| Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 2005, 21(1), 19-39. |
AJET 21 |
This paper reports on a cross-disciplinary comparative study that examines the interplay between information and communications technologies (ICT) and experiential learning, in the context of seven fields of professional practice in undergraduate education. Our central claim is that academic teachers' framing of the meaning and nature of experiential learning shapes the actual and possible uses of ICT, in supporting the development of professional expertise in academic and workplace learning environments. Implicit in teaching conceptions and practices is an underlying view of the changing nature and conduct of the professions, and the requirements for effective entry level practice in relevant professional fields. The paper explores key indicators of ICT development and usage in supporting the creation of meaningful professional learning, and the design of integrated, coherent, professional learning environments.
These trends accentuate the need to consider new types of designed learning environments as highlighted in the 2002 Federal Government review of higher education:
Mass higher education means a different sort of higher education system, with different parameters and expectations for students, academics and the community. It requires rethinking the design of learning experiences and courses, teacher-student contact, and the role of the academic. It necessitates re-examining the way courses are delivered, the implications of institutional policies and practices and recognising that systems of support for learning are as important as the delivery of subjects and courses (Higher Education at the Crossroads: A Review of Australian Higher Education, 2002, p.5).Reflecting on these developments in our own university, we wished to re-examine previous work on pedagogical encounters with what we conceptualised as the technology imperative: see Holt and Thompson, 1995; Thompson & Holt, 1996. In particular, we believe it is instructive to look at the contemporary context of the role of ICT in supporting experiential learning pedagogies for developing professional expertise deemed important for contemporary workplaces and lifelong learning. Both experiential learning and ICT have long traditions of theorising and practice. However, much less research has been published on ways in which ICT can broaden and enhance experiential learning.
This paper examines the interplay between the two in the context of seven fields of professional practice and through the perspectives of academic teaching staff involved in the leadership and teaching of these fields at the undergraduate level.
The University adopted flexible learning as a strategic descriptor of its attempts to apply distance education philosophy and practices more broadly to enhancing on campus, undergraduate educational experiences (Holt & Thompson, 1995). Moreover, the University's recent teaching and learning development plans emphasise the need to use experiential learning approaches to expand the range of work experience, community work or service schemes, clinical placements, internships, international experiences, and practica throughout the undergraduate program. The importance of developing generic or transferable skills as part of the undergraduate experience has been highlighted nationally and internationally (see, eg, Candy, Crebert & O'Leary, 1994; Gibbs, Rust, Jenkins & Jaques, 1994; Learning for Life Final Report, 1998).
There is a voluminous literature on the interrelated, overlapping areas of experiential learning, adult learning, self directed/autonomous learning and professional learning (eg, Argyris & Schön, 1982; Schön, 1987; Marsick, 1987; Boud, 1989; Boud & Walker, 2001). There has also been much debate around desired competencies, capabilities, and expertise domains of entry level graduates to professional practice. What appears to be generally accepted though is the need to bring into much closer alignment the two worlds of academic study and practice based learning. As Boud (1989, Foreword, p.6) concludes:
Increasing numbers of teachers and practitioners of all kinds are realizing that the polarity between the intellectual and the practical is an absurdity which can no longer be supported and that we can only progress if we accept that thinking and action are entirely complementary.What is the role of ICT within this broad domain of teaching and learning concerns? Some literature focuses on the use of simulations within the higher education environment to supplement workplace learning (eg. Canyon & Podger, 2002; Cassidy, 2002; Segrave, 2003a, 2003b). Other work has looked at authentic, workplace oriented learning activities to improve professional capabilities, but these have also been carried out within the university environment (eg. Bennett, Harper & Hedberg, 2002; Herrington, Oliver & Reeves, 2003.) It appears less research has focused on directly connecting ICT with experiential learning in the workplace. Cantor (1995) conducted a review of the literature on experiential learning in higher education in which he discussed ways of linking classroom and community for economic benefits. However, he did not explore specific uses of technology to facilitate these linkages, which suggests, at that stage at least, there was little substantive literature in the area.
In 1999, the Journal of Experiential Education produced one issue containing four articles exploring the pros and cons and possibilities associated with technology and experiential learning (Hester and Hirsch, 1999; McCarty, 1999; Stringer, 1999; and Glover, 1999). More recent volumes of this journal have not focused on the topic. Work by Boerner (1999) suggested technology can be used to enhance experiential learning in three ways: "recording the experience for later reference, creating a virtual community of participants (students, agencies, etc.), and enabling new avenues for the community to reach its goals" (p.1). He detailed a number of enabling technologies and services that could facilitate these outcomes. Use of online learning communities is probably one of the most common ways of linking students with workplaces. For example, Lockyer, Patterson, Rowland and Hearne (2002) studied the way online learning was used to help establish communities of professional practice. However, there is scope for more work to realise the potential of technology use for enhancing experiential learning.
