Participation in community engagement field trips: industrial design learners’ perceptions of kolb’s experiential learning

Inculcating learners with experiential learning is imperative at higher learning institutions. Studies have shown that learners acquired more skills, remembered more what they have learned in the class with what they have gained first-hand when participating in the community engagement field trips (Manner, 2018; Behrendt & Franklin, 2014; Kennedy, 2014; Myers & Jones, 2004). Many fields including Art have been integrating community engagement field trip activities into their teaching and learning (Mahgoub & Alawad, 2014). However, little attention has been given by the institutions to engage learners with the community in order for them to gain more experiences through community engagement field trips. Therefore, the study aimed to explore Industrial Design learners’ perceptions towards Kolb’s Experiential Learning through participation in community engagement field trip activities. Parallel to the Industrial Design course plan, learners participated in two cultural venues (a cultural museum and cultural village) as part of the course fulfillment. Kolb’s Experiential Learning was grounded for this study in order to explore what kind of experiences contribute to the development of learners’ learning skills. Using a purposive sampling method, three participants were chosen for this study. Based on the qualitative analysis, the findings revealed that learners felt positive in the overall community engagement field trips as they gained new insights and experiences, specifically in knowledge and understanding, interest, cultural awareness, confidence level, communication skill and social training. For future research, more studies should be conducted in examining learners’ perceptions on their post experiences in participating in community engagement field trips.