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Experiential settings hold great potential for empowering participants. Beginning with an overview of how empowerment has been defined and conceptualized in the literature, this article examines the construct of empowerment in experiential education settings as a process and an outcome. A summary of how empowerment has been applied and measured in experiential settings is described through a review of the research in this area. This article concludes with recommendations and implications for researchers and practitioners in the field of experiential education who seek to understand ways in which programs can facilitate and foster the development of empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article introduces a series of papers on the use in experiential education of the concept, the presence or absence of theorizing around experience and challenges to the common conceptions of experience, including the construction of experience within learning cycles, significance of perspectives and theories to the field, and dissonances between practice and the claims of experiential learning.

The author discusses remarks on Session I research studies in capturing the inherent mystery in Outward Bound (OB) programs research as to the 2010 Symposium on Experiential Education Research (SEER). He agrees on the need for the abstract nature of experiences to be simplified into its basic components for limiting the mystery of the experience. Also discussed is the need for program development to have a proper direction and insight on adequately evaluating experiential education.

In this piece, we put forth a Deweyian framework for youth development activities in outdoor and adventure education programs, and we show how such a framework may be exemplified by activities in sail training and sailing instruction. The paper begins with a discussion of the theoretical features of Deweyian educational experiences and makes connections between these ideas and positive youth development. We then, by reference to the educational activities aboard vessels large and small, provide concrete illustrations of these theoretical features. The goal of the paper is to propose a framework that educators in outdoor and adventure programs--and in youth development programs generally--can employ to bring Dewey's ideas to bear on program design and assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing interest in the field of experiential education to move beyond simply documenting the value of experiential education programs and, instead, develop more evidence-based models for experiential education practice (cf., Gass, 2005; Henderson, 2004). Due in part to the diversity of experiential education programs, participants, goals, designs, and specific program experiences, there exists a broad constellation of variables that can impact the results of studies using an evidence-based approach. While many of these variables are accounted for through effective research designs, others are largely uncontrollable, yet remain influential. These uncontrollable variables can often distort or confound the results from research and evaluation efforts. This paper categorizes some of the most common confounding variables into three temporally based categories: Precursor, Concomitant, and Postexperience. Following this, suggestions for researchers and evaluators in addressing these variables are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses autoethnography to reassess the concept "experience" and the lack of theoretical frameworks within experiential education for delimiting experience within the practices and research around experiential, adventure, and outdoor education. Although a pivotal and essential part of practice, theoretical understandings of experience have been missing in experiential education scholarship. Experience is clearly a complex, constructed "reality." Jagger (cited in Lauritzen, 1997, p. 83) has pointed out that an appeal to experience is "fraught with methodological difficulties." What exactly is experience? Whose experience is heard? Like other disciplines, for example the studies of religions and psychology, experiential education has no rigorous definitions, characterizations, typologies, or conceptualizations of the focus of its study and practice--a type of experience. Drawing upon critiques from Indigenous, feminist, postcolonial, and black Americans and Canadians, and integrating with an autoethnographic approach, this paper provides a critique of the existing use of "experience" and sketches an initial approach for developing theoretical understandings of the central phenomenon of experiential, adventure, and outdoor education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on facilitation describes the skills, methods, models and theories of facilitation but gives less coverage to the assumptions and philosophies that underpin the processes by which facilitators develop. This paper reviews the literature on facilitation and provides a typology, which classifies the different approaches to facilitator education, based on the levels of consciousness proposed by Giddens' (1984). In the typology, technical facilitator education approaches are skills-based and formulaic, whereas intentional facilitator education approaches purposively ground facilitation skills and methods in theory. Person-centered facilitator education approaches intentionally emphasize the attitudes, personal qualities or presence of the facilitator, whereas critical facilitator education approaches seek to raise the awareness of the political nature of facilitation. The typology provides an interpretive framework to stimulate reflection, discussion and further research into the theory and practice of facilitator education within experiential education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author talks about making a difference with experiential education research. The author argues that much of the research conducted by experiential education researchers is guided primarily by personal interests and needs and not because of professional needs or identified gaps in knowledge. The author cites some of the reasons why the researchers conducted their studies. The author believes that there are several keys to helping experiential education research make a difference, such as inviting leaders to provide some state-of-knowledge papers.