In line with most other universities, Deakin has established an enterprise based technology environment for large scale enhancement, inter alia, of the learning experience for students undertaking formal on campus professional studies and relevant professional workplace learning. We are still at the embryonic stages of seeing and realising the potentials of corporate technologies in creating and maintaining enduring value for teachers and learners (Holt & Segrave, 2003). However, many Deakin developments have exemplified constructivist approaches to learning with technology. Constructivism embodies the attributes of experiential approaches for meaningful learning. Jonassen, Peck and Wilson (1999, p.201) believe computer supported constructivist learning environments should engage learners in active, constructive, intentional, authentic and cooperative learning. Moreover, they suggest technology roles for (experiential) valued learning must encompass:
Reflecting on the interview data, the research team decided to interview two additional staff (5b and 9b) who had specific interests and perspectives around the concerns explored in the Round 2 interviews. These two staff brought further perspectives to the use of ICT in support of experiential learning relevant to work placements and enhancing professional expertise. Table 1 outlines the professional fields, associated courses, the 10 participants and interview round involvement.
The first round of interviews concentrated on procedures and existing data about work placements while the second round sought perceptions of experiential learning and its role in particular disciplines (Table 2).
| Professional field | Course | No. of staff interviewed | Interview Round Round 1 = a Round 2 = b |
| Construction Management | Bachelor of Construction Management | 1 | 1a and 1b |
| Information Systems/ Information Technology [IS/IT] | Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours) | 1 | 2a and 2b |
| Journalism | Bachelor of Arts | 1 | 3a and 3b |
| Nursing | Bachelor of Nursing (Preregistration) | 2 | 4a and 4b 5b |
| Nutrition and Dietetics | Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics | 2 (together) | 6a and 6b |
| Social Work | Bachelor of Social Work | 1 | 7a and 7b |
| Teacher Education | Bachelor of Education | 2 | 8a and 8b 9b |
| Round 1 | Round 2 |
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The research issues are broad and integrated and our investigations revealed a diverse range of flexible, technology mediated learning environments supporting experiential learning approaches across our University. For this article we have concentrated on staff perceptions of the role of ICT in supporting experiential teaching and learning, some of its inherent flexibilities, and experiential learning embodied in various physical and, indeed, virtual forms.
We draw on the students' experience when we work through problems. We particularly use experiential leaning in the laboratories (our skills based labs). We draw on experiential learning in every day problem solving in the units. We put it in a context, pose a problem, get them to work through the problem, analyse it, come up with some aspects they wish to learn about, go a way and come back and clarify them. That is the basis for our experiential learning. (Interview Nursing 4b)In contrast, another lecturer confined experiential learning to learning that occurs in the professional environment and deliberately separated it from the learning within the university:
Within the School of Nursing experiential learning is best described as an extension of on campus learning. So for me that term implies the field experience is putting them in an educational situation that's in a different arena, that is meant to be an extension of their on campus learning, and that's where they can apply their learning to real situations as opposed to on campus where they apply their learning and develop their learning on the basis of reality based situations but they are not authentic in that the students are not actually submerged in the situation. The authentic nature means they go out into the actual environment, the professional environment. (Interview Nursing 5b)Similarly, from the Faculty of Education, perceptions differed. While both lecturers focused on active learning, for one it was confined to the workplace, for the other the university classroom could also be the learning site:
[It's] active learning, learning on the job, practical training, experiencing the practice of the profession you are entering. The practice of teaching is the most important part of learning to teach. (Interview Teacher Education 8b)A recognised attribute of experiential literature as theorised and practiced is its cyclical nature (see, eg, Boud, Keogh and Walker, 1985). Once this is accepted, it appears reductionist to conceptualise experiential learning as bounded by the practicum, the fieldwork, or whatever term is used to describe direct exposure to, and involvement with, the professional world in that space. While this is unarguably the core of the actual experience it cannot be assumed the learning inevitably occurs in this space or at that time. Although students are likely to achieve some level of understanding through the workplace experience itself and at that time, for that learning to be strengthened and deepened, for the perceived fact of the experience to be analysed and interpreted, structures are required that allow students to gain deeper levels of insight and richer perceptions. As one lecturer contended:It's about learning through experience, learning by doing. It's about experiencing on a broad scale, not only during the practicum, but also in the university classroom. Experiential learning occurs all the time in many ways. (Interview Teacher Education 9b)
