September Review 634 - Group 3

Vince commented on groups 1,2 &4

Up until a couple of weeks ago, Group 3 was made up of only one of us. Over the past couple of weeks we have had to map out and begin the process for our first assignment. We took some time to get to know one another and our sense of what was important for the projects that we would be working on together. We mapped out some assignments to begin investigating and laid out some tasks to ensure that we could meet the impending deadline for project one. Given Troy's need to travel in his job, we felt email would be the best medium to communicate. We divided up the assignments into each of us reviewing a project to study and do a write up of as our first priority. The initial assignment looked like this:

• 9/23/2014 - Submit Program Options/via email
• 9/24/2014 - Chose Programs - Troy # 1 Vince # 2
• 9/25/2014 - Write Program Review for Selected
• 9/28/2014 - Submit Work to One Another
• 9/29/2014 - Edit/Review each others Work
• 10/1/2014 - Finalize Revisions/Review & Add Elements We Want to Apply in Our Program Design
• 10/2/2014 - Include main features of Selected Program in Table
• 10/3/2014 - Troy Write Title Page and Intro - Vince Write Application Section/Conclusion and References
• 10/4/2014 - Each Revise and Edit (Troy 1st then Vince) - Finalize
• 10/5/2014 - Submit to BlackBoard (Troy) and Blog (Vince)

Challenges

Sticking to the time frame of the assignments and task has proven to be a challenge, while balancing our jobs, family, and multiple classes. These missteps lead us to bottom line a few of these tasks by boiling all these details down into what was absolutely essential for the first assignment. We adjusted to having initial program reviews due by the end of Wedensday10/1 at the latest. We continued to use email to send our ideas back and forth to one another to help us keep abreast of what we were working on.

What We Have Learned

Since we were both new to Adult Education and not currently working directly in Adult Ed programs, we found it difficult to set goals in advance while still needing to understand what it was that we were supposed to put together. Not having a clear context in which we would apply a program also made knowing what kind of program we wanted difficult. This has proven to be the biggest challenge but continues to help us be flexible in making  a more informed focus for our project design. In the process of the first assignment, we began to gain some perspective about the overall purpose of our programs design, in order to ensure that what we selected for the program review would contribute to our overall work, we agreed to focus on leadership development through transformational learning, seeing that it could provide the best umbrella for designing a project that would be useful across a wide spectrum of potential applications and settings. 

Although each of us has a long history of work in Adult Educational, we are both new to the academic study and understanding of the discipline. We are both committed to work that is transformational and focused on equipping and engaging adults in opportunities that improve their lot in life. Both of us find many of the ideas inherent in transformational learning  to be a deep resource for the kinds of work that we would like to be involved in the future and that help make sense of many of the most rewarding learning experiences we have encountered in the past. We honestly each feel a little overwhelmed with all we are learning and experiencing but are looking forward with thinking through and learning how to apply these concepts and ideas.

What's Next

After finishing our first project together, we are getting a feel of the best way to work together and are beginning to have a feel for what our joint focus will be. Over the next week and a half (by October 8th) we will finalize the program focus and goals and map out assignments for the remaining work. We will also add in conference  call style check points other than using only email to add better communication to better meet developmental deadlines.

Vincent Stults' Individual Summary/Review

As we were selecting our topics for this class, I wrote: "Since I am new to the academic study of adult education, and educational theory in general, the impact of transformational theory seems to be a deep well and full of useful insight." As we begin our group blogs, and start the first steps for starting our projects, I am finding that the water in this well is most certainly deep. I have found it challenging to know where to begin even finding a program to evaluate, let alone designing one based on this theoretical framework. Even though there are a lot of commonalities among those who claim, or who are put in the category of transformational learning, there is also a great diversity found in methodology, focus, and in approach as to what the nature of critical reflection is all about. So not only is there a challenge in mapping out the timeline, tasks, and responsibilities necessary for the projects, it seems like I am one among many in that dark room with the elephant, trying to describe what it is we are examining, but finding I am only able to describe it with the parts that I can feel right in front of me. With a little more light and some dialog, I know we continue to press forward, and it seems that we are beginning to make headway. So the next step, after submitting our paper which reviews a couple of transformational learning programs, is to narrow our focus, and solidify what type of program we would like to design.

Troy Rector's Individual Summary/ Review

Week 1 exposed me to my fellow students.  Definitely inspired and glad to see that there is a wide range of backgrounds in which we all come from.  That allows greater discussions and different perspectives on topics.  This class has such a diverse background that it would be impossible for us to not learn from each others previous experiences.  

Weeks 2 and 3 were pivotal for me to understand concepts and ideas on how learning is different for adults and how society plays such a huge role to adult learners.  These weeks exposed me to concepts of the adult learner that I really didn't anticipate before the course started.

Weeks 4 and 5 were the beginning of learning theories and concepts.  Definitely learned a lot in these weeks with the academic labels for different types of learning.  Although I have probably learned and experienced nearly all of them, I didn't necessarily know the technical terminology and the grounded concepts of each.  Also learned the educators and experts who developed or coined these terms for the learning theories.  

Week 6 was dedicated completely to transformational learning theory.  This helps me (and Vince) because we've dedicated our project to this type of learning.  This week gave us the groundwork and foundation on this particular learning and allows us to move forward and research more away from the textbook.  

Overall, I knew I would be exposed to academic concepts of learning and I would myself learn and grow.  Although some of the info can be dry and not exciting, the way the discussion posts are organized and the interaction with fellow students keeps it interesting and allows us to learn outside of the textbook.