This update to Mezirow's Transformative Learning theory seeks to advance Mälkki's enhancement to the emotional dimension in phase one--the disorienting dilemma--by proposing the need for a complete grief process (as theorized by Kübler-Ross), to support movement from Mälkki's conceptualization of "edge-emotions" to a "comfort…

This paper proposes a research model that explores and tests a mediated moderation model of teacher educator's professional identity (TEPI). The model assesses the link between (a) triggering factor (leadership support, professional socialisation, training & development) and TEPI; (b) psychological arousals (role clarity and transformative…

Being uncomfortable by choice as a means of personal growth has been touted for hundreds of years among scholars, philosophers, religious leaders, modern pop culture icons, and more. Yet, research pertaining to the benefits of being uncomfortable by choice is sparse. This qualitative, grounded theory study addressed the first step of…

The aim of the article is to present transformational giftedness (TG) in the context of the theory of personality development. TG refers to individuals who strive to make a positive difference in the world in order to create a better place to live. Robert Sternberg divided TG into the following categories: self-realized giftedness, other-realized…

Using narrative inquiry, this study investigated the lived experience of embodied cognition--the integrated emotional and intellectual functions "of" cognition--in transformative learning in the context of a disorienting dilemma. These two fundamental "conscious" experiences of embodied cognition are preceded by three…

This study investigates how songs and songwriting can facilitate transformative learning experiences. Semi-structured interviews conducted with three professional singer-songwriters from different backgrounds helped define how songs and songwriting can nurture one's soul work, that is, emotions individuation, dialogue between conscious and…

In response to the increasing alienation from nature exacerbated by digital living, this course design presents an advanced composition "rewilding" course. Combining natural history writing, nature therapy research, and mindfulness activities, the course aims to reconnect students with the natural world. Inspired by Micah Mortali's…

This article develops the ideas of perfection and education in Spinoza and Maimonides. Both thinkers identify human perfection with intellectual knowledge and a transformation in affect. They accordingly envision education in terms of enhancing cognition and shaping the desire to know. The first steps are a critical evaluation of imagination and…

In this paper, I explore the ways that educators can nurture transformative learning for adult students by engaging emotions, particularly shame. I discuss how shame mitigates adult student experiences, successes, and failures in higher education, and how a relational pedagogy of vulnerability can support adult learners. This approach not only…

Can environmental education help to mitigate learners eco/climate anxiety? Anxiety surrounding climate change has drastically risen in youth in recent years. This paper aims to answer the call from Pihkala's (2020) previous review for more concrete information on educational approaches to support learners in processing eco/climate anxiety. As…

This paper explores the value of autoethnography in the context of student teaching and learning. The manuscript situates autoethnography within restorative and critical pedagogies and draws from students' impressions to examine how autoethnography aids in developing self-awareness, empathy, and vulnerability as emotional resiliency. Further…

This research paper aimed to study the transformation of Being in Mahmoud Darwish's last poem "The Dice Player" through a Heideggerian framework analysis. It took Heidegger's famous quote "The poets are in the vanguard of a changed conception of Being" as a point of departure in investigating and unveiling the assumed…

Mezirow's theory of transformative learning presupposes agency. Agency is the means by which the limitations of an inadequate meaning perspective are transcended. It is the creative activity necessitated by an encounter with a disorienting dilemma. This implies that transformation cannot be achieved "from within" the existent meaning…

Within the broad, interdisciplinary field of adult education, affective aspects of experience and the roles they play in learning have, thus far, not been properly theorized or researched. This dissertation first explores how John Heron's whole person theory (WPT) conceptualizes feeling as an expansive affective capacity at the root of all human…

John Heron's whole person theory can expand transformative learning theory by elaborating a more nuanced understanding of affect. In contrast to the vague conceptualization of affect's role and the interchangeable treatment of emotion and feeling in most adult learning scholarship, Heron's holistic theory grounds all experience in affective…