Experiential learning is the process where you learn things by practicing them. This is a rigorous approach to learning since you tend to make mistakes and have shortcomings in your attitude to doing such things. “Learn as experience” has been a powerful tool for learning since acquiring bookish knowledge might sometimes seem bland.
Instead of just absorbing knowledge, learning from experiences allows individuals not only to learn but also enables them to leave their comfort zone and step up and see the application to their problem, rather than just interpreting mere theory and bookish knowledge. Things learned with experience are hard to forget and encourage a self-improvement attitude in individuals.
A real-life example of experiential learning or “learn as experience.”
A popular example of learning by experience is when a new individual tries to learn how to drive a car. The individual is not handed a manual or book rather, they are asked to sit in the driver’s seat, along with an experienced driver, and gain insight into how it feels to drive the vehicle. Gradually, as they gain experience, they eventually improve at driving the car swiftly by correcting their mistakes and gaining insight into how they can now use a car on their own for mobility.
Before we get to how you can develop such an attitude toward gaining knowledge through experience, we need to understand some key benefits of it.
Benefits of learning through experience
1. Improved Retention
As mentioned earlier, learning things through experience allows you to retain such knowledge for a long period. You cannot forget how to drive a car if you don’t drive for some days or perhaps weeks. Experiential learning enables you to have a solid grip on that particular matter for a long time and is a better alternative to learning from non-practical approaches.
2. Personal Growth
Learning new things by experiencing them firsthand can be overwhelming. But it’s as much productive and positive as you can imagine. It empowers you on a journey of personal growth since you ought to learn new things in life through the “hard way” and eventually master them. As a self-improvement geek, this is something you’d always prefer since it makes you break those barriers of your comfort zone and equip you with knowledge and practicality.
3. Critical Thinking
You become a great critical thinker if the knowledge you are seeking is gained through experience. Since it involves practicality, it allows the individual to experience different sets of scenarios and think of new innovative ways of solving them. This provides benefits in other areas of life where you can make informed decisions by critically thinking about the whole dilemma.
Integrating Experiential Learning
Here comes a small yet exigent challenge of how and where to incorporate experiential learning. Some things are better off by learning through conventional ways, while others have to be done practically to get the true essence of it.
Here are some ways in which you can incorporate experiential learning and get more exposure to its benefits:
1. Roleplays
Well, this may seem bogus, but role plays can be significant in exposing an actual problem. Role plays and simulations would portray in front of you a real-life scenario worth dealing with and allow you to figure out its solutions and experience its variations before it occurs in real life. Such practices are carried out in the fields of healthcare and business.
2. Internships and community interactions
Internships give you experience and insights into the practical world before you reach the higher level of the hierarchies. The more exposure you gain by interacting with people and on-field work, the easier it gets to delve into the professional world.
3. Learning through Failures
Empowering oneself or others to take risks to explore new avenues and opportunities can do wonders for us. However, some of us may fail to get the desired results. It’s a positive habit to learn from failures and reflect upon them on how you can make better efforts to turn those trials into triumphs.
Experiential learning is as important as conventional learning. Since it provides us with vivid insights and experiences, it tends to be more efficacious than the latter. As Benjamin Franklin once famously said;
“Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I remember. Involve me, and I learn.”