Experiential Education

Experiential Education

I liked the presentation and though that Megan and Michael did a great job considering that they had technological glitches. The activity was interesting in that no one took offence to the suggestions that were made to their individual “lesson plans”. I liked that they described involving students in education as rational logical thought. By incorporating the student’s experiences in the educational process the students are able to relate the material to their own lives and are more apt to take ownership of their education.
I noticed that some of the comments made to the “lessons” provided ways to bring in other aspects of education, such as adding a history element to a science lesson or adding a music element to a writing lesson. Students can benefit from these ideas as they will be able to make connections to other classes as well as connections to their own experiences if for example they have no connection to science the history aspect can give them the connection they need.
They mentioned people such as Kant, Erickson and Dewy which I am familiar with. I have actually done some classes on experiential learning and often bring that aspect of my own experiences into the learning process. I relate the BLOGs to the ELC (experiential learning cycles) as we get information, and experience it as well as reflect in the process and what we have learned from the experience.
They mentioned two references that I will investigate further on my own, One being a book by KOLB and the other being FOXFIRE. I am going to take advantages of the links provided on the wiki also.
I have to say that the presentation was informative was well done. They not only told us what experiential learning was they let us experience it first hand. Great job.