Based Upon David Kolb's Learning Styles Model
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Experiential Learning Theory (ELT)
Having developed the model over many years prior, David Kolb published his learning styles model in 1984. The model gave rise to
related terms such as Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT), and Kolb's learning styles inventory (LSI). In his publications - notably his
1984 book 'Experiential Learning: Experience As The Source Of Learning And Development' Kolb acknowledges the early work on
experiential learning by others in the 1900's, including Rogers, Jung, and Piaget. In turn, Kolb's learning styles model and experiential
learning theory are today acknowledged by academics, teachers, managers and trainers as truly seminal works; fundamental concepts
towards our understanding and explaining human learning behaviour, and towards helping others to learn. See also Gardner's Multiple
Intelligences and VAK learnings styles models, which assist in understanding and using Kolb's learning styles concepts.
In addition to personal business interests (Kolb is founder and chairman of Experience Based Learning Systems), David Kolb is still (at
the time I write this, 2005) Professor of Organizational Development at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, where he
teaches and researches in the fields of learning and development, adult development, experiential learning, learning style, and notably
'learning focused institutional development in higher education'.
Kolb's learning theory sets out four distinct learning styles (or preferences), which are based on a four-stage
learning cycle. (which might also be interpreted as a 'training cycle'). In this respect Kolb's model is particularly
elegant, since it offers both a way to understand individual people's different learning styles, and also an
explanation of a cycle of experiential learning that applies to us all.
Kolb includes this 'cycle of learning' as a central principle his experiential learning theory, typically expressed as four-s