Helpful Tips for Experience
The Experience component of Experiential Learning focuses on what the student does in these opportunities. The two elements of Experience are:
Authenticity
The experience must have a real-world context and/or be useful and meaningful in an applied setting or situation. This means that it should be designed in concert with those who will be affected by or use it, or in response to a real situation.
Reflection
Reflection is the element that transforms a simple experience into a learning experience. For knowledge to be discovered and internalized the learner must test assumptions and hypotheses about the outcomes of decisions and actions taken, then weigh the outcomes against past learning and future implications. This reflective process is integral to all phases of experiential learning, from identifying intention and choosing the experience to considering preconceptions and observing how they change as the experience unfolds. Reflection is also an essential tool for adjusting the experience and measuring outcomes.