Considerations on experience-based learning

The importance of experience in human learning is justified by recourse to physiology, psychology, epistemology and pragmatism. The duality of action and reflection, as proposed by Revans, is chosen as a paradigm for effective experiential learning. Issues of selection of experiences, indeterminacy of outcomes, the development of emotional intelligence, the appropriateness of assessment and buttressing against failure are canvassed in the paper. A list of the desired qualities of an engineering graduate from the University of South Australia in Adelaide, Australia, is examined in order to identify those qualities most associated with experiential learning. A method of systematising the development of those qualities is also described in the paper.