Experiential Learning Activities of Technical Students at Higher Education Institutions in Vietnam

Abstract

Experiential Learning (EL) is the process of learning through experiences (practice/ experiment/discovery and so on) to develop new skills, attitudes and thinking. EL provides technical students with opportunities to learn actively, relate well to others, emerge theoretical knowledge into practical context to develop their comprehensive competences for a sustainable development. The article refers to a brief overview of experiential learning and types of experiential learning activities as well as a status of participating in experiential learning activities of technical students at higher education institutions in Vietnam. Qualitative (interview) and quantitative (questionnaire) research was applied to identify levels of participating in experiential learning activities of technical students and differences among factors such as school year, gender, learning results with these activities. Results in technical students' perspective indicated that students took part in many EL activities in occasional and low level except two groups of EL activities: do family support, identify problem and make plans reached frequency/often level. Additionally, statistics also show that there are significant differences between variables (School year and Great Point Average) with nearly all the EL activities but only significant differences between male and female students in doing family support activities.