Although the notion of transformative learning points to a desirable destination for educational endeavors, the difficulty in the journey is often neglected. Our intention is to map the experiential micro-processes involved in transformative learning such that the phenomenon is illuminated from a first-person rather than third-person point of…

By virtue of his "Essays" Montaigne is rightly regarded not only as a radically modern philosopher but also as a transformative educational innovator. He confronted the extent to which pedantry and acculturation can justify cruelty by developing a conception of liberal arts education as the arts of liberation, and at the core of this…

Professionals in the field of adult and higher education recognize the path into any learning community is riddled with complexities of life exigencies. This author states that he found "light at the end of the tunnel" in an experiential, transformative study abroad course in Spanish language and culture. Transformative learning abroad…

Transformative learning may involve gentle perspective widening or something more traumatic. This paper explores the impact of a transformative pedagogy in a course that challenges learners to "think like a planet". Among six sources of intellectual anxiety, learners worry about: why Gaia Theory is neglected by their other courses; the…

This article discusses research with development education practitioners in Britain and Spain, to explore their conceptions of pedagogical approaches to development education and how these relate to transformative learning theory. Development education is a process designed to generate informed action, which implies the objective of transformation…

This study measured the emotional responses of students to common service learning activities. Two hypotheses focused on (1) expected changes in the mean emotion scores and (2) expected differences in individual responses. Results showed significant increases in Surprise, Anxiety and Distress and individual differences in Contempt, Disgust and…

This article presents the results of research that examined the experiences of staff and students engaged in a novel "student scholars" program established through a university teaching and learning institute in Ontario, Canada. Drawing from participant reflections and focus group data, we describe the benefits and challenges perceived…

Reflective practice is widely adopted across the field of experience-based learning subjects in higher education, including practicums, work-integrated learning, internships, service learning and community participation. This adoption of reflective practice implies that it supports student learning through experience. When reviewing the evidence…

The paper is informed by a research study exploring middle leadership as experienced by Chairpersons of Departments within one faculty in a university in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is argued that middle leadership in higher education needs to be understood as a highly complex relational endeavour, characterised by compromises that are negotiated…

Eliciting, responding to, and advancing students' mathematical thinking all lie at the heart of great teaching. In this article, the authors describe a formative assessment approach that teachers can use to learn more about their students' mathematical thinking and inform their instructional decisions. This assessment approach draws on a widely…

This article describes, discusses and reflects on a teaching and learning experiment in a first year BA course. Students were led out of the lecture room to a different space, the New Place Theatre. While this move out of the usual teaching space was appropriate for the text being studied, William Shakespeare's "The Tempest", the…

The use of mentoring for staff development is well established within schools and the business sector, yet it has received limited consideration in the higher education literature as an approach to supporting learning for academics. In this study located at one metropolitan university in Australia, an online questionnaire and one-on-one…

This article discusses the processes and outcomes of inviting a group of undergraduate students to inhabit and then reflect upon peripheral learning spaces in university through a "publishing with students" exercise during an Undergraduate Research Summer School. The students engaged in conversation, discussion, reflection, and writing…

Growing numbers of educators are using social media platforms to connect with other educators to form professional learning networks. These networks serve as alternative sources of professional development for teachers who seek to enrich their professional growth beyond school-based programs. This study aims to add to the small but growing body of…

At least one of the goals of the transformation of universities in South Africa is to develop civic-minded graduates who leave university to become agents of positive social change in broader society. More specifically, universities in South Africa aim to develop graduates who are critical, capable and balanced--graduates who are aware of their…