Both spent time brainstorming about the program
design and target learning group.
Troy wrote the Intro.
Vince wrote the Rationale and Action Plan.
Troy Rector
&
Vincent L. Stults
Ball State University
October 26, 2014
EDAC 634
Introduction
Transformational learning can occur through a variety of methods
and learning experiences. Different avenues can be used in order to facilitate
and enable the cycle of learning.
Cultural immersion is one way that learners can undergo an experience,
reflect critically, rationally process what they’ve learned and how it’s affected
them, and devise a course of action based on the transformation.
For years, The State University of New York has offered
cultural immersion through its city community colleges. Tompkins Courtland
Community College is one the two year schools that offers this immersion as
part of a service learning project. Students travel to Nicaragua and are
immersed with the cultural and learn through a transformative process. “The
goal of this service learning course is to provide students with a full
cultural immersion in history, culture, and healthcare in a developing
country. Through participation in actual healthcare clinics, students will be
exposed to the disparities and the functioning of a third world healthcare
system” (“TC3 Catalog: Program Areas:
Study Abroad: Nicaragua,” n.d.). For most
students, it is the first time being exposed to a foreign culture as well as austere
conditions in which that countries healthcare system operates. This factors
greatly into the transformational process for the learners due to pre-set
concepts and ideas that they’ve had prior to the trip.
According to Richard Kiely,
learners experience transformatively when they experience personal, structural,
historical, and programmatic factors which directly contrast with the student’s
prior ideas and concepts (Kiely, 2005). Kiely studied the Nicaraguan service learning
and cultural immersion program as part of his overall research on transformational
learning theory. Other programs can use the Nicaragua trip as a model for the
transformative learning process.
Learners
The learners of our program
consist of professionals who wish to be more effective by understanding the
uniqueness and differences from an Arabic and Muslim community to a typical
American community. By understanding certain factors, the professionals can
better serve those Arabic communities in business, education, or other avenues
of professional interaction. The learners of this program are then better equipped
with the mindset and attributes needed to facilitate professional relationships
without risk of offending or impeding cultural norms and practices in similar communities.
Our program specifically
targets adult learners at Ivy Tech Community College. Adult leaders taking
classes for professional development and career enhancement would benefit greatly
from this program. Ivy Tech currently has programs that focus on individuals
working with the corporate world called Corporate College and The Center for
Lifelong Learning. Our program would be a great asset to those students and
professionals participating and learning in those programs.
Purpose
The purpose of our project design is to assist participants
in a learning journey, in which they seek out an answer to their own learning
quest, about themselves, their social context, or society, through facilitating
learning opportunities in a cross-cultural context (the Arab community of
Dearborn Michigan) with the goal of seeing students become better equipped to
be leaders in a global society.
Objectives of the program
 |
| "Islamic Center of America" by Dane Hillard |
Our program objectives are
two fold. First is to offer a cultural immersion opportunity to learners that
they may not have previously had the chance to participate. This is in line
with the professional development and future goals of our students. By
participating in the norms and practices of an Arabic community, they will be
able to observe, interact, and immerse themselves fully. As part of this, any pre-set ideas, concepts,
and stereotypes can be disposed of.
This is critical to the overall transformation of the learners. Second
objective is to create an learning environment in which our learners think
critically for themselves and and analyze their own experiences and ideas. By
going beyond the classroom, our program provides an opportunity in which the
students are empowered to think on their own. This responsibility of discovery
and reflection requires the learner to think critically about themselves,
their experience, and how they have been effected. Again, this is critical to
the transformation of our learners and their gain in their professional
knowledge and attributes.
Rationale
The main ideas of our program design are rooted in
the core purpose of transformational learning, by leading learners
towards a focus in learning that is not merely informational, but that
appreciably changes what they know, moving learners through the cycle of "experience,
critical reflection, rational discourse, and action" (Merriam et al 2007,
p 134).
