Behavioral characteristics

    Experiential learners are sometimes described as "late bloomers" because they start slow and experience problems at the beginning of field placement. They seem unable to tap previously learned resources as easily as other types of learners do and may appear to operate in a vacuum. As a result, their tolerance for frustration is low and their self-confidence weak, especially in young, beginning students who experience additional problems with regard to achieving independence and who lack related work experience or have limited life experiences. Unlike the intuitive learners who cling to old ways of doing things at the beginning of placement, experiential learners are frequently unable to use past life and work experiences, even when field instructors are active and supportive in their teaching approach. In a graduate program wherein students usually have two different field-placement experiences, experiential learners often regress at the beginning of the second field practicum and act as though they had learned little from their first field experience.

   During the first days of orientation, these students are confused about basic instructions. The instructor may even question these students' ability to comprehend or wonder whether their intellectual endowment is adequate. They may even be immobilized during the early weeks of field placement. In effect, these students are saying, "I must do before I understand." As their anxieties increase, they become self-focused, which in turn produces mixed results. On the one hand, these students attempt to rationalize their lack of progress or lack of response from clients; on the other hand, they begin early on to deal with self-awareness.

   Experiential learners are overly dependent and need approval and recognition. They feel an urgency to obtain positive signs that they really can perform and place demands on the field instructor's time. Like intellectual learners, they look for a magical formula, although they are more attuned to feelings than are the intellectual learners and are more flexible in their response to structure. Their problems are similar to those of the intuitive learner with regard to conceptualization, but their problem-solving approach is far less creative than that of the intuitive learner. However, because they develop self-awareness early, these students recognize their need to overlearn. Experiential learners find it difficult to accept the fact that they are plodders and may not produce the same quantity of work as do many other students. Even after these students begin to work through some of their problems, they continue to demonstrate lack of originality in approach and planning and difficulty in conceptualizing.

    Teaching approach. Field instructors should help experiential learners experience success early in the field-placement experience so that feelings of adequacy and safety are reinforced. Case selection, therefore, is extremely important. These learners, more than the other two types of learners, must be able to relate to the cases at the beginning of placement. Although they should not be assigned what is unrealistically referred to as a simple, uncomplicated first case (which so frequently occurs with beginning students), the hostile, aggressive client should be avoided until these students have sufficient theoretical knowledge and self-knowledge to evaluate the significance of the client¡¥s behavior. Repetitive experiences with similar types of clients will help these students evaluate and work through their reactions to new situations and ideas.

   The relationship between the field instructor and experiential learner is critically important. Although the relationship between field instructor and student is an integral part of the helping process regardless of the student's learning style, this relationship is especially important for experiential learners because they integrate intellectual content slowly compared with the other types of learners. Probably the two most frustrating and difficult problem areas for field instructors with experiential learners are the development of techniques that will stimulate these students to use their abilities more creatively and to conceptualize. With regard to the former, the field instructor should help them think through various interventive goals and alternatives in a more expansive manner. Gradually, experiential learners will begin to tap previous experiences, plan more independently, and recognize the importance of using their experience and ability in a less rigid, stereotypical manner. Helping these students to conceptualize is a slow and tedious process that can best be accomplished by repetitive teaching in a nonthreatening manner. Improvements should be explicitly recognized. Unlike intellectual learners, whose performances are enhanced by increased time in the field, experiential learners benefit from an extended period of course content before entering the field.

   Frequently, anxiety is equated with learning blocks or a lack of native intelligence in these learners. It is difficult to determine their capacity for stress prior to placement, although their anxiety reaction is easily identified. Identifying and defining this reaction helps them begin to overcome obvious blocks and to accelerate learning. Repetition of simple and basic instructions during orientation, accompanied with approval and support, is necessary. If problems persist, the field instructor should discuss the difficulties directly with the student and should explore with the student possible outcomes and solutions to facilitate more independent functioning. The field instructor must be alert to this type of student lest the student become quietly dependent and is sent into the professional world forever dependent upon supervision.