ABOUT THIS PROJECT

Literature

     The ideology of learning from experience reflects back to the philosophies of John Dewey. Experience was the cornerstone of Dewey’s approach to philosophy and education. Dewey reflected back to Darwinism, believing that nature is in constant change with no fixed end point (Hildebrand, 2018). The same could be said for education. In the traditional school method, “that which is taught is thought of as essentially static. It is taught as a finished product, with little regard either to the ways in which it was originally built up or to changes that will surely occur in the future” (Dewey, 1938). Dewey’s goal was to connect the child, school and society through “experiential learning” (Dewey, 1902). Through experiential learning, students’ educations continued in a circular pattern, where students were encouraged to explore experiences that dealt with what they had learned through their schooling in order to connect relevant information from those experiences for further decisions and experiences in the future. It is important throughout life to “learn and develop continually” in this circular pattern (Bin-Abbas et. al., 2012). Like Darwinism, there is no fixed end point for learning. 

     Learning with the help of experience can be referred to as “knowledge-in-use” or “tacit knowledge” (Ranucci et. al., 2015). Tacit knowledge is essential to performing tasks and functions in everyday life, as it helps with solving problems and facing new challenges (Venkitachalam et. al., 2012). But this knowledge-in-use is seldom based on just that person’s experiences, but rather a culmination of their past experiences and the experiences of others in similar situations (Tillema et. al., 2006). Dewey’s belief in “the power of actual experience” (Deblois, 2002) also went farther than going out and experiencing something first hand. He believed in direct and indirect experiences being beneficial for the student (Dewey, 1916). Engagement within the experience is important for the circular pattern of learning to continue. “Genuine learning occurs best through engagement…that motivate with interests already present in the students” (Hildebrand, 2016). One notion of indirect experiences is learning from what others have experienced. “Learning from others depends on people’s ability to integrate their own and others’ experiences” (Moskaliuk et. al., 2015).  Knowledge-in-use is also established with repeated practice and situations over time (Smith, 2001). 

     While experiential learning may seem straightforward (learning from experience), it is “a difficult concept to ‘pin down’” due to the processes behind learning being different for everyone (Cornu, 2005). Students surveyed in a 2019 study reported “high levels of satisfaction and engagement”, as well as this type of learning process being applicable “to real-world professional concerns” for emergency management training (Danko, 2019). Experiential learning appears to be highly dependent on the subject matter by which the person is studying. A 2019 study examined graduate students studying marketing how experiential learning impacted their progress in understanding real-world concerns surrounding their future professional careers. The study showed that experiential learning for this field was highly successful, giving the graduate students new opportunities and “strengthening their professional skills” (Sangpikul, 2020). With analytics heavily being used in marketing fields, it is then hopeful that an experiential learning project such as this one would be highly beneficial to the students who would be reading it.