View source for David A. Kolb

{{short description|American educational theorist (born 1939)}}
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{{external links|date=March 2017}}
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{{Infobox philosopher |
  region          = Western Philosophy |
  era             = [[20th-century philosophy]] |
  image           =|
  image_size       = 150px |
  caption          = |
  name             = David Allen Kolb | 
  birth_date       = December 12, 1939 |
  school_tradition = |
  main_interests   = [[experiential learning]] |
  influences       = [[John Dewey]], [[Jean Piaget]], [[Kurt Lewin]] |
  influenced       = |
  notable_ideas    = Experiential Learning Model (ELM)
}}

'''David Allen Kolb''' (born December 12, 1939, in [[Moline, Illinois]]) is an [[Americans|American]] educational theorist whose interests and publications focus on [[experiential learning]], the individual and social change, career development, and executive and professional education.  He is the founder and chairman of Experience Based Learning Systems, LLC (EBLS),<ref>[http://learningfromexperience.com/about/ Experience Based Learning Systems, LLC. (EBLS)]</ref> and an Emeritus Professor of Organizational Behavior in the [[Weatherhead School of Management]], [[Case Western Reserve University]], [[Cleveland, Ohio]]. Kolb has collaborated with his daughter Alice on research related to experiential learning and has co-authored several works with him.{{fact|date=August 2024}}

Kolb earned his BA from [[Knox College (Illinois)|Knox College]] in 1961 and his MA and Ph.D. from [[Harvard University]] in 1964 and 1967 respectively, in [[social psychology]].

==Experiential learning==
{{main|Experiential learning}}
In the early 1970s, Kolb and Ron Fry (now both at the [[Weatherhead School of Management]]) developed the Experiential Learning Model (ELM),<ref>Kolb. D. A. and Fry, R. (1975) Toward an applied theory of experiential learning. in C. Cooper (ed.), ''Theories of Group Process,'' London: John Wiley.</ref> composed of four elements:
*concrete experience,
*observation of and reflection on that experience,
*formation of abstract concepts based upon the reflection,
*testing the new concepts,
*(repeat).

These four elements are the essence of a spiral of learning that can begin with any one of the four elements, but typically begins with a concrete experience.

While this model is used widely in fields such as management education, it has been criticised for its inflexibility and over-simplification.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ryder |first1=Mike |last2=Downs |first2=Carolyn |title=Rethinking reflective practice: John Boyd's OODA loop as an alternative to Kolb |url=https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/175551/1/OODA_loops_final_published_article_online_first.pdf |journal=The International Journal of Management Education |date=November 2022 |volume=20 |issue=3 |page=100703 |doi=10.1016/j.ijme.2022.100703 |s2cid=252152374 |access-date=2 November 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Learning Style Inventory==
Kolb is known in educational circles for his Learning Style Inventory (LSI).  His model is built upon the idea that learning preferences can be described using two continuums: 
* Active experimentation ↔ Reflective observation
* Abstract conceptualization ↔ Concrete experience.  
The result is four types of learners: converger (Active experimentation - Abstract conceptualization), accommodator (Active experimentation - Concrete experience), assimilator (Reflective observation - Abstract conceptualization), and diverger (Reflective observation - Concrete experience).  The LSI is designed to determine an individual's learning preference.<ref>[http://learningfromexperience.com/about/ Experience Based Learning Systems, LLC (EBLS)]</ref>

==Bibliography==
* Kolb, D.A., Rubin, I.M., McIntyre, J.M. (1974).  [https://web.archive.org/web/20051025115503/http://www.learningfromexperience.com/research-library/ ''Organizational Psychology: A Book of Readings, 2nd edition.'']  Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
* Kolb, D.A., Fry, R.E. (1974). Toward an Applied Theory of Experiential Learning
* Kolb, D. A., Kolb, A.Y. (2011). [https://web.archive.org/web/20170516224452/http://learningfromexperience.com/media/2016/10/2013-KOLBS-KLSI-4.0-GUIDE.pdf ''The Kolb Learning Style Inventory 4.0'']
* Peterson, K., & Kolb, D. A. (2017). How You Learn Is How You Live: Using Nine Ways of Learning to Transform Your Life. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

==See also==
*[[Experiential learning]]
*[[Constructivism (philosophy of education)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://weatherhead.case.edu/executive-education/instructors/david-kolb Kolb's Faculty Profile at Case Western University]

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:21st-century American psychologists]]
[[Category:Knox College (Illinois) alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Case Western Reserve University faculty]]
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American psychologists]]