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Understanding Learning As Experience: An Autoethnographic Investigation Through Sport And Outdoor Education EDUC20070: Learning via Sport and Outdoor Education

Introduction:

The conceptualisation of ‘experiential learning’ shifts the focus from traditional education methods towards the process of learning and knowledge formulation occurring through reflection and direct experience (Dewey 1916). In this paper, I use the medium of autoethnography to explore how my experiences of a charity fun run and university organised bushwalk contribute to my distinctive methods of understanding learning as an experience. Autoethnography is chosen as a viable mode of research for it can provide an extensive analysis and interpretation of my given experiences. Using John Dewey’s (1916, 1933) theory of experiential learning, with a focus on key concepts including aesthetic/reflective experience and occupations, I explore my personalized accounts of outdoor experiences as both adventurous and contemplative, whilst simultaneously an unexpectedly enlightening situation testing my persistence and tenacity in areas of hardship. By exploring these experiences, I am to contextualise myself, my ideas and my learning experiences within a wider social world and extend my social understanding. It is also of interest to explore how my learning works as experience, as my personal struggles and conclusions reflect the dynamics in an individual and societal context where these experiences seek to portray growth and learning. This opportunity to evaluate experiences in an exploratory form of autoethnography enables to consider how outdoor experiences can stimulate experiential learning.

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Linking study to research:

Theoretically this autoethnography adopts John Dewey’s (1916) conceptulisation of educational experience founded on the philosophical realm of pragmatism. Dewey’s research seeks to understand how us individuals engage and act in the world, and highlights how experience is primarily practical; it’s a matter of ‘doing’ and reflecting on the consequences of doing (Quay & Seaman 2013). Dewey suggests that incorporating experience causes ‘educational confusion’, which he analyses through outdoor education understood to be a reactionary approach to education. Thus, Dewey’s (1916) rationale for progressive reforms of education, like outdoor education, is premised on traditional education lacking holistic understanding and being concerned with knowledge acquisition of the curriculum. Experience therefore needs to encompass both thinking and experience, forming as experiential learning, which facilitates disclosure of unprecedented pathways for individual development (Quay& Seaman 2016). The supposition that thinking is experience known as reflective experience, positions experience to be more than ‘just doing’ (Dewey 1916, cited in Quay & Seaman 2013). Reflection is a common routine promoting new social and personal knowledge. According to Dewey, there are two forms of reflective experience which people become exposed to, with the first being ‘trial and error’. This method is dominated by a ‘hands on approach’ with less deliberate thinking and is severely focused on doing. The second form focuses profoundly on the analytical aspect of thought; this is where the notion of reflection is derived (Quay & Seaman 2013). Thinking is deemed as prevailing and becomes discernible through general features, including feelings of perplexity, doubt and confusion usually occurring at the beginning of a situation (Quay &Seaman 2013). This is known to be a period of ‘prereflective’, and the resolved and unified situation at the conclusion is ‘post reflective’ (Dewey 1993, cited in Quay& Seaman 2013). The categorisation of pre and post reflective, points to a different mode of experience which is non-reflective. It is the non-reflective nature of aesthetic experience which immediately describes feelings in a given situation. This experience is holistic, as opposed to being concerned with component parts, and leads to 2

enhancing innovation and growth. The form of thinking associated with aesthetic experiences is ‘affective thought’ or ‘qualitative thought’, considered to be a sense of intuitive awareness (Quay 2013). Dewey’s exploration of education purports educators favouring cognitive experiences (reflective experience) as opposed to non-cognitive ‘aesthetic experience’. However, the importance of aesthetic experience is explored by reimagining the relationship between knowing, doing and being (Quay& Seaman 2013). Dewey delineates knowing as a human activity which becomes “a way of being a person”, for it is life in a holistic and emotional sense (Quay& Seaman 2013, p. 77). For example, for both fun run and bushwalk expedition the subject coordinator had the responsibility to decide what is important for us students to know in relation to materials and necessities required, and the best methods delivered to allow for internalisation of information- ie- briefing lectures, which functioned to prepare us “for ways of being outside of the realm of experience” (Quay& Seaman 2013, p. 79). This process of knowing is followed by doing, including these activities of training, walking, camping and cooking, for it is active performance and experimentation that is considered ‘doing’. Inherently associated with this doing/knowing dualism is being. Being in the world is primary and holistic; it is developed through experiences of doing an occupation. This term occupations, used synonymously with phrases vocation and callings is considered to be “a continuous activity having a purpose” (Dewey 1916, p. 309). Occupations is an ‘existential concept’ as persons live through various callings; this means occupations is a way of doing, knowing and being all at once (Dewey 1916). It is aesthetic and holistic, as we distinguish ourselves from others and is a sense of being by adopting different ways of living as a person in the social world. In this way occupations function as the building blocks of living (Dewey& Seaman 2013). Occupations are associated with doing for they are continuous and purposeful and can have a meaningful impact. Thirdly, it is an organising principle for knowledge, involving reflection such as trial and error, and provides learning in a way of intellectual growth (Dewey& Seaman 2013). Hence, being a bushwalker or participant in the fun-run collectively involves doing and knowing others and the environment.

