt University. This article was the workplace. And this is paying off for stu- adapted from a paper presented at “Liberal dents: internships and cooperative education Education and Effective Practice,” a national con- are increasingly important for job placement ference cosponsored by Clark Univer sity and the (National Association of Colleges and Em- Association of American Colleges and Universities. ployers 2008).

24 L IBERAL E DUCATION F ALL 2009 Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Vanderbilt University

Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities FEATURED TOPIC Janet Eyler 6L 26 goals oftheliberalartshasincreased.Anda vance ofexperientialeducationtoachieving and practicallearning,awarenessoftherele- have beguntoblurthelinebetweenacademic liberal arts.Asadvancesincognitivescience gogies havestruggledtogainlegitimacyinthe programs formanyyears,butfield-basedpeda- place invocationallyorprofessionallyoriented gration ofserviceasaclass“text.” or assignmentoptionstothethoroughinte- rangefromadd-on,extra-credit, plines. Models creativity itcanbefitintovirtuallyalldisci- fits easilyintomostdisciplines,andwithsome goals inallfields,includingtheliberalarts.It been orientedtotheachievementofacademic flection. Fromtheoutset,servicelearninghas as itsinclusionofcontinuous,structuredre- tion byitscommitmenttocertainvaluesaswell from otherapproachestoexperientialeduca- vitalization. Servicelearningisdistinguished lead toeducationalreformanddemocraticre- improve thequalityofbothandthatitcould combination ofserviceandlearningwould pioneers ofservicelearningbelievedthatthe 1970s andhassincegrownexponentially. The service inthecommunity—emerged education thatcombinesacademicstudywith Experiential educationhasbeenacommon- Service learning—aformofexperiential Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Colleges Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American IBERAL E DUCATION F ALL 2009 might beuseful, canrecallthatknowledge, explicitly torecognize whentheirknowledge information toapply. Unless studentslearn organized bychapter, withteststosignalwhat ford, Brown,andCocking2000). Lifeisnot fronted withanopportunityfor transfer(Brans- cannot accesswhattheyknow whencon- and edge; thelearnersdon’t seetherelevance learned toafailureconditionalizeknowl- entists ascribethisinabilitytoapplywhatis cognitivesci- tion tonewsituations.Modern cannot applyevenrecentlylearnedinforma- problem of“inertknowledge.”Often,students (1929) describednearlyacenturyago as the baseiswhatAlfredNorthWhitehead edge knowledge. Theinabilitytocallonthisknowl- of tery ofbothbroadandspecializedbodies A fundamentalgoalofliberallearningismas- Mastery anduseofsubjectmatter ability tousewhattheyknow. and, thereby, deepentheirunderstandingand help studentslinkexperiencewiththeory particularly theuseofstructuredreflectionto tices necessaryforachievingtheseoutcomes, Experiential educationalsoidentifiestheprac- theabilitytoengageinlifelonglearning, • thecapacityforcriticalthinkingandappli- • adeeperunderstandingofsubjectmatterthan • with liberaleducation,including achieve intellectualgoalscommonlyassociated powerful academiclearningandhelpstudents periential educationcanalsoleadtomore professionally orientedprograms.Infact,ex- and practicalexpertisethatareimportantin building thekindofsocialskills,workethic, eral educationsocentraltocitizenship. learning asawayofachievingthegoalslib- this hasfueledmuchoftheinterestinservice a callforincreasedcivicliteracystudents; the civicroleofcollegesanduniversities the 1980s,therehasbeenrenewedinterestin Research Associates2006).Additionally, since Higher EducationForum2003;PeterD.Hart of mindlongvaluedbytheliberalarts(Business- demanding thesameskills,abilities,andhabits about particularvocationalskillsandwhoare employers whoareincreasinglylessconcerned similar awarenesshasalsoincreasedamong including learningintheworkplace. ous situations; cation ofknowledgeincomplexorambigu- is possiblethroughclassroomstudyalone; Experiential educationhasvaluefarbeyond Field-based and know how to apply it, they pedagogies have ther information. Neither tol- will fail to transfer what they struggled to gain erance for ambiguity nor criti- know; their understanding is legitimacy in cal thinking is simply a incomplete. function of information, skill, Transfer of knowledge re- the liberal arts and social ability or even of re- quires deep understanding. peated practice, but rather Recall and reproduction of material taught both require intellectual