Previous analyses of transformational learning (TL) focused on rational or nonrational processes such as critical reflection on an uncomfortable personal situation or emotional learning. In this phenomenological study, researchers examined existential dimensions of TL. Individual interviews were analyzed to identify the lived experiences of eight…

Contemplative education courses and academic programs emerging in universities across the United States and internationally have a unique opportunity to help students gain both self-awareness and an awareness of how the self is situated in a larger context. Research utilizing meditation in higher education shows promise in strengthening stress…

The authors focus on the critical role of assessment within a flipped classroom environment where instruction is based on constructivist learning theory and where desired student outcomes are at the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. While assessment is typically thought of in terms of providing summative measures of performance or achievement, it…

Purpose: This paper aims to argue that substantive changes are required in both curricula and pedagogical practice in higher education institutions to challenge dominant epistemologies and discourses and to unsettle current ways of thinking about, and acting in relation to, the environment. Central to such a shift, it is argued, is the need for…

Meaning making is central to transformative learning, but little work has explored how meaning is constructed in the process. Moreover, no meaning-making theory adequately captures its characteristics and operations during radical transformation. The purpose of this dissertation was to formulate and specify a multiperspectival conceptual model of…

The 11th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2018) is held under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society at the Templeton Landing in Buffalo, New York. This year's EDM conference was highly competitive, with 145 long and short paper submissions. Of these, 23 were accepted as full papers and 37…

This paper discusses the development of a new instructional design model based on socioconstructivist learning theories and distance education principles for the design of online wisdom communities and the efficacy of the model drawing on evaluation results from its implementation in Fall 2002. The model, Final Outcome Centered Around Learner…

Purpose: To provide an understanding of the ways in which Confucian Heritage students use reflection as a means of learning at university. Design/methodology/approach: The approach is an exploratory qualitative study into the ways in which Confucian Heritage students learn while studying at university. Data are collected by means of…

Describes a study conducted at an 8000-student Catholic university to determine whether critical thinking (CT) skills increase after four years of undergraduate education. Examines seven categories of CT: (1) truth-seeking; (2) open-mindedness; (3) analyticity; (4) systematicity; (5) CT self-confidence; (6) inquisitiveness; and (7) maturity of…

Several national trends are converging to impact adult education today. First, the increasing presence of adults in higher education is accentuated by the expansive Baby Boom generation who are demanding greater access to the higher education system in the United States. Second, regarding workforce and economic development in the 21st century,…