Colin Beard - Experiential Learning Design

Experiential Learning Designcomprehensively demonstrates the key theories and applications for the design of experiential approaches to learning and training. Learning is gradually moving away from management and delivery of content, and toward experiences that encourage learners to engage and take greater responsibility for their own progress. This books empirically sound, multi-disciplinary approach balances technical-rational and artistic-intuitive design elements to accommodate the complex, fluctuating capacities of human learning. In-depth chapters cover design principles, social and environmental factors in learning, the importance of senses and emotions, and links between body and brain. This bold, unique perspective shift will enrich the work of learning scientists, instructional designers, educational technologists, and beyond.

Colin Beardis Professor of Experiential Learning at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is a National Teaching Fellow, an innovative thinker, and an experienced practitioner in experiential learning. As owner of ExperienceThe Difference, he works with many individuals, organisations, and governments across the globe.

Colin Beard

Cover image: Getty Images | metamorworks.

First published 2023

by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

and by Routledge

4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2023 Taylor & Francis

The right of Colin Beard to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

ISBN: 978-0-367-46756-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-46653-4 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-03086-7 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003030867

Typeset in Bembo

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

I would like to thank my family for their amazing patience and understanding. I would especially like to thank Maggie, my wife, for her continual support, and for helping me to remain positive and focused.

Friends have also helped me, including: Dr. Roger Greenaway for his words of wisdom and for asking insightful questions about the manuscript; Professor Andy Martin from New Zealand for his comments on an early draft; and Dr. Julie Vaudrin-Charette from Canada, for her advice on .

For recreating and digitising the many graphics and illustrations, I would like to thank my friend Richard McCarter, and my friend Jason Ruffell for overseeing the digitisation process.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003030867-1

The teachers said you could hear a pin drop!It was the late 1970s and I was practising the fine art of gaining the attention of hundreds of fidgety young children. I had been invited to speak to a large audience of children about the rainforests, and my 1975 zoological expedition to the Amazon. They were seated in a grand Town Hall, and more were arriving up in the balcony. Accompanied by rainforest sounds I showed pictures and told stories about porpoises, vultures, sloths, monkeys, snakes, and bird-eating spiders: all the beautiful and exotic wildlife they could wish to see. It was going well. But eventually the high level of attention dropped, and their imagination started to wane, until that is, a hook came into play a story that was designed to take them to their next level of