This article explores the evolution and expansion of experiential learning theory (ELT) within the context of contemporary adult education, emphasizing the integration of technology, interdisciplinarity, and cultural responsiveness. Although Kolb's foundational model has been instrumental in linking theoretical knowledge with practical…

Rural agriculture retailers, or those engaged in the production of food, fiber, and fuel, are pressed to find just-in-time solutions for continual learning with their adult employees, specifically millennials, the generation who will assume future leadership roles. Adult educators in rural settings, or lower populated areas, are encountering rapid…

This chapter considers whether John Dewey's writings about experiential education are relevant to modern-day conceptions of adult experiential learning. It highlights how some of the threads of Dewey's thinking are still pertinent, but much more complex.

The purpose of this chapter is to consider the important influence that spirituality has in adult learning and how discussions of it are affecting the field of adult education. In so doing, the author begins by attempting to define spirituality and then considers the nature of spiritual experience and its relationship to adult development.…

Community based learning and education can be viewed from at least two perspectives. One is a lens that focuses on engagement with service to the community, with all of the explicit and implicit values reflected by those contexts and activities. Another focuses on the learning and associated processes, objects for consideration in and of…

Careful course design sets the stage for effective learning, whether in a formal or informal setting. Designers of learning experiences seek a balance among several learning objectives that compete for time in the classroom and for space on the syllabus. The nature of community based learning with adults multiplies the design decisions that must…

Collaborative inquiry is an effective strategy for facilitating experiential learning through the use of peer participation, multiple ways of knowing, and systematic validity processes for meaning making. (Contains 21 references.) (SK)

Thirteen collaborative inquiry groups pursued the impact of White hegemony on their lives. An infrastructure supporting multiple groups included community gatherings, reflection papers, and online communication. Participants reported changed beliefs and behavior and more effective communication with other White people about racism. (SK)

Insights from the articles in this issue highlight (1) the pivotal role of presentational knowing in collaborative inquiry; (2) personal development and action; (3) roles for adult educators in inquiry groups (full participant, external facilitator, multigroup coordinator); and (4) creation of supportive structures for collaborative inquiry.…

Habermas' critical theory focuses on how social structures, organizations, and institutions define, construct, and oppress learning. His theory of communicative action leads to emancipatory, learner-centered educational practice. (SK)

Describes how six women working within a liberal feminist Christian tradition sought to nurture learning communities that empower and transform. Relates how the group used metaphor and laughter as central processes. (SK)

Collaborative inquiry was facilitated among six nursing managers learning to be more holistic in their work. They moved through eight cycles of action-reflection as they attempted to improve communication and respect, increase self-understanding, and use new skills and understanding to build community throughout the hospital. (SK)

Situated cognition, the concept that learning is integrally situated in everyday activity, enables more accurate understanding of adult learning. Authentic activity, involving situations requiring actual rather than simulated cognitive processes, may be a better basis for adult education. (SK)

A group of 10 women developing peer education services participated in collaborative inquiry in order to remove barriers to peer counseling. The following themes emerged: (1) adding experiential knowledge to textbook knowledge; (2) crossing cultures using difference as a creative resource; and (3) using public discourse to transfer knowledge to…

A group of Jewish women used collaborative inquiry techniques of action-reflection, holistic ways of knowing, emotional probing, and validity procedures to explore their experience of internalized oppression. They used healing strategies such as storytelling, songs, art, movement, and theatre in the transformative process. (SK)