經驗學習：不僅是當個會議參與者而已   免費試閱

Experiential Learning: There Is More Than Just Being a “Conference Participant”

研究者僅以個人初次參與AAACE（Association of American Adult and Continuing Education）會議的經驗，對會議參與者的涵義做一論述。期盼國內研究生參與國際性學術會議應抱持積極的會議參與者態度，而非僅是單純的會議參與者（論文發表者）。本文主要撰寫的方向包含兩個主題：第一、為提供國內研究生對國際性學術會議有一更深入的認識，研究者採用美國學者Marcie Boucouvalas所提出的「會議消費者」及「積極會議參與者」的概念，說明研究生參與類似AAACE國際性學術會議不應僅扮演「參與者」角色而已，特別就專業發展而言，會議消費者的觀念將帶給研究生更多的助益。本文並以經驗學習作為探討的驅動力，探討研究生參與國際學術會議的優點及困難之處。第二、「經驗」、「行動」與「反思」是經驗學習中一重要的概念，也是不可或缺的必經步驟及過程。研究者認為，參與國際性學術研討會本身即是一連串「經驗」、「行動」與「反思」的過程，透過「在行動中反思」（reflection-on-action）理論的探討，強調類似的過程必須不斷地重複進行，藉由每一次新的經驗、新的行動及新的反思的累積，方能衍生出所謂「積極會議參與者」。此外，「重複的過程」（repeated process）的概念，有助於培養研究生「積極會議參與者」的態度，增進日後專業的發展。 本研究採用半結構式訪談，受訪者共計3位：分別為參與該次會議，來自臺灣及美國的碩士生，及1位AAACE大會的主要工作人員，其用意在於從會議籌辦者的角度發聲。最後，本文期待，研究生以學術專業發展為目標，更應積極參與國際性學術會議。研究最後也發現「會議消費者」及「積極會議參與者」的概念與經驗學習兩者之間有其密切的關聯性。

The idea to conduct this study is mainly based on the author's first experience from attending American Association of Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) Conference as a doctoral student in Taiwan. This article includes two main themes: firstly, the notions of “conference consumer” and “proactive participant”, which are adopted from Marcie Boucouvalas, are examined in which conference goers may receive variety kinds of benefits from attending conference instead of being a presenter only. The literature of experiential learning is used as a driving force here to investigate how postgraduate students are benefited or deterred from going to international conferences. Secondly, it is argued that the participation is a series of process which contains “experience”, “action” and “reflection” stages. The theory of “reflection-on-action” is used here to argue that when the process is repeated again and again, new experiences are added upon the participants and it leads to a direction which is more “proactive participant” orientated. Also, it is important to learn that the process does not end for its very first time instead the idea of “repeated process” is valued when the process of participation repeats more than once. This study is conducted by three semi-structured interviews both postgraduate students and faculty from the United States and Taiwan. One of the three interviews is the conference organiser. The purpose of doing this is to make organiser's voice to be heard. The outcomes of this study try to open up a new horizon to scholars and postgraduate students in respectively in terms of professional development. It is hoped that the notions of “conference consumer” and “proactive participant” should have a strong link with experiential learning and the vice versa.