Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Transformative education'

The aim of the thesis is to examine certain potential problems in the field of actor training, and to explore and devise means of addressing these problems. The fundamental problem addressed notes that certain forms of training, specifically training with the primary goal of teaching executive functions or skills, can lead to the creation of undifferentiated, compulsive behaviours in the student. The thesis notes that some skills-led approaches to actor training might not provide the actor with a differentiated understanding of the functional uses for the skills that they teach, or the teacher's justification for teaching such skills. In such approaches the actor is not free to understand and value his/her skills in relation to his/her own needs as an actor. Through analysing the work of the educational philosopher John Dewey, as well as paradigms of human learning presented by Ken Wilber, Lawrence Kohlberg and Abraham Maslow, the thesis notes that in order to avoid problems associated with teaching methods that forge compulsive behaviours, a successful actor-training must take into account the transformative effects trainings have on the structure of the actor's self. In order to facilitate training as an integrated, transformative process of self development the thesis utilises Ken Wilber's Integral Four Quadrant system of analysis as a means to study the fields in which an actor can develop his/her self, before examining an approach to transformative actor-training that focuses on the question of how the actor can embody his/her presence in the model of theatre as a communicative encounter (notably analysed by Victor Turner). The thesis makes reference to a number of educational processes that facilitate the learning of `presence' as an integrated process of self-development, but specifically focuses on the teaching and learning of mindfulness meditation, the Feldenkrais Method, and the martial art of Aikido.

This research evaluates the usefulness of transformative experience (TE) in engineering education. With TE, students 1) apply ideas from coursework to everyday experiences without prompting (motivated use); 2) see everyday situations through the lens of course content (expanded perception); and 3) value course content in new ways because it enriches everyday affective experience (affective value). In a three-part study, we examine how engineering educators can promote student progress toward TE and reliably measure that progress.

For the first study, we select a mechanical engineering technical elective, Flow Visualization, that had evidence of promoting expanded perception of fluid physics. Through student surveys and interviews, we compare this elective to the required Fluid Mechanics course. We found student interest in fluids fell into four categories: complexity, application, ubiquity, and aesthetics. Fluid Mechanics promotes interest from application, while Flow Visualization promotes interest based in ubiquity and aesthetics. Coding for expanded perception, we found it associated with students’ engineering identity, rather than a specific course. In our second study, we replicate atypical teaching methods from Flow Visualization in a new design course: Aesthetics of Design. Coding of surveys and interviews reveals that open-ended assignments and supportive teams lead to increased ownership of projects, which fuels risk-taking, and produces increased confidence as an engineer.

The third study seeks to establish parallels between expanded perception and measurable perceptual expertise. Our visual expertise experiment uses fluid flow images with both novices and experts (students who had passed fluid mechanics). After training, subjects sort images into laminar and turbulent categories. The results demonstrate that novices learned to sort the flow stimuli in ways similar to subjects in prior perceptual expertise studies. In contrast, the experts’ significantly better results suggest they are accessing conceptual fluids knowledge to perform this new, visual task. The ability to map concepts onto visual information is likely a necessary step toward expanded perception.

Our findings suggest that open-ended aesthetic experiences with engineering content unexpectedly support engineering identity development, and that visual tasks could be developed to measure conceptual understanding, promoting expanded perception. Overall, we find TE a productive theoretical framework for engineering education research.

The compounding experiences of colonial miseducation of youth of color, neoliberal policies and logics in urban communities, colonial logics that render the role of spirituality in social movements as invisible, and adultism in legal and social institutions constrain the transformative possibilities of youth agency in social movements. This study explored (a) how educators working in youth movements can build a decolonizing paradigm and practice for transformative organizing and (b) new paradigmatic interventions and theoretical directions that can help inform a transformative youth organizing approach. The research was conducted through a decolonizing interpretive research methodology (Darder, 2015a) and utilized the interrelated lenses of critical pedagogy and decolonizing pedagogy, in order to gain a historicity of scholarly discussions about the logics of coloniality, social movement theories, and youth-organizing frameworks across various texts. By utilizing the decolonizing interpretive methodology and decolonizing and critical pedagogy theoretical frameworks, this study found that a decolonizing social movement framework for transformative youth organizing calls for (a) creating counterhegemonic havens that create solidarity spaces between youth and adults; (b) building authentic revolution through communion between youth and adults, community-building, and communion with indigenous peoples and the Earth; (c) cultivating a sense of love that sustains community bonds to facilitate healing; (d) promoting healing through engaging in dialectics and dialogue; and (e) creating opportunities for agency and creation to implement the praxis of transformative youth organizing. The findings support the need for adults seeking to authentically be in solidarity with youth to engage in transformative justice practices that help communities collectively heal from colonial violence and engage in a counterhegemonic praxis of creating new transformative and liberatory possibilities in communities.

The job of an education system-level leader in urban environments is becoming more demanding, and the environment in which they operate more complex. Filling these very critical roles with individuals who possess the right characteristics could mean the difference between success and failure at improving the educational outcomes of students who are more often than not students of color and economically disadvantaged students.

Through seven interviews, this qualitative study focused on understanding the leadership dispositions that contributed to the success of transformative urban education system-level leaders in Los Angeles. The new transformative urban education leadership framework was developed using elements from each of the following existing frameworks: leadership for multicultural education, transformative leadership, and leadership for social justice. Findings from the data revealed four themes and two subthemes that described the characteristics that these transformative education leaders in urban Los Angeles had in common. The four themes were early experiences that impacted future trajectory, power of positive communication, forming deep relationships with the community, collaborative decision-making and teambuilder; the subthemes were communicating beliefs and vision, communicating hope, and communicating courage. These themes and subthemes suggest some positive alignment to the new transformative urban education leadership framework.

Los Angeles education organizations could develop their own pipeline of top-level leaders who are prepared to assume positions when the opportunities present themselves, elevate the role of community-based organizations (and community), and be more targeted in their recruitment and professional development strategies for existing transformative leaders.

One of the greatest challenges our society faces is how to transform a fundamentally inequitable educational system. The societal inequities marginalized groups witness and experience on a daily basis are magnified by hegemonic educational policies and practices which produce, reproduce, and reinforce the concepts of white privilege. Developing transformative leaders is crucial given educational leadership is considered second only to teaching as an influence on students' learning.

This qualitative study examined the personal and professional growth of eight administrators and described the process by which these adults learn, internalized what they learn, and put their new knowledge into practice through socially just action within their schools and departments. The targeted professional development employed the tenets of critical race theory and principles of transformative leadership development as key elements toward addressing educational inequities.

The study provided insight into the lived experiences of educational leaders and explored their development of critical consciousness and how they utilized a lens of equity to effect personal and systemic change. The study grounded in critical race theory, transformational adult learning, and social justice leadership development revealed administrators who participated in ongoing, equity centered, professional development, shared similar experiences as adult learners and educational leaders in their professional roles. The results strongly suggested the impact this professional development had on their beliefs and behaviors was significant. These developing transformative leaders found the professional development to be relevant and urgent work resulting in the implementation of systemic change to varying degrees.

This integrative doctoral report describes how my own experiential learning as a former practicing police investigator, artist and my current academic position in professional work-based education have been utilised to enable me to make a contribution to workbased education. To capitalise on my experience and on-going development as a critically reflexive researcher, I explored my own transformative learning through the storied accounts of key experiences, events and transitions in my professional work-based learning journey to develop a storied pedagogic approach to facilitate critical self-reflection and reflexivity in the transformative learning of professional work-based students. Using an action research approach with autoethnography as the method of inquiry, the report tells a story of my learning journey through the research process. The combination of action research and the inherently experimental spirit of autoethnography proved complimentary and the research developed from an initial individual approach to a more co-operative and collaborative endeavour between teacher and student, enhancing the critical self-reflection, reflexivity and transformative learning of both, evidenced in collective voices of teacher, participant and researcher. My contribution of knowledge to the theory and work-based practice of transformative learning has been made through the development of a conceptual model of 'Transformative Reflection', which extends Kolb's experiential learning cycle. My contribution to practice has been through a facilitated workshop in which the transformative reflection model is used to foster critical self-reflection and reflexivity through the autoethnographic use of alternative narrative perspectives and the creation of artefacts in a liminal learning space, thereby fostering transformative learning for the work-based learner.

The purpose of this study was to determine if using intentional, transformational learning strategies in an undergraduate business ethics course improved the curriculum with respect to targeted, student learning outcomes. Since business schools have a social mandate to provide opportunities for ethical growth and development, improving the efficacy of business ethics education is of paramount importance. The importance of this mandate has been further highlighted in recent years by egregious instances of misconduct by business professionals whose actions have had obvious and profoundly negative impacts upon the stability of our financial systems and state of the world economy.