In designing our transformational learning program,
we conducted both a literature review of the transformational learning process,
as well as examined programs that implemented transformational learning theory
as a core to their own design. In the course of our project design, it became
apparent that our earlier work was not as well developed as we would have liked
it to be. This was in part, due to us being novices to the topic area of adult educational
theory, as well as to the process of developing literature and program reviews
for application. We were also still in
the process of refining what our project design should be about as we worked on
these reviews. In the literature review, for instance, our work provided
implications that were not clearly applicable to the development of our program
design. While the review did list several practices we could use, it failed to
adequately establish the root rationale of transformational learning that was
needed to provide solid implications in which to base our program designs
action plans upon. As well, in our program review one of our programs was
derived from a case study used by Kiely (2005), critiquing the popular use
of Kolb's experiential learning model
for designing service-learning programs and offering potential alternative
concepts that were more embedded in the context of service-learning than in the
internal process of learns involved in the program of Kolbs model. Therefore,
some of our implications were not so much practices to draw upon, as much as a
they were a part of the list of concepts that Kiely believed could provide better
foundations for a theoretical learning model to base service-learning design upon
than Kolb's (2005).
In finalizing the focus of our own program design,
we realized that 1) our implications from the previous work needed a clearer
development for application than what we had outlined; and 2) our project
needed a more narrow target learning group than initially planned; and 3) that
we should focus on a different learning experience than what was reviewed as
well as what we had originally considered.
Therefore, we decided to utilize a modified and more narrow band of the
implications we gathered from these sources for our own project. Our initial
implications from the literature review program reviews can be seen at the end
of their respective posts on our blog (http://aceinsights.blogspot.com/).
Nevertheless, we saw some implications to implement
from what we learned from these reviews. Kiely's work (2005), for instance,
helped us in other unforeseen ways, aiding us in recognizing our own target
group more easily, and informing us more clearly of what transformational
theory looked like in the practice of program design.
Also, we recognized the need to add elements that
were not explicitly highlighted in our literature review, nor in the program design
(although in retrospect, we recognized that they were clearly revealed in the research
we reviewed). As these elements are reviewed by others extensively in the
literature and in other programs, we have chosen to add them here to maximize
the effectiveness of our final program design and to cite the appropriate
external references as needed. See Table 1 for our revised list of implications
and our recent additions. These added components are the use of a modified form
of Brookfield's questions for learning journals (1995), as well as Apte's insights
and questions for transformative learning facilitators (2009). Additionally, we
have added in the use of a mini-ethnography to add depth and insight into
cultural understanding as grist for the transformational cycle. Seen in such
work as that conducted by Sortin (1999), for her class of interpersonal
communication students, and for Weinstein & Ventres'
work with medical students to help them to become more deeply connected to
their cultural frame (2000).
Methodologically we greatly appreciated the
connection of supporters, and the guiding question of the Mycelium School from
our project review (“Mycelium – Are You A Journeyer?” n.d.). While we also added essential novel practices
of our own into the design.
Also, from our review of the Mycelium School (“Mycelium
– Are You A Journeyer?” n.d.), we choose to focus on the concept of the learning
journey, which has been a metaphor of many transformational based programs, moving
our learners from familiar
territory into an unfamiliar cultural setting with the intent of creating a set
of "problematic frames of reference" (Mezirow,
2003) for the learners that serve to facilitate the transformational cycle of
learning "experience, critical reflection, rational
discourse, and action" (Merriam et al 2007, p 134). Mezirow calls this kick off process a "disorienting
dilemma" (Mezirow, 1991). Recognizing
as Apte (2009) has communicated, that these transformative phases are seldom a
sequential process, and are often cyclical and recurring, we have chosen to
incorporate practices that initiate the key elements of this model with less
concern about progressing through each of them in order, but instead rooting
our design in the component functions identified by Apte for the facilitator:
1. Confirming and interpreting current frames of reference
2. Working with triggers for transformative learning
3. Acknowledging a time of retreat or dormancy
4. Developing the new perspective ( 2009, p. 172).
As such, a copy of her four quadrants of
transformational program facilitation are included in Table 2 at the end of
this writing. We have made it a point to use these quadrants and questions as a
guide for our overall practice of the program design. So as to best aid
learners in their own reflexive processing, although all four quadrants can
impact each area of practice (requiring discerning facilitators of the program),
our program design contexts, as well as tools/methods are designed to focus on
these respective functions of Apte's model (2009): 1) contexts [of exteriority
and of interiority] (place of exploration, classroom/workshops, and time and
space for reflection, mentoring, etc.) are guided by the functions of Confirming and interpreting current frames
of reference/Working with triggers for transformative learning; and 2) tools/methods (journaling/Brookfield's
learning journal, min-ethnographies, as well as the development of an advisory
team—coaches learning cohorts, and individual mentors) are guided by the
functions of Acknowledging a time
of retreat or dormancy/Developing the new perspective.
