Experiential Learning Recognition

by Nattalia Kilborn

Experimental learning
recognition identifies,
evaluates and validates
the knowledge which
has been obtained
outside the classroom.

Experiential learning used to be a foreign concept to me. I started to understand it when I asked the students of my General Educational Development class to write an essay in order to present and support their opinion on where and when education occurred: "Does it take place only at school or is it a life long activity?" Most of them opted for the later alternative. They all felt that the concept of who they were, what they did, and most of what they knew had come from the greatest of teachers, namely, life.

We all learn from our experiences. A child who touches something hot learns to avoid hot objects. We learn about friendships by having friends and about family life by being in a family. Reading about love and relationships is not the same as experiencing love and relationships and no one would want to ride an airplane when the pilot has only read a book on how to fly it.

Experiential learning has longer history than theoretical learning. It was the only mode of learning in use until the invention of schools. Its concept is broader than that of classroom learning as it occurs in all human settings: from school to workplace, in personal relationships and through life events. It encompasses all life stages: childhood, adolescence, middle age and old age.

Learning from experience is the process whereby human development occurs (1). Experiential learning theory assumes that ideas are not fixed and immutable elements of thought but that they are formed and re-formed through experience. Learning can be described as a process whereby concepts are derived from and continuously modified by experience.

Dossier de la reconnaissance des acquis
par Nattalia Kilborn

Il est possible d'apprendre à tout âge, en des lieux, en des temps, dans des situations ou selon des modes variés. Dans une optique de justicier d'équité sociales, il devient indispensable que notre société se dote de mécanismes fiables pour reconnaître officiellement les acquis expérimentaux, c'est-à-dire les apprentissages faits à l'extérieur du cadre scolaire.

La reconnaissance des acquis est le processus d'identification, d'évaluation et d'accréditation des apprentissages issus de l'expérience. La méthode du portfolio est reconnue comme étant la méthode d'évaluation par excellence pour apprécier la qualité des apprentissages expérimentaux et les juger de manière équitable.

La reconnaissance des acquis revêt pour les femmes une importance capitale puisqu'elles ont traditionnellement consacré plus que tout autre groupe social leur temps et leur énergie à des tâches domestiques et bénévoles, en marge du système formel d'emploi rémunéré. Par la reconnaissance des acquis, les femmes peuvent bénéficier d'une juste appréciation par le milieu scolaire ou de travail des apprentissages qu'elles ont déjà réalisé, et atteindre plus rapidement leurs objectifs, soit obtenir un diplôme, un emploi ou une promotion et donner un nouveau sens à leur vie.


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