scholarly journals Transformative Adult Learning: Turn towards a «Holistic Understanding of Subjectivity»

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-127
Author(s):  
Lyudmyla Gorbunova

According to the challenges of  globalization age and demands of  international community to determine the role and content of education in the processes of transformation, internationalization and integration, there are some problems of transformative education for adults both on theoretical and practical plane: what is a nature  of  "Holistic Subjectivity’s" transformation; which role do rational and extra-rational components of cognitive processes perform; what adequate pedagogical practices should be; what creative potential of individuals is revealed through new semantic horizons.  In the process of intersubjective becoming, the theory of transformative learning, founded by Jack Mezirow, has found both its internal and external development potential. The first one is ability of the Theory to self-transformation on the basis of scientific communication, critical reflection and rational discourse. The second one is related to openness and inclusiveness of the Theory in pluralistic space of methodologies of the transdisciplinary science.  The combination of internal and external development factors has created the conditions for implementation of a methodological turn-shifting emphasis from rational-cognitive paradigm to enactivism as a concept that is based on the principles of holism, corporeality, affectivity, emotionality of cognitive processes and their self-organization as complex dynamic systems. This allowed us to look at the person's transformation as a corporeal and affective reframing and make a conclusion about his important role in the transformative adult learning.  In the context of the given methodological turn, the main task is to mobilize researchers’ attention to the nature and role of all extra-rational components of transformative learning. It is the enactivist approach, including theory of self-organization of complex dynamical systems, which can help us clarify the role of feelings and dynamics of a holistic living body in the person's transformation.

Author(s):  
Alexander Dumov

The paper presents a review of modern philosophical and methodological literature on exploring complexity. The research featured the effect of metaphor in the cognitive processes, research communication, and transmission of complex ideas. The author developed a classification of metaphors in the context of exploring complexity. The approach is based on the identification of a certain ontological and epistemic content of the metaphor. The contextual role of the metaphor in cognition processes depends on these aspects of its content. The author analyzed the groups of metaphors associated with such topics of exploring complexity as self-organization, ecology, and dialogue. The metaphors proved important in developing a complex vision of the relationship between the cognizer and the world. The study also examined the axiological aspects of the metaphors, as well as the connection between the metaphor and the new vision of rationality, typical of the philosophical reflection of complexity. The metaphor proved to have a heuristic, communicative, and organizational potential in conditions of methodological uncertainty. The context of philosophical and theoretical-methodological reflection of complexity makes it possible to study the metaphor in order to identify the existing models of exploring complexity and their cognitive stylistics.


Author(s):  
Victor X. Wang

Mention of transformative learning immediately reminds scholars and learners of its chief proponent, Jack Mezirow, who is Emeritus Professor of Adult and Continuing Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, Former Chairman, Department of Higher and Adult Education, and Director for Adult Education. It was Mezirow who popularized the theory of transformative learning in the early 1980s. Mezirow’s theory is such that individuals’ meaning perspectives are transformed through a process of construing and appropriating new or revised interpretations of the meaning of an experience as a guide to awareness, feeling, and action (Jarvis, 2002, p. 188). Later, scholars such as Cranton and King, expanded this theory of transformative learning by publishing two more books in this area. Cranton (1994) published a book titled Understanding and Promoting Transformative Learning. King (2005) published another titled Bringing Transformative Learning to Life. Both books, including Mezirow’s original books, have greatly enhanced the theory in the field of adult learning.


