Experiential

Contribution

Dewey's 1938 articulation positions experience as the substance of education, with continuity (across experiences) and interaction (with other learners and contexts) as the two essential criteria.

In our sims

MyEdMentor sims are designed for cohort interaction (peer teams, shared decisions) and continuity (programmes of multi-week runs build on each other). A single solo run satisfies neither Dewey criterion.

Contribution

Kolb's cycle is the operational definition of experiential learning still cited as canonical across business, medical, and engineering education. Experience is the starting point, but it is not the whole cycle.

In our sims

Sims provide the concrete-experience stage; tutor-led debrief structures the reflective observation; templates support the abstract conceptualisation; the next run is active experimentation.

Contribution

Lave and Wenger establish that knowledge is bound to its context and community, and that legitimate peripheral participation in a community of practice is how professionals actually learn.

In our sims

Team play in MyEdMentor is itself a community-of-practice structure: teams own decisions, defend them to peers, and develop shared vocabulary across a programme.

Contribution

Vygotsky's ZPD describes the range of tasks a learner can complete with peer or tutor support but not alone, and identifies this zone as where learning happens fastest.

In our sims

Tutor controls turn pacing and difficulty in MyEdMentor sims. Volatility presets are explicitly designed so an inexperienced cohort can run at low volatility (in their ZPD) while an experienced one runs at shock volatility.

Contribution

Boud and colleagues argue that experience does not automatically produce learning, it must be deliberately structured with attention, anticipation, processing, and learning intention.

In our sims

Briefing materials before each sim cue learning intentions (attention + anticipation). Decision feedback is immediate (processing). Debrief and reflection extract the learning.

Contribution

The most recent practitioner reframing of experiential learning for HE business education, with social and active engagement at its core.

In our sims

DRIVE's Experiential pillar shares the social and active emphasis. Where i5 stops at five characteristics, DRIVE adds verifiability, the AI-aware competency i5 does not yet address.