Action Plans
Over the course of the Dearborn Discovery Expedition
(from the pre-trip meetings and preparation, through the on-location discovery journey,
and post-trip follow-up), as stated in our introduction, we will assist
participants in a learning journey, in which they seek out an answer to their
own learning quest, about themselves, their social context, or society, through
facilitating learning opportunities in a cross-cultural context
(the Arab community of Dearborn Michigan) with the goal of seeing students become
better equipped to be leaders in a global society.
Group and individual activities are designed to give shared,
as well as unique, experiences in the learning environment. For instance, our
design includes intentional separation of Muslim personal encounter experiences
to expose different students to differing view-points among Shia, Sunni, and Sufi
residence. It is expected that this will create differences in perspective on
the community during group reflection and discussion.
Steps
Step 1: Application Process
While this design overview does not lay out the details of
the application process, it is critical that a thorough application process is
followed. Which must outline and receive commitment from the learners
concerning the extensive commitment that learners must adhere to in the
Dearborn Discover Expedition from pre-trip preparation through post-trip
reflection.
Step 2: Pre-Trip Meeting and Preparation
A required component of the learning journey will
be to complete three pre-trip meetings and the accompanying preparation
activities. The purpose of these meetings is to 1) familiarize students with
the nature of the culture and place in which they are going to engage in during
their Discovery Experience, 2) better prepare them for the activates and
interactions that they will encounter; 3) help them maximize their in-field
experience; 4) coach them in the selection
of their personal quest or query for their journey; and 5) help students get to
know their expedition partners, and
leaders as well as to solidify their relationship with learning coaches
and facilitators (Advisory Team). The pre-trip meetings and preparation
activities fall in four distinctive categories:
- Cultural
Preparation: Pre-Reading Assignments and Discussion.
- Stockton, R., & Tessler, M. (2009). Citizenship
and Crisis: Arab Detroit After 9/11. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
- Excerpts
from Ahmed, A. S. (2010). Journey into America:
the challenge of Islam. Brookings Institution Press.
- Critical
Reflection Preparation: Instruction Time for Journaling, Critical Reflection
Exercises based on Brookfield's Learning Journal (1995).
- Fieldwork
Training /Virtual pre-field Exploration/Mini-Ethnography: Google Earth
Exploration of Dearborn Michigan, and basic ethnographic training using Dell
Hymes model of SPEAKING (Hymes, Dell. Foundations
of Sociolinguistics: An Ethnographic Approach. Philadelphia: U of
Pennsylvania P, 1974)
- Team
Development: Basic games, icebreakers, and activates to foster team interaction
and cooperation for students participating in the learning journey. As well as
overview and instruction for students organization of an Advisory Team.
Pre-Trip
meeting I will provide a purview of the whole experience, introduce the
assignments for Cultural Preparation Materials, and start students in their
Critical Reflection activities, and initiate their learning journey quest. Pre-Trip meeting II will facilitate
reflection on the first two weeks Cultural Prep readings and help them prepare
their advisory team, and introduce the mini-ethnography and provide needed
preparatory reading for the activity. Pre-Trip meeting III will again visiting
the cultural preparation process and reflection, follow-up on advisory team
details, and focus extensively on the mini-ethnography assignment including a
virtual pre-field exploration activity utilizing Google Earth and cover last
minute updates and detail about the trip. Team development will be a part of
each meeting encounter.
