Transformative Learning Approach Research Articles

Towards tailored teaching: using participatory action research to enhance the learning experience of Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship students in a South African rural district hospital.

BackgroundThe introduction of Stellenbosch University’s Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) model as part of the undergraduate medical curriculum offers a unique and exciting training model to develop generalist doctors for the changing South African health landscape. At one of these LIC sites, the need for an improvement of the local learning experience became evident. This paper explores how to identify and implement a tailored teaching and learning intervention to improve workplace-based learning for LIC students.MethodsA participatory action research approach was used in a co-operative inquiry group (ten participants), consisting of the students, clinician educators and researchers, who met over a period of 5 months. Through a cyclical process of action and reflection this group identified a teaching intervention.ResultsThe results demonstrate the gaps and challenges identified when implementing a LIC model of medical education. A structured learning programme for the final 6 weeks of the students’ placement at the district hospital was designed by the co-operative inquiry group as an agreed intervention. The post-intervention group reflection highlighted a need to create a structured programme in the spirit of local collaboration and learning across disciplines. The results also enhance our understanding of both students and clinician educators’ perceptions of this new model of workplace-based training.ConclusionsThis paper provides practical strategies to enhance teaching and learning in a new educational context. These strategies illuminate three paradigm shifts: (1) from the traditional medical education approach towards a transformative learning approach advocated for the 21st century health professional; (2) from the teaching hospital context to the district hospital context; and (3) from block-based teaching towards a longitudinal integrated learning model. A programme based on balancing structured and tailored learning activities is recommended in order to address the local learning needs of students in the LIC model. We recommend that action learning sets should be developed at these LIC sites, where the relevant aspects of work-place based learning are negotiated.

Integrating transformative learning and action learning approaches to enhance ethical leadership for supervisors in the hotel business

Ethical leadership is now increasingly focused in leadership development. The main purpose of this study is to explore two methods of adult learning, action learning and transformative learning, and to use the methods to enhance ethical leadership. Building ethical leadership requires an approach that focuses on personal values, beliefs, or frames of references, which is transformative learning. Transformative learning requires a series of meetings to conduct critical discourse and to follow up the learning of learners. By organizing such action learning, human resource developers can optimize their time and effort more effectively. The authors have created a comprehensive model to integrate the two learning approaches in a general way that focuses not only on ethical leadership, but also on all kinds of behavioral transformation in the workplace in the hotel business or even other types of business.

Developing a Parenting Training Model of Character Education for Young Learners from Poor Families by Using Transformative Learning Approach

This research is aiming at developing a parenting training model using a character education for young learners from the poor families. The data obtained were qualitative data drawn from open answers and Focus Group Discussion. The data were analyzed by using domain analysis and taxonomy. The research findings showed that there were some problems faced by parents in applying character education in their family environment; parents should be the one who become the role model for their children; to apply the character education to their children, parents have to join parenting training; the training expected by parents is the practical understanding training; identification of parents’ understanding and training needs make a prototype of parenting training.

First-year nursing students-developing relational caring practice through inquiry.

In the current chaotic health care milieu, it is a challenge to create learning environments that support students to become respectful and community-engaged practitioners who are able to care for self and others. Aesthetic and transformative learning approaches foster students to develop caring attributes. Using relational inquiry and the general principles of transformative learning theory, an aesthetic curriculum project for first-year nursing students exploring the interrelatedness of self, other, and caring was developed and evaluated by nursing faculty. Students' in-the-moment experiences of transitioning into nursing school were enlisted to (a) open the space for deeper learning, (b) support the development of relational caring practice, and (c) foster personal and professional transformations. Aesthetic learning opportunities create experiential moments, where novice students can begin to explore the interconnectedness of self, other, and caring as it relates to their being and becoming a nurse.

Restorative Transformative Learning en Partnergeweld

Many articles have dealt with the question why restorative justice in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) may or may not be appropriate. Seeing however as a punitive approach towards IPV is rapidly losing popularity as an effective way of dealing with this complex type of violence, as well as the outcomes of a recent study by the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (2014) – where 25% of the Dutch women that were surveyed indicated they had experienced violence by an intimate partner – restorative justice may be a promising alternative after all. Instead of adding to the debate, the current article focuses on how restorative justice can be constructed to be appropriate for IPV cases, and is explorative in nature. In order to do so, the theory behind transformative learning is combined with restorative justice practices, shifting the focus from ‘restoration’ to ‘restorative transformation’. Such a restorative transformative learning approach focuses on transforming violent meaning perspectives that dictate the use or toleration of violence. Instead of trying to restore the individual back to the state they were in before the violence took place – as ‘restoration’ traditionally implies – the goal of restorative transformative learning is to restore the individual back to a state before a violent meaning perspective was acquired. The transformation of violent meaning perspectives is therefore the prerequisite for restoration. The method that is introduced in this article offers a practical framework and guidelines to achieve such a transformation. It answers to the complexity of IPV cases by focusing on the entire family system, while leaving room for individual restoration. In doing so, restorative transformative learning may possibly open the way to the acceptance of restorative justice in the field of IPV.

