Experiential Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs) in Higher Education and Professional Work Learning Environments

Knowledge of various teaching pedagogies and strategies can help educators reach their student audiences and make lessons enriching, engaging and inclusive. One concept that has several potential benefits in higher education and professional work learning environments that can be employed is experiential teaching and learning activities.

One benefit of experiential learning activities is that they facilitate connections between education and professional experience (Yong, 2021). Davis’s (2021) study of an experiential learning activity used with first-year medical students found that the activity provided insight into person-centered care, patient care and doctor-patient relationships, and was highly valued by students. In addition, the Institute of Business Management (2016) has developed the International Journal of Experiential Learning and Case Studies to contribute to teaching and learning through experiential teaching and business-related case studies in businesses to connect education and work.

Furthermore, experiential learning activities can provide in-depth learning and authenticity. Ely’s (2018) study of experiential teaching and learning activities in a graduate course found that students felt the activities complemented the lectures and allowed for a deeper degree of learning. In addition, Roach et al. (2018) study on authenticity perceptions in first-year classes showed that authentic content and task/activity authenticity through experiential teaching and learning activities are important to ensure cognitive realism for students. 

Experiential teaching and learning activities can also be used in adult English language classrooms with intermediate and higher levels of proficiency, as they would draw on the experiences of students to facilitate connections between what they learn in the classroom and what they have and would potentially experience outside the classroom environment.

With that said, there are some things to be mindful of when applying experiential learning. Careful planning of activities is necessary to avoid not having enough time for each of the stages in the learning cycle (Ely, 2018) as it can be time-consuming. In addition, lessons must be tailored to meet the needs of students with varying levels of experience so that everyone can benefit from the learning experience. 

References

Davis, S.S., Regan, S., Goodnow, K., Gausvik, C., Pallerla, H. & Schlaudecker J. (2021). Tell Me Your Story: Experiential learning using in-home interviews of healthy older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 69(12), 3608-3616. Tell Me Your Story: Experiential learning using in‐home interviews of healthy older adults - Schrimpf Davis - 2021 - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society - Wiley Online Library (queensu.ca)

Ely, Adrian V. (2018). Experiential learning in “innovation for sustainability”: An evaluation of teaching and learning activities (TLAs) in an international master’s course. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 19(7), 1204-1219. Experiential learning in “innovation for sustainability”: An evaluation of teaching and learning activities (TLAs) in an international masters course | Scholars Portal Journals (queensu.ca)

Institute of Business Management, (2016, June). International Journal of Experiential Learning & Case Studies. International Journal of Experiential Learning & Case Studies – Introduction. International Journal of Experiential Learning & Case Studies (IJELCS) – Institute of Business Management IoBM

Kong Y. (2021). The Role of Experiential Learning on Students' Motivation and Classroom Engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.771272

Roach K., Tilley E., Mitchell J. (2018). How authentic does authentic learning have to be? Higher Education Pedagogies, 3(1), 495–509. https://doi.org/10.1080/23752696.2018.1462099