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Setting and Methods:

The chosen environment for the ‘Walk for the West’ charity fun run was Footscary Park, located near the Maribyrnong River. The running track was a large open field with a flat course and accommodated many persons. The track was suitable given that as a novice runner undertaking the five-kilometer run, the flat course enabled for a quicker and easier than expected run. The training sessions were located at Melbourne University, Nona Lee Sports Centre, where training was undertaken in the sports ground, providing the real atmosphere of outdoor sports. In addition, Princess Park was chosen to practice sprinting, as the ground attained a loop walk circuit, replicating the scene of the fun-run and exposing us runners to different courses of running, such as asphalt and gravel.

The bushwalk located at Wilsons Promontory National Park is known to be an environment with rugged and steep mountains and is home to abundant of wildlife including kangaroos and wombats. There was a range of different courses to explore each with a distinct scenery, yet they all harbored the essence of wildlife: the noises, the smells and the animals. Wilsons Promontory became the ideal location as the parks hiking tracks provided the practical outdoor recreation experience, which would be unattainable in an environment such as a university.

The fun-run and bush-walk provided overwhelming amounts of textual information with several moments during these events being dedicated to noting down emotions in such circumstances. Supplementing my notes were photographic evidence aiding to highlight the progression from experience to reflection. Thus, an autoethnographic approach enables to explore my experiences to understand my own learning preferences and seeks to challenge my traditional outlook and thoughts related to outdoor experiences (Nicol 2013). Additionally, through autoethnography my personal journeys are interwoven into the framework of learning working as experience. An autoethnography also allows to juxtapose my prior self to the person I became after this learning experience and sets out to construct

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a narrative of ‘lived experience’ as I recall experiences and events (Nicol 2013). Thus, the basis of my ethnographic data consists of: -

My experiences

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The memory of those experiences- a self-conscious introspection

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A reflection on those experiences- an attempt to relate feelings, associations with mind and body and share this with others

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Narrative and Experiential Learning:

The following extracts contain data from the fun-run:

I channel my inner Cathy Freeman and prepare my running stance. The sound of the horn causes an influx of runners to push one another in an attempt to reach the front, which makes me lose my momentum. Though I am behind majority of the sprinters, I start to concentrate on my movement, watching my feet step in front of one another and begin to pump my arms and replicate movements of a professional runner. Bypassing the onekilometer mark, I notice my labored breathing and consciously begin to count- inhale for three steps, exhale for two. This was a technique I adopted from my training sessions taught by both my peers and trainer, as I struggled to maintain my pace due to the incorrect form of breathing. Though, I am breathing rhythmically I start to feel the aches in my legs and decide to slow my pace and strategise about how I should tackle the curves/bends I can see coming up. I recall the training track which similar to the current track had many curves/bends I had to run through, and during this previous experience I ran slower coming up to the bend which allowed me to easily sprint once the bend had ceased. Completing the run, I am celebrating with my peers and members of the greater public, learning the essence of engaging with like-minded people, and reflecting on the training sessions which taught me the skills to apply to this experience.

The analysis of such experience allows for a comparison of learning in a school environment to learning through occupations (Dewey 1916). The concept of occupation is an inherent process of being, doing and knowing, as adopting this character of a runner meant I consciously and unconsciously reached out for all the relevant information and held to it (Dewey 1916). This was a fundamental idea as it is through this occupation of runner, I learned what it was like to be involved in the world of sports. In this narrative, I reflect back on my training sessions where I am being an academic student learning the ropes of running skills yet am also inhabiting the occupation of a runner. Though occupation is an active process, it involves continuous observation of materials, 6

planning and reflection (Quay 2013). In contrast to the occupation of being an academic student, whereby I am doing my role of learning and knowing what rules and techniques to apply for the fun-run, being a runner is an active performance where I find a balance between physically being a runner, doing the task of running and knowing what methods to apply to attain growth and development from this experience. This occupation of a runner was not solely about myself, but also my role in society (Dewey 1916). Being a runner in my training group and in the charity fun-run, was important in the sense that it enabled me to share an aspect of myself- I became a runner seeking to learn techniques to become socially engaged with others. As a learner, I came to internalize skills and mentality of my surrounding peers, for experiential learning is about these lived experiences.