capabilities that are in the classroom do not constitute under- not now generally attained before college standing. For knowledge to be usable, it has to graduation. be acquired in a situation. Otherwise, it is seg- Students often arrive at college with simplis- regated from experience and unlikely to be re- tic ways of viewing knotty problems, and they FEATURED TOPIC membered or transferred to new experiences. may not be able to recognize an ill-structured Well-understood material can be retrieved problem. They are likely to see their task as from memory and used in new situations be- learning right answers rather than under- cause it is linked with multiple experiences standing the difficulty of framing issues and and examples and not isolated from other problems and understanding that the very na- experience and knowledge. ture of difficult problems makes one clear so- A small study comparing student learning lution unlikely. Or they may reject discussion in classes on legislative politics with student as pointless because they regard disagreement learning in internships at a state legislature as simply a matter of opinions, any of which is found that both groups did equally well on a equally valid. King (1992) argues that most traditional test of facts (Eyler and Halteman students graduate without attaining a level of 1981). But when challenged to develop a reasoning ability that would allow them to strategy for enacting policy, the interns incor- frame, explore alternative perspectives, reframe, porated the need to engage powerful and well- and resolve problems, while understanding placed legislators and to organize support, that future information may call for a reevalu- while the classroom-based students drew on ation of one’s current position. Yet these the formal steps about how a bill becomes a analytic capabilities are fundamental to the law. Experiential education, as this and simi- process of judgment, to solving problems in lar studies have shown, leads to deeper, more the workplace, and to making decisions in a nuanced understanding of subject matter. democracy. The tendency to cling to simplistic Organizing student learning in ways that black-and-white answers to problems, to fail to give students agency is also associated with reevaluate assumptions in the light of new cir- deeper understanding. Communities of learn- cumstances, and to assume that disagreement is ing that encourage cooperation and reciproc- sinister represent failures of liberal education. ity among students improve learning and are The process by which students develop the particularly well suited to field-based projects. capacity to use advanced formal reasoning Students’ commitment and curiosity are fu- processes involves confronting dissonant in- eled when they take responsibility for action formation and making sense of it. It requires with consequences for other people, and this, students to monitor their own understanding in turn, leads to increased effort and atten- and to recognize and grapple with alternative tion. Such engagement is instrumental in perspectives. This process of intellectual achieving mastery of the subject matter and growth can be promoted through experiential also in confronting the intellectual challenges education, which fully engages students and that promote cognitive development. commits them to resolving the challenges they address. Service learning is particularly The capacity to deal with complex appropriate, since it commonly focuses on is- new situations sues that give rise to ill-structured problems or To achieve such liberal learning goals as effec- what Schön termed the “swampy lowlands” tive citizenship and engagement in lifelong where problems are “messy and confusing and learning, students need the capacity to perceive incapable of technical solution” (1995, 28). and address ill-structured problems, tolerate The cognitive dissonance that leads to in- ambiguity, make warranted judgments, and act tellectual growth is more likely to occur when while continuously seeking and refining fur- students care. A college student who is bored

