OLDaily article on “Toward a Model of Experiential E-Learning”.  Source:  http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no3/hannum.htm

This particular article relates very well to the information discussed in Chapter 7 of the Kearsley text.  In this article, the author brings up the point that in order to make e-learning successful, the designers need to step away from the traditional learning model (i.e. lecture) and design the courses to be more student-based learning.  The first time that I heard of student-centered learning was in a course called “Effective Classroom Instruction” at MSU.  The class taught us to use strategies like KWL’s, acrostics, and jigsaw; but these strategies are just an extention of teacher-based learning.  Experiential learning is more like what learning should be: “students and teachers become more effective change agents, develop a sense of belonging to a community, and master both skills and knowledge. In an experientially-infused e-learning course, students and teachers do much the same. In placing the emphasis on student experience, teachers design and cultivate environments in which direct instruction serves only to support student learning. Students engage in multiple forms of active learning in authentic settings, draw on their individual and/or collective experiences, and make connections between lessons covered and situations they expect to face in the future; they experience, share, process, generalize, and enact their learning. Teachers create opportunities for students to reflect on their experiences in order to assure assimilation but, again, learners themselves are at the very center of this model.”

In order to make experiential learning to work, we need more involved teachers who are trained in using the new technologies and resources out there to make learning happen.  As members of this class, we are gaining the skills necessary to lead this new way of teaching.  One thing I love about teachers as a group is that they love to “steal” ideas.  Once they see some activity that worked for another teacher, they use it in their classroom, and the ideas get passed on.  They get presented at conferences and classroom activities become more enjoyable.