Step 3: Discovery
Expedition
 |
| "Arab American National Museum" |
The experience itself would be a three full day
trip (with a four day activity schedule) from Thursday evening through Sunday evening. This time frame was
intentionally chosen to provide convenient
scheduling for our target
learning group over an extended weekend, and to maximize exposure to the key
cultural learning opportunities in the host environment. For the learning
event, we would visit the Arab American Museum, attend Friday Prayer in a local mosque, and visit with the
residents of the community afterwards to discuss our experience. In addition,
learners will visit some key places where various regional food is made and
sold (these go beyond restaurants), attend an Arabic Theater production,
journey the streets, spend some one on one time in conversation with the Arab
community members, engage in group and individual critical reflection using a
modified version of Brookfield's questions for learning journals (1995), as well as to engage in some basic ethnographic data collection throughout the time as
a means of compiling a field journal for a more cultural thick learning
reflection.
Step 4: Post-Trip Reflection
Transformational
learning requires several components to maximize the learning experience. As
such, it is expected that learners participate in a post trip follow up, in
which all team members present to the group a report on their own quest in the
learning journey, including an overview of their mini-ethnographic. This time
will be followed by a facilitated discussion reflecting on the totality of the
experience for the group and participants. This time will conclude by leaders
presenting humorous, humorous but affirming certificates of achievement rooted
in what the facilitators observed in the teams learning journey. This exercise
is to be a surprise element in the closing session. This event will include not
only the team of students who participated, but those who form their advisory
teams, as well all volunteers working to support the learning event. This
meeting will be followed by a shared meal.
Procedures
Advisory Team
Students will select 2-3 individuals to
support them in their learning process. These people should include people
already in their personal network. One should be a professor or faculty in
their learning institution. This team will play diverse roles from relational
coaches, learning cohorts, and/or individual mentoring. These will become the
people most aware of the students personal quest, providing accountability,
emotional support, and mentoring/coaching for the students learning process.
Students must commit to at least three hours of interaction with the their
advisory team members (individual, or as a group), virtually, in person, via letter exchange, email, or
other means of interaction.
Guiding Question
While it is expected that the learning event of a cross
cultural exchange itself has great transformative potential, by having the
learners ask their own question to explore (adding a self-directed learning
component), it is expected to add to the transformative process, increasing both
the interaction with the learning context, and the focus of the reflection
process in personal and group environments. The question itself will be one
that is of personal significance to the student concerning
themselves, the context of their cultural learning expedition, or about
society. This will be the primary focus of the student in consultation with
their advisory team. The teams purpose is in serving the student in their
selection, engagement, and reflection on their query or quest.
Exploration Opportunities
While the destination is an obvious place of
exploration, both the complete cycle and several mini-cycles within the program
are intentionally designed with the theme of exploration in mind. The entire
process will be supported by self-directed learning opportunities in the framework
of clear structured activities. Social, cultural, and interpersonal
explorations in both physical and virtual arenas will be employed.
Mini-ethnography (Field and File Notes)
 |
| "شارع وورن في ديربورن" |
While the rigor involved in a full ethnographic endeavor
would not be possible for this project, we can use the mini-ethnography as a
simpler, more basic form of practice. Ethnographic process makes it possible for
participants to be brought into a fuller
understanding of their context and their own practice of making meaning.
Ethnography is not simply a practice in bringing about an understanding of a
culture or cultural frame, but it can be a powerful exercise in revealing the
assumptions of the one engaging in the ethnographic work. Revealing their need
to "bracket" their own perspectives and biases, in order to more
accurately engaging in "doing" ethnography (Sortin, 1999). For this project, student will do pre-reading
and practice techniques of ethnographic method for a four hour (on field)
mini-ethnographic project in their choice of three settings, the food tour
(explore further the context of the Yalla tour by the Arab American National
Museum) , one of several local mosques, or in a program/class carried out
through Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS). While
the nature of such small project as a mini-ethnography could be engaged without
the need for confidentiality agreements and/or informed consent, we will
nevertheless engage in the approval process needed for a blanket permission of
filed observation for IVY Tech students, and have appropriate consent forms
available for any interviews as needed, as well as appropriate permission from
the institutions involved in our three areas of focus.
