Kolbs learning cycle

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3. Conceptualisation. What does it mean?
Kolbs learning cycle
4. Planning. What will happen next ? What do you
want to change?
2. Reflection. What did you notice?
1. Experiencing. Immersing yourself in the task
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Kolbs learning cycle

• 1. Experiencing or immersing oneself in the
  doing of a task is the first stage in which the
  individual, team or organisation simply carries
  out the task assigned without reflecting on the
  task at this time.
• 2. Reflection involves stepping back from task
  involvement and reviewing what has been done and
  experienced. Ones paradigm (values, attitudes,
  values, beliefs, prior knowledge) influence
  reflection.
• 3. Conceptualisation involves interpreting the
  events that have been noticed and understanding
  the relationships among them. It is at this stage
  that theory may be particularly helpful as a
  template for framing and explaining events.
• 4. Planning enables taking the new understanding
  and translating it into predictions about what is
  likely to happen next or what actions should be
  taken to change/ refine the way the task is
  handled.

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• The advantage of the learning cycle is that it
  enables learning from experience and thereby
  improve performance. This however, may not be
  sufficient when the assumptions and beliefs on
  which the learning is based is outdated.
• It is easy to complete all the stages of the
  learning cycle while still perceiving,
  interpreting and acting in a biased way.
  (Placement employers are often very aware of this
  when they make comments such as students bring a
  fresh pair of eyes/ fresh blood to the
  organisation). When reflecting it can also be
  important to challenge the dominant paradigms in
  the learning cycle.