Experiential
Learning Cycle

What is Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle?

A brief overview

Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) roots in the learning models of Dewey, Lewin and Piaget. It differs from other behavioral learning theories as it is grounded in the belief that “ideas are not fixed and immutable elements of thought but are formed and reformed through experience” (Kolb, 2015). There is greater emphasis on the process of learning, which is amplified through practice (Chmolova, 2015). Knowledge is continuously formed through re-testing and experimentation as personally experienced by the learner. These fundamental philosophical perspectives differ from traditional education and epistemological stances of Watson, Hull, Skinner, etc (Kolb, 2015) and its holistic approach recognizes the influences of experiential encounters to foster learning in combination with attributes of cognitive, behavioral and perceptual input.

Integrating technology into Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle. Credit: Reis (2022)

Key Attributes of Kolb's ELC

Key attributes of the ELT stem from students’ motivation to learn, their ability to be actively involved in their learning process, their ability to reflect on the experience, to analyze and conceptualize the experience and encounter, to form decision-making skills, and to apply their understanding through problem-solving (Chmolva, 2015). Through unique experiences, learners are able to “facilitate knowledge acquisition and creation…and ground their understanding and new discoveries within their own previous concrete experiences to construct ideas and relationships actively in their own minds'' (Barab et al., 2022 as cited in Lai et al., 2007, p.327).

There are four main components to the Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC): Concrete experience (EC), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualisation (AC), and active experimentation (AE) (Chmolva, 2015; Kolb 2015). Noheria (2021) highlights the significance of experiences to better connect theories and knowledge taught in the classroom to real-world situations” (p.2), thus accelerating learning through the process of ‘learning by doing’. As education shifts from more traditional learning environments to various modes of delivery, such as online courses, hybrids, etc, there is a great push to explore strategies to elevate components of experiential learning with the support of technology.