F ALL 2009 LIBERAL E DUCATION 27 Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities FEATURED TOPIC 8L 28 presented with newinformation,ratherthan are engagedin problemsolvingbeforebeing velop astrategyforfuturelearning. Ifstudents ous learningtointerpretthe situationandde- prepare learnersto“transfer in,”touseprevi- They notethatparticularforms ofinstruction of well-developedexpertise of novicelearners. ing toasituation—isoftenlimitedbythelack out”—that is,thedirecttransferofnewlearn- Bransford, andSears(2005)call“transferring ential learningintransfer. WhatSchwartz, ing isanotherwaytoframetheroleofexperi- critical. is job; thecap don’t justneedtolearn“jobskills”onthe they wouldsoonfinditoutdated.Students able toapplyclassroomlearningeffectively, twenty-first century, evenifstudentswere tion inwhichlearningisapplied.Inthe between thelearningcontextandsitua- Classic transferoflearningstressesthematch Developing skillsforlifelonglearning Ash andClayton2003). and Buresh2002;SteinkeFitch2003; has beenconsistentwiththisfinding(Steinke soning capacity. Subsequentworkbyothers during whichstudentsdemonstratedtheirrea- measured throughproblem-solvinginterviews learning experienceatall.Thesegainswere learning coursesandthosewithnoservice- compared tothoseinless-intensiveservice- judgment overthecourseoftheirstudyas showed significantincreasesinreflective highly reflectiveservice-learningcourses Students whowereinvolvedinintensive, nitive development(EylerandGiles1999). the powerofservicelearningtofacilitatecog- uncertainty. abilities fordealingwithcomplexityand that createsincreasinglyadequatecognitive resolve thesedifferences.Thisistheprocess different fromtheirownandfeeltheneedto assumptions orwillbeopentoperspectives ognize thecontradictionswithintheirown thatstudentswillrec- increase thelikelihood create alevelofengagementandcaringthat tions andtheneedtobeeffectiveinfield to obtainneededcare.Thepersonalconnec- or sheisworkingwithhasto“gamethesystem” may finditmoreengagingwhenthepersonhe about theeconomicsofhealthcare,forexample, Building thiscapacityforcontinuouslearn- A nationalstudyofcollegestudentstested Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Colleges Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American IBERAL E DUCATION acity forcontinuouslearning F ALL 2009 opportunities topracticethoseskillsinenvi- skills forcontinuouslearning,studentsneed outside ofpractice.Inordertodevelopstrong theory andpractice;lacksmeaning Experiential educationblursthelinebetween challenges (Eyler1993;EylerandGiles1999). bring astrategiclearningorientationtonew during fieldexperiencearemorelikelyto who repeatedlyengageinstructuredreflection programs havedemonstratedthatstudents meet newchallenges. and theoriesalsopreparesstudentsto the studydeepensunderstandingofconcepts ing problem-orproject-basedchallengesinto further learninginthatsubjectarea.Integrat- challenges mightenhancethecapacityfor around authenticworkplaceorcommunity importance forhowliberallearningbuilt solve anovelproblem.Thisdistinctionhas and lecture,theyaremorelikelytobeable simply learninginformationthroughreading Studies ofinternshipandservice-learning There is a profound ronments consistent with mismatch between learning the same material lifelong use and as they ac- how students in the classroom approach it quire disciplinary mastery. learn in the classroom from the perspective of the The difference between teacher’s demands (Cobb in the and how they and Bowers 1999). classroom and in workplace or will later learn There is a profound mis- community settings is not only in the community match between how stu- a matter of subject-matter dents learn in the classroom content or instructional principles, but it is and how they will later learn in the commu- also existential. Students in experiential edu- nity (Resnick 1987). In the workplace or in cation learn as workers or community partici- addressing community issues, learning often FEATURED TOPIC pants with a need to know in order to get a job occurs collaboratively, is organized around done, not just as students who need to take a concrete situations, makes use of tools and test. Students even in problem-based classroom resources, and is iterative, whereas classroom- instruction frame their learning in terms of based learning often involves decontextual- grades and pleasing the professor, while those ized knowledge, manipulation of abstract same students talk about respect, achievement, symbols, and highly individual efforts. Knowl- and the quality of their contribution in an in- edge in the classroom tends to be compart- ternship placement (Eyler 1993). Others have mentalized into disciplines, whereas in use observed this same phenomenon in which in the community or workplace it tends to adults in the workplace frame their learning be organized around problems or domains in terms of their particular roles, while students of practice.

