scholarly journals Holistic Orientation in Education: Transformative Art of Including, Connecting and Balancing

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-49
Author(s):  
Gaurav Ojha
Keyword(s):  
Education Policy ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Narrative Research ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Personal Reflections ◽  
Ways Of Being

This study explores holistic orientation in education reflecting on practice-based accounts of educators with emerging pedagogical insights and implication conceptualized within transformative learning theory. Similarly, this study explores holistic orientation in education with a reflective praxis that advances collaborative self-narrative research incorporating personal reflections of educators seeking to nurture transformed ways of including, connecting and balancing in their pedagogical practices. In this study, educators with holistic orientations place emphasis on inner lives, balance, exploring dynamics of interconnections, trustful and authentic relationships, dialogues, concern and care as transformative initiatives in their pedagogical practices. Based on the guiding metaphor that what you see depends upon how you look, this article offers both descriptive and reflective insights into pedagogical reflections of educators that exemplify holistic orientations as a practical implication for transformative learning. The findings of this article indicate holistic orientations in education as a resonance educators experience and explore between why they teach and how they teach. More importantly, together with further implications for transformative research and education policy, this study aims to recreate possibilities for transforming educational practices with transformed ways of being, balancing, and relating of educators.

scholarly journals Transforming Tourists and "Culturalising Commerce": Indigenous Tourism at Bawaka in Northern Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Lloyd ◽  
Sandie Suchet-Pearson ◽  
Sarah Wright ◽  
Matalena Tofa ◽  
Claire Rowland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Educational Aims ◽  
North East ◽  
The Social ◽  
Task Requirements ◽  
Indigenous Tourism ◽  
Ways Of Being

There is currently an increasing interest in Indigenous tourism in Australia. Policies in Australia often use the rhetoric of sustainability, but position Indigenous tourism as a means for economic growth and development (Whitford & Ruhanen, 2010). This study shows that interpersonal relationships, cultural and social interactions, and learning are key to achieving the goals of Indigenous tourism providers or “hosts,” and to the experiences of tourists. This article explores tourist experiences of activities run by the Indigenous-owned tour company Bawaka Cultural Enterprises (hereafter BCE) in North East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. BCE is an example of an Indigenous tourism business that aims to achieve social change by sharing of Indigenous ways of being, knowledges, and practices with non-Indigenous people during tours, whilst also ensuring that the business is sustainable and manageable for the family who runs it. In this sense, BCE’s tourism activities can be understood as an attempt to “culturalise commerce,” rather than commercialising culture (Bunten, 2010). In this article, we contribute to growing literature on transformative learning theory and tourism by considering tourists’ narratives of their experiences with BCE. We focus on the way in which tourists are transformed by an increased connection to their hosts and their country. We argue that BCE’s activities consciously introduce different ways of being to tourists and visitors. A growing awareness, understanding, and respect for these ways of being can inspire a sense of collective purpose and identity, and a deep emotional response to tours. Connection, however, is not always smooth and easy. Central to the process outlined in Mezirow’s (1978) transformative learning theory are encounters and engagements with other people and different and unfamiliar contexts, which may lead to disorienting feelings and experiences. We argue that the practical aspects of being at Bawaka, combined with the new skills, task requirements, and political realities that commitment to new ways of being bring, can be disconcerting and disorienting for tourists. The availability of spaces and processes to reflect on these points of disorientation may determine whether these experiences challenge and/or contribute to personal transformation. These factors highlight areas for further exploration in developing a theory of transformative learning in the Indigenous context, and a need for policies to move beyond a narrow focus on economic aspects of tourism to consider the social and educational aims of both tourism ventures and tourists themselves.

Transformative Learning in an Online Environment

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Cranton
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Online Environment

The purpose of this article is to explore the potential for fostering transformative learning in an online environment. It provides an overview of transformative learning theory, including the variety of perspectives on the theory that have evolved as the theory matured. Strategies and practices for fostering transformative learning are presented, followed by a description of the online environment and how strategies for encouraging transformative learning might be carried into that environment. Students’ voices are brought in to corroborate and to question the importance of these strategies. The article concludes with a discussion of how an educator’s style and strengths can be brought into online teaching, especially with a view to helping learners examine their meaning perspectives.