Education ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad Hoggan

Originating and most often used in the discipline of adult education, the term transformative learning “refers to processes that result in significant and irreversible changes in the way a person experiences, conceptualizes, and interacts with the world” (“Transformative Learning as a Metatheory: Definition, Criteria, and Typology.” Adult Education Quarterly 66.1 [2016]: p. 71, cited under Origins and Overviews). Its origins are in a white paper published in 1978, wherein Jack Mezirow of Teachers College, Columbia University, reported the results of a study of women’s re-entry work programs in community colleges across the United States (Education for Perspective Transformation. Women’s Re-Entry Programs in Community Colleges [1978], cited under Origins and Overviews). In this report, he coined the term perspective transformation to describe the profound changes experienced by some of the women in their study. Over the next several decades, Mezirow developed and continually refined this concept into a comprehensive theory of adult learning, always maintaining a focus on the transformative potential of learning, i.e., its ability to help learners change in fundamental ways rather than merely adding knowledge or skills. During this theory development, his use of terms extended beyond perspective transformation, as he referred to his work as transformation theory and then transformative (or transformational) learning theory. From these beginnings, a large base of literature emerged addressing the profound changes that are possible from learning in adulthood. Of the various names used over time by Mezirow and others, transformative learning is the most ubiquitous term in this scholarship. It is used to refer to Mezirow’s evolving theory of adult learning, but it is also used to refer to any of a number of theories that focus on significant changes that learning can have on people, especially those changes that are not adequately encompassed by the usual descriptors: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Many of these theories were developed independent of Mezirow’s work, sometimes even prior to it. It is probably most accurate to say that transformative learning is not a single theory, but rather a collection of theories around a similar phenomenon. This collection of theories (and more commonly called “approaches” to transformative learning) derived from numerous, disparate disciplinary perspectives that often had little theoretical connection with each other. Therefore, when scholars write about transformative learning, they may be referring to Jack Mezirow’s theory, another theory in the adult education literature that addresses transformation, or the range of theories (or approaches) as a whole. Nevertheless, beginning with Mezirow there has arisen a literature around the phenomenon of the transformative potential of adult learning. Although historically this literature has been mostly by North American scholars, it is increasingly being used by scholars in other countries (especially Europe) and disciplines. This article organizes and presents some of the most prominent pieces within that literature.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Atwell

Which stimuli found in social settings are incorporated into individuals’ socially-oriented cognitive processes? Research on social self-organization focuses on explicit and direct communication via network ties, yet it is plausible that extra-network stimuli carry valuable information. Here, I assess the informational value of such stimuli for the self-organization of conventions, a common large-group coordination problem. Participant exposure to a small number of additional stimuli can tip groups to coordinated outcomes through a rapid decrease in the diversity of the potential solutions. The information gained through these exposures is greater on average than that of a variety of alternatives, including additional weak ties. These results suggest actors ought to be attentive to extra-network stimuli and that research assessing the role of social network topology in determining the outcome of social influence and information- driven dynamic processes might often have misspecified causal mechanisms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arceneaux

AbstractIntuitions guide decision-making, and looking to the evolutionary history of humans illuminates why some behavioral responses are more intuitive than others. Yet a place remains for cognitive processes to second-guess intuitive responses – that is, to be reflective – and individual differences abound in automatic, intuitive processing as well.


1998 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Kliewer ◽  
Stephen J. Lepore ◽  
Deborah Oskin ◽  
Patricia D. Johnson

2019 ◽  
pp. 22-29
Author(s):  
Н. В. Фрадкіна

The purpose and tasks of the work are to analyze the contemporary Ukrainian mass culture in terms of its value and humanistic components, as well as the importance of cultural studies and Ukrainian studies in educational disciplines for the formation of a holistic worldview of modern youth.Analysis of research and publications. Scientists repeatedly turned to the problems of the role of spirituality in the formation of society and its culture. This problem is highlighted in the publications by O. Losev, V. Lytvyn, D. Likhachev, S. Avierintsev, M. Zakovych, I. Stepanenko and E. Kostyshyn.Experts see the main negative impact of mass culture on the quality approach, which determines mass culture through the market, because mass culture, from our point of view, is everything that is sold and used in mass demand.One of the most interesting studies on this issue was the work by the representatives of Frankfurt School M. Horkheimer and T. Adorno «Dialectics of Enlightenment» (1947), devoted to a detailed analysis of mass culture. Propaganda at all socio-cultural levels in the form is similar in both totalitarian and democratic countries. It is connected, according to the authors, with the direction of European enlightenment. The tendency to unify people is a manifestation of the influence of mass culture, from cinema to pop. Mass culture is a phenomenon whose existence is associated with commerce (accumulation in any form – this is the main feature of education), in general, the fact that it exists in this form is related to the direction of the history of civilization.Modern mass culture, with its externally attractive and easily assimilated ideas and symbols, appealing to the trends of modern fashion, becomes a standard of prestigious consumption, does not require intense reflection, allows you to relax, distract, not teach, but entertains, preaches hedonism as the main spiritual value. And as a consequence, there are socio-cultural risks: an active rejection of other people, which leads to the formation of indifference; cruelty as a character trait; increase of violent and mercenary crime; increase in the number of alcohol and drug addicts; anti-patriotism; indifference to the values of the family and as a result of social orphanhood and prostitution.Conclusions, perspectives of research. Thus, we can conclude that modern Ukrainian education is predominantly formed by the values of mass culture. Namely, according to the «Dialectic» by Horkheimer and Adorno, «semi-enlightenment becomes an objective spirit» of our modern society.It is concluded that only high-quality education can create the opposite of the onset of mass culture and the destruction of spirituality in our society. It is proved that only by realizing the importance of cultivating disciplines in the educational process and the spiritual upbringing of the nation, through educational reforms, humanitarian knowledge will gradually return to student audiences.Formation of youth occurs under the influence of social environment, culture, education and self-education. The optimal combination of these factors determines both the process of socialization itself and how successful it will be. In this context, one can see the leading role of education and upbringing. It turns out that the main task of modern education is to spread its influence on the development of spiritual culture of the individual, which eventually becomes a solid foundation for the formation of the individual. Such a subject requires both philosophical and humanitarian approaches in further integrated interdisciplinary research, since the availability of such research will provide the theoretical foundation for truly modern educational and personal development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-99
Author(s):  
Vimbai Moreblessing Matiza

