Experiencing something is a potential way to learn a great deal.

• There are some things that can be learned only by doing them.
• There are some things that can be learned by doing only after some other preliminary forms of learning are done.
• There are some things that can be learned only after doing something and having a debriefing or discussion to reflect upon what was done.
• There are some things that could be learned by doing, but which should not be.

We know from cognitive science, that the learning will depend on a number of factors. For example, is the experience such that the learning outcomes are obvious, and impactful enough that they will not be forgotten (touching a hot burner)? Unless the learning is big like burning a finger, or is similar to muscle memory, automaticity, habituation type situations, most learning will require conscious awareness, deliberate practice, and reinforcement. If the experience is such that a process is altered, the learner needs to close the loop and try the process again with the new lessons in order for the learning to stick. All of this implies that the experiential activity needs to be designed carefully and that the activity is part of a larger whole, not just a single episode.

Our observations…

• In a course, the learning is directed and is based on the learning objectives associated with the course. There will be other learning achieved of course; some of which is intended, some accidental, and some which is not desired nor intended.
• An experiential activity should be broken down into three components. There is the physical activity. There is the process or the ‘how’ that was used to achieve the learning outcomes. There is the thinking process the learners are using and figuring out that how and the what.
• An instructor needs to think about all of these, and debrief and discuss them after the activity is over. The focus should not only be on the what. If the other two are not discussed, the learners’ ad hoc and unguided thinking will continue without adjustment and without improvement. If these facets are not addressed, it is possible that students upon graduation can deliver different ‘whats’ based on their courses, but their problem-solving skills and approach to thinking has remained unchanged since first year.
• During an experiential activity, certainly for junior students, it is best to focus on one main learning outcome at a time. The best learning comes from focusing on one thing at a time and not two. For example, if the learning outcome is to discover a new method, the experience should be in the context of a problem they already know. If the learning outcome is to understand a new problem or new context, then the methods should be stable and not the focus of new learning. To learn both a new problem or context, and new methods at the same time is sub optimal. Neither will likely be learned at the level desired.

• It is important to consider the assumptions being made about what students need to bring to the table to do the experiential activity. What knowledge you are assuming. What skills you are assuming. What level of expertise you are assuming.
• While during an experiential activity, it is possible to have constructive failure and mishaps, it is important that for the overall experiential activity that the students have a feasible chance at a successful outcome; that they will have realized that they have learned something (even it is something they should never do again).
• If there were ‘ahaa’ moments of enlightenment and major lessons, it is important to have a follow-on experiential activity for the students to explore and understand what they had learned in the first activity. It is not recommended to do a one-and-done.
• Any significant experiential activity needs to be tested first, before having the class do it. Teaching assistants and helpers should have gone to the exercise themselves with debriefing and a discussion about how the class will approach the activity and executed. It is suggested that with any major activity, that additional helpers are enlisted. It will be a three ring circus.
• If the activity has teamwork as part of the desired learning outcomes, it is important to have repeated activities holding the teams stable with the same members. It takes more than one activity for team to learn how to work as a team, and to learn the necessary lessons.
• The activity should be designed with deliverables that help expose how the students are approaching the activity, how they are doing the activity, and not just the final what.
• Deliverables should be timed and released so that students cannot work ahead, spend silly amounts of time on things, and get so involved in the activity that other courses are affected.
• It should not be assumed that students have sufficient skills in the area of executive functions to plan and execute the activity without some guidance. For example, the first deliverable given to a team can be to ask them to develop a plan for how they will tackle the activity. Minor deliverables during the activity can be related to planning, status updates, and adjusted plans.
• Assume that even with testing, there will be issues with the mechanics and logistics of any significant activity. It is important to have a plan B and a plan C, and to adapt and adjust as quickly as possible, with confidence, to the new plan. If things go awry, it might be necessary to eat any formal assessment for the activity and give the whole class full marks.
• While many of the points have been made in the context of significant experiential activities, many of the same points about designing for learning outcomes, allowing for reinforcement and practice, apply to even short activities.
• An experiential activity that is designed simply to have the students do something, bond, or have fun is potentially doing more harm than good as it will reinforce ad hoc thinking and processes.

Further reading

• https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/support/integrative-learning/experiential-learning