Designing Practice(s) for Learning in Online Learning Contexts

Review Of The Literature

A review of the literature to contextualize practice(s)-for-learning begins with a light summary of adult learners, their understood preferences and motivations for learning, and heutagogical aspects. The practices-for-learning are understood to occur experientially and reflectively, evoking the 1984 Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle, consisting of four steps: (1) concrete experience, (2) reflective observation, (3) abstract conceptualization, and (4) active experimentation. The power in engaging in particular practice and reflecting on that practice to advance the skills and the work. Experience is a core part of all learning (Andresen, Boud, & Cohen, 2000). Innovation itself is important in the experimentation phase especially (with a focus on improvements to prior practice and novelty). “Experiential learning” refers to human making of meaning from lived experiences, in embodied and disembodied (virtual) ways, and in serendipitous-to-designed experiences. Then, definitions of various forms of practices are described, along with learning practices. Finally, a novel approach is described for the designing of practices.