What is experiential learning? It’s best described as the process of learning through experience or “learning by doing”, where people build skills by actively practicing them rather than only hearing about them.
Aristotle captured the idea in his Nicomachean Ethics: “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.“
The evidence backs him up. A meta-analysis published in PNAS reviewed 225 undergraduate STEM studies and found students in traditional lectures were 1.5 times more likely to fail than students in active-learning classes.
For L&D teams, that gap matters because most workplace training doesn’t actually change employee behavior. This article breaks down how experience-based practice does, and how to run it across your workforce.
What Is Experiential Learning?
So, what is experiential learning in a workplace setting? It is the process of learning through experience, then reflecting on it afterwards. Your employees are immersed in a task, then review what happened so they improve next time.
In practice, that might mean rehearsing a sales pitch or a difficult conversation with a direct report before doing it in real-life. This kind of practice happens outside the traditional classroom, and it changes behavior by building new habits through repetition.
The Characteristics of Experiential Learning
The London Business School outlined the characteristics that make an activity experiential as follows:
- A combination of knowledge and experience: the learner understands the theory, then puts it into practice.
- Reduced external evaluation and more reflection: the instructor steps back, and the learner assesses their own performance.
- Learning outside your comfort zone: this once meant real-world risk, but immersive practice now offers safe challenge.
- Relevant activities: the experience must matter to the learner so they stay motivated.
- Reflection: learners review their own performance to gain personal insight.
- Seeing the big picture: the learning links back to the wider world of work.
- Emotional investment: learners must want to engage in the experience.
Keep these aspects at the forefront of your mind when building training for your employees and consider how you can weave experiential learning elements into your initiatives to help improve retention and skill development.
Traditional vs. Experiential Learning
The difference between traditional and experiential learning ultimately comes down to who leads the learning and how a learner’s skills develop.
| Traditional Learning | Experiential Learning |
|---|---|
| Instructor-centred | Learner-centred |
| Teaches by providing information | Develops skills through experience |
| Classroom setting | Context varies with the task |
| Fixed outcomes | Flexible outcomes |
| Fixed structure | Flexible structure |
Examples of Experiential Learning in the Workplace
Most L&D teams already use elements of experiential learning in their training programs. This often takes the form of:
- Role-playing difficult conversations, such as giving critical feedback or handling a complaint.
- Running sales and negotiation simulations that rehearse real deals and common objections.
- Taking on stretch assignments that push people into new responsibilities.
- Mentoring and coaching, where employees learn alongside someone experienced.
Where L&D teams can really make a difference is by making experiential learning a priority and building training programs that deliberately focus on delivering accessible, experiential learning experiences to employees.
The Benefits of Experiential Learning for L&D Teams
Understanding what is experiential learning is one thing; operationalizing it at scale is another. This approach delivers documented benefits, which Toronto Metropolitan University links to reflection that turns experience into lasting learning, especially for teams that need training to stick. The benefits of an experiential approach to training include:
- Behaviour change that lasts, because people practise the habit rather than read about it.
- Measurable skill improvement you can track and report to leadership.
- Faster ramp for new hires who build confidence before their first real conversation.
- Confidence that transfers to real work, since the practice mirrors the job.
- Reflection built into every attempt, which consolidates learning and carries it to new situations.
- Stronger engagement, because hands-on practice holds attention better than passive content.
With VirtualSpeech, L&D teams get employees to practice with AI-powered roleplay scenarios. The learners get instant feedback on their performance, reflect with a personalized AI coach, then apply what they learned on the job, in real-life. This allows time-starved L&D teams to deploy impactful experiential training (that brings more benefits than traditional methods) at scale, with a personalized experience for every employee.
Experiential Learning Theory and Kolb’s Model
Kolb’s theory of experiential learning describes learning as a process where knowledge is created through experience, and is the inspiration behind VirtualSpeech’s in-house learning theory which the platform is designed around. Kolb’s model is a four-stage cycle, in which learners actually learn through experience and reflecting on that experience.
- Concrete experience: doing or having a new experience.
- Reflective observation: reviewing and reflecting on what happened.
- Abstract conceptualisation: working out what was learned and how to improve.
- Active experimentation: planning and applying the learning next time.
Picture an employee whose presentation lands badly. They reflect on what went wrong, get advice on structure and delivery, then practise again before the next meeting. That single loop moves them through all four stages.
And with VirtualSpeech, the presentation takes place in a safe, virtual environment, with reflection guided by our AI Coach, helping learners progress through the cycle in a self-directed manner.
The 70-20-10 Learning Model
The 70-20-10 model for learning and development, along with Kolb’s theory, is an important piece of the puzzle for L&D teams to consider. The model splits a learner’s skill development into three sources:
- 70% of skill development comes from hands-on job experience.
- 20% of skill development comes from interactions with others, such as coaching and feedback.
- 10% of skill development comes from formal education and courses.
In essence, what Kolb, the 70-20-10 model, and us at VirtualSpeech base skill development initiatives on is the fact that most growth comes from actually doing the work, which is exactly where hands-on practice sits. Coaching, courses, and other methods of learning are still incredibly helpful tools – but nothing beats experience.
Experiential Learning and Virtual Reality (VR)
VR is a great way to make learning by doing accessible to more people. While wearing a VR headset, learners are immersed in a simulated world that mirrors real life, which places it firmly in the 70% of the 70-20-10 model. The realistic environments provoke the same emotions as a real-life situation would, replicating the nerves and anxiety of speaking in front of a large group of people, for example.
PwC’s study into VR training effectiveness found employees trained in VR completed training 4 times faster than in the classroom. They were also 40% more confident to act on what they learned than classroom learners. And they felt 3.75 times more emotionally connected to the content.
By practicing in these environments, your employees can safely fine-tune skills before using them at work. Rolling this out well takes planning, so to help you get started our guide to enterprise VR training rollout walks through the key steps to a successful deployment.
VirtualSpeech is available both in your employees’ browsers, making it easy to scale without hardware requirements, or on VR headsets – great for VR classrooms or to add an engaging, experiential element to in-person workshops and classroom-based training.
Scaling Experiential Learning Across Your Workforce
Knowing what experiential learning is and why it outperforms passive training is one thing, but for L&D teams, the challenge has always been running that practice at scale and proving it changed behavior.
VirtualSpeech’s immersive AI roleplay make that practical, giving every employee a safe place to rehearse the conversations that matter and providing you with in-depth analytics to help your prove ROI to leadership. Book a demo with our team to learn more about how VirtualSpeech can make an impact in your organization.
