This past week, I concluded the third in series of interviews of instructors and students at a science and technology university in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. This is a pilot study that will help me develop my Ph.D. dissertation research. One of my most significant learning points this week is that my Vietnamese instructor and student interviewees do not understand the concept of experiential learning, at least not initially. The term used for educational methods that go beyond lectures and that involve the students in their own learning processes at this university is active learning.

What might be the opposite of active or experiential learning? Educational literature generally defines this opposite method as passive learning, or sometimes traditional learning. Think lectures. Here is one definition of passive learning, "We define a passive mode of engagement as learners being oriented toward and receiving information from the instructional materials without overtly doing anything else related to learning" (Chi & Wylie, 2014, p. 221).

Here is a definition of active learning from another group of authors, "Active learning engages students in the process of learning through activities and/or discussion in class, as opposed to passively listening to an expert. It emphasizes higher-order thinking and often involves group work" (Freeman et al., 2014, pp. 8413-8414). In their analysis of research into the performance of students exposed to active versus passive learning, Freeman et al. (2014) found benefits for active learning.

Changes in failure rate. (A) Data plotted as percent change in failure rate in the same course, under active learning versus lecturing. The mean change (12%) is indicated by the dashed vertical line. (B) Kernel density plots of failure rates under active learning and under lecturing. The mean failure rates under each classroom type (21.8% and 33.8%) are shown by dashed vertical lines (Freeman et al., 2014, Fig. 1, p. 8411).

For my ongoing research, I will take care to use the term active learning when talking to instructors and students in Vietnam. I will be careful to determine what instructors call experiential or active learning in other countries to be certain that my interview and survey responses are valid.

References

Chi, M. T., & Wylie, R. (2014). The ICAP framework: Linking cognitive engagement to active learning outcomes. Educational Psychologist, 49(4), 219-243.

Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.

This image is a word cloud built from the frequency of words used by technology (STEM) students at a university in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, in response to the survey question, "Please provide a definition in your own words of experiential learning, based on one or more courses you have taken at the university [in which you are studying]." The study that generated the word cloud took place in 2016 among technology students. That study was a mixed methods survey comprising quantitative Likert-scale type questions as well as qualitative open-ended questions.

My experiential learning research continues. This week, I interviewed a professor and a student in this program. My first learning point is that "experiential learning" is not a term that is used at this Vietnamese university. The closest word here for this type of teaching is "Active Learning." The professor knew this term because the university has been educating its professors on active learning methods in an effort move away from purely lecture-based teaching methods.

In the two one-on-one interviews this week, working on projects arose as the example most provided by both the professor and the student that they considered to be active or experiential learning. I will be transcribing these interviews this week. I will begin to analyze them in detail using phenomenological research analysis methods over the next couple of weeks. As I gather sufficient information, I will share thoughts about the feelings the professor and student expressed about active or experiential learning.

I learned a lot this week, as a researcher, but also as a teacher. The student, as he explained his feelings toward his expoure to experiential learning, opened my eyes to the challenges my students face when I have them work on projects in my classes. I am thankful to both the professor and the student for their candid and heartfelt responses during the interview. They both have contributed to improvement in my own teaching methods.

What is the difference between problem-based learning and project-based learning? These are related types of experiential learning, or as it is called in one university in which I teach in Vietnam, active learning.

There is an article in the Edutopia website that addresses this question. The article isn’t peer-reviewed, but it is thoughtful. The source link is www.edutopia.org/blog/pbl-vs-pbl-vs-xbl-john-larmer.

This is a useful starting point for differentiating problem- from project-based learning. The original article published in 2014 and was later updated in 2015. The table in the article has colored my perception of the differences between the two pedagogies. Having said that, I doubt there is a universally agreed definition for each, and I am not sure that there needs to be one. For me, what will be important will be to cite (peer-reviewed) sources for my definitions and to settle on how I want to differentiate them, if I need to do that. I use mostly project-based learning activities in my courses when the subject matter fits this teaching method. These activities usually run through the full semester.

The following tabled is from the article by John Larmer mentioned above.

I have conducted University at Buffalo Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved pilot studies in Singapore (2014) and Ho Chi Minh Ciy (Saigon - 2016). These studies comprised mixed methods surveys of students to learn the extent to which they have been exposed to experiential learning, and their attitudes toward, and feelings about, experiential learning. The image below is a word cloud of students responses in Saigon when asked what they thought comprised experiential learning.

This week, I have started a third IRB approved study in Saigon. I am interviewing students and instructors, continuing with research questions that explore exposure to, and attitudes toward, experiential learning in a STEM higher education environment. The first instructor interview took place yesterday. His insights into experiential teaching methods, and his commitment to those methods, would match an of the university instructors I know in the USA or elsewhere, including myself. 

I selected a suitable environment for the interview. We met in a spacious lounge at a five-star hotel near the university, getting us into a relaxed and quiet space without interruptions. I put the computer away before we started so that it would not be a distraction.