This was a quasi-experimental, quantitative study conducted at a university of approximately 8,000 students. The focus of the study was to measure the effects of intentional, transformational learning strategies on the occurrence of transformational learning and cognitive moral development among students enrolled in the university's online business ethics course. The intentional, transformational learning strategies utilized were those identified by David Warren Keller in a 2007 study and adapted to an online learning environment. The correlation between epistemological development based on the Perry Scheme (of William G. Perry Jr.) and the occurrence of transformational learning was also examined in this study.

While this curricular intervention was not found to have had a statistically significant impact on the targeted outcomes, a statistically significant correlation was observed between epistemological development and transformational learning. A principle conclusion of the researcher is that the online learning environment is the most likely explanation for the difference in the efficacy of the curricular intervention when comparing the results of the Keller study to the current study due to the affective dimensions of the student learning experience (central to transformational learning) in the online learning environment and the limitations inherent therein, which are detailed in the study. Finally, the correlation observed between epistemological development and transformational learning, while statistically significant, was inconclusive due to the absence of additional correlations which would have been expected, yet merits further study.

Few studies have examined educators' understandings of racial politics in schools and the larger social world through a social interactionist lens (Mead, 1934). Scholars such as Milner (2006) and Sleeter (2008) focus on improving multicultural teacher education. While understandable, this focus prevents scholars from forming a deeper, multi-dimensional picture of teacher learning, racial ideas (synthetic, conscious) and ideologies (derivative, un-examined), and social interaction. This year-long study of 15 participants in the 2009-10 Institutes for Transformative Education asks how educator discourse about the Institute contributes to this picture.Teacher life narratives have been linked to conceptions of race, class, and culture effectively (Johnson, 2002), and constructivist reflection in teacher education (Loughran, 2002) continues to command attention in current work on teacher learning. Yet the context of spoken discourse is often absent from the analysis in these studies, making it difficult to understand how contextual framing in conversation reflects and affects teachers' social mediation of racial politics in their daily practice and their civic lives. This study focuses on talk between the researcher and 15 educators, connecting the local frames of participants' stories of race in schools with state, national, and theoretical discourses.Understandings of critical multicultural education build on interactions between critical multicultural scholars including Grande (2004), hooks (1994, 2006), and Spivak (1988). Analysis of individual educator discourse can only be effective with the aid of previous work on teachers and race (Pollock, 2004, 2008), socially situated learning (Cole, et al., 1978; Guitart, 2008), racetalk in conversation (Bonilla-Silva, 2006; Anderson, 2008), conversation in social interaction (Goffman, 1959; Wooffitt, 2005), institutional theory (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Foucault, 1972), and educational philosophy (Freire, 1984, 1988).

This research claims that transformative as opposed to informative learning cultures in higher education are capable of promoting student identity development alongside subject development. It makes a significant pedagogical, conceptual, methodological and contextual contribution to contemporary discussions regarding the nature and purpose of higher education in the 21st century. Transformative learning cultures, based on the pedagogical values of the teachers involved, create an identity workspace where student development is encouraged. This workspace reflects the active demonstration of empathy on the part of the teachers and is represented by an integrated pedagogical pattern consisting of four elements; the development of trust, (ii) the creation of collaborative and supportive communities where students have the opportunities to play different roles, (iii) active confrontation and challenge and (iv) the effective use of pedagogical time and space. A naturalistic, ethnographic methodology and case study approach was used to answer the question ‘what is going on here?’ with teachers of Foundation Degrees in two colleges across several subject disciplines in order to explore the nature and purpose of the learning cultures created. A conceptual framework was developed through the active integration of empirical research and scholarship resulting in a socio- cultural approach to understanding the learning contexts. This was supported by the collection of rich and varied data including photographs, observations and interviews with both teachers and students. Visualisation also supported the interpretation and representation of data in an accessible format. An activity theory approach was adopted to support an integrated analysis of the data, enabling the isolation and identification of the influence of teacher intentions, student dispositions, roles and relationships and how development was influenced by time, space and context.

Since the 1960s, there has been a sustained policy commitment to widen participation to social groups previously under-represented in further and higher education (Thompson, 2000; Burke, 2012). Widening participation has encouraged students to return who are poorly prepared for the intellectual challenges of post-compulsory education (Leatherwood, 2005; Burton and Golding Lloyd et al, 2011). Some research has concluded that post-compulsory education has been dumbed down to accommodate ill-prepared students (Haggis, 2006; Coffield, 2010). This research interrogates these analyses in the context of Higher Education in Further Education (HE in FE). The research investigates if HE in FE can be a catalyst for significant social, emotional, and intellectual growth in students – if students can be transformed by the experience of education (Mezirow, 1978a, 1991; Cranton, 2006). Within both a critical and a phenomenological research paradigm, twelve non-traditional graduates from a full-time BA programme at an HE and FE College in Scotland were interviewed; as were the BA programme leader and a module teacher. The graduates also produced reflections of their experiences of HE in FE. The research sought to determine if graduates from HE in FE can experience significant social, emotional, and intellectual growth as a result of participation; what teaching and learning settings make this possible, and can graduates be transformed by the experience of HE in FE? The findings of the research indicate that the participants, to varying degrees, all experienced some significant shift in attributes such as confidence, independence and willingness to try new things. How they experience, conceptualise and participate in their social worlds has become more discriminating. I conclude by proposing that higher education programmes, facilitated in further and higher education colleges, can have the potential to provide transformative experiences for students who participate. It has been a transformative experience for the participants in this research.

This thesis employs phenomenological hermeneutic circle analysis, to investigate structure versus agency and adult identity change in lifelong learning. Achieving transformed agency and enhanced identity is argued to be about other ways of doing and other ways of seeing (Mezirow 2000:21). It proceeds by exploring if curricula employed in education can provide structure and/or the catalyst which allows ‘other’ to be revealed, agency to be regained, and to explicate what contribution curricula might make in transforming adult identities. Drawing upon the disciplines of sociology and psychology it provides holistic interpretations of participant accounts in the contemporary competitive world and explores the interstices in the duality of tensions between the utilitarian, and pragmatic adult, who employs education as a developmental pathway of choice. Interviews with six participants tell individual stories to provide holistic data of their erudition and experiences of cognitive and social change. Data are then employed to essentialise similarities, differences, themes, and congruent essences, and to distil factors which exemplify growth in understanding and expectations of the self. Growth in self-assurance and identity change capability is then contrasted with the fragility of adult identity; whereupon, this thesis critically positions fragility causation amongst the instrumental policies and forces of lifelong learning. Mezirow contends that agency is achieved by elaborating existing frames, learning new frames, transforming habits, and transforming points of view. This thesis moves to discuss the connected nature of these developmental factors and ‘glass ceilings’, and how immanent personal potential is (re) revealed to the adult self. Employing an archaeological hermeneutic research tool which suggests reflection is a central and developing feature in adult’s educational development the thesis finally contends that education is important in the personal delivery of agency over structure, and that curricula of any structurally legitimate form make a significant contribution to allowing persons to both flourish and confront a range of ‘other’ life circumstances and dilemmas.

This mixed-methods study analyzed the effectiveness of the practices and attitudes of selected African American teachers who use culturally relevant and responsive Afrocentric pedagogies as the instructional foundation for improved academic outcomes with their African American students. The theory of Afrocentricity was used as the philosophical framework to study their pedagogy. Afrocentricity is a mode of thought and practice in which in African people are placed at the center of their own history and culture; engages them as subjects rather than objects; and approaches them with respect for their interests, values, and perspectives (Asante 1980, 2003). Concepts employed from this theoretical framework provided a lens for the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data collected and analyzed. The setting for this study was a private Afrocentric prekindergarten through 8th-grade school. The participants in this study were 3 African American teachers. Data collected and analyzed supported using culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy to produce improved academic outcomes for students of color (Boykin, 1984, 1994; Hale-Benson, 1986; King, 1991; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Shujaa, 1995; Villegas, 1991).

Findings suggested that in selected academic settings improved academic performance occurred for African American students when teachers used culture relevant and responsive pedagogy. The following themes were embedded in the pedagogy: self-determination, academic empowerment, cultural empowerment, and family/community empowerment. The findings implied a need for teachers and teacher-training institutions to re-examine, recommit, and re-institute culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy that respects and addresses the culture, education, and social improvement for positive academic outcomes for all children.

Keywords: Afrocentricity, Afrocentric Pedagogy, achievement gap, culturally responsive pedagogy.

This thesis aims to investigate what strategic guidance can be given to design transformative ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) programs in order to bring about the necessary shift away from our dominating mechanistic and transmissive educational model towards one that is transformative. ESD programs are of high importance when moving towards a more sustainable society, however, a lack of a strategic, full systems approach for planning in the field of complexity can be observed. This gap can be bridged by the use of the FSSD, the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, which is used as a conceptual framework throughout this paper. The field of transformative education was researched by using a mixed-methods approach, revealing what key elements and best practices are present that enable transformation to happen. The Cocoon model presented in this paper is derived from the results and intends to give strategic guidance for program designers on how to create a transformative ESD program. It is a process model that aids program designers to create the space for transformational learning to occur by strategically putting into place the elements that are conducive to transformation.

