Preface

To the Revised Edition

This revised edition of Experiential Learning is the most comprehensive and up to date statement of experiential learning theory (ELT), a work that marks the centerpiece of my 50-year academic career. My involvement with experiential learning has been one of the most stimulating and rewarding associations of my adult life. As I described in the 1st edition, I didn’t create experiential learning theory, but discovered it in the works of prominent twentieth-century scholars who gave experience a central role in their theories of human learning and development—notably John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, William James, Carl Jung, Paulo Freire, Carl Rogers, and Mary Parker Follett. The rewards of this long involvement have been multifaceted, ranging from the discovery of an intellectual perspective on human learning and development that is at once pragmatic and humanistic, to techniques of experience-based education that have added vitality to my teaching and to a perspective on adult development that has influenced my own personal growth and development as well as others.

I have been sustained and inspired in my work by a growing network of thousands of colleagues in over 30 academic disciplines from all over the world who share my excitement about experiential learning. Each year I have the pleasure of reviewing 300–400 research articles that have cited Experiential Learning and other ELT-related research papers for inclusion in the Experiential Learning Theory Bibliography (Kolb and Kolb, 2014). The scope of this work is broad and innovative, making immeasurable contributions to experiential learning theory research and practice. More personally, it is a source of endless inspiration for my own work. Even deeper satisfaction has come from supervising well over a hundred theses and Ph.D. dissertations at MIT and Case Western Reserve University and consulting with many other similar scholars at institutions around the world. I am filled with gratitude and admiration for the multiyear commitment they have made to advancing experiential learning theory. Engaging in the “nitty gritty” of ELT research as part of the dissertation process has given us the opportunity to explore theoretical, methodological, and practical issues in great depth and has produced lifelong friendships as well. Some of these scholars have carried research work on experiential learning forward into their own distinguished careers.

The Plan for This Revised Edition

I have chosen to keep the text of the first edition intact and add research updates and reflections at the end of each chapter. In this way the original text and theoretical statement of Experiential Learning is preserved and differentiated from the contemporary additions. The Update and Reflections (U&R) sections of the chapters include developments in experiential learning theory research and theory since the publication of the first edition of Experiential Learning as well as my reflections on critical reviews of experiential learning theory and on theoretical issues raised by other research since the 1984 book.

Part I, “Experience and Learning,” begins in Chapter 1 with a review of the history of experiential learning as it emerged in the works of Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget. It includes an analysis of the contemporary applications of experiential learning theory in education, organization development, management development, and adult development. The Chapter 1 Update and Reflections adds other foundational scholars of experiential learning and their particular contributions to experiential learning theory. The communalities among these scholars in their theories, methods, and careers are examined.

Chapter 2 compares the learning models of Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget and identifies the common themes that characterize the experiential learning process. The Chapter 2 Update and Reflections examines the process aspects of experiential learning with particular focus on the learning cycle. It explores the connections between learning and life in the concept of “autopoesis” developed by Maturana and Varela. Parallels between this spiral of life and the spiral of learning from experience are examined. Misunderstandings and critiques of the learning cycle and its application are also examined.

Part II, “The Structure of Learning and Knowledge,” begins in Chapter 3 with a structured model of the learning process depicting two basic dimensions—a prehension or “grasping” dimension and a transformation dimension. Philosophical, physiological, and psychological evidence for this model are reviewed. The Chapter 3 Update and Reflections examines recent research on the brain and its links with the learning cycle, with particular emphasis on the work of James Zull.

Chapter 4 focuses on individuality in learning with the development of a typology of learning styles based on the structural model of learning presented in Chapter 3. Assessment of individual learning styles with the Learning Style Inventory is described. Data are presented relating individual learning styles to personality type, educational specialization, professional career, current job, and adaptive competencies. In the Chapter 4 Update and Reflections, the latest Kolb Learning Style Inventory 4.0 with nine learning styles and the assessment of learning flexibility will be examined in the context of the concept of conceptions of the self and individuality.

Chapter 5 presents a typology of social knowledge structures—formism, contextualism, mechanism, and organicism—and relates these knowledge structures to academic fields of study and career paths. The Chapter 5 Update and Reflections examines research on the spiral of knowledge creation with particular emphasis on tacit knowledge. The latest research on Pepper’s world hypotheses is examined with its implications for disciplinary learning spaces.

Part III, “Learning and Development,” begins in Chapter 6 with a statement of the experiential learning theory of development wherein adult development is portrayed in three stages—acquisition, specialization, and integration. The chapter describes how conscious experience changes through these developmental stages via higher levels of learning. The Chapter 6 Update and Reflections examines the latest research on adult development and its implication for ELT development theory.

Chapter 7 documents specialization as the major developmental process in higher education. It describes the knowledge structures of different fields of study and the consequences of matches and mismatches between student learning styles. Relationships between professional education and later career adaptation are also examined. The section called “managing the learning process” describes applications of experiential learning theory to teaching and administration. The Chapter 7 Update and Reflections describes our latest research on learning spaces and educator roles involved in teaching around the learning cycle and the assessment and development of learning skills.

Chapter 8 describes the challenges of integrative development in adulthood by examining the life structures of integrated and adaptively flexible individuals. Integrity is posed as the pinnacle of development, conceived as the highest form of learning. The Chapter 8 Update and Reflections focuses on lifelong learning and the learning way; describing how learners can use practices of deliberate experiential learning to respond to a changing world where lifelong learning is the norm.

David A. Kolb
Kaunakakai, Hawaii