I LEARNED MORE THAN IN ALL OF MY CLASSES
Robert C. Moore, Chair and Professor
Department of Communications
Elizabethtown College (PA)
How often have our students returning from an internship and made the pronouncement, I learned more than in all of my classes? How often have we called internships our link with the "real world?" Whether it is hyperbole or simply a gaf, often both are believed – and that is a sad commentary on tertiary professional education today.
Rather than "doing an internship" or our offering them as fashionable "opportunities" in our curriculum, internships should be seen for their greater role as an option in a program of experiential learning that is an integral part of a studentÕs overall education.
Let's counter-act the often passive, isolated, ancillary "field experiences" (which seem technical, non-intellectual, or vocational in nature) with a well-designed professional curriculum grounded in critical thinking, problem solving and a wide variety of educationally accountable experiences. The issue of importance here is that experiential education must be integrated as a key component of the intellectual learning process across the curriculum.
The philosophical foundation on which experiential learning is based goes far beyond activity learning. Experiential learning is an outgrowth of Aristotle's concept of praxis – the study and application of theory and of knowledge to life. Sarte extended this belief to include consciousness as a key element. "To be a consciousness 'is to make choices' In making such choices we are choosing what we are to become 'We make these choices reflectively' or pre-reflectively 'but we are always choosing and thereby always acting" (Bernstein, 1971, p. 141).
Dewey might be best recognized for his take on the concept. He believed that experience was founded in knowledge. He saw theory as integral to experience and, as a result, experience a key factor in knowing and rethinking theory. Education was seen as continual learning which was systematic and guided so that the student made an active connection between himself or herself and the subject. "Linking theory and practice through field experience and critical reflection was the only means for effective, progressive education" (Stanton, 1995, p. 144).
I describe an experiential learning program as an integrated and purposeful effort to manage experiences, make it more likely that learners will make connections, and to provide for ongoing curricular experiences to make the overall learning experiences more meaningful and valuable in professional education. The curriculum engages learners in well-designed problem-solving situations in which they draw on knowledge and truth.
In communication and media education programs, internships have been most often associated with experiential learning where students pursuing professional preparation have been passively indoctrinated that these opportunities are the important part of their education. These opportunities have been seen as jobs, experiences, field placements, or mentoring that are more often than not ancillary to a student's curriculum of study.
A well-designed professional curriculum provides a sound foundation in the liberal arts with critical thinking and problem solving attributes along with internships and other experiential opportunities. The issue of importance is that experiential education must be integrated as a key component of the intellectual learning process across the curriculum. Such an approach to learning serves the academy and its various constituencies better than a narrow technical or vocational curriculum or one well founded in knowledge and theory with no application.
Bell (1995) said that the theory of what experience does is more important than the actual experience. The process one goes through makes the learning significant—a personal connection. Perhaps even more valuable than the active learning is the reflective process built into a good experiential educational program. Further, there is a need for the learner to be assisted prior to, during, and after the experience so that efforts are not wasted; to try and ensure that success is eventual and meaningful.
Chapman, McPhee, and Proudman (1995) defend the components of experiential education to include:
a mixture of content and process, absence of excessive teacher judgement,
engaged in purposeful endeavors, encouraging the big picture perspective,
teaching with multiple learning styles, (integrating) the role of reflection,
creating emotional investment, re-examination of values, presence of meaningful relationships, (and) learning outside of one's perceived
comfort zone. (p.246)
"Wagner described such a program (as integrating) three traditions of experiential
education –- group process, simulations and field experiences" (Stanton, 1999, p.145).
These foundations of experiential learning are built on a focus of critical thinking. A student is placed in a challenging situation in which he or she can assess and solve a problem by actively engaging knowledge to create a solution that has value. Activities are never designed to be last steps of the process It is imperative to provide with the activity criticism, judgement, and reflection on the learner's performance in applying knowledge and skills. Experience is a step in the process of learning – not the end.
Faculty should be encouraged to incorporate more learning experiences into the classroom and earlier in the curriculum. Competence stems from growth and progression. As confidence grows, students are able to progress to new levels of more independent learning involving more sophisticated activity and assessment, often out of the classroom. Experiential learning, rather than "separate or isolated components, (is) a holistic experience" (Moore, 1992, p. 15).
Stark and Lowther (1988) characterized competent professionals by "their ability to link technical knowledge with appropriate values and attitudes when making complex judgements" (p.1). "Building from this understanding of the profession and the discipline, a student (should be) able to develop three other essential professional competencies: technical, integrative (melding theory, practice, and setting), and marketability" (Moore, 1992, p.15). Toffler described such a person as a "new workerÉ(they) accept responsibility, understand how their work dovetails with that of others, who can handle even larger tasks, who adapt swiftly to changed circumstances, and who are sensitively tuned into people around them" (p. 385).
Jernstedt (1995) characterized this approach as "melding the structures of knowledge with the process of using knowledge" (p. 359). A basis for this approach is that students will use their knowledge and the information gathered to plan, design, and produce original projects that integrate various types of expression learned and mastered in courses taken throughout the curriculum. For us, this means a professional curriculum designed to educate a "compleat communicator (who) must be able to write well, speak and listen intelligently, communicate through media, develop a sense of aesthetics, and demonstrate creative expression" (Moore, 1994, p.162).