Exploring Transformative Learning at the Cultural Interface: Insights From Successful Aboriginal University Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-13
Author(s):  
Braden Hill ◽  
Grantley Winmar ◽  
Jenna Woods
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Adult And Continuing Education ◽  
Emotional Challenges ◽  
Education Theory ◽  
Cultural Interface ◽  
Transformative Impact ◽  
Adult And Continuing ◽  
Western Australian

Transformative learning theory articulates a process whereby students experience a change in perspectives that expands and transforms their worldview. Despite being well established and regarded within the literature relating to adult and continuing education, Mezirow's (1978) seminal education theory remains largely absent in the research relating to Indigenous higher education. This study explores the transformative impact of university learning on the student journeys of three Aboriginal graduates from a Western Australian university. Applying a collaborative auto-ethnographic approach, each author-participant's personal narrative of their student experience was exposed to comparative, thematic and critical analysis. It was found that each author had faced similar cognitive and emotional challenges at university. Significantly, it emerged that university had changed the author-participants’ identities in ways that aligned with Mezirow's transformative learning construct. The narrative data also revealed elements that appeared related to the students’ negotiation of Nakata's cultural interface. A dominant theme in the data referred to the relationships formed during university, as being integral to transformation. Furthermore, family was understood to have a paradoxical influence on their educational journey. The insights garnered from this study prompt further consideration as to how transformative learning theory might be mobilised at the cultural interface.

Risky Media

2013 ◽  
pp. 286-304
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Kruger-Ross ◽  
Tricia M. Farwell
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Technology In Education ◽  
Technology In The Classroom ◽  
Assessment Technology

This chapter seeks to critically examine and question common assumptions underpinning educators’ use and incorporation of technology in the classroom. Drawing upon transformative learning theory, the authors argue that incorporating technology in education cannot and should not be done without first questioning assumptions regarding power, teaching, and assessment. Technology is transforming education in expected ways, but can also transform education in unexpected, unexplored ways. Educators need to move beyond the quick fix of bulleted lists to explore the implications of technology in the classroom more fully.

Learning Outcomes in Online Graduate Education Courses

2010 ◽  
pp. 89-96
Author(s):  
Greg Kearsley
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Discussion Forum ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Graduate Courses ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Education Courses

This chapter examines the relevance of transformative learning theory as it applies to online graduate courses. It is argued that the nature of learning that occurs in such courses involves a high degree of reflection and critical analysis and hence is well described by transformative theory. Discussion forum postings from 3 different courses at different institutions are analyzed in terms of the meaning structures defined by Mezirow. The results support the assertion that meaning schema and perspectives are being created and changed as a consequence of interaction with peers and instructors during online classes. A number of suggestions for refining the study of transformative learning in online courses are provided.

scholarly journals Transformative teaching in Higher Education for Sustainable Development: facing the challenges

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 324-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Förster ◽  
Anne B. Zimmermann ◽  
Clemens Mader
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Schematic Model ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Transformative Teaching ◽  
Major Teaching ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education

Are teachers ready to support sustainability transformations in tertiary education? We frame major teaching challenges within transformative learning theory and offer a schematic model of transformative learning including liminality and emotions.

Maximizing Cross-Cultural Learning From Exchange Study Abroad Programs: Transformative Learning Theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 535-554
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Chwialkowska
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Exchange Programs ◽  
Exchange Study ◽  
Travel Abroad

While some institutions require their students to spend a semester abroad as a prerequisite to earning a business degree, academics challenge the view that travel abroad helps students become culturally competent. Many students admit that they failed to immerse themselves in a cross-cultural environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the components of exchange study abroad programs (ESP) that facilitate student cross-cultural learning (CCL). Building on transformative learning theory (TLT), we propose and test a conceptual model of relationships between different components of exchange programs and student CCL. The data collected from more than 700 students participating in a semester and two-semester-long programs are analyzed through logistic regression. This research contributes to the literature on the effectiveness of ESP by identifying the key components that maximize positive outcomes for students. By building on TLT, it reveals the importance of getting out of one’s comfort zone and providing students with support during the ESP. This study bears practical implications as it provides academic institutions and students with important insights that help maximize student CCL.

Mentors' and mentees' intellectual-partnership through the lens of the Transformative Learning Theory

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 111-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margareth Santos Zanchetta ◽  
Annette Bailey ◽  
Olesya Kolisnyk ◽  
Lorena Baku ◽  
Jasna Schwind ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory
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