The aim of this research was to investigate the transformational experience of teachers who had training and experience with traditional education and then moved to an experiential teaching method as found in the One Earth School, Bali, Indonesia. The researcher conducted interviews with eight teachers and made observations of the teachers’ practices in the One Earth School. This study sought to answer the main research question: What was the transformative experience of teachers who moved from traditional to experiential forms of education? This primary research question was expanded to include sub-research questions that explored: How did an experiential educational method influence teacher practice, what were the barriers in transitioning to an education in experiential learning, how did the teachers address those barriers? The primary researcher used a multiple case study method. Six key themes emerged from this analysis, which were a sense of purpose, transformation of educational beliefs, experiences of transformative learning, sense of community, sense of intimacy, and self-transformation. The findings of this study provided data to support the theories and practices of transformative experiences for teachers who converted to this method. The experiences of teaching in the OES provided teachers impactful learning experiences that facilitated their transformation. The findings will provide a model for articulating and disseminating the transformative practices of educators as co-learners.

Optimum Wellness involves the development, refinement and practice of lifestyle choices which resonate with personally meaningful frames of reference. Personal transformations are the means by which our frames of reference are refined across the lifespan. It is through critical reflection, supportive relationships and meaning making of our experiences that we construct and reconstruct our life paths. When individuals are able to be what they are destined to be or reach their higher purpose, then they are able to contribute to the world in positive and meaningful ways. Transformative education facilitates the changes in perspective that enable one to contemplate and travel a path in life that leads to self-actualisation. This thesis argues for an integrated theoretical framework for optimum Wellness Education. It establishes a learner centred approach to Wellness education in the form of an integrated instructional design framework derived from both Wellness and Transformative education constructs. Students’ approaches to learning and their study strategies in a Wellness education context serve to highlight convergences in the manner in which students can experience perspective transformation. As they learn to critically reflect, pursue relationships and adapt their frames of reference to sustain their pursuit of both learning and Wellness goals, strengthening the nexus between instrumental and transformative learning is a strategically important goal for educators. The aim of this exploratory research study was to examine those facets that serve to optimise the learning experiences of students in a Wellness course. This was accomplished through three research issues: 1) What are the relationships between Wellness, approaches to learning and academic success? 2) How are students approaching learning in an undergraduate Wellness subject? Why are students approaching their learning in the ways they do? 3) What sorts of transformations are students experiencing in their Wellness? How can transformative education be formulated in the context of an undergraduate Wellness subject? Subsequent to a thorough review of the literature pertaining to Wellness education, a mixed method embedded case study design was formulated to explore the research issues. This thesis examines the interrelationships between student, content and context in a one semester university undergraduate unit (a coherent set of learning activities which is assigned a unit code and a credit point value). The experiences of a cohort of 285 undergraduate students in a Wellness course formed the unit of study and seven individual students from a total of sixteen volunteers whose profiles could be constructed from complete data sets were selected for analysis as embedded cases. The introductory level course required participants to engage in a personal project involving a behaviour modification plan for a self-selected, single dimension of Wellness. Students were given access to the Standard Edition Testwell Survey to assess and report their Wellness as a part of their personal projects. To identify relationships among the constructs of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), Wellness and Student Approaches to Learning (SAL) a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods to collect and analyse data was formulated. Surveys were the primary instruments for acquiring quantitative data. Sources included the Wellness data from Testwell surveys, SAL data from R-SPQ surveys, SRL data from MSLQ surveys and student self-evaluation data from an end of semester survey. Students’ final grades and GPA scores were used as indicators of academic performance. The sources of qualitative data included subject documentation, structured interview transcripts and open-ended responses to survey items. Subsequent to a pilot study in which survey reliability and validity were tested in context, amendments to processes for and instruments of data collection were made. Students who adopted meaning oriented (deep/achieving) approaches tended to assess their Wellness at a higher level, seek effective learning strategies and perform better in formal study. Posttest data in the main study revealed that there were significant positive statistical relationships between academic performance and total wellness scores (rs=.297, n=205, p<.01). Deep (rs=.343, n=137, p<.01) and achieving (rs=.286, n=123, p<.01) approaches to learning also significantly correlated with Wellness whilst surface approaches had negative correlations that were not significant. SRL strategies including metacognitive selfregulation, effort, help-seeking and critical thinking were increasingly correlated with Wellness. Qualitative findings suggest that while all students adopt similar patterns of day to day activities for example attending classes, taking notes, working on assignments the level of care with which these activities is undertaken varies considerably. The dominant motivational trigger for students in this cohort was the personal relevance and associated benefits of the material being learned and practiced. Students were inclined to set goals that had a positive impact on affect and used “sense of happiness” to evaluate their achievement status. Students who had a higher drive to succeed and/or understand tended to have or seek a wider range of strategies. Their goal orientations were generally learning rather than performance based and barriers presented a challenge which could be overcome as opposed to a blockage which prevented progress. Findings from an empirical analysis of the Testwell data suggest that a single third order Wellness construct exists. A revision of the instrument is necessary in order to juxtapose it with the chosen six dimensional Wellness model that forms the foundation construct in the course. Further, redevelopment should be sensitive to the Australian context and culture including choice of language, examples and scenarios used in item construction. This study concludes with an heuristic for use in Wellness education. Guided by principles of Transformative education theory and behaviour change theory, and informed by this representative case study the “CARING” heuristic is proposed as an instructional design tool for Wellness educators seeking to foster transformative learning. Based upon this study, recommendations were made for university educators to provide authentic and personal experiences in Wellness curricula. Emphasis must focus on involving students and teachers in a partnership for implementing Wellness programs both in the curriculum and co-curricularly. The implications of this research for practice are predicated on the willingness of academics to embrace transformative learning at a personal level and a professional one. To explore students’ profiles in detail is not practical however teaching students how to guide us in supporting them through the “pain” of learning is a skill which would benefit them and optimise the learning and teaching process. At a theoretical level, this research contributes to an ecological theory of Wellness education as transformational change. By signposting the wider contexts in which learning takes place, it seeks to encourage changing paradigms to ones which harness the energy of each successive contextual layer in which students live. Future research which amplifies the qualities of individuals and groups who are “Well” and seeks the refinement and development of instruments to measure Wellness constructs would be desirable for both theoretical and applied knowledge bases. Mixed method Wellness research derived and conducted by teams that incorporate expertise from multiple disciplines such as psychology, anthropology, education, and medicine would enable creative and multi-perspective programs of investigation to be designed and implemented. Congruences and inconsistencies in health promotion and education would provide valuable material for strengthening the nexus between transformational learning and behaviour change theories. Future development of and research on the effectiveness of the CARING heuristic would be valuable in advancing the understanding of pedagogies which advance rather than impede learning as a transformative process. Exploring pedagogical models that marry with transformative education may render solutions to the vexing challenge of teaching and learning in diverse contexts.

This dissertation presents findings from an exploratory, phenomenological study that examined the dynamics of transformative experiences with nature through three lenses: the state of being of a person in a state of deep play, the human affinity for nature, and the human capacity to experience transformation. Stories were collected from fifteen people via semi-structured interviews. Findings indicate that transformative experiences are comprised of five qualities that emerge as the moment unfolds. They are novelty, engagement, immersion, openness, and attunement. Our affinity for nature and our capacity for deep play foster the feelings and thoughts associated with each of these qualities. Other findings indicate that an experience does not occur in isolation but rather occurs in concert with other aspects of a person's life. Antecedents such as education, beliefs, and previous experiences influence how a person perceives of and interacts with an experience. The substantiation process influences how a person makes meaning of and integrates an event into her/his life. Significant moments with nature may influence a person's life in significant ways prompting changes in interests, careers, worldviews, and her/his relationship with nature. Findings demonstrate that the transformative experiences of the study participants shifted their engagement with nature toward a more nature oriented lifestyle. The findings of this study inform adventure education, outdoor and environmental education, transformational learning, and adult education. These finding also inform land development and management fields such as forestry, natural resource management, and urban planning and development.

The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of retired transformative public school superintendents in Oregon. The difficult, complex, and dynamic position of the superintendent is told through the untapped wealth of knowledge and experience from those who have served in the position for a minimum of ten years.

This research contributes to the limited body of research of superintendents and provides a contemporary analysis of the complexities of the position of the superintendent. Nine retired transformative public school superintendents in Oregon participated in this research.

The study gained a deeper understanding of the recollections of the retired superintendents through in-depth interviews. Data was analyzed, interpreted, and coded using common themes.