The article offers information on a conversation about Symposium on Experiential Education Research's (SEER) past, present and future conducted during the 2009 SEER conference. A question regarding the role of SEER in the future of experiential education research enterprise was raised during the session. The context of the conversation was based on the vision and mission of SEER, a review of contextual factors and three questions with visionary and immediately practical interest. Also mentioned are the attendees' comments on the role of SEER in experiential education research.

This article examines how student learning is a product of the experiential interaction between person and environment. We draw from the theoretical perspective of complexity to shed light on the emergent, adaptive, and unpredictable nature of students’ learning experiences. To understand the relationship between the environment and the student learning experience, we followed undergraduate college students while they conducted independent, original research during an 8-week U.S. National Science Foundation–funded Research Experience for Undergraduates. As we examined the scholars’ actions and interactions—through their daily journals and regular face-to-face interviews—we utilized the theoretical lens of complexity to understand their experiences. The students’ frustrations, challenges, failures, and successes revealed that their learning was an unpredictable and emergent experience rather than one that could be described as step-by-step and mechanistic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the significance of psychology to experiential education (EE) and critiques EE models that have developed in isolation from larger psychological theories and developments. Following a review of literature and current issues, select areas of psychology are explored with reference to experiential learning processes. The state of knowledge and emerging paradigms in positive psychology, self-determination theory, flow theory, and neuropsychology are explored in an effort to better understand the mechanisms underpinning experiential learning and program development. Implications for practitioners and future research directions are discussed in relation to these emerging bodies of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

According to prevailing models, experiential learning is by definition a stepwise process beginning with direct experience, followed by reflection, followed by learning. It has been argued, however, that stepwise models inadequately explain the holistic learning processes that are central to learning from experience, and that they lack scientific or philosophical foundations. Criticism also centers on the way complex cultural, social, and physical processes during experience and learning are reduced to a rational, excessively cognitive, individual phenomenon. This article reviews this criticism and adds a historical dimension to the analysis, concluding that existing cyclic models might be better valued for their important historical contribution, rather than as active theories of learning in experiential education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outdoor leaders function in naturalistic decision-making contexts and may be influenced by personal, social, and environmental factors in making critical decisions in the field. The experience level of the outdoor instructor is posited as a critical variable in the development of his/her decision-making and overall judgment. This research measures the effect that experience has on medical decision-making in outdoor leaders. It investigates two research questions: (a) Do outdoor leaders of varied experience levels differ in their perception of factors in the decision-making environment?; and (b) Do outdoor leaders with different experience levels vary significantly in their judgments? Decision-making was measured utilizing factorial survey vignettes in a hierarchical linear model. Experience was assessed using experience use history methodology (OLEUH). The sample includes Outward Bound staff (N=103). Data were collected in June 2002. Significant variance was present in both the perceptual threshold and judgment processes for the group cohesion predictor variable. Discussion and implications for future modeling naturalistic decision-making processes are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the study "The Life Significance of a Spiritually Oriented, Outward Bound-Type Wilderness Expedition" is presented. The study investigated what participants in a Christian-based, Outward Bound-type wilderness expedition remembered about the experience, what they learned from it and whether or not the trip played a role in their lives. Results show that the expedition was viewed by most informants as a significant, formative life event that promoted personal growth. According to the researchers, the study adds both to the literature regarding the relation between spirituality and wilderness expeditions and to research on the use of wilderness experiences to promote personal growth.

Experiential educators claim to value student-centered learning, yet the values, as evidenced in practice, are often teacher-centered. The purpose of this article was to increase awareness of the inconsistencies between espoused values, and values in practice, effecting teacher and student power relationships during the facilitation of experiential programs. The literature review includes related philosophical topics, a summary of what other professionals in the field have written about student-centered facilitation, and an overview of eight generations of facilitation. The author argues that teacher-centered facilitation is problematic in experiential education and justifies increasing the use of student-centered facilitation practices. Suggestions are provided for: (a) establishing forums for dialog about student-centered facilitation, (b) incorporating more student-centered facilitation practices, and (c) considering student-centered learning during program development and facilitator training. The author concludes that the profession's very commitment to integrity necessitates that we, as experiential educators, take action in order to ensure that our programs become more student-centered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]