Experiential Writing Promotes Lifelong Learning

Lifelong Learning

Abstract

Lifelong learners don’t end their education at graduation; they know that learning tethered to personal growth is continuous, durable, holistic, and broadly applicable. Experiential learning and lifelong learning (LL) are distinct pedagogical strategies, but they have tremendous overlap. Both focus on holistic learning in and out of school and use reflection, often in writing, as an essential part of the learning process.

Theoretical Background

LL encourages “individual fulfillment, social cohesion and economic prosperity” (UNESCO, 1996). The four pillars of lifelong learning are: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together.

Terrel Rhodes (2019) suggests that LL provides for “the sustainability of civil society and life itself” because it “empowers individuals” and helps them “embrace the complexity, diversity, and change that are a part of existence.” (6) Rhodes writes that employers need graduates who have “essential liberal education skills—creativity, oral communication abilities, critical and analytical thinking, ethical judgment and decision making, and the capacity to translate learning from one situation to another—to show initiative while working effectively both in diverse teams and independently” (9).

LL is holistic, integrating emotional, intellectual, kinetic, and spiritual growth. It is also a recursive process, integrating acquisition and application of learning (Sharma, 2004) and involves meta-learning, learning how to learn and think about one’s own learning practice (Qinhua, et al, 2016). LL is an individual learner’s articulable plan for integrating new experiences (Sharma, 2004).

Active learning stimulates the brain, perpetuating and expanding cognitive function (Ayenigbara, Grady). A practice of lifelong learning can stimulate brain vitality, elasticity, and growth. This is especially true of learning that involves writing (Willis, 2007; Erhard et al., 2014; Dean, 2019).

Basics of Practice

Principles

Many traditional contexts for learning can be adapted to LL: adult or continuing education; internships; field study; study abroad; community engagement; service learning; laboratory work; courses in artistic expression; outdoor education; and elementary, secondary, and university classrooms. Other contexts may be homeschooling or workplace training. Libraries and online technologies can aid in self-prompted learning. However, the essential difference is that lifelong learning turns away from activities that merely perpetuate the educational institution and embraces learning that connects to people’s own lives and goals.

The basic premise of this website is that writing is experience and that written reflection and other forms of writing are essential to experiential, lifelong-learning programs. Writing is not merely recording thought that has already occurred but is a complex form of cognitive and affective experience that can help students learn about their own learning process, an integral aspect of the LL process. All learning, but especially writing, develops brain function, improves learning across the curriculum, allows personal growth through transformation of narrative identity, and helps students overcome emotional difficulties. When students write, they are engaged physically, mentally, and emotionally—perfect holistic learning. The simpler acts of writing, such as transcribing, engage less of the brain than note taking (which requires summarizing), but other, more challenging kinds of writing, such as reflective or essayistic, researched, and creative writing, use much more of the brain and more fully engage students’ emotions. In short, a strong LL pedagogy is reflective-writing intensive.

Good LL competencies embody skills that apply across disciplines and life situations. Examples are reflection, adaptability, or innovativeness. The following writing prompts integrate LL and disciplinary learning competencies: “Reflect on the laboratory process we used,” “Discuss how you would adapt your community plan if a member of the neighborhood sternly objects,” or “How can your team innovate without relaxing industry standards?”

According to Jamin Rowan, lifelong learning competencies tend to be broad and general, so they must be tied to specific actions (Balzotti, Bennion, Rowan, 2023). A good learning objective will include title, definition, and aptitudes. For example, Rowan defines the learning objective resilience as “the ability to recover quickly from difficult experiences and to learn from them—toughness, elasticity.” Specific aptitudes might be

Reflection: Using introspection, conversation, and writing to explore what made the experience difficult and to put it in context.
Interdependence: Relying on other people to explore the experience and to find the strength to make meaning from the experience.
Positivity: Viewing challenges and even failures as opportunities for change or growth.
Re-vision: Revising the narrative of your experience.

