Transforming Higher Education Students –
From Instant to Experiential Learning
Educational background
Schooling in the UK has gone
through a process of
commercialization that
emphasizes the centrality of the
tutor in transmitting information,
concepts and understandings.
This is achieved by conducting
oneself well in the classroom,
projecting authority through
voice and body language
variations, constructing reliable
multiple-choice tests and
competency evaluations, or
devising interactive activities and
smart handouts (Biggs & Tang,
2007). Such an approach to
learning gives management and
administration personnel an
easily accessible assessment and
performance measure.
The challenge
Is a teacher-led approach to
learning productive in HE?
Science calls for independent and
critical thinking. Does current
policy go far enough to support
student transition into a deep
and meaningful learning
experience in the
digital/information age?
‘Personal troubles of milieu
and public issues of social
structure’
C.W. Mills (1959)
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References
Biggs, J., and Tang, C. (2007)
Teaching for Quality Learning at
University. Third Edition. Berkshire,
Open University Press.
Mills, C. W. (2000) The Sociological
Imagination. 40th Anniversary
Edition. Oxford, Oxford University
Press.
The role of experience in Higher
Education
As a new lecturer in HE I am caught in the
transition from a didactic style of lecturing
towards a teacher-centered approach to
learning. Neither serves the purpose of
transforming students into critical thinkers.
For that to take place we need a student -
centered approach to learning that utilizes the
subjective background and experience of the
learner and incorporates it into a process of
transformation of knowledge and perspective
(Biggs & Tang, 2007).
C.W. Mills more than half a century ago
came-up with the concept The Sociological
Imagination to refer to the act of inference
from observations based on
personal/psychological troubles to
interpretations of wider issues of socio-
historical importance.
A student that taps upon personal experience
to explain a phenomenon whether that
manifests in the social, political, economic, or
physical world utilizes and transforms prior
knowledge into meaningful theoretical
understanding.
The transmission of information is effective
when the learner and their capital
(experience) are involved in the process of
knowledge production. In this way, the
definition of scientific explanation has
foundational basis that supports
comprehension.
In my experience of teaching in Higher Education the key pedagogical challenge that I encountered has been my call and duty to
introduce new students to the principles of academic thinking and writing. This is both in the context of teaching discipline subjects
such as Sociology and social research methodologies, as well as key academic skills.
In academic environments students are called to approach new subjects and topics critically by conducting independent study and
delivering new insights in the form of arguments that follow specific referencing requirements. This is the ensure transparency in
communications with a wider academic community that promotes the co-production and advancement of knowledge. The difficulty
with adhering to academic and scientific principles does not lie so much in learning the rules to be followed, but in being accustomed
to modes of learning that rely upon information technology and authority figures to deliver a plethora of ephemeral messages that
alternate rapidly and require short attention span and surface processing.

In contrast, academic knowledge derives from a philosophical tradition that privileges critical and independent thought arising out of
meaning-making processes through argumentation and logical linkages. Such level of understanding presupposes absorption,
engagement and problem-solving that can be effectively extracted from reflection upon personal experience and its overlaps with the
subject/topic under consideration. This means that any prior knowledge that we may possess as a result of being citizens, members of
society, part of the natural world and its mechanisms, family members and so on, becomes essential to our understanding and even
determines conceptual and scientific theories, explanations and ideas. In this way, the personal and the public cannot be separated, but
remain intertwined and inter-connected.
The sociologist CW Mills encapsulated the above idea in his concept The Sociological Imagination that offers a method for the study of
social phenomena through the employment of the observational qualities of social actors and their ability to make further inferences
that explain public life. Mills (2000) claimed that troubles of personal and psychological nature reflect wider issues descriptive of the
era that we inhabit. These issues feature prominently in our interactions with society, its institutions, and structures. We can, therefore,
do sociology by using personal experience as a resource for learning.

The same principle can and is often applied in any scientific discipline and the pursuit of academic knowledge more generally. Top-
down didactic lecturing styles of teaching have fallen out of fashion in favour of more participatory modes of learning. However, the
unquestionable authority of the ‘expert’ academic figure has not necessarily been replaced by a culture of engagement and
participation in the production of knowledge. Learning still reflects directions set by the tutor through interactive exercises and tasks.
Meaningful learning can more effectively be achieved in the act of reflection upon personal experience and its relationship to science.
In this way, knowledge inhabits and transforms the learner, what they think and how they behave. Experiential learning may be a
challenge in contemporary education systems, but if comprehension and critical thinking is what we are looking for, it can be an
empowering tool that helps us achieve our learning objectives.