Abstract
The following phenomenological study explores the experiences of an international online focus group conducted in January 2002 using Blackboard, an educational web-based classroom software. This paper attempts to answer the following research question by gathering the transformative learning experiences of an online focus group composed of online educators, experiential learning educators, and software developers: Is online learning experiential and how does the process of experiential education unfold online? The study engages the focus group participants to address four areas of online education: a learning framework, a learning environment, the role of the online learner, and the role of the online facilitator. The findings and and experiences in this study leads the researcher to conclude that online learning is experiential and Kolb's model provides an effective, formal structure to the process of learning online. The metaphor of weaving online experiential learning suggests that facilitators and educational designers of online learning should continue to interweave, to cross dialogue, and to build upon four areas of online education. The recommendation for further research is to use this study as premlinary research for a grounded theory study of experiential learning online. It is my hope that the findings and the experiential learning framework created in collaboration with my participants will be applicable to the growing field of online education.
Recommended Citation
Sigel, Karen, "Weaving Experiential and Online Learning: A phenomenological study of experiential learning online" (2003). Capstone Collection. 173.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/173