The power of learning in action learning: a conceptual analysis of how the five schools of adult learning theories are incorporated within the practice of action learning

Abstract

Action learning has the ability to solve complex problems and to significantly increase the speed and quality of individual, team and organizational learning. Its theoretical base and relationship to adult learning orientations and the source of this power remain relatively unexplored. The authors conducted an extensive review of the literature in order to examine how each of the six critical components of an action learning program (namely; a problem or task, a group, the reflective inquiry process, action, learning, and an action learning coach) incorporates and applies five major adult learning schools (behaviorist, cognitivist, humanist, social and constructivist). An empirical example from the authors' experience is presented to illustrate the extent and range in which action learning incorporates each of the five schools of adult learning.

“Learning to like learning”: an appreciative inquiry into emotions in education

“…Students appreciated the emotional aspects of the learning climate. This is in accordance with humanistic ideas prioritizing not only the cognitive, but also the affective domain of learning (Marquardt and Waddill 2004;Qi 2012;Rogers 1961). With words such as free and human students indicated that they experienced an opportunity for autonomy.…”

“…Humanists embrace the importance of holistic development, self-directed learning, and self-actualization through learning. Furthermore, humanists place high value on the role of the affective domain (including self-concept, self-esteem, motivation, and emotional satisfaction) in learning (Marquardt and Waddill 2004;Qi 2012;Rogers 1961). Both affective and cognitive needs are very important in humanistic teaching, and the goal is to develop self-actualized learners in a cooperative and supportive environment.…”

“…Constructivists believe that learning is the meaning-making process of discovering complex information and transforming this information into internal constructions of reality (Marquardt and Waddill 2004;Qi 2012). According to constructivist theorists (Dewey 1897(Dewey , 1963Kolb 1984;Kolb and Kolb 2005;Piaget 1976), learning is a multifaceted process that involves the whole person and includes different states of thinking, feeling, behaving, and perceiving.…”

The Influence of Action Learning on Student Perception and Performance

“…The adult learner tends to be more self-directed, their experience makes them valuable resources to one another, adults approach learning with a task or problem-centred orientation, they are more motivated by internal rather than external factors and role models can be very effective in triggering readiness to learn (Marquardt & Waddill, 2004). These learner characteristics are well suited to an action learning environment.…”

“…These include cognitivist, behaviourist, humanist, social learning and constructivist theories. The study by Marquardt & Waddill (2004) demonstrated that the action learning process satisfi es the vital conditions necessary for learning established by each of these adult learning schools. They assert that the high level and quality of learning in an action learning environment is due to the ability of the action learning process to utilise a wide range of these learning theories.…”