It is best when students are not left to sink or swim - they need to receive guidance. They need 'scaffolding' to know what to do. The students need to feel it (the fieldwork experience) is relevant to what they are aiming to achieve with their education. When these connections (between theory and practice) are made there tends to be a greater interest in what they are doing. (Interview Social Work 7b)
When these models are contrasted with experiential learning that is compulsory and 'embedded' in the teaching of the discipline, and where staff actively engage with students and their field educators with an emphasis on critical reflection within a constructivist paradigm, it is evident that although the same technology (online conferencing) is employed, it will have a very different role. In this case communication is critical and learning in the professional space is connected with learning in other spaces through the use of online conferencing:
They are checking in daily asking questions, posing problems. Our first online tutorial is about safety issues in their placement. Students need to share their results online so students can benefit from the ideas that come from a huge range of agencies rather than just their own. More powerful is the spontaneous things that come from their experiences. For example, a student who has just started placement in a prison is talking about 'lockdown' and this brings up the issues of jargon and culture. As an educator I can draw this out to talk about the language at the placement. When students talk spontaneously about their placement this comes through. They can raise issues from the day's work. It fosters collaboration between the students. It is an excellent vehicle for this. (Interview Social Work 7b)In contrast to students being left to resolve problems by peer support with no lecturer intervention (Interview IS/IT 2b), this Social Work lecturer uses the student comment on the experience to shape the teaching - in this instance, to talk about the language at the placement. This is similar to the situation in Nutrition and Dietetics:
We encourage them to share experiences through a discussion site. We moderate that site. They keep their reflective journal on email. That is great because you can give an immediate response. If there is something really fascinating we might say, 'Can we share that with the class?' If there is a whole theme coming through we can raise the issue without breaking confidentiality. (Interview Nutrition & Dietetics 6b)These educators have sought ways to encourage their students to reflect on the experience and to enrich their learning by sharing insights with peers and mentors and technology has enabled this.
There are, however, clearly different views about the role of online discussion during the actual time in the professional space. For one lecturer in Education, who has been immersed in technology for many years, there is a danger in "using technology at every turn" (Interview Teacher Education 9b). He argued:
Having a discussion group for students while they are on practicum is pie in the sky. Why should they do that? They are too busy. And there's got to be a good reason. Assessment is not a good enough reason - they've really got to be fired up with this. ... When they're out in schools giving lessons and writing lesson plans I don't want to know them really unless they've got some real problems. And then they can come and see me or contact the school office. They are really happy when they're out there - they consider it the real part of their teacher education. So let's not try and interfere with that - that's good stuff. (Interview Teacher Education 9b)His caveat, that if they have 'real problems' they have ready face to face contact, is important as this is not the case for many students who are away from the University in the workplace situation. Similarly, another lecturer, who believed it was "absolutely essential" that there was part of the day when students could reflect on their field experience in a supportive, non-judgmental environment, found online conferencing unnecessary for his students as their workplace experience was supported by a face to face debriefing at the end of each day with the facilitator plus a tutorial based debriefing at the end (Interview Nursing 5b). Hence an element that cannot be disregarded in our understanding of the role of technology is the context in which the experiential learning occurs.
What became apparent from our research is that, for those who characterise experiential learning as occurring exclusively within the domain of the professional workspace, the role of technology is inevitably constrained. While there was one clear exception, our research indicated that this may also be attributable, at least in part, to a recognised and confessed ignorance of what technology can offer.
My knowledge of online learning is very limited. ... I don't know what role technology plays beyond students have a knowledge of the use of technology to enhance their teaching and learning (Interview Teacher Education 8b).Given the University's encouragement of staff to engage with online learning, it can be assumed that it is not the predilection of these lecturers to engage with such technology. At the same time, they are likely to value the face to face immersion in the field as pre-eminent in value, and, where technologies are introduced or contemplated, they are seen as support for that experience:We are still feeling our way with this (Interview Construction Management 1b).
