Multicultural immigrant workers (n=23) studying English as a second language took photographs about their lives, wrote about them, and displayed them on the Internet. The materials depicted their cross-cultural journeys and transformative experiences. The process increased their communication skills and empowered them to make workplace changes.…

A study of 13 female educators working aborad found their status as professionals superceded female status in host countries; trigger events emanated from personal relationships; and trigger events had four stages: communicating with family about departure, culture "shocks" in the first 3 months, cultural adjustments, and reentry into…

Presents assumptions, advantages, and disadvantages of three curriculum positions for teaching gerontology: (1) transmission (conveying facts); (2) transaction (developing cognitive skills and problem-solving abilities); and (3) transformation (facilitating personal and social change). Offers considerations for choosing positions: audience…

The link between development and learning is explicit in Mezirow's theory of transformational learning. Indeed, numerous studies have documented that growth and development are outcomes of transformational learning. What has not been questioned, and what is argued in this Forum article, is that it appears one must already be at a mature level of…

To benefit from reflective and reflexive actions there is a need to contrast these two terms to understand what each is and is not. Both terms can indicate a level and concern for self-development. For instance, to be reflexive is to self-examine, to consider internal conversation, and use this voice to guide, support, and enhance work.…

Reflection has become a buzzword in the education literature. Differences in the conceptualizations of reflection underlying different studies and lack of theorizing over how these frameworks relate to one another, however, can diminish the contributions such studies can make to our understanding of educational development in higher education.…

This article proposes the Teacher Observation Programme for in-service teacher trainees. The program is reflective, collaborative, and builds confidence. It enables teachers to grow in their ability to self-evaluate. Trainees who have made decisions about their own observation, who have created and used their own observational tools, and who have…

Maxima was an intervention project that focused on assisting teachers to establish more inquiry-based, gender-inclusive, and culturally relevant learning environments. The authors grounded the project by using sociotransformative constructivism as a theoretical framework to steer the implementation of three guiding concepts for professional…

The authors focused on the experiences of teachers involved in two diversity initiatives at Iowa State University in order to demonstrate that such initiatives succeed only if they are characterized by the mutuality of learning that teachers and students share, which is an intrinsic part of transformative education. Multicultural teaching…

With the evolution of technology, students can now take online classes that may not be offered in their home schools. While online courses are commonly found in many high schools, WebQuests are used more commonly in elementary schools. Through the exploration of WebQuests, students are able to integrate the Internet into classroom activities. The…

For the purpose of reflective analysis, this article, which employs narrative inquiry as a research methodology, combines two "crossing the boundaries" dilemmas I experienced over the course of a decade. While the dilemmas relate to different issues that emerged in my career (standardized testing as a K-12 teacher and the formal…

Amanda Haertling Thein, Richard Beach, and Daryl Parks explore the subtle yet powerful changes that transpire when white students encounter multicultural literature and experience tensions between their beliefs and those that appear in the texts. As students mediate the tensions, they become more critically aware of their beliefs and may be more…

The advantages of transformative learning approaches in graduate education parallel the tenets of mentoring and lifelong learning. Under this theoretical framework, adult student achievement in leadership programming can be assessed as a developmental and individualized process. The mixed methods study presented here illustrates that it is…

Graduate students seeking certification as literacy specialists were asked to send monthly newsletters home with their students as a requirement for one of their courses. They were also asked to critically examine their newsletters, to discuss the impact, if any, it made on their relationships with parents, and to reflect on the experience. This…

Elementary and secondary school teachers certainly know that assessment is like a mirror. What their students learn reflects back on them. However, there is often a disconnect between student and faculty assessment in higher education. While all professors take responsibility for creating and disseminating knowledge, most do not like to be held…