Educators can use the template given below to create LL competencies, state those competencies as learning objectives, write descriptions of aptitudes, and create lesson plans, including writing prompts and exercises.

How-to

Focus on individual growth: Design LL competencies, objectives, and outcomes that will help learners grow holistically, not merely intellectually. What skills will learners use their whole lives in a multitude of contexts? These competencies are not generally found in disciplinary knowledge or principles, but LL competencies can be developed through experimenting with disciplinary knowledge and experiencing processes common to the discipline.
Get specific: Because lifelong learning competencies are broad, structure your learning plans to include specific aptitudes and writing prompts (see template below).
Structure your curriculum so that learners progress from basic reflection to more advanced reflection. Advanced practitioners are able to use more areas of their brain while writing than novices are (Erhard et al., 2014). Bloom's taxonomy can be used as a guide to encourage students to practice various kinds of cognitive activities.
Vary the types of writing you have students perform: Higher-level cognition can come from the following kinds of assignments:
- reflection in journals, short papers, and longer essays,
- analytical evaluation,
- integration new interpretations of research, or
- creative writing—fiction, poetry, and essays.

Teaching materials and resources

Template for articulating lifelong learning competencies, objectives, aptitudes, and curricular activities.
“Designing the London Experience,” Syllabus designed by Mat Duerden and Jamin Rowan for a study abroad experience that focuses on lifelong learning. (Use this link if you have access to BYU Learning Suite; use the two links below if you don't have access).
- Description and Assignments.
- Schedule.

Quick Links

Balzotti, J., Bennion, J., & Rowan, J. (2023). Presentation at Society for Experiential Education Conference, Orlando. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16Lb2sKZUErn8JOm_8s0WYgRrRL87Qcaq/edit#slide=id.g27cb2d40952_0_16
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, https://www.uil.unesco.org/en
The IPS Academy: The Knowledge Kingdom. https://ipsacademy.org/blogs/blog-details/68#:~:text=According%20to%20UNESCO's%20Learning%3A%20The,together%20and%20learning%20to%20be

References

Ayenigbara, I. O. (2022). Preventative measures against the development of dementia in old age. Korean Journal of Family Medicine. 43(3): 157–167. https://doi.org/10.4082/kjfm.21.0030

Balzotti, J., Bennion, J., & Rowan, J. (2023). Presentation at Society for Experiential Education Conference, Orlando. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16Lb2sKZUErn8JOm_8s0WYgRrRL87Qcaq/edit#slide=id.g27cb2d40952_0_16

Dean, N. (2019). A look at the write brain. Brain World, https://brainworldmagazine.com/look-write-brain/#:~:text=Through%20writing%2C%20students%20can%20increase,all%20sorts%20of%20cognitive%20activity

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Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century (Report No. ED.96/WS/9). UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109590

Erhard, K., Kessler, F., Neumanna, N, Ortheil, H.-J., & Lotze, M. (2014). Professional training in creative writing is associated with enhanced fronto-striatal activity in a literary text continuation task. NeuroImage, 100, 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.05.076

Grady, D. (2012, March 7). Exercising an aging brain. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/business/retirementspecial/retirees-are-using-education-to-exercise-an-aging-brain.html

Newman, A. (2023). The epidemiology and societal impact of aging-related functional limitations: a looming public health crisis. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A. 78(1), 4–7. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glad021

Qinhua, Z., Dongming, M., Zhiying, N., & Hao, X. (2016). Adult competencies for lifelong learning. River Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003336976

Rhodes, T. L. (2019). The changing nature of work and careers: Higher education as a hub for

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Sharma, T. C. (2004). Meaning of lifelong learning. Sarup & Sons.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Meaning_Of_Lifelong_Learning/CF08lGlhFDIC?hl=en&gbpv=0

Willis, J. (2011, July 11). The brain-based benefits of writing for math and science.

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/writing-executive-function-brain-research-judy-willis

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