Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory

Experiential Learning Theory (ELT)

• Popularized by David A. Kolb in his book ‘Experiential Learning’ in 1984.
• Promoted the idea that people learn through experience and discovery.
• Focuses on the learning of the individual.
• Experiential Learning can be achieved without the need of a teacher.
• The process of meaning making to the person’s direct experience. 

A

Concrete Experience - doing/having an experience
‘ [The]Key to learning...is active involvement. In Kolb's model one cannot learn by simply watching or reading about it, to learn effectively the individual, team or organisation must actually do.’ B

Reflective Observation- reviewing/reflecting on the experience
‘Taking time-out from "doing" and stepping back from the task and reviewing what has been done and experienced. At this stage lots of questions are asked and communication channels are opened to others members of the team.’ C

Abstract Conceptualisation - concluding/learning from the experience
‘The process of making sense of what has happened... [This] involves interpreting the events and understanding the relationships between them... They may draw upon theory from textbooks for framing and explaining events, models they are familiar with, ideas from colleagues, previous observations, or any other knowledge that they have developed.’ D

Active Experimentation - planning/trying out what you have learned
‘How they are going to put what they have learnt into practice. Planning enables taking the new understanding and translates it into predictions as to what will happen next or what actions should be taken to refine or revise the way a task is to be handled. For learning to be useful most people need to place it in a context that is relevant to them. If one cannot see how the learning is useful to one's life then it is likely to be forgotten very quickly.’ E


Kolb stated that gaining knowledge is a natural phenomenon therefore, to gain knowledge from an experience, certain skills are needed. The learner must:

• Want to be actively involved in what they are experiencing.
• Possess the ability to reflect on that experience.
• Have analytical abilities so that they can conceptualize the experience.
• Be able to make decisions and solve problems in order to implement what they have gained from the experience.

Examples:

Learning to ride a bike
‘Following this example, in the ‘concrete experience’ stage, the learner physically experiences the bike in the ‘here-and-now.’ This experience forms ‘the basis for observation and reflection’ and he/she has the opportunity to consider what is working or failing (reflective observation), and think about ways to improve on the next attempt made at riding it (abstract conceptualization). Every new attempt to ride is informed by a cyclical pattern of previous experience, thought and reflection (active experimentation).F

Going to the Zoo
The learner will learn in a different way if they are observing animal interaction first hand than if they read or heard about someone else’s experiences.

Similarly, ‘in business school, internship and job-shadowing opportunities in a student’s field of interest are elevated as examples of valuable experiential learning which contribute significantly to the student’s overall understanding of the real-time environment’ G


A Kolb, David A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc

B,C,D,E Website accessed 04/12/12 http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/gradschool/training/resources/teaching/theories/kolb
Extract from: Mobbs, Richard. How to be an e-tutor

F McCarthy, P. R., & McCarthy, H. M. (2006). When Case Studies Are Not Enough: Integrating Experiential Learning Into Business Curricula. Journal Of Education For Business, 81(4), 201-204

G Website accessed 04/12/12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiential_learning