David A. Kolb

Case Western Reserve University | CWRU · Department of Organizational Behavior

Core concepts of Experiential Learning Theory—the learning cycle,learning style, and learning space—have been widely used by experiential educatorsin higher education for nearly half a century. We examine the latest thinkingabout these three concepts and highlight some exemplary applications from themany disciplinary applications of experiential le...

The aim of this study was to develop a rubric as a measurement tool for experiential educators and with this purpose, we investigated a group of the participants on it. Assessing whether the experiential training process follows all four steps of the experiential learning cycle and determining correct or incorrect applications of the experiential l...

The experiential learning cycle is the most widely recognized and used concept in Experiential Learning Theory (ELT—Kolb 2015, Kolb & Kolb 2017). The simplicity and usefulness of the four stage cycle of experiencing, reflecting, thinking and acting are the main reason for its popularity. It is an adaptable template for the creation of educational p...

Background Becoming an experiential educator involves more than just being a facilitator or matching learning style with teaching style. Experiential education is a complex relational process that involves balancing attention to the learner and to the subject matter while also balancing reflection on the deep meaning of ideas with the skill of appl...

This article introduces ways in which movement can enhance one’s understanding of how to learn using Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) concepts of the Learning Cycle, Learning Styles, and Learning Flexibility. The theoretical correspondence between the dialectic dimensions of the Learning Cycle and the dimensions of the Laban Movement Analysis (LM...

Abstract The Kolb Learning Style Inventory version 4.0 (KLSI 4.0) revised in 2011, is the latest revision of the original Learning Style Inventory developed by David A. Kolb. Like its predecessors, the KLSI 4.0 is based on experiential learning theory (Kolb 1984) and is designed to help individuals identify the way they learn from experience. The...

Experiential learning has been a foundational tenant of agricultural education since its inception. However, the theory of experiential education has received limited attention in the permanent agricultural education literature base. As such, this philosophical manuscript examined Kolb’s experiential learning process further, and considered the imp...

How do entrepreneurs obtain the creative ideas they need to develop innovative new products? We interviewed 32 technology entrepreneurs to generate a grounded theory as to how technology entrepreneurs use social behaviors, techniques, and cognitive processes to generate, validate, and refine ideas for new products, processes, or services. The resul...

Although Experiential Learning Theory originated in the work of Western scholars, many of their theoretical principles have a decidedly Eastern orientation. In this essay we draw out these Eastern principles of experiential learning and suggest an Eastern perspective on learning wholeness in one’s life and career based on an ontological approach to...

Lifelong learning requires the ability to learn from life experiences. This chapter describes the theory of experiential learning, whereby knowledge is generated from experience through a cycle of learning driven by the resolution of dual dialectics of action/reflection and experience/abstraction. We provide an overview of stylistic preferences tha...

Drawing on the foundational theories of John Dewey and Kurt Lewin, we examine recent developments in theory and research on experiential learning and explore how this work can enhance experiential learning in higher education. We introduce the concept of learning space as a framework for understanding the interface between student learning styles a...

Drawing on the foundational theories of John Dewey and Kurt Lewin, we examine recent developments in theory and research on experiential learning and explore how this work can enhance experiential learning in higher education. We introduce the concept of learning space as a framework for understanding the interface between student learning styles a...

Drawing from the reflective teaching and learning practices recommended in influential publications on learning styles, experiential learning, deep learning, and dialogue, the authors tested the concept of “learning teams” in the framework of a leadership program implemented for the first time in a top French management school (Grande Ecole). Quali...

Experiential learning theory (ELT) has been widely used in management learning research and practice for over thirty-five years. Building on the foundational works of Kurt Lewin, John Dewey and others, experiential learning theory offers a dynamic theory based on a learning cycle driven by the resolution of the dual dialectics of action/reflection...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an experiential learning framework for understanding how play can potentially create a unique ludic learning space conducive to deep learning. Design/methodology/approach – The framework is developed by integrating two perspectives. First, from multidisciplinary theories of play to uncover the unde...

This chapter describes the concept of learning flexibility in Experiential Learning Theory and its relationship to integrative learning and adult development. The Learning Flexibility Index (LFI), an improvement over previous measures of learning flexibility, is introduced. We introduce a new measure for calculating learning flexibility based on th...

Contemporary research on meta-cognition has reintroduced conscious experience into psychological research on learning and thereby stimulated a fresh look at the works of classical experiential learning scholars who gave experience a central role in the learning process— William James, John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, Carl Rogers and Paulo Freire. We focus p...

This study examines the role that culture plays in the way individuals learn. Experiential learning theory is used to describe the learning process and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory is used to assess differences in how individuals learn. Using the framework for categorizing cultural differences from the Global Leadership and Organizational Effe...

The bibliography contains references on experiential learning theory from 1971-2005. The updated list has 2276 entries. The bibliography gives a complete listing by author. The bibliography is in PDF and formatted in APA style. Many research studies listed in the bibliography can be accessed through research databases such

This article proposes a framework relevant to the continuous learning of individuals and organizations. Drawing from the theory of experiential learning, the article proposesconversational learning as the experiential learning process occurring in conversation as learners construct meaning from their experiences. A theoretical framework based on fi...