The Transformative Learning and Critical Reflection Approach to Sustain Self-care Program for Chronically Ill Persons in Philanthropic Primary Health Care Unit

The purpose of this study was to develop a sustainable self-care program for chronically ill persons, who sustained self-care practicing from attitude transformation. There were 2 steps of the study. Step1 was a sustainable self-care program development by literature reviewing. Step2 was the experimental study of the intervention's effects, which comprised of 12 weekly hour-long sessions. We collected data of self-care knowledge, attitude, skill and drug usage by personal interviewing at baseline and 12 weeks later, which were analysed by using t-tested controlling for age, gender, and socioeconomic status. The results showed that Boone's non-formal education conceptual model combined with 6 core elements of Taylor's transformative learning process was suitable. Furthermore, we synthesized the critical reflection process, which consisted of trigger event or dilemma simulation, dialog and premise exploration. According to Thai lifelong learning context, we chose a philanthropic primary health care unit in this study, which improved social, human and monetary capital sustainably. The learners gained self-care knowledge, changed attitude, improved self-care practicing and decreased drug usage significantly. In conclusion, self-care program by using non-formal education activities and critical reflection to change attitude and improve self-care practicing is sustainable.

Hybrid Learning: An Integrative Approach to Engineering Education

AbstractBackgroundThis article explores the contradiction that has developed between market‐driven and academic strategies of response to the challenges facing engineering and engineering education. In these contending response strategies there are deep‐seated, underlying historical tensions at work.PurposeThis article aims to create a theoretical and conceptual framework, which allows engineering educators to reflect on their perceptions and practices in regard to institutional change and reform.DesignA historical review traces the history of the tensions between different traditions of engineering education from their medieval roots through the institutionalization of engineering education in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and discusses the different conceptions of engineering and engineering knowledge on which they are based. We then relate the historical review to educational conceptualizations of the university as well as curriculum models.ResultsOn the basis of a synthesis of the historical and educational perspectives, we present an analytical distinction between three modes of engineering education. We propose a transformation to an integrative mode that is less prominent historically, but growing in importance. By introducing the term hybrid learning, we furthermore outline important aspects to be considered in the process of transforming engineering education.ConclusionsWe conclude by inviting engineering educators, students, administrators, and policy makers to consult our theoretical and conceptual framework and consider a transformation to an integrative mode. This integrative mode is designed to foster hybrid learning, a contextual, transformative, collaborative, and situated learning approach that holds potential in facing the increasing complexity of engineering.

Transformative learning approaches for public relations pedagogy

Public relations educators are frequently challenged by students' flawed perceptions of public relations. Two contrasting case studies are presented in this paper to illustrate how socially-oriented paradigms may be applied to a real-client project to deliver a transformative learning experience. A discourse-analytic approach is applied within the case studies as a technique for identifying changes in students' understandings of the ideological structures, power relations and knowledge systems that underpin public relations and for determining whether transformative learning has taken place. The discourse engagement and normative/critical/ethical paradigmatic orientations examined in this paper provide conceptual foundations for developing civic responsibility that needs to be underpinned by salient social theory.

Critical Thinking Skills through Reflective Journal Writing Among Non – Science Majors: Basis for an Enhancement Guide

Physical Science involves study of non – living things. Since it is being offered among non–majors, teachers surmount challenges particularly appreciation for scientific inquiry. Likewise, De la Salle Lipa exposes students to transformative learning approach to attain its expected La Sallian Graduate Attributes and one of which is being a critical thinker. Thus, this study assessed the extent by which critical thinking skills were enhanced through reflective journal writing. Using the descriptive instructional method of research, this study used the Provus Evaluation Model in its approach to assessment of major variables concerned. Purposive sampling technique was used among 80 Second Year Bachelor of Science in Accountancy and Bachelor of Science in Legal Management who were enrolled during the second semester of School Year 2011 – 2012. Data and other information needed were gathered through questionnaires, informal interviews, observations, documentary analysis and the use of triangulation of data. Results revealed that indicators of critical thinking skills have been found to have been “enhanced to a great extent” However, in consideration of the Total Quality Assurance (TQA), it was found that gap existed between the mean assessment of the respondents and the intent of TQA. In consideration of the findings, an enhancement guide has been proposed to introduce and implement reflective journal writing among non – majors in college or universities’ quest to continuously improve instructional program and attain total quality assurance. Keywords - reflective journal writing, critical thinking skills, total quality assurance.

