Kolb's experiential learning theory has been widely influential in adult learning. The theory and associated instruments continue to be criticized, but rarely is the graphical model itself examined. This is significant because models can aid scientific understanding and progress, as well as theory development and research. Applying accepted…

This paper describes a research project investigating the workplace learning experience of information technology (IT) workers in Hong Kong. The research project explored in depth the workplace learning experiences of 65 IT workers from three different work sites. It went beyond the identification of workplace learning methods and resources…

Critical reflection illuminates power dynamics and assumptions underlying experience. Adult educators can model critical reflection by viewing what they do through four lenses: their autobiographies as adult learners, their students' viewpoint, their colleagues' viewpoint, and the lens of theory. (Contains 34 references.) (SK)

Considers the implications of globalization for rethinking instruction. Suggests the use of location/dislocation in the sense of positioning as a metaphor and discusses its application to the theory of experiential learning. Contains 38 references. (SK)

In a postmodern world, experiential learning is located within a powerful consumerism offering illusions of choice. A framework of cultural theory and psychoanalysis suggests that experiential learning requires a holistic cultural psychology of human agency to transcend the narrow vocationalist discourse of lifelong learning. (Contains 41…

Examines the key adult education constructs of self-directed and experiential learning. Reconceptualizes them as contextualized meaning making, a multilayered experience incorporating exposed and hidden meanings and unheard voices. Contains 37 references. (SK)

This article proposes the need to address scaffold instructions from a situated learning perspective. Based on an empirical study of how apprentice bakers learn their trade, it is claimed that studies of learning at the workplace yield important insights into our understanding of scaffold instructions. Seen from the perspective of the apprentices,…

Social learning involves action, reflection, cooperation, and communication. The collective efforts of partners in social learning depend on the roles they play and on the intertwined issues of creativity, power, and responsibility. (Contains 39 references.) (SK)

Interviews with 18 adults who identified negative outcomes from life experience learning showed that, if experience challenges self-definition, growth-inhibiting responses develop. When the threat to self is reduced, growth may result from negative experiences. (SK)