MOSAIC Learning Experience

LEARNING THROUGH
EXPERIENCE.
Your Guide to Doubt-Based Learning™ Principles.

Over the course of the past few decades we have witnessed the transformation of our society from an economy based
on industry and the production of manufactured goods, to one based on services and the production of knowledge
and information. Unfortunately, our schools and educational systems have not kept pace and have instead remained
focused and fixed on preparing students for an economy that no longer exists. Today we find ourselves living in
the midst of a VUCA world. That is, a world of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Too often, the pace
of change and the emergence of disruptive technologies results in students learning skills today that are simply
inadequate for the challenges and problems of tomorrow. Mosaic Learning was created to help our clients understand
the challenges of training and learning in the 21st century and for a knowledge-based society and economy.
The implications for learning—and especially for work-based training and skill development—are enormous. Traditional
models of teaching that emphasize memorizing selected content as a means of preparing for the future are no longer
appropriate because they fail to address the primary need: teaching our students how to think and most importantly,
how to learn. Since the development of the American educational system, educators have debated the best means and
modes to accomplish this essential task, teaching our students how to learn and how to increase their ability to adapt
to the ever-changing knowledge demands of our society. Dr. David Kolb has argued that at the heart of the problem is
the fact that “we have lost touch with our own experience as a source of personal learning and development” and as a
result, have failed “to emphasize the central role that experience plays in the learning process.”1
Dr. Kolb, building on the foundational work of John Dewey, defines learning as “the process whereby knowledge is
created through the transformation of experience.”1
Figure 1 is a representation of Kolb’s “Learning Cycle,” where
he depicts the four abilities all learners need: concrete experience abilities, reflective observation abilities, abstract
conceptualization abilities and active experimentation abilities. Kolb believes that students learn and gain knowledge
from the combination of grasping and transforming experience. Grasping is the process whereby students experience
something and consume information. Transformation occurs when the students interpret and act on the information
that they have taken in.
THE PROBLEM
THE CHALLENGE
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
1 Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development
(2nd Eds.) David Kolb (2014)
2 Learning Through Experience. Your Guide to Doubt-Based Learning™ Principles.

KOLB’S LEARNING
CYCLE
Image Source: Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
and Development (2nd Eds.) David Kolb (2014)
Kolb’s Experiential
Learning Cycle
Reﬂection
Concrete
Experience
Abstract
Conceptualization
Active
Experimentation
3DoubtBasedLearning.com

Mosaic Learning shares in the basic assumption of experiential learning: Students learn best from their experience
when they begin to reflect upon and think about their experiences and also have the opportunity to test them from
multiple vantage points and using multiple means to verify what they have learned. In the paper, “Writing for Truth,
Not Fun or Profit,” (published in the 1992 Proceedings of the International Technical Communicators’ Conference), the
point is made that even if a person is taught to think, he or she is taught to think only from one perspective, within
one system of rules. This single-perspective mode of learning is inadequate for the demanding learning requirements
of the VUCA world we live in today.
Mosaic Learning, therefore, has built upon the experiential work of John Dewey and David Kolb and created a customized
solution for the challenges of learning in a VUCA world. We call our learning model Doubt-Based Learning™. Doubt-Based
Learning™ opposes traditional learning in that it does not ask an individual to repeat a collection of facts. It asks the
individual to think. Facts will be discovered in the process. And Doubt-Based Learning™ asks the individual to think openly
and from multiple perspectives. Doubt-Based Learning™, like Dewey and Kolb, relies upon the creation of some tension in
the learning process to facilitate and enhance learning outcomes.
Traditional education tends to follow the single-perspective model. If one is trained to think, the thinking is expected
to fall into a very linear pattern. Doubt-Based Learning™, however, is constructed on the assumption that learning by
experience is an active process of inquiry that confronts the problem and the numerous ways of defining and
resolving uncertainties.
Dewey recognized the challenge that educators face when trying to create and replicate real-world experiences in the
classroom. Too often today, our students are asked to learn (memorize) “facts” and “information” that simply are not
relevant to their lives and to them. In the process, their motivation to learn diminishes, and sadly, they often fail to
grasp the most important skill: how to learn. Today, educators continue to struggle to create environments and learning
experiences that replicate the real world. This problem has been exacerbated by globalization and by competitiveness
in so many sectors that limits the ability of employers to provide work-based or situated learning opportunities.
Apprentices and interns alike no longer benefit as they once did from learning on the job. Instead, they too must quickly
transition from the role of workplace learner to workplace producer.
Mosaic Learning believes that technology can play an important role in helping educators to create real world learning
experiences that provide today’s learners with the foundational experiences that permit them to develop real world,
problem-based thinking abilities. Through the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and simulation-based
learning (SBL) technologies, Mosaic Learning creates virtual experiences that closely replicate important real world
learning environments that enable today’s students to create meaningful learning experiences in the classroom.
THE SOLUTION
THE OPPORTUNITY

