Reflecting on experiential education….
This is a picture of a projection of a sand tray. Some of the marks, the larger ones, were made by me. The smaller ones near the lower edge of the picture were made by my daughter. She was 18 months at the time. We were playing, learning through play, experientially. Learning together actually, because even though I had a fair idea what the result of our play would be, I didn’t know exactly. And having now conducted this learning experiment, I still wouldn’t know next time. The outcome would be slightly different each time.
This basically sums up my philosophy of education. I think. At least, for now.
I’m writing this reflection on education as part of my job. As of this week, I have the privilege of having a weekly allocation to reflect on my own teaching, and to learn from some of my fellow teachers. Part of this will be journalling. I work in tertiary education, but the image above, and the example of an educational experience with an 18 month old, still holds true for me.
I am a long term, lifetime student. I have completed, and am still completing, many post secondary qualifications. When I first finished high school I went straight into university, it seemed to be the expected thing to do. I chose a degree I was interested in, by interest, rather than by employability. I studied a diploma that would result in more work prospects. I worked in theatre, and in theatre education, and I enjoyed it. I didn’t think of studying again at that point.
However when I turned 30, I started feeling a hunger to start again. More than that, it occurred to me that I could go back and study again, and choose what I studied. I’m 41 now and have completed a number of qualifications since then.
I mention this only to talk about methods of learning. I’ve completed courses that are taught in a more traditional, lecture / tutorial system. I’ve completed courses which are mostly practical workshops. I’ve completed online courses, courses with exams and courses with essays. But when I went back to study Experiential Arts Therapy at the MIECAT Institute, it changed my view of… well everything.
Studying AT, we were taught — well I’m not even sure if I would say we were taught. In the traditional sense. We were guided, or led, to experience things for ourselves. Using our bodies, our senses, our feet and hands, we experienced. At first, I kept waiting for someone to come in with the ‘learning’, or to teach us the ‘real content’. I completed several units, still without ‘learning’ what I thought I should be. I started to feel uncertain, to wonder what I was paying for this course for. I mean, I loved it, it was transforming my life, but I didn’t feel like I was learning.
After probably four units, I started to have the revelation that not only was I learning, but the learning was actually transforming my entire paradigm, even who I am as a person. Taught experientially, the philosophies we studied, because that is what we were doing, fundamentally rewrote the way I saw the world. At the end of a Graduate Diploma, my views on therapy, on art, and on education had changed forever.
Now halfway (I hope!) through a Professional Doctorate at the same Institute, I continue to see my life transformed, by the power of learning through experience.
And so in this series of reflections on my teaching film at a tertiary education provider, I want to think through the implications of this.
For me, now, learning experientially is not just about picking up a camera and doing something yourself, although this is a good starting point. It’s about feeling where in your body you understand what good composition is, how it feels when you watch that introductory sequence, what is present when you sit in the room with the actors, bringing your story into being.
I’m still working out the best way to do that. Until I studied at MIECAT, I didn’t get it. But there I also learned that reflection is the key to reflexive practice.
So here we are. The unpacking begins.
