The themes of adult learning, cross-cultural learning, and transformative learning are common to many continuing educators working at universities across Canada. In this essay, I narrate my experiences as a mature, adult learner returning to university. Following a literature review and discussion of methodology, I begin this autobiographical…

A study created a model and instrument to determine and evaluate the factors that promote perspective transformation in the higher education classroom. The focus was the classroom setting, but other experiences and circumstances were recognized as being important determinants as well. An existing assessment model was used as the basis for…

This article offers an overview of the life and work of Eileen Egan, a contemporary and passionate Christian leader whose values can inform religious education today. It argues that her critical questioning of the traditions, assumptions, and premises of Catholic teaching on war and peace is a sign of the emancipatory, transformative learning that…

Despite their tremendous tragedy, the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, have also produced a juncture for transformative learning. Several transformative learning opportunities that may enable some adult learners find and use knowledge as the tool to transcend a tragedy into a learning experience have been identified. Although…

This paper describes the professionally oriented Masters of Education degree program at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia (BC), Canada, a program that provides graduate education to cohorts of nontraditional adult learners using the idea of transformational learning. For the past several years, Simon Fraser University has offered a model…

In this book, a working model for leadership development is presented, resulting from groundbreaking work with learning communities in educational leadership preparation programs. Chapter 1 develops the concept of a learning community as both a structure for the delivery of course content (the product) and a laboratory for promoting collaborative…

The theory of perspective transformation was used as a framework for a study of volunteerism among older adults, examining whether volunteering in community organizations in late adulthood brings about transformation in meaning structures in later life development, and if and how it affects aging at both the individual and societal levels. Two…

Discusses a study done using the Productivity Environmental Survey that reviews the learning style preferences of adults in a university setting. Twenty learning styles with three predictors were used. It was found that three styles (structure, evening, and afternoon preferences) were most effective. (Contains 20 references.) (MZ)

Describes how two faculty members of a liberal arts, Catholic university used constructivist learning theory and Reuven Feuerstein's concept of the mediated learning experience to create an environment of enculturation in an interdisciplinary philosophy course for doctoral students from multiple cultures. (EV)

Few college teachers understand the process learners go through during periods of insight, large or small. Many treat this transition from one paradigm of knowledge to another as purely cognitive when, in fact, it is also highly emotional. A model of the transition is presented and a reflective guide is offered to help teachers facilitate this…

Reports on a study of 17 professors from graduate schools of education. Finds that: (1) 71% experienced a perspective transformation in the context of learning and using technology for educational purposes; and (2) learning technology by itself does not seem to facilitate perspective transformation--rather, classroom practice and reflection prompt…

Participatory research (PR) is a term that was first articulated in Tanzania in the early 1970s to describe a variety of community-based approaches to the creation of knowledge. Taken together these approaches combine social investigation, education and action in an interrelated process. The International Council for Adult Education provided a…

In the mid-1960s, the foundations of Participatory Research were being laid in Tanzania and around the world through the work of muckraking adult educators--President Julius Nyerere, Marja-Liisa Swantz, Orlando Fals Borda, Rajesh Tandon, Budd Hall and many more of their friends and colleagues. At the same time, a bunch of American kids were over…

In this autoethnographic, institutional narrative, we describe the evolution of a Studio program at an open-access, regional campus of a state university. The Studio, first conceptualized by Grego and Thompson, is a one-credit writing workshop taken by students concurrently enrolled in a composition course. Developing this program necessitated…

This article was written, but never published, by Dr. Valerie Hall, who died in 2002. Its existence was brought to my attention by Professor Ron Glatter at the memorial event for her held at the University of Bristol. It was presented at a seminar in Milton Keynes in 1998 as part of an ESRC series on "Redefining Educational…