Franklin Vernon provided an example of how programs viewing themselves as "cultural islands" are in fact embedded within historical capitalist relations, through the discourses of "self" that they promote. In this response, I expand on Vernon's argument to situate the quasi-therapeutic practices he identified in the history of…

In looking to the future, some writers on religious education (RE) have attempted to evaluate current approaches to the subject. Some have characterised any significant change in approach as a "paradigm shift", a term derived from Thomas Kuhn's work in the philosophy of science. This article examines the uses of the terms…

Experiential learning has been a foundational tenant of agricultural education since its inception. However, the theory of experiential education has received limited attention in the permanent agricultural education literature base. As such, this philosophical manuscript examined Kolb's experiential learning process further, and considered the…

Virtual world technology is now being incorporated into various higher education programs, often with enthusiastic claims about the improvement of students' abilities to experience learning problems and tasks in computer-mediated virtual reality through the use of computer-generated personal agents or avatars. The interactivity of the avatars with…

Here, we argue that action learning (AL) has been evolving into different variations, whose respective advocates appear to concentrate on one of the several components inherent in Revans' formulation of AL as L = P + Q. They do this--sometimes inappropriately--to the virtual or relative exclusion of other aspects, and this has consequences for the…

This article considers the state of service and experiential learning initiatives in higher education, especially in Catholic universities. Concluding that the Catholic mission of service, education, moral values, world concerns, and ecumenism can be integrated into student experience, the essay offers a model of service ethnography. Service…

Discoursing, the use of language in interaction with others, plays a part in almost every human activity. Indeed, some have argued that it is discoursing that has made possible the cumulative development of culture over the course of our species' history. Whether or not that is correct, there can be no question that the ability, with the aid of…

Learning keys in human experience are (1) controlling the environment; (2) interacting with, understanding, and adapting one's relationship to the environment; and (3) liberating oneself from the environment. A learning-centered schooling model balances control, adaptive, and personal criteria. (SK)

Identifies limitations of Kolb's model of experiential learning: (1) overemphasis on individuals, ignoring social processes in learning and (2) image of the manager as practical scientist. Suggests broadening the model by considering the role of conversations and the value of group-based approaches in learning. (SK)

There are three ways to learn: guided learning, experiential learning, and action learning. They differ in many respects from each other and may produce different kinds of representations. They may be compared to ways of undertaking a journey: traveling, trekking, and exploring. (Author/JOW)

An experiential learning model based on information processing is the foundation for the learning combination lock model, which depicts how six factors (or tumblers) may be selected and combined to develop effective learning opportunities. The factors are places and elements, milieu, senses, emotions, forms of intelligence, and ways of learning.…

Action learning often challenges existing rules, experiments with truth, questions the efficacy of mediating institutions, and leads to significant personal and social change. Examples are found in the behavior of different people with widely varying backgrounds and motivations who embarked on paths of action learning that led them to change. (JOW)

Richard Rorty, in his "Consequences of Pragmatism" (1982), acknowledging the pragmatic direction taken by both modern and postmodern philosophy, declared that "James and Dewey were not only waiting at the end of the dialectical road which analytic philosophy traveled, but are waiting at the end of the road which, for example, Foucault and Deleuze…

Forensics programs can be laboratories for small group processes, whether or not they are explicitly recognized by either the participants or their teachers. Small group dynamics, as identified by M. Shaw (1981), are present and clearly define the forensic activity as a small group experience. The combination of being a small group, spending…

Presents a new definition of outdoor education. Describes the different approaches to outdoor education advocated in adventure education and environmental education. Proposes that an integration of approaches can result in a functional outdoor education experience. (ML)