The major findings in the study included: retired transformative superintendents were a lifelong and lead learner in their position as superintendent. A second finding in the study highlighted the key role of equity in the work of a superintendent. A third finding is centered on the need for the superintendent to be an innovator, problem solver, and informed opportunist. A fourth finding is the vital role of humor in the position of the superintendent. The fifth finding is each of the retired superintendents, if given the opportunity, would choose to become superintendents again.

Future superintendents can use this research to better understand the position of the superintendent and to study and learn "wisdom from their elders" in order to be a successful superintendent. Superintendent preparation programs can also use this research in the designing and implementation of relevant curriculum in training the next generation of superintendents.

Resource consumption continues to increase as the population grows. In order to secure a sustainable future, society must educate the next generation to become "sustainability natives." Schools play a pivotal role in educating a sustainability-literate society. However, a disconnect exists between the hidden curriculum of the built environment and the enacted curriculum. This study employs a transformative participatory professional development model to instruct teachers on how to use their school grounds as teaching tools for the purpose of helping students make explicit choices in energy consumption, materials use, and sustainable living.

Incorporating a phenomenological perspective, this study considers the lived experience of two sustainability coordinators. Grounded theory provides an interpretational context for the participants' interactions with each other and the professional development process. Through a year long professional development experience - commencing with an intense, participatory two-day workshop -the participants discussed challenges they faced with integrating facilities into school curriculum and institutionalizing a culture of sustainability.

Two major needs were identified in this study. For successful sustainability initiatives, a hybrid model that melds top-down and bottom-up approaches offers the requisite mix of administrative support, ground level buy-in, and excitement vis-à-vis sustainability. Second, related to this hybrid approach, K-12 sustainability coordinators ideally need administrative capabilities with access to decision making, while remaining connected to students in a meaningful way, either directly in the classroom, as a mentor, or through work with student groups and projects.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Education, 2005.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-01, Section: A, page: 0078. Adviser: Mary B. McMullen. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Oct. 11, 2006).

As restorative justice gained popularity in schools as a potential strategy for helping to reverse the deleterious effects of zero-tolerance policies, numerous misunderstandings and misapplications have emerged. This study focused on the experiences of school-based restorative justice practitioners and sought to foreground their voices and perspectives to highlight what is necessary for restorative justice work in schools to be effective. Critical narratives were used to elucidate participants’ perspectives and to allow their voices to serve as the focal point for the study. Findings were as follows: (a) the depth and ongoing nature of preparation practitioners undertake to sustain restorative justice work must be emphasized; (b) rather than a program or set of steps, restorative justice must be experienced as a set of principles or a philosophy grounded in genuine care and concern for individual people; (c) a cultural, political, and social shift is required for restorative justice to be implemented with integrity; and (d) restorative justice is a project of humanization and re-establishing democratic ideals. As such, educators in the field are encouraged to embrace the depth and complexity of the philosophical underpinnings of restorative justice and to acknowledge the personal, internal work that must be undertaken to serve a transformative function in school communities.

Required experiential learning within the context of higher education is on the rise. This dissertation endeavors to expand current understandings of resistance to required experiential learning including root causes, implications, and opportunities to address and alleviate resistance. The debate regarding the merits of required service, service-learning, study abroad, and other experiential learning opportunities is examined. In addition, access to such opportunities, causes and effects of resistance that develops for some participants, and ways of addressing this phenomenon are identified. To this end, an exploration of existing literature related to required experiential learning and reluctant participation is offered. In addition to a case study of Susquehanna University’s Global Opportunities program, data for this study was gathered through research methods including focus groups and semi-structured, open-ended interview. Findings reveal a variety of causes of resistance, why resistance manifests for some students prior to required study away, and strategies that practitioners in the field of experiential education employ to address such resistance.

This paper (1) draws on a review of the literature on instructional video to map onto one model of professional development the learning goals and reflective activities that are most likely to develop the potential of instructional video to change beliefs and develop critical consciousness, and (2) provides anecdotal evidence to explore the potential of instructional video in an asset-focused, transformative, and responsive model of professional development in culturally responsive teaching. The paper concludes that instructional video can be an effective tool for professional development in culturally responsive teaching because people often need to see transformations in teaching and learning before they can believe such transformations are possible.

PAPER TWO: “LISTEN THEN, OR, RATHER, ANSWER”: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO SOCRATIC EDUCATION

The popularity of Jacques Rancière in recent work in educational philosophy has rejuvenated discussion of the merits and weaknesses of Socratic education, both in Plato’s dialogues and in invocations of Socrates in contemporary educational practice. This paper explores the implications of this trend through comparing Rancière’s educational thought to an analysis of Socratic education in Plato’s Republic. The paper also draws on the educational literature on Socratic education to provide further context to explore the usefulness of both Rancière and Socrates for contemporary teaching.

PAPER THREE: PEOPLE MAKE REVOLUTIONS, NOT TECHNOLOGY: THE ROLE OF FACEBOOK, TWEETS, AND TEXTING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTH ACTIVISM

This paper explores one teen’s experience using social media to organize a high school walkout. Jonathan Ortiz learned about education budget cuts from his teacher, and leveraged social media and texting as political organizing tools. The paper explores what it meant for Jonathan to develop as a youth activist during a time when social media and texting have made organizing faster and more efficient. The paper concludes (1) face-to-face relationships provided the most impactful developmental opportunities for Jonathan as he came of age as a youth activist, and (2) social media may be more likely to support the development of youth activism when adult mentors intervene with strategies of facilitation and teaching.

This study employed convergent parallel mixed methods design to examine the transformative effect of education programmes as perceived by ex-offenders within the South African Department of Correctional Services (DCS). The DCS delivers education programmes to incarcerated people in compliance with Section 29 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The theoretical framework which underpins this study is the Good Lives Model (GLM) of offender rehabilitation.This research was influenced by John Dewey’s Pragmatic Paradigm. Inquiry was conducted in two Regions; Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal. A convergent parallel mixed methods approach was adopted throughout this study. In-depth interviews and questionnaires were utilized as data collection instruments in the research field. Pilot testing of a questionnaire form was conducted to five (5) exoffenders with demographic characteristics similar to the research sample. A total of fifty-two (52) ex-offenders who attended education programmes in the DCS; forty (40) questionnaires and twelve (12) in-depth interviews) were involved in this study. Both data types; quantitative and qualitative were collected concurrently or parallel and given equal status during data collection (Molina-Azorin & Cameron, 2010, Small, 2011, Creswell, 2013, Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007). Analysis of questionnaires and in-depth interviews data were performed independently. Data integration was performed at design, methods, results and discussion levels (Fetters & Freshwater, 2015, Ivankova, 2015). The main research findings demonstrate that education programmes promote offender transformation, reduce recidivism rate, improve quality of life, improve literacy levels and a criminal record is a barrier to ex-offenders’ employment in communities. Based on the research findings, this study concludes that education programmes enhance offender transformation, reduce recidivism rate, improve quality of life, improve literacy levels and ex-offenders struggle to secure employment opportunities in communities due to a criminal record. This study recommends further research on the transformative effect of education programmes in other Regions, the DCS should prioritize implementation of technical, vocational and entrepreneurial education programmes and a policy which facilitates ex-offenders’ employment to reduce recidivism rate should be developed. Finally, this study proposes a Student Transformation Model for guiding implementation of education programmes within the South African Department of Correctional Services.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
Humanities Education
PhD
Unrestricted

In Thailand, design for sustainability is still in its early days. This research explored the education aspect of this phenomenon by looking at its three nested levels of design education – the educational paradigm, organisation and management of the learning environment, and learning and pedagogy. These nested contexts lead to three key research questions. Is a paradigm shift towards sustainability in Thailand's design education plausible and able to be put into practice? Could education for sustainable development (ESD) be embedded into Thailand’s design education through Bonnett’s (2002) ‘frame of mind’ concept? And, can dissemination of transformative learning be a critical strategy for teaching sustainability to design students in Thailand? The study provided data concerning the current education paradigm, curriculum management, role of sustainable design pedagogy in higher education, and other insights into a broader picture of the relationship between design education and industries. At the heart of the research was the participatory action research (PAR) process, with curriculum interventions grounded in whole systems thinking and aiming to unfold if transformative learning can help in facilitating a shift in learners’ perspective away from a mechanistic worldview. The interventions were designed and developed based on ‘the inside-out approach’, well linked to the Buddhist tradition and the concept of education for sustainability as a frame of mind. Focus group discussion with designers, classroom observations prior to the interventions, post-intervention student focus group discussions and interviews with policy-makers, educators with management responsibilities and sustainable design educators were also carried out. The key findings reveal the gap between sustainability-related rhetoric and practices at multiple levels, the lack of shared values on sustainability among stakeholders of Thai design education, the association between seniority and the Thai concept of change, and the practicality and effectiveness of transformative sustainability learning when implemented with various groups of Thai design students.