The Mandala: First-Year Undergraduate Nursing Students' Learning Experiences

The mandala is a circular art form used by psychologists to access subconscious thought through symbolism and it has recently been adopted by nurse educators as a learning strategy for self-awareness. The lived experiences of six first-year undergraduate nursing students who completed a mandala assignment for emotional learning were explored using hermeneutic phenomenology. Participants experiences diverged from their original expectations that the mandala assignment would allow for a fun and free expression of 'self'. Participants did describe experiences of self-discovery; however, their experiences also resembled those associated with socialization in nursing education. Participants described both self-reflection and critical-reflection while completing the mandala assignment. Nurse educators and researchers can gain insight regarding the use of this assignment as an integrated transformative learning approach for emotional learning.

Creating and Sharing Critical Community Psychology Curriculum for the 21st Century: An Invitation

Mary Watkins and Nuria Ciofalo (Pacifica Graduate Institute) PEER REVIEWED Authors invite dialogue on critical community psychology graduate curriculum, sharing an approach that draws from depth psychologies, liberation psychologies, ecopsychology, and indigenous psychologies. Grounded in a participatory action model of research and ethics, students, alumni, and faculty pursue collaborative community and ecological fieldwork and research, crafting a postmodern critical community psychology for the 21st century. Authors call for reflection on the issues that mitigate against individual and community well-being that must be addressed in community psychology programs, and the concomitant theories, capabilities, and sensibilities to address them that need to be nurtured in students and educators. They call for us to engage students through transformative learning approaches and critical pedagogy in emancipatory community and ecological fieldwork and research.

Teaching ideas for generating critical and constructive insights into well‐functioning multidisciplinary mental health teams

PurposeIt is now common place for mental health services to operate using multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) where several health professionals simultaneously maintain their disciplinary distinctiveness and assume complementary professional roles. This requires awareness of other team members' disciplines and good team‐work skills. Yet in Australia, the preparation of health professionals continues to occur primarily in single‐discipline programs, where interaction with other disciplines often only occurs in an ad hoc, time‐limited way during clinical placement. This paper seeks to provide serious reflection on preparing students for the multidisciplinary practice within the mental health system.Design/methodology/approachThe authors introduce a student placement preparation learning package that was developed and trialled with a range of health professional students at two Australian universities. Transformative learning principles underpinned the development of the education materials and related activities, which were designed to sensitise students to the potential problems that arise within MDTs and to equip them with communication strategies for use in their university placement experiences, as well as in their future professional practice.FindingsThe very large majority of student placement preparation workshop participants rated the workshop activities as extremely helpful. After participating in the activities, the very large majority of participants strongly endorsed the workshop learning objectives of understanding the different roles of MDTs members, skills required for working in MDTs, principles of collaborative team‐work and respectful, positive attitudes to MDTs members.Originality/valueThe transformative learning approaches to education of health professionals which are described in this paper help students to examine ways to think more critically and constructively about MDTs.

Transformation narratives in academic practice

This paper reports an investigation of ‘transformation narratives’ emerging from early career academics’ reflective writing. The pieces of writing analysed describe self-initiated teaching development activities embedded in the early career academics’ practice. Using a transformative learning framework, the analysis reveals the following changes in early career academics’ practice: a move from non-reflective habitual action to more conscious practice; a more sophisticated view of teaching than was previously held; increased agency where teaching practice is perceived as something that can be developed; increased confidence; and a more multifaceted conception of an academic role than their original conception. The limitations of the transformative learning approach and implications this might have for those designing and delivering these types of programs are then explored.

ECOSPIRITUALITY IN PUBLIC FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF A TRANSFORMATIVE WORLD LANGUAGE LEARNING APPROACH

This critical instrumental case study examines a transformative world language learning approach to a unit on culture in an introductory Japanese class in a public high school. Couched in recent post-9/11 language “policy” debates, which strikingly lack mention of religion, spirituality, or environmental issues of climate change and sustainability, this study examines how a transformative world language learning approach develops and identifies students' environmentally based spirituality and how students articulate such “ecospirituality” in their emerging, standards-based Japanese writing. Critical analysis of written, interview, and classroom data reveals that a transformative world language learning approach may be effective in bridging traditional written literacies with “ecospiritual literacies” in the world language classroom. It also provides a lens for students' socio-dialogic learning of environment-related vocabulary and their subsequent use of it in their Japanese writing. Finally, this study suggests that while students rejected identities of religiosity, they embraced and articulated identities of ecospirituality.

Leadership for sustainable society: A transformative learning approach

Over the past several decades the international community has identified education and capacity building as critical components in helping to shift societies toward sustainable development in a global context. However, despite calls for fostering curriculum design around education for sustainability, colleges and universities have been slow to formulate ideas and approaches to teaching. This paper introduces a collaborative educational partnership which attempts to weave in the various components connected to education for sustainability. Transformative learning theory is used together with other frameworks to guide the program and evaluate the learning outcomes of students.

