Innovative experiential learning experience: Pedagogical adopting Kolb’s learning cycle at higher education in Hong Kong

Abstract

General education constitutes a significant portion of undergraduate curriculum. However, students are not always keen on learning general education. Pedagogy of experiential learning is one of the strategies in arousing their learning motivation. Although many previous pieces of research were conducted in the field, attention on how experiential learning works with information and communication technology (ICT) on teaching general education at higher education deserves more attention. Thus, by adopting Kolb’s learning cycle from Experiential Learning Theory, this paper suggests an innovative pedagogical approach of implementing experiential learning with(out) adopting ICT in a general education course offered by one of the universities in Hong Kong and has been successfully implemented for three years within classroom setting to enhance learning motivation and consolidate learning experience. Data were collected from auto-ethnography and then analysed through conversation analysis and qualitative content analysis. Through proposing the pedagogical approach, this study is significant in transforming experiential learning beyond personal level and extending students’ learning from within to beyond classroom setting in a cost-effective manner.

Keywords

• experiential learning
• kolb’s learning cycle
• experiential learning theory
• general education
• higher education