LEARNING MUST BE AN ACTIVE PROCESS FOR THE LEARNER.
The first principle of Doubt-Based Learning™ is that the learner must actively engage in his or her own learning process.
This means that teachers must reformulate their own understanding of their role in the classroom. Teachers must
assume the role of a facilitator who expects students to think, question, reflect and test their theories, rather than
thinking of themselves as the “sage on the stage,” responsible for filling their students with information. Lessons,
whether classroom or distance, instructor-led or self-paced, are designed to make a student ask questions by engaging
the student in active learning. Mosaic Learning works closely with our clients to create active learning environments at
all levels of instruction. From augmented reality that uses mobile devices to bring textbook pages to life to advanced
virtual reality environments that strive to virtually replicate the real world, Mosaic Learning helps make the learning
environment and the learning process active for the learner.
LEARNING OUTCOMES IMPROVE WHEN LEARNERS UTILIZE MORE OF
THEIR SENSES, CONFRONT PROBLEMS FROM MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES
AND CHALLENGE THEIR PREVAILING ASSUMPTIONS.
The second principle of Doubt-Based Learning™ requires the learner to look at a problem from more than one
perspective and to involve the use of multiple senses in the learning process. Studies have shown that typically we
remember only about 10% of what we read. Figure 2 shows that the best learning outcomes result from combining
multiple senses in the learning process. Doubt-Based Learning™ actively involves the learner by engaging their whole
brain and helping them to look at a problem from multiple perspectives.
THREE PRINCIPLES
McKinsey & Company, several years ago, recognized the challenge of providing “hands-on” training opportunities, even
for apprenticeship programs.
Mosaic Learning agrees that simulation-based learning will play an important role in training and learning for the next
generation of learners, especially those who need to develop “hands-on” skills and abilities. These active learning
technologies, especially when coupled with Doubt-Based Learning™, create real world, life-like experiences that
permit students to actively participate in creating a learning experience that is built upon questioning assumptions
and problem-based real world learning. There are three principles upon which Doubt-Based Learning™ rests and that
Mosaic Learning strives to incorporate into each of our instruction and learning designs.
For the second challenge, apprenticeships traditionally have provided hands-on experience, but
there are not enough spaces to meet demand. Technology, in the form of “serious games” and
other kinds of simulations, can help here, too, by offering tailored, detailed, practical experience
to large numbers at a comparatively low cost. Serious-game simulation could become the
apprenticeship of the 21st century. In a sense, the future of hands-on learning may well be hands-
off. (McKinsey & Company, 2013, Education to Employment: Designing a System that Works)
2
1

20%HEAR
OF WHAT WE
70%DISCUSS
OF WHAT WE
80%EXPERIENCE
OF WHAT WE
95%TEACH OTHERS
OF WHAT WE
30%SEE
OF WHAT WE
10%READ
OF WHAT WE
50%SEE & HEAR
OF WHAT WE
Here’s how it works:
First, after understanding the task or learning objective, the learner may first be provided with some content and asked
to read about some specific information. This can be in the form of a book, or as is now quite common, content that is
delivered online. Let’s say, as an example, the task is to learn how to use a specific piece of equipment. Second, after
reading the background information, the learner may watch a video or animation that demonstrates the proper operation
of the equipment. Third, the learner may have an opportunity to listen to a live classroom or online-delivered lecture on
the proper way to use the equipment. Fourth, the learner may have the opportunity, using AR, VR or some form of SBL
to practice “virtually” using the equipment in a virtual, simulated or augmented practice environment. Next, the learner
is provided with the opportunity to actually operate the equipment in the classroom, or during a lab exercise. Finally,
the learner is provided the opportunity to perform the task and operate the equipment in a real world setting. All these
activities use different parts of the brain and account for the different learning styles that individual learners may have.
Image Source: William Glasser

LEARNING MUST BE A CONTINUOUS PROCESS GROUNDED IN EXPERIENCE.
Several important points need to be emphasized in the active learning process. First, the process is not as linear as
it may appear. As we discussed in the section on experiential learning, this is an iterative process that often results
in the learner moving back and forth between different theories and hypotheses and reflecting upon the possible
answer(s). Second, as the learner engages in the learning process, the educator or instructor takes on the role
of facilitator and helps the learner to reflect, question and evaluate each experience to ensure that the learning
objectives are being fully realized. The educator plays an important role helping to facilitate the learning process for
each learner. Finally, experiential Doubt-Based Learning™ is grounded in the ongoing sequence of experiences that
each learner has. Learners connect what they have learned from current experiences to those in the past as well as to
those potential experiences that they make encounter in the future.
CONTACT
For more information about Mosaic Learning’s Doubt-Based Learning™ approach, contact us at
301.441.4700 or visit us online at MosaicLearning.com.
John Dewey, arguably the founder of experiential learning, was the first to point out that not all experiences are
educative. There is always the possibility that some experiences are “mis-educative” and deny the learner the proper
conditions from which he or she can learn. Mosaic Learning fully appreciates the critical role we play as collaborators
with our clients in the design of experiential learning environments that are truly educative. We understand, too, that
the old way of doing things, the traditional modes of learning, are no longer adequate for the VUCA world our clients
live and work in every day. We are committed to supporting our client’s efforts to build student-centered learning
approaches that meet each student at any given point along their learning journey. We firmly believe, as well, that for
many organizations and for many of their clients, a blended learning delivery platform that utilizes both online and
face-to-face learning is the most effective and efficient means to deliver learning content to their employees. Blended,
experiential and Doubt-Based Learning™ models are proven methodologies for creating educative experiences for
individuals, regardless of their own personal level of development. In the end, learning is change, and change is about
personal growth and development and about exploring the world all around us.
THE FUTURE
3
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And to know the place for the first time.
-- T.S. Eliot, For Quartets

10005 OLD COLUMBIA ROAD, SUITE R-250
COLUMBIA, MD 21046
301.441.4700 | MOSAICLEARNING.COM

MOSAIC Learning Experience

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to MOSAIC Learning Experience (20)

More from Standard Press - StudioSp (18)

Recently uploaded (20)

MOSAIC Learning Experience