Dramatic and theatrical performances have a long history of being used as tools to enhance development in children and youth. In pre-colonial times there were some forms of drama and theatre used by different communities in the socialisation of children. It is in the same vein that this article, through the Intwasa koBulawayo performances, seeks to evaluate how drama and theatre are used to nurture children and youth into different developmental facets of their lives. The only difference which this article will take into cognisance is that the performances are done in a different environment, which is not the one used in the pre-colonial times. Although these performances were like this, the most important factor is the idea that children and youth are socialised through these performances. It is also against this backdrop that children and youth are growing up in a globalised environment, hence the performances should accommodate people from all walks of life and teach them relevant issues pertaining to life as they live it now. Thus the main task of the article is to spell out the role of drama and theatre in the nurturing of children and youth through socio economic and political development in Intwasa koBulawayo festivals.


2018 ◽  
pp. 1060-1068
Author(s):  
Galina A. Dvoenosova ◽  

The article assesses synergetic theory of document as a new development in document science. In information society the social role of document grows, as information involves all members of society in the process of documentation. The transformation of document under the influence of modern information technologies increases its interest to representatives of different sciences. Interdisciplinary nature of document as an object of research leads to an ambiguous interpretation of its nature and social role. The article expresses and contends the author's views on this issue. In her opinion, social role of document is incidental to its being a main social tool regulating the life of civilized society. Thus, the study aims to create a scientific theory of document, explaining its nature and social role as a tool of social (goal-oriented) action and social self-organization. Substantiation of this idea is based on application of synergetics (i.e., universal theory of self-organization) to scientific study of document. In the synergetic paradigm, social and historical development is seen as the change of phases of chaos and order, and document is considered a main tool that regulates social relations. Unlike other theories of document, synergetic theory studies document not as a carrier and means of information transfer, but as a unique social phenomenon and universal social tool. For the first time, the study of document steps out of traditional frameworks of office, archive, and library. The document is placed on the scales with society as a global social system with its functional subsystems of politics, economy, culture, and personality. For the first time, the methods of social sciences and modern sociological theories are applied to scientific study of document. This methodology provided a basis for theoretical vindication of nature and social role of document as a tool of social (goal-oriented) action and social self-organization. The study frames a synergetic theory of document with methodological foundations and basic concepts, synergetic model of document, laws of development and effectiveness of document in the social continuum. At the present stage of development of science, it can be considered the highest form of theoretical knowledge of document and its scientific explanatory theory.


Author(s):  
Fajar Syahputra ◽  
Mesran Mesran ◽  
Ikhwan Lubis ◽  
Agus Perdana Windarto

The teacher is a major milestone in the world of education, the ability and achievement of students cannot be separated from the role of a teacher in teaching and guiding students. Based on the Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers and Lecturers, in Article 1 explained that teachers are professional educators with the main task of educating, teaching, guiding, directing, training, evaluating, and evaluating students in early childhood education through formal education, basic education and education medium. Whereas in Article 4 of the Act, it is explained that the position of teachers as professionals serves to enhance the dignity and role of teachers as learning agents to function to improve the quality of national education.Decision making is an election process, among various alternatives that aim to meet one or several targets. The decision-making system has 4 phases, namely intelligence, design, choice and implementation. These phases are the basis for decision making, which ends with a recommendation.The Preferences Selection Index (PSI) method is a rarely used decision support system method. This method is a method developed by stevanie and Bhatt (2010) to solve the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM). With the right consideration, this method can be one of the tools to determine policies in decision-making systems, especially the selection of outstanding teachers. Determination of policies taken as a basis for decision making, must use criteria that can be defined clearly and objectively.Keywords: Decision Support System, PSI, Selection of Achieving Teachers


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