Vanderbilt University

F ALL 2009 LIBERAL E DUCATION 29 Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities FEATURED TOPIC 0L 30 continuous,well-structured reflection • attentionpaid topreparingstudentsfor • anacademicsupervisororinstructorwho • sitesupervisorswhounderstandthelearn- • important responsibilityforthestudent; • well-developedassessmentsthatprovide • workorserviceclearlyrelatedtotheacade- • cation. Theyinclude much oftheliteratureoneffectiveliberaledu- experiences aresimilarandconsistentwith and helpingstudentsmakethemostoftheir high-quality experientialeducationprograms the workexperience.Guidelinesforcreating suring thequalityofintellectualaswell curriculum, attentionneedstobepaiden- community serviceaspartoftheliberalarts structured reflection. with littlefacultyoversightoropportunityfor ships areoftenrunlikeindependentstudies (Moore 1981;ParillaandHesser1998).In grams andtheactualexperiencesofstudents mismatch betweenthestatedgoalsofpro- learning throughdoing—butoftenthereisa of fieldexperiencewithcurriculargoals— work programsalsomentionstheintegration ships, cooperativeedu Eyler andGiles1999).L (Vogelgesang andAstin2000; in other ways even though they may h make littlecontributiontostudentlearning, grate servicewiththeacademiccurriculum poorly structuredprogramsthatdonotinte- Studies ofservicelearninghaveshownthat out-of-classroom studentexperiences. of requires carefulstructuringandsupervision to liberallearning,achievingthisoutcome While experientialeducationcancontribute Quality matters their placements. ence andlearning throughoutthecourse of opportunities tohelpstudents linkexperi- ments andforlearningfrom experience; both thepracticalchallenges oftheirplace- feedback; visor toprovidecontinuousmonitoringand in thefieldandpartnerswithsitesuper- pays closeattentiontothestudents’work uous monitoringandfeedback; the academicsupervisortoprovidecontin- ing goalsforthestudentandpartnerwith objectives; evidence oftheachievementacademic mic goalsofthecourseorprogram; In ordertojustifytheinclusionofworkor Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Colleges Copyright© 2009 by the Association of American IBERAL E DUCATION F cation, andschool-to- ALL elp studentsdevelop iterature onintern- 2009 tern- they mayfind it difficulttodesigncourses to experience to the subjectmatterbeingstudied, portance ofreflectionforlinking field-based meetings aredifficulttoarrange. cation andinternshipswhere regularclassroom is particularlyimportantfor cooperative edu- event attheendoffieldexperience.This iterative reflectionratherthanasinglepaperor settings, andtheprocessencouragescontinuous is conservedbybuildingreflectionintoother planning theiracademicgoals.Classroomtime pared forlearningandgainownershipthrough after thefieldexperience.Studentsarepre- in classandthefield—before,during, several goals.Itfocusesonreflectionalone— itive toolthathelpstheinstructoraccomplish thereflectionmapisasimpleandintu- model, flection map(Eyler2002).LiketheKolb for organizingthereflectionprocessisre- the experiencefromstarttofinish.Onetool ning, andthisprocessshouldbeembeddedin throughout thencaremustbegiventoplan- implications forfurtherapplicationorstudy. are learningintheclassroomaswelltodraw sense oftheirexperienceintermswhatthey tion withaction,andtheyarepushedtomake crete andtheabstracttoconnectreflec- areencouraged toconnectthecon- Students to reflectionandthenbackexperience. discussion. Thecyclemovesfromexperience members touseinwrittenassignmentsand cilitation toolwiththeirpeersandforfaculty itive, makingiteasyforstudentstouseasafa- is ausefulchoicebecauseitsimpleandintu- built onthatwork(AshandClayton2004).It of experientialeducation,andothershave (1984) hasbeenwidelyembracedbyadvocates The reflectioncycledevelopedbyDavidKolb provide afoundationfororganizingreflection. even thoughtheeffectsonstudentsfallshort. their programprovidesadequatereflection unusual tofindfacultymemberswhobelieve be inorderforittohaveanimpact;isnot to underestimatehowintensivereflectionmust experience intolearningexperience.Itiseasy ous, context-appropriatereflectionturnswork feedback andreflection.Challenging,continu- programs istheinclusionofopportunitiesfor learning outcomesfromexperiential-learning The mostcriticalfactorforachievingpowerful Reflection andfeedback Even whenprofessorsunderstand theim- If experientialeducationistobereflective andtoolsthat There areanumberofmodels accomplish this. Instructors need training and Business- Forum. 2003. Building a support to use experience as a “text” for their nation of learners: The need for changes in teaching and learning to meet global challenges. Washington, courses, and departments need to take owner- DC: Business-Higher Education Forum. ship by placing faculty in charge of formulating Cobb, P., and J. Bowers. 