Valuing learning attained in different contexts
Arts-based
Experiential Learning
in Practice
Louise Foott & Ed Kuczaj
Dept of Art Therapy & Continuing Visual Education, CIT-CCAD
A JOURNEY INTO
LEARNING
Exploring
arts-based
processing within
a collaborative
learning
environment
focusing on the role that engaging
with the arts can play in informal
education, personal development and
capacity building
Learning happens not just
through words, but also
through arts-based
processing
experiential learning
and therapy,
although very
distinct practices,
have a lot in common
OVERALL THEMES OF ARTS-BASED
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
• An ongoing journey
• A learning space
• The group
• Arts-based processing
• Learning outcomes
What turns a space…
…in to a learning space?
A LEARNING SPACE
Hodgkin (1997) in his exploration of
meaning making and the learning space,
describes how, in this learning space, we
test ideas and stretch them, moving from
practice and play, out towards exploring
the margins of our learning.
THE GROUP
Participatory learning experiences
in the arts facilitate a particular
way of seeing oneself in relation to
others
Thomas & Mulvey (2008, p.240)
“Everyone in the group has different
experiences, different personalities and
talents, and something unique to share
with the group”
Research participant
ARTS-BASED PROCESSING
• usually a more spontaneous approach to
creative engagement
• emphasis not just on mastering technique
or producing an end result, but also on the
actual experience of engagement with the
process
“I found it very stimulating to have to engage
my body to form images and characters”
“To apply arts to problem solving, exploration
and defining subjects was very interesting and
creative”
“Interesting to use all the arts to enhance
learning, particularly to learn about subjects
related to emotions and personal development”
Participant responses
Reflection
Through
reflecting on
our experience
self-awareness
emerges
“The practical doing of something
made it more real and the time
to reflect on what was being learnt
framed the experiences.”
Research participant
“I have ascertained a life skill to help
me understand further and [it] has
given me an interest to pursue
further.”
Research participant
AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE IN ART THERAPY
a brief definition of art therapy!
‘a form of psychological therapy that
utilizes a creative medium to allow an
additional way for individuals to explore
and understand their life experiences in a
safe and therapeutic environment’
Experiential learning
“The focus of EL is placed on the process of learning
and not the product of learning” (UC Davis, 2011,
para 6). Proponents of experiential learning assert
that students will be more motivated to learn when
they have a personal stake in the subject rather than
being assigned to review a topic or read a textbook
chapter. What is essential in EL, however, “that the
phases of experiencing (doing), reflection and
applying are present’’ In addition, “the stages of
reflection and application are what make
experiential learning different and more powerful
than the models commonly referred to as ‘’learn-bydoing‟ or ‘’hands-on-learning" (UC Davis, 2011, para
12 citing Proudman).
Northern Illinois University, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center
[email protected], www.niu.edu/facdev, 815.753.0595
Experiential Learning offers:
• Multimodal or multi sensory learning to
enhance the learners engagement and
experience
• A creative engagement encouraging a
learner commitment to a process which in
itself creates learning
• A process of engagement and a resulting
product that creates a physical and
psychological distance aiding reflection
• Group/ peer engagement & reflection as
well individual
Phenomenology is the study of structures
of consciousness as experienced from the
first-person point of view. The central
structure of an experience is its
intentionality, its being directed toward
something, as it is an experience of or
about some object.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003
AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE
To help trainees
reflect on the ‘presence’
of a client in a session
to help assess their
therapeutic engagement
AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE
– WITH 18 MA AT 1ST YR STUDENTS
• Lecture on Phenomenology & the work
of Merleau – Ponty and outline of the
intention of the ‘research’
• 3 life drawing sessions
• Follow up group reflective session
OUTCOMES
• Appreciation of the client being observed (power
differential) as a therapist
• Importance of the therapists centeredness, ability to ‘be’
with the client
• Increase in students ability/ awareness of non verbal
interactions
• Reflection on how they are observed by the client and their
own presence in the session
• Helped give further understanding to the concept of
Phenomenology
• Differing timescale in the experience of students
awareness/ reflections
• Positive creative experience
• Interest to engage in further research (and our own need to
do this!)
IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
• a group process that allows a voice of not
knowing as well as knowing within a shared
experience
• acknowledgement of individual learning
process
• a reflective and analytical stance as a learner
with its uncertainty
• theory understanding (real) often follows
practice