Experiential Learning 00 Contents.indd i 4/26/2013 5:11:56 PM THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 00 Contents.indd ii 4/26/2013 5:11:56 PM THIRD EDITION Experiential Learning A handbook for education, training and coaching Colin Beard John P Wilson KoganPage 00 Contents.indd iii 4/26/2013 5:11:56 PM Publisher’s note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or any of the authors. First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2002 by Kogan Page Limited entitled The Power of Experiential Learning Second edition 2006 entitled Experiential Learning Third edition 2013 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: 120 Pentonville Road 1518 Walnut Street, Suite 1100 4737/23 Ansari Road London N1 9JN Philadelphia PA 19102 Daryaganj United Kingdom USA New Delhi 110002 India www.koganpage.com © Colin Beard and John P Wilson The right of Colin Beard and John P Wilson to be identifi ed as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 978 0 7494 6765 4 E-ISBN 978 0 7494 6766 1 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Beard, Colin (Colin M.) Experiential learning : a handbook for education, training and coaching / Colin Beard, John P. Wilson. – Third edition. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7494-6765-4 – ISBN 978-0-7494-6766-1 (eISBN) 1. Experiential learning–Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Active learning–Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Employees–Training of– Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Wilson, John P. (John Peter), 1955 Aug. 11- II. Title. BF318.5.B43 2013 153.1’52–dc23 2013011418 Typeset by AMNET Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd 00 Contents.indd iv 4/26/2013 5:12:01 PM CONTENTS PART ONE Experiential learning: foundations and fundamentals 1 01 Unlocking powerful learning – a new model 3 Introduction 3 The tumblers: representing the core dimensions of learning 8 An overview of the chapters 11 Conclusion 16 02 Exploring experiential learning 17 Introduction 17 Learning and experiential learning are ‘slippery’ concepts 21 Experience and learning 23 Defi ning experiential learning 24 Experience: a bridging concept 26 Do we always learn from experience? 28 Learning is personal 29 Painful learning 34 Detrimental experiential learning 34 Learning from mistakes 36 Formal versus experiential learning 37 The lineage of experiential learning 39 Experience and learning styles 42 A chronology of experiential learning 44 Challenging the concept of experiential learning 47 Conclusion 51 03 Coaching and facilitation, good practice and ethics 53 Introduction 53 A booming business? 54 The deliverers 54 Experiential provider roles 55 Intruding complicators or enabling animateurs 58 Dysfunctional learning 59 Intervening 60 Coaching and facilitating: developing wisdom 61 00 Contents.indd v 4/26/2013 5:12:01 PM vi Contents Coaching for learning and development 63 The benefi ts of coaching 64 Coaching or mentoring? 64 The qualities of a coach 65 The roles of the coach 66 Stages in the coaching process 66 Challenging targets 68 Life coaching 71 Facilitation: setting the climate and conditions 73 Ground rules and values 73 Reviewing self-practice 75 Ethical behaviour 77 A question of balance 81 Emotional engineering 83 Ethical models 84 Codes of practice 85 Professional bodies and the professional codes of practice 86 Good practice: the environment 89 Conclusion 90 PART TWO The learning combination lock model 91 04 Learning environments: spaces and places 93 (The belonging dimension) Introduction 93 Indoor learning: the new classroom 97 Outdoor learning 101 Disappearing boundaries: indoor–outdoor, natural–artifi cial 103 Reaching out: learning in city space 105 Artifi cially created learning spaces 108 Pedagogy and personal development 110 Empathetic strategies and the outdoor therapeutic ‘effect’ 114 Outdoor environments: therapeutic experiential learning 116 Sustainable learning environments 118 Conclusion 121 05 Experiential learning activities 123 (The doing dimension) Introduction 123 The changing milieu 125 Adventure learning 126 Planned or unplanned experiences? 127 00 Contents.indd vi 4/26/2013 5:12:01 PM Contents vii Dramaturgy 128 Innovation, activities, resources and objects – a simple experiential typology 129 Adventurous journeys 131 Expeditions 133 Sequencing learning activities 135 Mind and body 136 Rules and obstacles 138 Constructing and deconstructing 139 Telling the story – using physical objects 140 Learning activities – exploring reality 141 What is a real experience? 