Immersive Learning: Creating "an" experience

The central tenet of education from a Deweyan perspective is help students participate in “worthwhile experiences”. An ordinary experience is activity that happens over time without “ever developing”. These ordinary experiences occur without “coherence, development, or flow”. Conversely, an experience is the united sequencing of events that happens with flow and culminates with an ending that related to the preceding events. The distinguishing features of an experience versus ordinary experiences are the interconnectedness of the all the parts relating to the ending of the event and the anticipation that is evoked. He describes an experience as having a dramatic nature incorporating anticipation with a definite ending referred to as consummation.  The students become involved in the drama of the experience by interacting with the environment.  Dewey suggested that teaching should create anticipation in students through ideas, emotional connection, and that these ideas should end in action.  

          

Emerging technology in education seems rooted on the idea of student engagement. The pedagogical practices that I looked at this week were flipped classroom and place-based learning. Both of these pedagogical practices seem to focus on student engagement with the material or environment. In the case of the flipped classroom the student reviews the material at their own pace and then comes to the classroom to work problems or practice what they have learned with the assistance of the instructor. The place-based learning pedagogical practice looks at the current environment of the students and creates learning experiences based on the place. My son attends a school that has outdoor education and this reminded me of the place-based learning pedagogical practice. The students learn about their surroundings and practice what they are learning. Both of these are intended to create immersive learning experiences. I think they meet the requirements of an educative experience or an experience according to the Deweyan perspective. The activities of the learning are interconnected, there is an intended emotional connection, and they end with the culmination of the activities. The hope is that students will be more engaged with the material that they are learning in order to foster more active learning.