African students from refugee backgrounds in Australian TAFE institutes: A case for transformative learning goals and processes

Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes are perhaps the most heterogeneous of the nation’s educational sectors. However, TAFE institutes’ capacity to provide inclusive education is constrained by their curriculum focus and pedagogical practices and culturally premised assumptions that may inhibit learning for students from diverse cultural backgrounds and life experiences. This paper reports from a study that investigated the experiences of learning for African students from refugee backgrounds in TAFE institutes. Adopting phenomenological methodology, the study illuminates ways in which the students’ earlier and current experiences shape their learning at TAFE institutes. The findings indicate that, while greatly appreciating being in a safe environment, African students from refugee backgrounds nevertheless experience racial discrimination and social exclusion as they resettle in Australia. Also, the pedagogical practices at TAFE institutes do not always recognise or accommodate the students’ socio-cultural backgrounds and refugee life experiences. In all, the ‘experienced curriculum’ created unhelpful dissonances for these students. Consequently, the paper argues that in order to benefit more fully from their educational experiences in TAFE and also to effectively engage more in the wider Australian society activities, including employment, these students require particular interventions from these institutes and those who teach in them. It is proposed that a social inclusive transformative learning approach intervention is required for African students from refugee backgrounds to attain meaningful educational outcomes in TAFE institutes.

Revolutions and second‐best solutions: education for sustainable development in higher education

Despite widespread policy support for education for sustainable development in higher education, and a strong academic literature arguing for a radical rethink of curriculum, pedagogy and institutional culture, progress towards the educational reforms advocated remains limited. Based on in‐depth interviews with lecturers at a case‐study university, this article explores reasons for the slow pace of change, in particular how constraining variables (such as class size, patchy managerial support, perceived irrelevance to some disciplines, and conflict with prevalent higher education pedagogies) inhibit the widespread use of the holistic, interdisciplinary, transformative learning approaches advocated by theorists. Coping strategies employed by lecturers to bring education for sustainable development into their teaching practices are investigated and reviewed in the context of the ‘theory of the second best’. We conclude with a plea for greater recognition in the literature of the merits of such ‘second‐best’ approaches in higher education.

Makiguchi in the “Fractured Future”: Value-creating and Transformative World Language Learning

This article examines the applicability of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi's (1871–1944) educational ideas in what Denzin and Lincoln (2005) call the “fractured future,” a time marked by human, environmental, and climatic destabilization, and a time in which the social sciences “are normative disciplines always already embedded in issues of value …” (13). Specifically, this article presents a case study of a transformative learning approach to secondary-level introductory foreign language learning that contextualizes the human, environmental, and climatic condition in Makiguchi's idea of human geography (jinsei chirigaku), applies his concept of community studies (kyodoka kenkyu) to curriculum, and uses his value-creating pedagogy (soka kyoiku) as a theoretical framework for analyzing students' learning and development. Findings suggest that such applications resulted in students' empowerment and creation of the values of beauty, gain, and good, but that more curricular emphasis is, perhaps, necessary with regard to the value of gain. Findings also suggest that application of Makiguchi's ideas is possible in a contemporary context, but that more research is necessary.

Teaching for Change in Social Work

Transformative learning approaches have been applied in a diverse range of educational settings, where they have been used to develop an understanding of learners' experiences and to guide teaching and learning practices in ways that promote individual and social change. This article argues that despite clear congruence between many of the features of transformative learning theories and the nature and aims of social work education, this theoretical perspective has yet to be incorporated into thinking around critical approaches to the education of future social work practitioners. Drawing on literature that highlights the centrality of experience, critical reflection, and dialogue to the learning process, and that demonstrates a commitment in both social work and the broader field of transformative education to promoting individual and social change, the benefits of using a transformative learning approach in social work education are discussed. These benefits may be of particular significance for social work educators seeking to promote emancipatory perspectives in their profession.

A study of higher education student achievement based on transformative and lifelong learning processes

The advantages of transformative learning approaches in graduate education parallel the tenets of mentoring and lifelong learning. Under this theoretical framework, adult student achievement in leadership programming can be assessed as a developmental and individualized process. The mixed methods study presented here illustrates that it is possible to measure knowledge construction, disposition development and performance acquisition from the classroom to leadership practice through taxonomy use. The purpose of the study is to use a standards‐based taxonomy to understand the effectiveness of an educational leadership graduate degree program of two student subgroups. Based on transformative and lifelong learning theories that emphasize understanding student learning processes, students’ holistic achievement is examined in order to identify differences in student subgroup learning outcomes. The taxonomical approach used to evaluate student achievement in this study is helpful in gaining a phenomenological perspective of learning processes when evaluating the appropriateness of program design, teaching methodology and program content.