I guess the online component could be a supportive structure amongst some other supportive structures when they're in an environment that's a learning environment that's somewhat alien to them. (Interview Nursing 5b)But there is a cost here. Until lecturers are prepared to engage with technology, to explore its possibilities, to look critically at what can it offer to enhance all aspects of teaching and learning, including experiential learning, then lack of awareness of what technology can offer shuts off possibilities. As one lecturer (Interview Teacher Education 9b) argued, "We've got to experience the technology rather than shy away from it. We've got to allow ourselves to go into it. Unless we do that students will shy away from it or some will do it in spite of us".They (students) are able to use technology through online methods. So if they have a problem they can go online and tell their fellow students and seek advice. ... We have found that to be a great method for adding to what they are learning. (Interview IS/IT 2b)
In contrast, for those who conceptualise experiential learning beyond the fieldwork, or its equivalent, and who are open to the exploration of ICT, technologies offer rich learning opportunities. In Journalism, for example, where staff contend experiential learning is the basis of this vocationally oriented course, and where opportunities to engage with the practicalities of the working life of the journalist ("to practice and practice"( underpin the course design, the lecturing staff draw on their professional experience to develop and present a skills based course and arrange to have people from the industry talk with students. Technology has been used to capture some aspects of this approach. For instance, a video on interviewing gave the best tips from journalists from the newspapers. Efforts have been made to replicate the work environment as closely as possible through an award winning CD, "Hot Copy: a virtual newsroom":
HOTcopy® offers a virtual practicum in print media journalism, inviting immersion in a series of interactive, real time simulations of workplace scenarios. Consistent with situated professional practice, work assignments are set and emerge while interventions from scenario characters add new challenges and deadline pressures. Taking on the roles of reporter or sub-editor, learners analyse information, make judgments, reflect on actions, receive feedback on decisions and try to finalise 'copy' on time. (Segrave 2003b, p.1.)Based on scenarios scripted from real events, students are required to work within a tight time frame with industry pressures built in. While praised as authentic by the industry and teaching staff who, themselves, have professional journalism experience, there is a recognition that "you are never going to be able to replicate what happens in the newsroom" (Interview Journalism 3b). HOTcopy provides a start. It sensitises students to work conditions, assists them to explore important legal and ethical issues and gives them the experience of producing copy to a deadline. It foregrounds the professional world through the scenarios but it cannot replicate that world with its complexity and nor should it. The strength of its contribution to learning is it provides a staged development for students, giving them vital prior knowledge and experience prior to their direct industry experience. In so doing it should mean the workplace experience is of greater value to these students as they have more securely grounded expectations.
A further dimension for some educators is that technology is seen as a way of opening up possibilities to improve the supervision in the workplace. When considering how the development of professional expertise could be enhanced in their program, there was recognition of how technology could enhance the nexus between the University and the workplace:
I would love to develop online resources for our field educators. Being an educator and being a social worker are two different things, so there is a whole discourse of assessment, being a role model, being a mentor, encouraging professional development which is part of being an educator but is not part of being a social worker. I would like to develop a site of professional development online for the social work field educators. They could supplement what they do with the students. We would be a community resource to those people. We are trying to improve the quality of the supervision. (Interview Social Work 7b)Finally, while, as discussed above, staff working within the same discipline held different notions of what experiential learning entailed, the nature of the discipline remains influential regarding how technology will be viewed. "You can't be a journalist and not understand technology" (Interview Journalism 3a) claimed one lecturer and, even more obviously, for students involved with IT the very nature of the professional experience will be technology grounded. We found the more nurturing professions (Nursing, Social Work and Nutrition and Dietetics) were more likely to value the use of ICT to provide personalised channels of communication between academic teachers and their students as they experience their work placements.
If there is a problem in accessing these materials and there is a lack of understanding of their role, then such materials are unlikely to be well-received. Lecturers in Nutrition and Dietetics postulated that a series of case studies drawn directly from the profession on CD would allow students freedom to gain knowledge of issues in key areas. They found that students preferred the face to face interaction of talking about these within a group.
In Nursing originally there was a 'backlash' from the students as they, with some of their lecturers, believed online learning would cut face to face contact (Interview Nursing 4a). For the lecturers who were involved in the conceptualisation and development of the material there was greater ownership and acceptance, while for those who saw the movement to online learning was 'by edict', with the lecturers' role enacting policy determined elsewhere, there was a tendency to question and diminish the role of online materials. When this was coupled with technical difficulties and access problems a well-conceived and developed unit was arguably unsuccessful for some cohorts of students (Rice & Bowly, 2001). More recently, where there is a perceived 'softening' in policy and there is not the same perception that the stimulus for their adoption is cost cutting through staff replacement by technology, and the access problems have been resolved, there is a different staff and student reaction to these materials which are now 'well received' ( "Online learning works well when students [and staff] see that IT is supplementing their learning. If they see it as replacing face to face teaching it is an uphill battle" (Interview Nursing 4a).