Journaling/Critical Incidents and Brookfield's Learning Journal
Critical Incident Reports are an excellent way to bring
reflective focus to journal entries of our participants, and according to
Arthur's review (2003), have been used in cross cultural learning settings
effectively for many years. Rooted in the consideration of critical incidents, Brookfield's
questions for learning journals (1995), provide a clear
choice of design for these journal reflections. They have been used extensively
as reflexive tools in classroom settings for learning. By utilizing them during
the preparation phase, for our purposes, a slightly modified form (while onsite
in Dearborn) will provide the ability for students to write journal entries
quickly and effectively for personal reflection and to prepare them for group
reflective activities offering students a powerful tool for their personal
learning quest. (See Table 3 for Brookfield's guidelines)
Group Reflection
Apte's work (2009) outlines several questions for
facilitators to consider in their project design for the arena of "Working
with triggers for transformative learning" such as, "What are the
differences in perspective among these
participants?... What were people surprised by? ...What evoked people’s
anxiety?" We will use these as a foundation for our facilitated group
reflection. It is expected that the students use of Brookfield's questions
(1995) for their journaling will prepare them for this group facilitated
reflection time.
Schedule (This is a generic schedule
without specific dates)
|
|
|
|
Week 1
|
Saturday 9 am-12 pm
|
Pre-Trip Meeting and Preparation I
|
Week 3
|
Saturday 9 am -12 pm
|
Pre-Trip Meeting and Preparation
II
|
Week 5
|
Saturday 9 am -12 pm
|
Pre-Trip Meeting and Preparation
III
|
|
|
|
|
Week 6
|
|
|
Discovery Expedition
|
|
Day 1 (Thursday)
|
6 pm -
6:45-9:15 pm -
9:30-10:30 pm-
|
Arrive at hotel and check
in
Students find place to eat
on their own, and complete scavenger hunt assignment
Group Reflection on
Scavenger Hunt
|
|
Day 2 (Friday)
|
8-9 am -
9 -9:45 am -
10 am-12 pm -
12-1 pm -
1:15-2: 30 pm -
2:30 -4:00 pm -
4:00-5:30
pm -
6 - 9 pm -
9:30-10:30 pm -
Overnight/
Next Morning -
|
Breakfast
Overview of Day and Q
& A
Arabic American Museum (History & Cultural Discovery)
Group Lunch (Destination TBD)
Attend Friday Prayer at
Mosque
Prearranged Dialogue and
discussion with Mosque leaders and Mosque Attendees
Complete Personal Journaling and Reflection Exercise
Arabic Theater/Movie/Dance Event (will vary depending on week
and month of visit)
Group Reflection (Based on Apte, 2009)
Complete Personal Journaling and Reflection Exercise on evening
events
|
|
Day 3 (Saturday)
|
8-9 am -
9-9:30 am -
10 am-1 pm-
1:30-5:30 pm -
6 - 7 pm -
7:30 -10pm -
Overnight/Next Morning -
|
Breakfast
Day's Activity Review
Yalla Eat - Culinary
Walking Tour
Mini Ethnography - Groups of two or three, will engage in their
Mini Ethnography in pre-selected track for Food (Arab American Museum),
Community Service (ACCESS), or at local Mosque (three large mosque options,
several smaller options)
Group Presentations and Group Reflection
Dinner
Complete Personal Journaling and Reflection Exercise on evening
events
|
Week 7
|
Day 4 (Sunday)
|
8- 9 am 9:15 -
9:45 am -
10 am-1:00 pm-
1:30-4: 00 pm -
4:30 pm -
5:15 pm -
6: 30 pm -
|
Breakfast
Group Meeting
Hotel Check Out and Exploration on your Own (good opportunity to
explore additional aspects of your own learning quest, connect with anyone
you would like to talk with further, etc.)
Attend Sufi Meet-up event (there are presently a couple options
- time and event may change as present meet-up events change)
Complete last on-site personal journaling and reflection
exercise
Dinner on your own
Leave
for home
|
Week 9
|
Saturday 4-7 pm
|
|
Post-Trip Reflection (Meal to Follow)
|
References
Arthur, N. (2003). Preparing
International Students for the Re-Entry Transition. Canadian Journal of
Counselling, 37(3), 173–85.
Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kiely, R. (2005). Transformative
international service learning. Academic
Exchange Quarterly, 9(1), 275-281.
Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R.
S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (20007). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive
guide. John Wiley & Sons.
Mycelium – Are You A
Journeyer? (n.d.-a). Retrieved October 6, 2014, from
http://mycelium.is/are-you-a-journeyer/
Mezirow, J.
(1991). Transformative
dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Mezirow, J. (2003).
Transformative learning as discourse. Journal of Transformative Education,
1(1), 58–63.
Sotirin, P. (1999). Bringing
the Outside In: Ethnography in/beyond the Classroom. Retrieved from
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED437686
TC3 Catalog: Program Areas:
Study Abroad: Nicaragua. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2014, from http://www.tc3.edu/catalog/ap_sa_nicaragua_hlth_hums.asp
Weinstein, J., & Ventres,
W. (2000). Mini-ethnography: meaningful exploration made easy. FAMILY
MEDICINE-KANSAS CITY-, 32(9), 600–610.
Table
1: Revised Implications from our Previous Reviews
Literature Review/Program Review Implications
|
Used
in Our Program Design
|
Mycelium Program Review
(Selected Applications)
|
|
The model of the learning journey through self-directed
learning and a supporting community
|
Learning Journey - Self Directed
Learning Quest
|
Workshops and projects that foster
leadership development and facilitate the transformational process
|
Pre-Trip Meeting and Preparation
|
Multiple types
of learning facilitators working together to guide, coach, support and
facilitate the transformational process: cohort model, coaches, instructors
and learning facilitators.
|
Advisory Team
|
New York Community College Program Review (Revised Implications)
|
|
Full cultural immersion and
active participation in the culture foster transformative learning.
|
Pre-Reading, Mini-Ethnography, One on
One dialogue with residents, exposure to history, attending local events and visiting
community institutions.
|
Learning journals, group reflection and student assignments foster
students personal transformation.
|
Learning Journal, group
reflection meetings, and Self-Directed Learning Journey
|
New (Revised) Additions
|
|
(Mezirow 1991) and (Merriam,
2007) - The four essential components of transformational learning are: experience,
critical reflection, rational discourse, and action.
|
For the underlying cycle of
learning at the core of the program design.
|
(Apte, 2009) - Utilization
of her development of four quadrants of transformational learning ensures a
more thoroughly distributed learning experience in the program design and
program facilitation.
|
Used for more thorough application
of transformational theory to the design process for Student Learning
Journals, Group Reflection, the Self-Directed learning journey and
interaction with Advisory Team.
|
(Brookfield, 1995) -
Critical Incidents and focused learning journal activates provide deep level
critical reflection for students (and teachers).
|
Used for Student Learning
Journals, Group Reflection, and Self-Directed learning journey in interaction with Advisory Team.
|
(Sortin, 1999) and
(Weinstein & Ventres, 2000) - The mini-ethnography is a useful tool
in facilitating deep level cultural connection as well as in critical
reflection.
|
Used in development of the
mini-ethnography for greater cultural immersion of students in the context of
their Discovery Expedition, and as an aid in the self-directed learning
journey, as well as an additional tool for critical self reflection.
|
Table
2: Judy Apte's Questions for Reflection
|
(Judy Apte's Questions for Reflection (2009, pp. 173-175)
|
Confirming and Interrupting Current Frames of Reference
|
Working with Triggers for
Transformative Learning
|
Questions: focusing on the
participants
What is
regarded as ‘normal’ behaviour (in the participant’s social world)?
What
examples are used to describe ‘good’ and ‘bad’?
What ideas
or stories claimed people’s attention, and what is gripping about them?
What are
people’s expectations of themselves?
• Are any
expectations seen as impossible?
• Are
their expectations coherent with other people’s expectations?
• Are
their expectations contradictory or split?
What
information has the participant never contemplated before?
Have
previous practices become lost along the way?
Questions: focusing on the
facilitator
What
assumptions are embedded in the ideas that I am presenting and/or the materials that I am
using?
Which
assumptions are likely to be compatible with those of the participants?
Which
ideas presented alternative frames of reference?
|
Questions: focusing on the
participants
What are
the differences in perspective among these
participants?