Art therapy training programmes around the world feature a unique type of course based on dynamic art-work experience and conducted in the context of a core student group. The course is usually called an 'experiential group course'. There is world-wide practical recognition in the professional art therapy literature of the need for dynamic experiential artwork-based courses in art therapy training. What is new is that Israeli lecturers have extended this 'experiential group course' into what I term 'a topic-led dynamic experiential artwork-based course'. The nature of this course in Israel and how it is deployed, planned and conducted is the subject of this thesis. The data for this dissertation were collected from in-depth and wide-ranging interviews with three groups of persons: (a) 11 of Israel's 40 lecturers lecturing on Master's degree and Masters-level plastic art therapy training programmes. All have taught in the teaching mode under investigation here for many years and I looked on them as partners with me on a journey of discovery into the essential nature of this teaching mode in Israel; (b) 15 working art therapists who graduated from Israeli training programmes 3-15 years before participating in this research and who had been working as art therapists since then. They provided a reflexive analysis of what it was like to take a topic-led dynamic experiential artwork-based course. (c) three directors of art therapy training programmes (one current, two former). provided me the background to the theoretical development of art therapy training in Israel. In addition, as an insider researcher, a senior art therapist who has herself designed and taught topic-led dynamic art-based experiential mode courses for many years, I have used my own experience and example from my practice to illustrate and corroborate the points made by my interviewees. The interviews indicated that over the forty years the dynamic experiential teaching mode has been deployed in Israeli art therapy training its use has been extended to the design and teaching of a wide range of theoretical topics and that this extension occurred at approximately the same time on all Israel's recognised art therapy training programmes. From the point of view of the theory of art therapy training this thesis argues that the professional literature displays a significant gap. Many scholars have stressed the vital contribution made by dynamic experiential artwork-based courses to future practitioners' training but no researcher has yet clarified when and for what purpose certain theoretical courses are taught in this mode, how such courses are designed and conducted, and how they produce on students the effects the students say they do—what so many students term their 'magic'. And yet the lecturers who make use of this teaching mode declare it to be indispensable to the transmission of art therapy's concepts, language and methods to the next generation of art therapists. The object of this doctoral research, then, is to explore and expose the nature of topic-led dynamic experiential artwork-based courses in Israel and their particular contribution to Israeli art therapy training. (The research does not aim to investigate what theory of art therapy these lecturers represent nor what body of psychological and other theory they transmit to their students). Given a constructivist epistemology, a phenomenological research paradigm is deployed to investigate how dynamic experiential artwork-based courses achieve their aims. Interview data are analysed by the inductive Socratic analysis method and by theoretical reading, taking a heuristic approach. The key contribution of this thesis to knowledge about art therapy training methods in Israel, is that it unlocks and conceptualizes the transformation of these topic-led dynamic experiential artwork-based courses which the thesis also demonstrates to be transformative for their students. A central argument is that, to achieve these transformative insights lecturers integrate three content elements — theoretical material, artwork-based experiential workshops, and the emotional materials evoked from the students by and during the workshops. They adapt and adjust their workshops and the art materials offered the students to the needs of the theoretical topic they wish to teach. And they make dynamic use of the responses of individual students and the student group to the art materials and the artworks produced from them for the purpose of conveying/ instilling this theoretical topic. The five elements of lecturer, individual students, core group, art materials/ artworks and the learning space created by the lecturer interact uniquely within a dynamic relationship in response to the course topic in what I term in this thesis a 'pentagonal potential space'. It is the integration of the five constituent elements of this relationship and the interrelationships between them that make the courses 'transformative'. In a nutshell, these courses (a) take students on an inner emotional journey which allows the self to adjust to a dynamic therapeutic perception of the course topic; (b) enable students to investigate the given topic to great depths of experiential and intellectual insight and be changed by this insight; and (c) generate in both individual students and the student group emotional processes relating to the topic, which shape their therapeutic development with respect to that topic. These three effects together generate in the student a meaningful and critical development of their therapeutic self as art therapist, a development which so many of them call 'magical'.

Students are coming to school with myriad issues that teachers and schools cannot address alone. ecological systems theory posits that the environments with which a child comes into contact, either directly or indirectly, can impact her or his development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). With the support of community partner organizations in the local community, community schools can effectively respond to students’ needs and help them navigate the interconnected web of environments. Through interviews, focus groups, and a document review, this cross-site case study explored the practices that are employed by community school leaders (school staff and employees of community partner organizations) at two pilot high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), to implement six guiding principles of community schools.

The study also captured impacts of these practices through participants’ perceptions, documents, and the application of transformative leadership theory. The findings revealed that the pilot school model is a natural avenue for the community schools strategy, and that intentional practices and a shared vision by all stakeholders can result in transformative impacts on students and the school as a whole. District and school leaders could consider developing processes and systems for implementing a community schools strategy district-wide by providing funding for community school coordinators for school sites, working with school leaders to develop their shared decision-making skills, and leveraging the assets and resources of community partners.

Motivated by Parker Palmer’s call for teachers to understand the self who teaches, I recently completed a transformative research journey that revealed and reconceptualised deeply sedimented dimensions of my teaching identity. I am a university based science teacher educator from Indonesia, and recently participated in a 3-year longitudinal co-teaching project in lower secondary schools in Western Australia. Conducting co-teaching and narrative research stimulated me to think deeply about and reflect critically on my teaching identity. I came to understand the powerful role of culture, religion, and personal experiences in transformative learning and sustainability education in shaping my teaching identity.As the research involved critical reflection on my professional praxis, I adopted a multi-paradigmatic research approach with three focus paradigms - interpretivism, criticalism, and postmodernism - and adopted critical auto/ethnography as my research methodology. I applied multiple genres within arts-based research, including poetic reflections (poems), stories, dialogues within narrative, and metaphors. My five research quality standards were critical reflexivity, praxis, representation, trustworthiness and authenticity, and crystallisation.I discovered that my teaching identity is not fixed and that the journey in revealing my teaching identity is endless. I revealed and reconceptualised my teaching identity from four main perspectives. I came to understand that I am a product of cultural hybridity resulting from interactions of very different cultures, including Javanese, Bimanese, Indonesian and Australian. As I was growing up Islam became my way of life and shaped my values, beliefs and actions in all aspects of my life; I discovered religion as a hegemonic power in my teaching identity. My postgraduate journey embedded three aspects of transformative learning in my teaching identity: (1) constructivism, (2) empowering teacher-student relationships, and (3) dialectical thinking. I came to realise the power of sustainability education in shaping my teaching identity, through my core life values of religion and childhood education. These values have found expression in my teaching practice via ‘Green Chemistry’.This doctoral research was an empowering journey that enriched my personal and professional life by enabling me to examine and develop core values, beliefs, and practices that form my teaching identity. I hope that my newly transformed teaching identity enables me to further develop my professional practice as a science teacher educator who has a passion to empower the agency of her student teachers and to empower her readers to reflect on their own identities, both personally and professionally.

The environment in which higher education institutions are situated has been impacted by a number of disruptive forces since the early 1990s, including acceleration in the capability of information technology (Beagle, 2006; Bennett, 2003; Foster, 2014), changing attitudes about learning pedagogy (Barr & Tagg, 1995), and calls for accountability from government and the public (Appleton, Stevenson, & Boden, 2011; Forrest & Bostick, 2013). Innovative leaders in academic librarianship have been empowered by their institutions to lead efforts to create transformative library learning spaces that can effectively leverage the opportunities presented through these disruptions to aid the institution in meeting its goals, now and in the future.

The theoretical framework for this study was grounded in planned (Lewin, 1951) and emergent change (Bess & Dee, 2012; Burnes, 2004, Leslie, 1996) theories, which are both needed to foster sustainable and transformative outcomes (Mossop, 2013). The following research question guided this study:

How do organizational leaders experience engagement with stakeholders during the creation of library learning spaces, from visioning through planning, implementation and evaluation?

This basic, interpretive, qualitative study employed individual, semi-structured interviews with (N=11) library leaders who possessed primary responsibility for leading others to facilitate creation of library learning spaces at their institution. Projects serving as subjects for the study were completed between 2011 and 2016. Leader subjects were identified through intentional and emergent sampling. Themes were inductively identified through open and axial coding methods (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Artifacts related to the library space projects were analyzed to corroborate findings. Elite interviews with (N2) professionals from varied backgrounds who have expert knowledge on library learning space design were implemented to integrate additional perspectives into findings.

