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 effectively designing such experiences. Yet, in an 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. We envisage the day as follows:
10.00 Welcome and Coffee
10.30 Keynote – Professor Colin Beard, Emeritus Professor of Experiential Learning at Sheffield Hallam University. Co-founder of the Experiential Learning Design Institute, Hong Kong
11.30am Case Study 1: TBC
Presentation, Assessment, Evaluation
12.20pm Case Study 2: Dyson Institute (students to lead with some support)
Presentation, Assessment, Evaluation
1.10pm Lunch
2.00pm Research Sandpit – Karen Heard-Lauréote
Towards a shared and personal research agenda
4.30pm Close
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
