The Learning Loops — Experience as Cycle

I have been using the concepts behind Learning Loops for 15+ years. When I was first introduced to 4MAT and Experiential Learning Theory, it was from another coach gushing about how great they were. I can't recall the specific context back then, but I totally understand the feeling — now I'm the one gushing about how great the models are.

I find these cyclical models especially helpful because they give me landmarks when designing a communication that help my audience to better consume my materials and help create a richer learning environment. If it is meant to make a difference in someone's life, it is probably worth investing some energy in designing the communication for actual impact.

Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb)

Experiential Learning Theory from Kolb has gone through several iterations over the years. A common feature from the early days has been the sequence of Concrete Experience leading to Reflective Observation down to Abstract Conceptualization around to Active Experimentation to create new Concrete Experiences and starting the cycle over again.

The cycle is elegant in its simplicity. You have an experience. You reflect on what happened. You make meaning of it, connect it to concepts. You try something based on that new understanding. That experimentation creates a new experience — and the loop continues.

4MAT (McCarthy)

McCarthy's 4MAT model is focused more on the instructional design aspects while using those same landmarks. 4MAT addresses the processes in between points on the cycle. The processes are often framed as answering a series of questions for the learner as we move through each quadrant of the cycle.

Starting with Concrete Experiences we address the question Why — specifically why it matters to the learner — on our way to Reflective Observation. Then we answer What (the expert opinions) as we work down to Abstract Conceptualization. We then address the question of How (the skills being developed) in order to lead into Active Experimentation. Then we address the question of If (or "Where Else" as I tend to think of it) as we refine and perform the skills to create new Concrete Experiences that queue up the next trip around the loop.

This is the structure I use for almost every formal communication I create. It has become automatic.

NLP Learning Sequence

This is in direct contrast to the learning sequence I learned through the NLP side of things: unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence to conscious competence to unconscious competence. If we look at these sequences through the lens of the ChangeGrid, it makes good sense how the ELT/4MAT approach keeps the momentum up around the learning loop and why the un/conscious in/competence sequence ends with no ongoing energy associated with it. But that's a topic for another day.

Virtuous Cycles of Learning / VCoLs (Dawson)

Dawson's Virtuous Cycles of Learning are a similar sort of learning loop that is targeted at the micro scale of developing at your "growth edge." These are frequently driven by a Lectical assessment and its follow on coaching. See the Adult Development resource for more about Lectical assessments and the theory behind them.

VCoLs are typically structured as Set, Seek, Apply, Reflect, Reset:

• Set focuses on the learning outcome
• Seek accesses some related resource/s
• Apply puts that resource and/or learning outcome into action
• Reflect takes a moment to actively examine our responses to this iteration of application
• Reset queues up the next learning loop with a new Set step based on what we have learned so far

You might notice the similarities with the 4MAT cycle. VCoLs tend to be deployed at the micro level and support the later half of the 4MAT cycle quite naturally. VCoLs are frequently more co-created with the help of a developmentally informed coach as opposed to being deployed as part of an intentionally designed learning experience for groups like 4MAT tends to be.

Dynamic Skills Theory (Fischer, Mascolo)

And it is hard to consider learning from an iterative perspective without at least mentioning Dynamic Skill Theory from Fischer and Mascolo.

If ELT and 4MAT tell us what to include structurally in a given learning loop, DST tells us which strand in the web of skills to include, guides the scaffolding through the learning loop, and helps guide the progression from lower level component skills to integrated skill webs across contexts — all of which positively feedback within and across the learning loops.

Putting It Together

Each of these models adds to the broader context of designing learning experiences in a looping fashion. The progression makes sense:

• Kolb tells us what learning is — the fundamental cycle
• McCarthy tells us how to design for it — instructional structure
• Dawson tells us how to coach it — micro-loops at the edge
• Fischer tells us how skills develop — the underlying mechanism

They aren't competing frameworks. They're layers of the same phenomenon, each useful for different purposes.

Where to Start

If you are starting from scratch on this idea, I'd recommend starting with 4MAT and learn to "design backwards" from the fully integrated performance back through a minimized "classroom" experience to the establishing experiences and reflections that motivate a learner to engage with the learning loop at hand.

Until I post the deeper 4MAT article, the simplest version of 4MAT is two "phases" that augment a "classroom" experience. Connect their real world past to the classroom and the classroom forward to real world performance. Mastering the 4MAT structure gives a solid framework to build upon and extend with other models when the right Why presents itself.

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This article covers the Learning Loops cluster of frameworks. For more on the individual models, see the separate resources on Experiential Learning Theory and 4MAT, Adult Development (for VCoLs), and Dynamic Skills Theory.