Five principal findings were identified that framed the process of leadership engagement through a library space project: 1) Input: Leadership Characteristics & Project Ignition; 2) Project Drivers: Institutional Authority, Mission, & Needs; 3) Building on Relational Capital; 4) Persistence through Planned Change; and 5) Maintaining Sustainable Spaces. This study may contribute a greater understanding of leadership requirements for library space design projects, as well as identify activities associated with project success.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Exploring emancipatory and transformative paradigms towards lifelong learning in the new millenium confront facilitators of adult learning to reflect critically on their own paradigms and practices of learning. Transformative learning occurs in this process of revision and reflection and when it leads to transformed meaning perspectives or change, emancipatory learning takes place. This implies that the process of critical reflection can be seen as a key to adult learning. Out of this background the broad question arises of how facilitators of adult learning can be prompted to engage in reflection on their own learning journeys to playa role in uplifting the status of adult learning and to become lifelong learners themselves. This study, in the form of a personal learning journey, in the short term addresses this question by focusing on three levels namely: ~ Exploring more relevant and alternative research approaches to the field of adult learning ~ Exploring adult learning theory in a dialogical and reflective manner ~ Developing integrated and holistic models for adult learning and lifelong learning in a constructivist and reflective manner. In the long term the learning journey aims to effect a framework for the narratives of other facilitators of adult learning in constructing meaning-making in their processes of transformative and emancipatory learning. A constructivist, biographical and dialogical approach is followed to engage reflectively with my inquiry and aiming at creating emancipatory and transformative challenges for facilitators of adult learning. It invites facilitators to respond in a critical, dialogical and reflective manner to their changing environments and practices. Adult learning theory is explored in a dialogical manner and an integrated and holistic model for adult learning is developed. My learning journey thus challenges other facilitators of adult learning to provide leadership in their practice by developing the ability to reflect critically resulting in alternative ways of engaging with the challenges facing us towards a learning millenium.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Transformatiewe en Emansipatoriese Uitdagings vir Fasiliteerders van Volwassene Leer: 'n Lerende Reis Deur emansipatoriese en transformatiewe paradigmas op pad na lewenslange leer in die nuwe millenium te eksploreer word fasiliteerders van volwassene leer gekonfronteer om krities oor hul eie paradigmas en praktyke van leer te reflekteer. Transformatiewe leer vind plaas in die proses van revisie en refleksie en wanneer dit lei tot getransformeerde betekenis perspektiewe of verandering, vind emansipatoriese leer plaas. Dit impliseer dat die proses van kritiese refleksie as 'n sleutel tot volwassene leer gesien kan word. Vanuit hierdie agtergrond ontstaan die breë vraag van hoe fasiliteerders van volwassene leer geïnspireer kan word om te reflekteer oor hulle eie lerende reise en daardeur 'n rol te speel in die opheffing van die status van volwassene leer en om hulself lewenslange leerders te word. Hierdie studie, in die vorm van 'n persoonlike lerende reis, spreek die vraag op die korttermyn op drie vlakke aan, naamlik: ~ Eksplorering van meer relevante en alternatiewe navorsingsbenaderings in die veld van volwassene leer ~ Eksplorering van volwassene leer teorie op 'n dialogiese en reflektiewe wyse ~ Ontwikkeling van geïntegreerde en holistiese modelle vir volwassene leer en lewenslange leer op 'n konstruktivistiese en reflektiewe wyse. Die lerende reis beoog om op die langtermyn 'n raamwerk vir die narratiewe van ander fasiliteerders van volwassene leer daar te stel in konstruktiewe betekenismaking in hul prosesse van transformatiewe en emansipatoriese leer. 'n Konstruktivistiese, biografiese en dialogiese benadering word gevolg ten einde reflektief om te gaan met my ondersoek met die doelom emansipatoriese en transformatiewe uitdagings aan fasiliteerders van volwassene leer te stel. Fasiliteerders word uitgenooi om op 'n kritiese, dialogiese en reflektiewe wyse te reageer op hul veranderende omgewings en praktyke. Volwassene leer teorie word geeksploreer op In dialogiese wyse en In geïntegreerde en holistiese model vir volwassene leer is ontwikkel. My lerende reis konfronteer dus ander fasiliteerders van volwassene leer met die uitdaging om leierskap daar te stel in hulle praktyk deur die vermoë te ontwikkel om krities te reflekteer. Die resultaat hiervan is om oorweging te skenk aan alternatiewe maniere van omgaan met die uitdagings wat ons in die gesig staar op pad na 'n lerende millenium.

Within the paradigm of Sociocultural Theory, and using Activity Theory as a data-gathering and management tool, this microgenetic case study examined the processes - the growth, change, and development - engaged in by student-teachers in a foreign language education program as they worked together to complete an activity. The activity involved digital video recording and editing, mediators which were intended to facilitate the iterative review of and subsequent reflection and action upon the content of the video during its creation. By investigating the process of contextual interaction between learners and the mediational elements of their environment as the activity progressed, this study intended to further understanding of preservice teacher development in at least two important ways. The aims of this study were to discover a) tangible evidence of cognitive transformation (development in the form of regulation), as well as b) aspects of professionalization into a community of skilled second language teachers (as evidenced by activity). The present study took place in a graduate-level foreign language/TESOL education practicum course. The activity involved the making of a digital video to explain and exemplify a given second language instructional approach, as well as the rationale behind and methods of targeting a specific language skill. Using theoretical constructs previously shown to be effective in the pedagogy of teacher preparation, the creators of this task endeavored to design a socially- and artifact-mediated activity with the potential to broaden and deepen student-teachers' pedagogical and professional knowledge. The student-teachers failed to engage in meaningful dialogical or critical reflection as they engaged in the task, and made no perceptible regulative movement. What ultimately was revealed in the case of the study participants was a disconnect between the intentions of the core-task designers and the outcomes effected by the student-teachers. The data gleaned from this close examination of student-teacher processes was revelatory in terms of the quantity and types of factors that appeared to significantly impact the outcomes of the project. These factors have the potential to inform the process of translating socio-cultural theory into pedagogical practice, and should be of interest to anyone involved in the development of student-teachers, including those who design or deliver preservice teacher curricula. Discussed are the possible explanations for the disconnect between the designers and administrators of the activity and the participants in the study. Also considered are the potentially serious implications for second language teacher education programs and their curricula in terms of the application of sociocultural constructs to learning tasks and environments. Recommendations include increased scaffolding by the course professor through direct guidance, as well as by structuring tasks to facilitate students' ability to collaborate and to perceive and resolve the conflicts, contradictions, and tensions that arise during the course of the activity. On a broader level, serious examinations of teacher education programs and curricula are also recommended to look for ways to better understand, align, and achieve the goals of teacher developers and those of their student-teachers.

This dissertation explores the confluence between transformative learning (TL), education for sustainability (EfS), and Expeditionary Learning (EL). The researcher has studied the experiences of EL graduates from three high schools and asked the question: does participation in an EL high school result in transformative learning? If so, what are the elements that compose this (or series of) transformative learning experience(s) and what learning structures within EL specifically support TL? These transformative learning experiences include changes in identity, paradigmatic or mental modal change, and/or behavior change. Lastly, the research reveals sustainability-supportive qualities of graduates that emerge from the transformative learning experiences. Results from the research indicate there are three learning realms from which students experienced transformative learning experiences. These realms included: community, academic challenge in the real world, and deep experience of people and place. The research uses grounded theory as the overarching methodology to study data from an exploratory case study, as well as to guide the data collection and interpretation process. Objectives for this study were threefold: 1. Increase understanding of the impact of EL practices on its graduates, with specific emphasis placed on transformative learning experiences; 2. Investigate the process of transformative learning 3. Understand the relationship between EL graduates' TL experiences and sustainability-supportive qualities of graduates

The aim of this study was is to uncover the interdependence between self-transformation and community participation through analyzing the self-reports of participants in a 30-day community-based transformative educational program called the True School, organized by the Konohana Family in Fujinomiya, Japan. This research explored the question: What conscious phenomena, in terms of self-awareness, were experienced through participating in a 30-day community-based transformative educational program called the True School? The Konohana Family is an intentional community located in Fujinomiya, Japan, whose cultural belief system is based on transcending ego. Daily journals and a critical hermeneutic conversation were used to explicate the conscious phenomena experienced. Some experiences that the participants aspired for were later felt, and some experiences that participants felt were later aspired for. The researcher found that, prior to the True School, participants experienced emotional conflicts and repressed their personal desires. They desired acceptance, personal ownership, transformation, and wisdom. They aspired to feel autonomy, confidence, creative expression, fulfillment, and vulnerability. During the True School, participants wanted to feel confidence, creative expression, and vulnerability. They experienced compassion, embodiment, empowerment, gratitude, intuition, joy, vulnerability, will, and wisdom. After the True School, participants felt acceptance, faith, joy, non-attachment, and wisdom. More so, locus of control (LoC), the belief in a source of control as internal or external, was found to modulate self-construal and worldview. LoC was considered to be synonymous with ego, as the belief in a separate self. When ego is intended to be acknowledged and suspended or transcended, harmony is experienced and community forms. This research addresses the significance for further applications of community-based learning environments, specifically with the intention of transcending ego.