Where simulations are introduced, it cannot be assumed that students will use them as originally intended to engage with 'real world' situations. Segrave (2003c, p.2) challenges us to think beyond the media components to the nature of the engagement with the learning environment:
While audio, video and multimedia can present the 'appearance' of real events and contexts, and reception of these is an experience, active engagement in the authentic world (as represented) may not be evident.There is a tension between those who would use technology to simulate the professional experience, to replicate that world as closely as possible, and those who would use technology to replace that experience. The lecturers we interviewed saw the CDs and online programs as giving students opportunities to engage with 'real world' scenarios and issues, to hone skills in a protected environment, but consistently advocated that the actual experience of the workplace was essential.
CD ROMs are used to assist the student to understand some of the theoretical components behind the skill. It doesn't replace the hands on. ... Because Nursing is a humanistic experience or profession I wouldn't like to see it [de]void of human contact. That would be a huge worry. (Interview Nursing 4b)We contend that recognising the limitations of ICT in this regard is a strength. It should play a support role, and, within this construct, its possibilities can be usefully explored and hopefully realised.We show them stuff we have done (through videos etc) but it is never the same as going out to the real world ... Some students find they love it out there and others don't like it at all. They only find this out by going into the workplace. (Interview Journalism 3b)
I don't think anything can completely prepare them other than going out and seeing real people. ... They really need to experience the environment. (Interview Nutrition & Dietetics 6b)
In this regard we note the fusion of the virtual and physical in the globalising worlds of work where so much of the 'real' work is undertaken in virtual spaces. This is being increasingly paralleled in physical campus based academic learning settings through virtual learning spaces. Intersections between these academic physical/ virtual and practice based physical/ virtual settings seem like fertile ground for the use of ICT supported experiential learning, based on our case study analyses.
Extending from the case analysis, we see contemporary professional curricula as being characterised by integrated treatments of theory, practice based preparation and work placements. ICT can in turn play a central role in supporting students' engagements with a range of traditional and digital learning resources, and people in their universities and workplaces, as a major area of enduring teaching and learning made possible by new e-learning technologies (see Holt & Segrave 2003). As part of this learning environment philosophy, ICT can be used to bring professional experiences in the workplace in real time back to the academic classroom to enrich on campus teaching and learning, as was illustrated by the interview with one of the teacher educators who saw the value of ICT in experiential learning from conveying workplace experiences to on campus academic learning enrichment, rather than using ICT from the university to support students while they were on their actual teaching practicums.
In a world of work increasingly emphasising online training for corporate employees and education of students by e-learning, the 'real' experience of the profession will involve practising effectively online. Such environments can also allow a broader range of educational parties, internal and external to the University, to bring to bear different enriching perspectives on students' professional development, although our case analyses reveal a diversity of views and practices on how this might be effectively undertaken in bringing together ICT and experiential learning.
In anticipation of the importance of ICT in continuing professional education, we believe thoughtful, though differing, commitments to ICT supported experiential learning should be coherently designed into undergraduate professional programs encouraging IT and information literacy, and various forms of online communication and virtual teamwork. These skills would seem essential for the evolving knowledge based, networked organisations of the globalised economy.
Academic teaching staff must find the vision of field of study experiential learning environments believable and beneficial to their own parts of the larger picture. There are time and effort costs in designing and working within ICT supported experiential learning environments. Staff need to feel they can trust their leaders to reward them for strong commitments to creating such environments and leaders, wherever possible, should demonstrate similar commitment. Greater emphasis should be placed on connecting ICT potentials with the other areas of curriculum design, pedagogy, assessment, and research and evaluation of impacts on teaching and learning. Progressive roll out of effectively designed environments over broader fields is not done easily or quickly, and requires determined continuity of action. Finally, new forms of academic collegiality, involving a broader range of constituencies contributing to students' professional development both inside and outside the university setting, need to evolve. These should span key areas of experiential learning environment design covering whole fields of professional practice.
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| Authors: Di Challis, Dale Holt and Mary Rice Teaching and Learning Support Unit, Learning Services Deakin University, Geelong Victoria 3217 http://www.deakin.edu.au/learningservices/ Until 1999, Di Challis published under the name of Diane J. Thompson. Please cite as: Challis, D., Holt, D. and Rice, M. (2005). Staff perceptions of the role of technology in experiential learning: A case study from an Australian university. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 21(1), 19-39. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/challis.html |