1999. Cognitive and situated goals for experiential education and facilitating learning perspectives in theory and practice. Edu- internship seminars and service-learning classes. cational Researcher 28 (2): 4–15. Logistical support is important but should not Eyler, J. 1993. Comparing the impact of alternative internship experiences on student learning. Journal be isolated from the academic program. of Cooperative Education 29 (1): 41–53. . 2002. Reflection: Linking service and learn- Conclusion ing—Linking students and communities. Journal of Of course, experiential education can help stu- Social Issues 58 (3): 517–34. FEATURED TOPIC Eyler, J., and D. E. Giles Jr. 1999. Where’s the learning dents transition more gracefully from college in service-learning? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. to work, and community-service experiences Eyler, J., and B. Halteman. 1981. Socialization for po- prepare them to be more engaged citizens. But litical participation: The impact of a legislative in- experiential education can also improve the ternship on students’ political skillfulness and quality of liberal learning itself and increase the sophistication. Teaching Political Science 9 (1): 27–35. Giles, D. E., Jr, and J. Eyler. 1994. The theoretical likelihood that students will be able to use roots of service-learning in : Toward a throughout their lives the knowledge, critical theory of service-learning. Michigan Journal of abilities, and habits of mind acquired in their Community Service Learning 1 (1): 77–85. studies. This does not happen automatically or King, P. 1992. How do we know? Why do we believe? easily, however. Faculty members who are du- Learning to make reflective judgments. Liberal Ed- ucation 78 (1): 2–9. bious of awarding credit for volunteering or for Kolb, D. 1984. Experiential learning. Englewood Cliffs, work do have a valid point. But such credit is NJ: Prentice Hall. for learning; the challenge for faculty members Moore, D. T. 1981. Discovering the pedagogy of expe- in the liberal arts is to incorporate experiential rience. Harvard Educational Review 51 (2): 286–300. National Association of Colleges and Employers. education into their instruction and to assess the 2008. Experiential education survey. Bethlehem, learning outcomes of these experiences. This re- PA: National Association of Colleges and Employers. quires a clear sense of what learning in the com- Parilla, P. F., and G. W. Hesser. 1998. Internships munity or the workplace can add to the and the sociological perspective: Applying princi- understanding of subject matter, training in ples of experiential learning. Teaching Sociology 26 (4): 310–29. skills to recast appropriate courses to integrate Peter D. Hart Research Associates. 2006. How should these experiences, and logistical support for colleges prepare students to succeed in today’s placement and monitoring of student work global economy? Washington, DC: Association of that is more closely connected to the curriculum. American Colleges and Universities. Resnick, L. 1987. The 1987 presidential address: Liberal arts programs need to support faculty Learning in and out. Educational Researcher involvement in the planning and implementa- 16 (9): 13–20. tion of experiential education. Without this Schön, D. 1983.The reflective practitioner: How profes- attention to both structure and faculty leader- sionals think in action. New York, NY: Basic Books. ship, experiential education will remain at the Schwartz, D., J. Bransford, and D. Sears. 2005. Efficiency and innovation in transfer. In Transfer of learning from periphery and its promise will not be realized. ■ a modern multidisciplinary perspective, ed. J. Mestre, 1–51. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. To respond to this article, e-mail [email protected], Steinke, P., and S. Buresh. 2002. Cognitive outcomes with the author’s name on the subject line. of service-learning: Reviewing the past and glimps- ing the future. Michigan Journal of Community Ser- vice Learning 8: 5–14. Steinke, P., and P. Fitch. 2003. Using written protocols REFERENCES to measure service-learning outcomes. In Deconstruct- Ash, S. L., and P. H. Clayton. 2004. The articulated ing service-learning: Research exploring context, participa- learning: An approach to reflection and assess- tion and impacts, eds. S. H. Billig and J. Eyler, 171–94. ment. Innovative Higher Education 29: 137–54. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. Association of American Colleges and Universities. Vogelgesang, L., and A. W. Astin. 2000. Comparing What is liberal education? www.aacu.org/leap/ the effects of community service and service-learning. What_is_Liberal_Education.cfm. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning 7: Bransford, J. D., A. Brown, and R. R. Cocking. 2000. 25–34. How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Whitehead, A.N. 1929. The aims of education. New Washington, DC: National Academies Press. York: McMillan.

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