Urban Education
Ph.D.
This case study examined how participating in a short-term education abroad program fostered transformative learning for a small group of community college students. As a participant-observer, I utilized ethnographic methods, including interviews, observations, and document analysis, to understand students' perceptions of their experiences studying in Peru for two weeks. The following questions guided the research: How do participants describe their perceptions of their experiences studying abroad? How do participants' biographies impact their perceptions of their experiences? How do programmatic features influence participants' perceptions of studying abroad? To investigate these questions, I utilized Glaser and Strauss' (1973) constant comparative method, in which I systematically and simultaneously collected and analyzed the data. Kiely's (2005) transformative learning model for service-learning served as a frame through which I analyzed participants' experiences. Four key themes concerning learning processes and outcomes emerged from this analysis. The new relationships that students forged and the intensive language classes provided the most impactful learning experiences. As a result of studying abroad, the participants reflected on and reassessed their own lives and expressed a desire to engage in future international travel. This study's findings illustrate the transformative potential of short-term study abroad programs for community college students. Previous short-term study abroad research has primarily investigated the outcomes of students' participation in four- to eight-week programs at four-year institutions; few studies have documented community college students' learning processes in very short education programs. The insights gained from this study contribute to the extant study abroad literature and inform community college administrators and faculty as they design and implement education abroad programs at their institutions.
Temple University--Theses

This thesis identifies personal sexuality as a significant and crucial site for transformative adult learning. Personal sexuality is shown to be an important adult problematic vital for individual and social transformation. Adult education of the radical/transformative tradition professes to respond to adult learning needs through a process of liberative critical reflection. However, the thesis shows that personal sexuality is an adult learning domain which, in fact, is largely overlooked both in theory and in practice by adult education. The study is cross-disciplinary. Its theoretical framework is drawn from theories of transformative learning in adult education together with psychological, sociological and feminist theories of personal development and social relations. Based on original, qualitative case study fieldwork, the findings from the personal and stories of seventy six participants reveal a hitherto secret and complex swathe of interconnecting learning strands. These strands are shown to operate throughout different life transitions and extend to encompass the next generation and the wider community. The issue of communicative competence in relation to personal sexuality emerges as central to participants’ relational concerns, learning, agendas, intergenerational educational roles, work roles and to their capacities for transformative action. Major themes in childhood and adolescent learning reveal patterns of sexual repression and oppression as de facto key constituents in the psycho-cultural construction of personal sexual identity. These themes show that the culture of sexual silence, initiated in childhood learning, is maintained in adult relationships of intimacy and contributes to further embedding oppressive gender relations in the socio-cultural fabric to the detriment of both sexes and of society. Major themes of adult sexual experience are identified as relating to a) self-image and sexual self-esteem; b) the challenges of intimate partnerships and changes in relationships; c) parenting and the inter-generational tendency to reproduce personal sexual learning.

Titled: Exploring a Transformative Pedagogy with Blended Learning for Emirati Higher Education Students, this portfolio relates a process of reflective praxis with the development of a pedagogy which was co-constructed with Emirati students. These students were studying in the first cycle of a bachelor's degree in Communications and Media Management at the United Arab Emirate's Higher Colleges of Technology between 2001 and 2004. The portfolio describes this collaborative instructional design project using English as a Second Language (ESL) and constructivist theory, exploratory and web based learning within the formation of a community of !earners via asynchronous !earning networks. Dilemmas of cultural synergy are discussed that may face sojourning Western educators working within the Higher Colleges of Education: the portfolio proposes strategies for the development of an appropriate methodology, responding to the question: I. How to develop a functional pedagogy that is culturally sensitive and relevant to Emirati students? Information technologies provide the opportunity for faculty to develop and augment instructional course design. Within the functional pedagogy proposed in this portfolio is rationalised the requirement to supplement aspects of the pedagogy online. Therefore, the portfolio also propose strategies for the development of a supportive e-learning portal appropriate to this cohort of students, responding to the question: 2. How to develop an e-learning aspect that is supportive of the pedagogy? The portfolio uses two case studies to make a comparative evaluation of the receptivity of students to contrasting modes of teaching approaches, reporting the pedagogic development of a two year undergraduate degree program. Reflective practice and cohort feedback over a two year period produced thick longitudinal feedback from the gender-separated Emirati cohort. This feedback took the form of daily email communication, focus groups, tutorials and questionnaire responses. The portfolio investigation added a major retrospective response with a questionnaire adapted from the established Barker and King model of 1993. (See Appendix H for further academic validation of this model and Appendix F for the developmental feedback from students), Pertinent research and theory are discussed through analysis of the learning outcomes for both the students and faculty participants. Recommendations are made that expatriate Western staff develop awareness to the culturally defined learning needs of the HCT Emirati students. The pedagogy and online learning support were perceived by the cohort as a new style, which responded particularly well to their needs, interest and expectations.

Stemming from increased levels of participation and diversity of the student base (Biggs & Tang, 2011) and growing scrutiny on the quality of university degrees (Crowley, 2013; Marr, 2013), governments have begun putting in place mechanisms to monitor and support quality in higher education. Over the last few decades, a notion of quality that has gained traction in the scholarly community is that of quality in terms of enhancement and transformation (Cheng, 2017; Houston, 2008; Williams, 2016). Guided by the discourses of Transformative Learning Theory (Mezirow, 2000) and transformative conceptions of quality in higher education (Harvey & Green, 1993), this study examined graduate student learning experiences and perceptions of quality. Of further interest was the extent to which these learners were living the intended transformation that academic programs are seeking to foster. Using a multiple case-study design, Seidman’s (2013) three-stage interview protocol served as primary source of data from a sample of six PhD candidates across three faculties. Secondary data sources included collected documents, a reflexivity journal and field notes. A within-case analysis was performed for each case and compared via a cross-case analysis. Institutional characterizations of quality were examined across 25 artifacts via a document analysis. The four principal factors that characterized the PhD candidate learning experience emerged as the significance of intentional individualized guidance, becoming an independent scholar, the importance of social interactions and community, and the transformative nature of learning. Gaps were identified between institutional intent and the learner experience. However, complementarity between discourses of transformation appeared to offer bridges between the macro-level institutional orientation toward fostering student transformation and the micro-level transformative learning experiences lived by students. The dissertation makes conceptual, methodological and empirical contributions to the domains of postsecondary quality and transformative learning. Implications for policy related to quality assurance as well as practice in program development and doctoral supervision are equally shared.

Challenging problems require transdisciplinary, novel solutions. Equity demands that all students receive appropriate services to develop talents and potential, however, poverty limits opportunity. According to the National Association for Gifted Children (2017), approximately 6% to 10% of all students exist within the gifted and talented range. A specific subset of this demographic, underrepresented gifted and talented (UGT) student fail to receive appropriate access to develop their creativity and leadership potential. Grounded in the Human Ecology Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), this case study argues that talent development requires arts education to enrich and support UGT students. Application of a qualitative case study, design process allowed authentic interviews of professionals working in the fields of gifted and talented education, fine art, elementary education, and student advocacy to develop. The themes and opinions regarding equity, UGT students, and arts education discovered in this study provide salient recommendations for the academic community.

The purpose of this case study was to explore and describe educational psychology students' experiences of academic service learning (ASL) as part of a higher education- rural school partnership in order to inform knowledge on higher education community engagement. The Transformative Learning Theory framed the study by engaging students in an active meaningmaking process of critical self-reflection and integration of experiences. Qualitative methodology was chosen as the preferred mode of inquiry which contributed to my insight and understanding of participants' subjective experiences of ASL. A constructivist epistemology guided dynamic interaction with participants, providing a platform for co-constructing knowledge generated based on participants' retrospective experiences. Seven cohorts of Master's students in Educational Psychology (2007 to 2013; n=22), who were involved in assessments and interventions at a rural school as part of their training at the University of Pretoria, were purposefully selected. Participants were, as far as possible, representative in terms of gender, age and cultural background. Qualitative data generation techniques (i.e. questionnaires and semi-structured interviews) were used to collect data, which were then thematically analysed by reporting on patterns across cohorts. The findings suggested that participants experienced the ASL practicum as an engaged scholarship that is socially transformative. The findings furthermore revealed that participants experienced ASL as an integral part of the educational psychology curriculum and a platform for initiating and developing professional identity. The ASL practicum experiences of participants are consistent across cohorts and similar to that experienced by other students in ASL programmes.
Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
Educational Psychology
MEd
Unrestricted