Characteristics of such an approach to learning include: the faculty member as coach, mentor, and observer; application of knowledge and skills, experimentation, and assessment that requires that the learner be permitted to make mistakes or to conceive of alternate approaches to problems or situations; and a final assessment made to determine the level of acquired knowledge, mastery of skills, and the ability to problem-solve with original and creative solutions.
In developing programs that
integrate experiential learning into the curriculum, several underlying assumptions
need to be made explicit:
1. Experiential education should be integrated across the Communications curriculum.
2. Skill sets incorporated into courses are to be practiced with theory and knowledge as a basis.
3. Courses are to progressively
extend the hypothetical into practical situations.
4. Faculty are to assess,
guide and promote proficiency.
5. Throughout the curriculum, experiential learning is to be incremental and progressive, as is the intellectual and professional development of the student. Both curricular aspects, theory and practice, are linked along the way by increasing expectations.
6. In assessing the
curricular outcomes, a final course would present learners with an opportunity
to demonstrate a mastery of knowledge, professional values and standards, and
technical acumen as transitional professionals. (See Moore, 1994)
Garvey and Vorsteg (1995) presented a stage theory approach to learning that helps explain a purposeful integrated experiential curriculum.
Human behavior and development (occurs) through "a progressive series
of levels, which are often clearly recognizable one from the otherÉ(this)
is not intended to be a rigid formal progression of concrete levels of
understanding, but rather a possible recognizable pattern"(p.299)
Students move from a novice learner mode to one exhibiting more advanced abilities. Experiential learning can cause a transformation to, and adoption of, professional behavior, values and attitudes. The advantages of experiential learning programs go far beyond courses, activities, and internships. The issues are complex. Knowledge is purposefully integrated into a wide variety of progressive learning experiences that are not isolated occurrences in the course of study. Cognitive, attitudinal, and psychomotor development occur hand in hand through an entire curriculum of planned experience leading to academic and professional proficiency and marketability.
Little is accomplished if internships and experience are separated from actual learning. Properly designed into the curriculum, experiential education can make substantial contribution to the psychological, social, and intellectual development of the student.
In an ever-changing world, more integrative learning enables a student to develop a broader ability to respond to future demands.
Hyperbole aside, it is more gratifying to have the student tell us, "I learned so much from my classes that I felt completely prepared to enter the professional world."
REFERENCES
Bell, M. (1995). What constitutes experience? In R. J. Kraft and J. Kielsmeier (Eds.), Rethinking theoretical assumptions in experiential learning in schools and higher education. (pp. 9-16). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Bernstein, R. J. (1971). Praxis and action: Contemporary philosophies of human activity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Blanchard, R.O. and Christ, W.G. (1993). Media education and the liberal arts. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Chapman, S., McPhee, P., and Proudman, B. (1995). What is experiential education? In K. Warren, M. Sakofs, and J. Hunt, Jr. (Eds.), The theory of experiential education. (pp. 235-247). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Conrad, D. and Heden, D. (1995). National assessment of experiential education: Summary and implications. In R. J. Kraft and J. Kielsmeier (Eds.), Experiential learning in schools and higher education. (pp. 382-403). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier.
Druian, G., Owens, T., and Owen, S. (1995). Experiential education: A search for common roots. In R. J. Kraft and J. Kielsmeier (Eds.), Experiential learning in schools and higher education. (pp. 17-25). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Garvey, D. and Vorsteg, A.C. (1995). From theory to practice for college student interns: A stage theory approach. In K. Warren, M. Sakofs, and J. Hunt, Jr. (Eds.), The theory of experiential education. (pp. 297-303). Dubuque, IA : Kendall/Hunt.
Jernstedt, G. C. (1995). Experiential components in academic courses. In R. J. Kraft and J. Kielsmeier (Eds.), Experiential learning in schools and higher education. (pp. 357-371). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Joplin, L. (1995). On defining experiential education. In K. Warren, M. Sakofs, and J. Hunt, Jr. (Eds.), The theory of experiential education. (pp. 15-22 ). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Kendall, J. C., Duley, J. S., Little, T. C., Permaul, J. S., and Rubin, S. (1986). Strengthening experiential education within your institution. Raleigh, NC: NSIEE.
Moore, R. C. (1985a, October). Designing change: An undergraduate media specialist program . Paper presented to the National Society for Internships and Experiential Education, Pittsburgh, PA.
Moore, R. C. (1985b, October). Internships: An academic experience in the real world. Paper presented to the National Society for Internships and Experiential Education, Pittsburgh, PA.
Moore, R. C. (1992). Let's retain the undergraduate core. Feedback, 33, 15.
Moore, R. C. (1994). The capstone course. In W. G. Christ (Ed.), Assessing communication education: A handbook for media, speech, and theater educators. (pp. 155-179). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Stanton, T. (1995). Internship education: Past achievements/future challenges. In R. J. Kraft and J. Kielsmeier (Eds.), Experiential learning in schools and higher education. (pp. 142-151). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Stark, J.S. and Lowther, M.A. (1988). Strengthening the ties that bind. The Professional Preparation Network. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan.
Toffler, A. (1981). The third wave. New York: Bantam Books.
Williamson, J. (1995). Designing experiential curricula. In R. J. Kraft and J. Kielsmeier (Eds.), Experiential learning in schools and higher education. (pp. 26-31). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.