What
evoked people’s curiosity?
What were
people surprised by?
What
evoked people’s anxiety?
What
specific dilemmas are they raising?
What hopes
do they express?
Does the
person experience any contradictions between who they want to be and who they
are currently?
Questions: focusing on the
facilitator
What
evoked my curiosity – what am I thinking and wondering about?
What was I
surprised by?
What
evoked my anxiety?
|
Developing the New Perspective
|
Acknowledging a Time of Retreat or Dormancy
|
Questions: focusing on the
participants
What
capabilities are beginning to emerge?
How are
views shifting over time?
What
strategies are people interested in developing further and testing in their
own lives?
How can
the learning in the program be continued?
What reactions
do participants expect from people in their usual environment?
Questions: focusing on the
facilitator
What
aspects of the program are creating a mood of possibility?
How can we
take notice of the results that flow from the new possibilities?
What do I
hope for at this point?
What
barriers do I see in their usual environment?
|
Questions: focusing on the
participants
What
indicates that people are having some doubts about the change?
Is there
inertia occurring around some things?
What are
participants avoiding?
What
provokes anger or defensive responses?
What
assumptions are people being ‘pulled back to’?
What
unlearning might be required for them to move forward?
What could
the person ‘lose’ if their current assumptions are not confirmed?
What aspects
of the learning would require significant courage?
Are there
some risks that might occur if people move forward with this?
What do
people say is impossible for them?
Questions: focusing on the
facilitator
What
doubts have come to my mind?
Are there
points at which I experienced anger or defensiveness?
What seems
possible at this point?
What seems
impossible at this point?
|
Apte, J. (2009).
Facilitating transformative learning: A framework for practice. Australian
Journal of Adult Learning, 49(1), 169.
|
Table
3: Stephen D. Brookfield’s Questions for Student Learning Journals
|
Stephen
D. Brookfield’s Questions for Student Learning Journals (1995,
p. 98)
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We will use these
questions unmodified from Weeks 1-5 and 8-9. During the Discovery Expedition,
students will respond to these question according to the scheduled journal
times and the words "this week" will be changed to "in today's
events."
In designing the program, we acknowledge
Brookfield's admonition to give student clear directions when assigning a
learning journal. He asserts that: 1) students need a clear-cut course of action;
2)
they need
to see
that keeping
a journal is in their best interest; and 3) their hard work should be publically recognized
somehow. Brookfield’s guidelines (1995, p. 98) comprise these eleven questions:
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What have I learned this week about myself
as a learner?
What have I learned this week about
my emotional responses to learning?
What were the highest emotional
moments in my
learning activities this week?
What were the lowest emotional
moments in my learning activities this week?
What learning tasks did I respond to most
easily this week?
What learning tasks gave me the
greatest difficulties this week?
What was the most significant thing
that happened
to me as a learner this week?
What learning activity or emotional
response most took me by surprise this week?
Of everything I did this week in my
learning, what would I do differently if I had to do it again?
What do I feel proudest about
regarding my learning activities this week?
What do I feel most dissatisfied with
regarding my learning activities this week?
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Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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This last month has seemed like a whole semesters worth of learning rolled into one
month. First with the program reviews at the very beginning of the month and
then writing the Program Design paper. During the course of events our team
experienced some real challenges and even some difficult conflict to work
through. But we focused on the task before us and spent some time working
through all if it with Dr. Chang and we are really proud of what we were able
to accomplish. We thought we'd share with you some of what we experienced and
what came out of it. We know some of it occurred in the last days of September,
but felt it would be good to share where we came from at the beginning of the month.
During the course of the program review, as we were hoping to be in the wrapping up stage
of our work, we discovered a few areas that needed to be addressed that put
some real strain on our team and made our projects fall short of what they
needed to be. So we stopped and spent some time in dialogue. Should we submit
them as they were and hope they slipped by or that maybe not everything would
be caught or chance that one or both of us would take the fall for
what was in our group project, or do we come forward and talk with Dr Chang to
figure out a strategy to get to what would be in our whole groups best
interest? We decided to ask Dr Chang to help us figure out what we needed to address
to fix these problems.