Teamwork is prevalent in organizations, yet it has pitfalls such as social loafing, groupthink, overdependence on a dominant leader, overcommitment to goals, and diffusion of responsibility. Such negative factors can be overcome and team effectiveness improved when teams intentionally focus on learning. This article draws on nearly four decades of...

This article shows how the Kolb Team Learning Experience (KTLE) simulation has been used by teams to enhance learning. The KTLE includes seven modules: (a) introduction, (b) team purpose, (c) team membership, (d) team roles, (e) team process, (f) team context, and (g) team action. Each of these modules takes a team through the process of team learn...

Abstract The Kolb Learning Style Inventory Version 3.1 (KLSI 3.1), revised in 2005, is the latest revision of the original Learning Style Inventory developed by David A. Kolb. Like its predecessors, KLSI 3.1 is based on experiential learn- ing theory (Kolb 1984) and is designed to help individuals identify the way they learn from experience. This r...

Drawing on the foundational theories of John Dewey and Kurt Lewin, we examine recent developments in theory and research on experiential learning and explore how this work can enhance experiential learning in higher education. We introduce the concept of learning space as a framework for understanding the interface between student learning styles a...

This research used three instruments derived from experiential learning theory—the Learning Style Inventory, the Adaptive Style Inventory and the Learning Skills Profile—to test hypotheses about differences between balanced and specialized learning styles in a sample of 198 part-time and full-time MBA students. Learning styles that balanced experie...

Typical executive education is unresponsive to the needs and style of advanced professionals in management. The Professional Fellows Programwas designed as a nondegree, self-designing program with no discipline-defined courses or grades. Typically, Fellows pay for the program personally. An outcome study showed that 1 to 3 years after the program,...

Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) provides a holistic model of the learning process and a multilinear model of adult development, both of which are consistent with what we know about how people learn, grow, and develop. The theory is called “Experiential Learning ” to emphasize the central role that experience plays in the learning process, an emp...

To transform experience into learning, reflection that often occurs through the medium of conversation is necessary. Specifically, we focus on conversation in debriefing and processing sessions following simulations and games as opportunities for transforming experience into learning. We suggest approaching debriefing sessions with a redefined role...

Contends that a typology of skills based on a framework of learning styles and experiential learning theory, rather than a framework of job performance or some other personality construct, provides a language and guidance for assessment methods to describe knowledge at the performance level of adaptation. It requires development of the concept of l...

The purpose of this paper is to report on how the Executive Skills Profile, a measure of job demands and employee skills, can be used as a faculty development tool in academic family medicine departments. The Executive Skills Profile (ESP) identifies 72 work activities and groups them into 12 scales, each of which is displayed graphically. Faculty...

A typology of learning skills is developed that is congruent with the learning style descriptions of experiential learning theory. The typology is holistic, allowing both idiographic and normative comparisons of individuals and situations, and the ‘fit’ between them. Learning style describes basic and generalised dimensions of individuality in lear...

Management of change and uncertainty requires that increasingly sophisticated and highly differentiated specialised knowledge be brought to bear on organisational problems and that their specialised viewpoints be integrated into effective solutions to these problems. Integrative learning requires a re-examination of the role of teachers or trainers...

Freedman and Stumpf's critique of experiential learning theory and the Learning Style Inventory (LSI) is seriously flawed. Their judgments concerning the validity of experiential learning theory rest primarily on an analysis of the internal characteristics of the LSI, with no attention to the construct validity of that instrument; and they are made...

Experiential learning theory can be used to diagnose and understand both learners and learning environments. The results suggest guidelines for making liberal arts education more meaningful to learners by providing them an opportunity to develop adaptive competencies related to career success. (MSE)

Learning is a central life task, not only for managers but for all human systems. The experiential learning model is an approach that takes learning from the confines of the classroom and formal education into life and work. This article describes experiential learning theory and the concept of different learning styles. These styles are strongly a...

With the desire of improving the effectiveness of helping relationships, which are so much a part of everyday life, this study is an attempt to increase the knowledge concerning the interaction of various elements in such relationships. A conceptual framework of helping relationships is presented which includes the nature of the task, the helper, t...

The focus of this course is on the process of learning and knowledge creation. We will examine this process from two perspectives—from your perspective as a learner entering Case to choose and develop a career path and from the perspective of Case as an academic community characterized by a rich diversity of academic disciplines with different appr...

In his book Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development (1984), David Kolb introduces his experiential learning theory and provides a model for its application in schools, organizations, and virtually anywhere people are gathered together. Kolb's comprehensive and practical theory builds on the rich foundations of ex...

Traducción de: Organizational Psichology: An Experimental

Traducción de: Organizational Psychology: An Experimental Approach

Traducción de: Organizational psychology: readings on human behavior in organization

Paper prepared for the MIT/ILP Conference on Career Development, 22 May 1974.