This project suggests that the exclusion of children from social discourse has been naturalized, and remains largely unchallenged in the West (Salisbury and Styles, 2012, p. 113). While some didactic picturebooks and pedagogies construct and perpetuate this exclusion, I will explore the potential of critical picturebooks and critical pedagogy to counter it. Critical picturebooks and critical pedagogy, I propose, can help to build and support the critical consciousness of readers, transforming their social relations. Specifically, this project is concerned with the exclusion of children from discourse on colonialism in Canada, and it highlights the need for critical consciousness in this area. I suggest that critical picturebooks can play a role in unsettling settler relations, or shifting Canada-Aboriginal relations towards more ethical ones. I therefore offer an anti-colonial pedagogy for picturebooks to facilitate these aims. This pedagogy is generated through putting theory on picturebooks, critical pedagogy, Indigenous methods, as well as local pedagogy in Alert Bay into an interdisciplinary conversation. I begin by asking ‘how can picturebooks function as transformative texts?’ Drawing on picturebook theory, I present five elements of critical picturebooks that make them conducive to transformative social discourse: 1) flexibility of the form (enabling complex, cross-genre narratives); 2) accessibility of composite texts (allowing for multiliteracies); 3) textual gaps in composite texts; 4) their dialogical nature (often being read and analyzed aloud); and, 5) their ability to address content silenced in many educational settings. I hold that “the plasticity of mind” which Margaret Mackey suggests is engendered by the picturebook’s flexible form (explicated by these five elements) also fosters a plasticity of mind in terms of the reader navigating social issues or complex problems presented in its content (as cited in Salisbury and Styles, 2012, p. 91). This dual plasticity positions the picturebook as a valuable and empowering discursive or dialogical tool. If, as Paulo Freire asserts, “it is in speaking their word that people, by naming the world, transform it, dialogue imposes itself as the way by which they achieve significance as human beings”, then it is crucial that children are included in social dialogue that has been typically reserved for adults (Freire, 2000, p. 69). I then discuss the ways in which my participatory action research (PAR) in the community of Alert Bay, British Columbia, illustrates the transformative potentials of picturebooks, and helped to form an anti-colonial pedagogy for picturebooks. Workshops with local children, young adults and adults examined the unique form and content of picturebook narratives. In following with Freire, the aim was not only to explore the pedagogical promise of existing texts, but also to co-develop tools with which participants generate their own self-representations. We focused on developing narratives on food, an important generative theme that connects many facets of life including experiences of colonialism. Through additional conversations and embodied learning activities, I was introduced to local anti-colonial pedagogical methods. I put these experiences into conversation with theories of critical pedagogy put forth by Freire, Ivan Illich, bell hooks and Henry Giroux and a discussion of Indigenous research and pedagogical methods offered by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Sandy Grande, Leanne Simpson, Lynn Gehl, and curricular resources. This research culminated in making Grease, a picturebook on the importance of oolichan oil to Alert Bay, told from a visitor’s perspective. In creating Grease, I have aimed to practically apply my proposed pedagogy, and make my work available to both Alert Bay and (in the future) to readers farther afield. This is an effort to address the dearth of anti-colonial literature and education available to children in Canada and elsewhere. The final chapter of my thesis serves as an annotative guide to be read alongside Grease. The pedagogy and picturebook combined present tenable ways in which picturebooks can engage children in critical discussions of colonialism and function as transformative texts.

Today's academic and social environment creates uncertainties, new roles, frequent changes, and challenging situations for student affairs academic leaders. The purpose of this study was to explore how student affairs academic leaders described their recent challenging experiences in addressing student drug abuse in higher education. The conceptual framework was based on adult transformative learning theory and applied transformative leadership perspectives. An interview format with open-ended questions was used to explore the experiences of 8 student affairs leaders who had faced challenging situations in the context of student drug abuse. A qualitative interpretive analysis was used that involved open coding of significant words and statements that were further classified into themes. Results from the leaders' experiences indicated 4 themes associated with transformative learning: challenge, reflection, constructive dialogue, and action, as well as 7 themes related to transformative leadership: accurate information, collaboration, constructive dialogue, critical reflection, responsibility, support, and vision. Critical reflection and vision were also found to have aided leaders faced with challenging situations. A significant finding was that all participant leaders asserted the importance of applying evidence-based research in the hope of developing positive action for both the students' well-being and the growth of the academic institution. The results of this study have the potential to inform best practice in adult transformative learning and adult transformative leadership, benefiting academic leaders facing challenging situations in their social and academic environments.

There are three hypotheses for this research: 1. High school mathematics students in urban public schools, who are provided interactive technology resources during normal course work, will experience a multiplier effect of enhanced learning in mathematics. They will have an increase in positive dispositions indicative of their identity development as competent doers of math. 2. Through focusing on solving problems that relate to the life-world of students, students will experience an increase in the levels of solidarity with participants of the course. This will have a positive impact of the learning experiences and achievement of students. 3. Students will develop increased value of using their developing competencies in math to model and analyze issues relevant to their communities.

The purpose of this research is to study effective utilization of interactive technologies and math computer programs in public high school mathematics classes. The interactive technologies used in classes are to support graphical, tabluar, verbal and analytical representations of the mathematics in hopes of increasing the learning potential and math fluency of students. The research will serve as a basis for ongoing development of teaching practices that improve student achievement in mathematics.

The research design is an interpretive / phenomenological study of evolving attitudes and practices of students as they are engaged with math problem solving. Students will not be asked to produce any data solely for the purposes of the research. All activities that students do, and all data that will inform the research, will emerge from best teaching practices, which are supported by the school principal and have been formally approved by the school board. All methods and strategies employed in this study are ones I have used, over the past six years, in my role as a highly qualified math teacher in Newark public schools. No changes in what happens will occur because of this dissertation study.

The research design is an interpretive / phenomenological study of evolving attitudes and practices of students as they are engaged with math problem solving. Students will not be asked to produce any data solely for the purposes of the research. All activities that students do, and all data that will inform the research, will emerge from best teaching practices, which are supported by the school principal and have been formally approved by the school board. All methods and strategies employed in this study are ones I have used, over the past six years, in my role as a highly qualified math teacher in Newark public schools. No changes in what happens will occur because of this dissertation study.

Not all teachers are implementing the best practices that this study focuses on. I want to shed light on these practices and show how they can become more common and done in a more collaborative way. Students can opt not to use technologies at all, but it is not likely they would want to since doing so would slow down their progress. Teachers, however, are required to teach math with using various technologies, such as in an advanced graphing calculator or an interactive smart board. This is a case of, students are using technology in classes, gaining advantages with this technology use, and I would just like to analyze it write about my findings in my dissertation. Please see the school issued student calculator contract included with this application. It shows that math teachers are required to teach with school approved technologies, in this case a newer handheld graphing calculator), but that students may opt not to use it. Furthermore, many teachers don't yet know how to use these newer school approved technologies and must be shown the methods and benefits.

Long distance running has become increasingly popular in Hong Kong and some middle-aged men take up running in midlife. This research studies the transformative learning that occurs when they practise long distance running in midlife and how it contributes to midlife transition. At the beginning of the study, four hypotheses were developed based on researcher’s observations and literature review. Thirteen middle-aged Hong Kong male runners were then interviewed in a semi-structured way. Thirty-four themes were identified from the data and analysed. The hypotheses were evaluated and arguments of this thesis were then developed. It is then found that long distance running mirrors some real life situations of middle-aged men, triggers transformative learning, and provides the setting for them to reflect on and practise the transformed beliefs and values. When running and the associated transformation address the initial concerns of the middle-aged men, and they are able to resolve difficulties in running with proper methods and find ways to enjoy running, long distance running becomes part of their lives. Long distance running is then a high leverage activity which addresses other midlife concerns and contributes to other life aspects and midlife transition. Moreover, those who were good at sports as teenagers and did not exercise regularly in mid-adulthood are found to benefit more easily from taking up long distance running in midlife. This study extends the application of transformative learning theory to understand and facilitate midlife transition and shows that a single routine activity, like long distance running, can be a multi-function activity in the transformative learning process and a high leverage activity for midlife transition that contributes to multiple life aspects.

Using Mezirow's (1991) transformative learning theory as a framework, this qualitative case study investigated conditions conducive to transformative learning experiences among theological students in an online program at a seminary. Learning Activities Survey developed by King in 1998, a Community of Inquiry framework proposed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer in 2000, and semi-structured interviews were employed. Emails were sent to 85 students (81 current In-Ministry M.Div. students and four recent graduates), and 38 (44.7%) took the online survey. A typical participant in this survey was a married White male in his 30s. Of the 38 survey respondents, 30 (78.9%) indicated having experienced transformation during their study. Among those 30, class assignment (66.7%) and a person (60.6%) were two factors that influenced them the most in their transformative learning experiences. Data collected from the online survey and two online courses shed light on the semi-structured interviews conducted with 11 students. A qualitative analysis software ATLAS ti. and Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory were utilized to analyze the data. This resulted in a proposed integrative learning condition model which proposed two conditions conducive to transformation, being in-ministry and using integrative learning strategy. These two conditions were significantly influenced by physical presence. A surprising result was that physical presence does not indicate a three- or four-year stay on campus at a traditional seminary, but is a by-product of a blended, online program which gives students more opportunities to develop quality relationships both during their on-campus intensives and in their local ministries. This study provides empirical evidence supporting the idea of online theological education using a blended model which promotes integrative learning strategy and learners being in-ministry.