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The following extracts contain data from Wilson’s Promontory:

Initially, I am overcome by confusion when everyone starts placing their hiking bags on their backs and begin to hike the track, as I thought our bags would be placed in the campsite for us by our leader Andy. This feeling of confusion and bewilderment forms into panic and doubt when I learn about the 12-kilometer hike to Little Waterloo Bay whilst carrying these backpacks that weigh a minimum of 10 kilos. I begin a mental examination of my situation and consider how I can make this bushwalk easier for myself to alleviate my pain, stress and anxiety. I consider two options- taking a break every 20 minute of my walk to release the backpack from my shoulder or take out my oversized sleeping bag and carry it in my arms. My decision was influenced by a range of facts including: 1) taking a break every 20 minute would place me further behind my group, 2) a 20 minute break would mean I would reach our destination later than the anticipated time and 3) carrying my sleeping-bag could arise tiredness in my arms. I come to the conclusion of testing out both options to determine what is best. Taking a break was problematic- I was so far behind my group I could tangibly feel their annoyance as they waited for me to catch up. But carrying my sleeping bag was a burden, it was difficult to walk down steep rocks when my arms were full. Though, I found carrying the sleeping bag alleviated more pain than actually carrying my backpack for 20 minutes, and it was better to face difficulty in walking down the rocks than dealing with the aggravation of my peers.

The way learning operates as experience in this segment of my journey is both through an aesthetic and reflective experience. Firstly, this pre-reflective stage where I internalize difficulty and perplexity instigated from learning I am to hike with a heavy backpack, constructs a situation into a problem to be solved (Dewey 1916). This is an aesthetic experience, for immediately I am overwhelmed with strong feelings and I look at my situation from a holistic perspective by assessing my skills to deflect impending pain (Quay& Seaman 2013). I then adopt ‘abstract reflection’ (Quay 2016), as I consider options and elaborate on these options through application of reasoning, which is followed by me 8

overtly testing out these options (Quay& Seaman 2013). As my feelings of doubt and confusion dispel, I progress to the post-reflective stage whereby I felt accomplished and satisfied in being able to find a way to alleviate my pain. Though, not explored in the above data, putting together my tent and knowing how to navigate the cooking stove was a learning process of observing, doing and action, thus experiential learning. The cooking situation comprised of the occupation of a cook which required negotiation and also copingfirstly, my tent partner and I were not able to turn and light the stove on, and secondly, we both were critiquing one another’s cooking methods (Quay 2015). We compromised and decided to cook a meal each. Additionally, putting up the tent was a challenge; not knowing where the best position to lie the tarp and not pushing in the tent stakes in the ground far enough, really tested my patience. This experience was a process of trial and error, and after several attempts we were finally able to construct our tent; this was an educative process as we reapplied our learning to our next experience of setting up camp.

Conclusion:

The focus of this autoethnography was to explore the workings of learning within the context of a fun-run and bushwalk and how it manifests into experiential learning. Through 9

John Dewey’s (1916) pragmatic theory of learning and education, my autoethnography analyses how the concept of occupation, such as being a runner or a cook, exposed me to meanings, values and social aims to create an educative process. In dataset two, my journey is explored through an aesthetic and reflective lens. This enabled me to learn and understand the meaning of the skills and knowledge I attained especially within the context of self and society. Autoethnography is used to understand learning as experience for it systematically analyses my personal learnings. Thus, from an outdoor education and sports investigation, I understand learning to be an experience of being, knowing and doing; that is taking an active part in the process of my learning.

References:

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York: The Free Press.

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Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process (rev ed.). Boston: D.C. Heath and Company.

Nicol, R. (2013). Returning to the Richness of Experience: Is Autoethnography a Useful Approach for Outdoor Educators in Promoting Pro-Environmental Behaviour? Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning, 13 (1), 3-17

Quay, J. & Seaman, J. (2013). John Dewey and education outdoors. Rotterdam, NL: Sense Publishers

Quay, J. (2013). More than relations between self, others and nature: Outdoor education and aesthetic experience. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 13(2), 142-157.

Quay, J. (2015). Understanding life in school: From academic classroom to outdoor education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Quay, J., & Seaman, J. (2016). Outdoor studies and a sound philosophy of experience. In B. Humberstone, H. Prince & K. A. Henderson (Eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Outdoor

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Studies,

Abingdon,

UK:

Routledge,

40-48...