141 Fantasy 147 Play and reality 149 Suspending reality: drama and role-playing 151 Metaphors and storytelling 154 Management development and cartoons 157 Using photographic images and computer software 159 Refl ections on reality – reading and writing 160 Rafts and planks… or real projects? 161 Doing and reviewing 162 Conclusion 163 06 Sensory experience and sensory intelligence (SI) 165 (The sensing dimension) Introduction 165 Amplifi cation and habituation 166 So what is sensory intelligence? 168 Language and the human sensorial experience 170 Interpreting and misinterpreting words 174 Going ‘Away’: outdoor sensory awakening experiences 175 The senses in higher education teaching 178 Sensory stimulation in learning and therapy 181 Sensory stimulation, emotions and mood 182 Nature-guided therapy 183 Inner sensory work: presence and anchoring 185 Conclusion 186 07 Experience and emotions 189 (The feeling dimension) Introduction 189 Fast thinking 190 Communicating with feeling 192 Emotion and experiential learning 195 00 Contents.indd vii 4/26/2013 5:12:01 PM viii Contents The power of the emotional state 198 Emotional waves 199 Experiencing emotional calm 200 Flow learning 202 Experience, learning and ‘identity’ 204 Practical ways to access feelings 206 The emotional climate – mood setting and relaxed alertness 207 Overcoming fear 208 Mapping and accessing emotions 211 Using trilogies in emotional work 213 Using humour and other positive emotions 216 Accessing emotions through popular metaphors 217 Conclusion 222 08 Experience, knowing and intelligence 223 (The knowing dimension) Introduction 223 Thinking with the body and thinking with feeling 225 The organizing mind: patterns and creative thinking 226 What is intelligence? 228 The many forms of intelligence 231 Neglected forms of intelligence 234 Sensory intelligence – SI 234 Emotional intelligence – EQ 235 Spiritual intelligence – SQ 238 Naturalistic intelligence – NQ 241 The creative intelligence – CQ 244 Wisdom 249 Conclusion 250 09 Experience, learning and change 251 (The being dimension) Introduction 251 Learning and change 253 Theories of learning: theories of change! 254 The development of refl ective practice 255 Using problems and challenges 258 Refl ection-in-action and refl ection-on-action 259 Single and double loop learning 260 Encouraging conditions for refl ection 262 The danger of formal education and training 263 Critical refl ection 264 Action learning 264 The action learning set 268 00 Contents.indd viii 4/26/2013 5:12:01 PM Contents ix Timing and duration of learning sets 270 Problems and action learning 271 Strategies for learning and change 272 Being and presence 274 Conclusion 275 PART THREE Experiential learning and the future 277 10 Imagining and experiencing the future 279 Introduction 279 Refl ecting on the future 282 Imagination 284 Imagination versus action 286 Mental fi tness for the future 287 Imagining the future 288 The value of problems 290 Imaginative strategies 292 Imagination and the child 297 Conclusion 299 References 301 Index 321 00 Contents.indd ix 4/26/2013 5:12:01 PM THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 00 Contents.indd ii 4/26/2013 5:11:56 PM PART ONE Experiential learning: foundations and fundamentals 1 Unlocking powerful learning.indd 1 4/26/2013 1:47:16 PM THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 00 Contents.indd ii 4/26/2013 5:11:56 PM Unlocking 01 powerful learning – a new model Experience is the child of Thought, and Thought is the child of Action – we cannot learn men from books. “BENJAMIN DISRAELI, 1826 Introduction If you followed the advice of Benjamin Disraeli’s quotation above, you would not proceed any further than the fi rst page of this book before return- ing it to the shelf! However, don’t go away; bear with us as we explain how this book will offer a new way of thinking about and organizing the devel- opment and delivery of experiential learning. Disraeli was using his skills as a political orator to polarize the debate about theory and practice and draw attention to the need to think and learn through experience. The argument that ‘we cannot learn men through books’ is an unsustainable one but Disraeli’s underlying message has a ker- nel of truth. Traditional learning, with the teacher or trainer spouting facts and fi gures and with pupils or participants regurgitating the information without deeper involvement, is a very ineffective form of learning. A much more effective and long-lasting form of learning is to involve the learner by creating a meaningful learning experience.