This week I wanted to look further into transformative learning theory. This is a theory that I came across in reading an article for last week’s article review. I was interested in reading more about this theory because I felt that it might align with my original intention for the course that I am developing for this course. I am hoping that as a result of taking this course, students will begin to see how their history impacts their lives today. I would also hope that students begin to see their inherent rights as still relevant in today’s modern world and begin to see their value. It seemed to be a transformative process in my thinking.
According to the author, many scholars have written about the transformative process in the past and their have been some critiques of it. The critique of the theory is that the research scope has always been very narrow and it did not represent enough of a variety of people to be considered a tangible theory. This author was attempting to create a study that validated this theory as being relevant to a larger group of people and environments. The author intended to not only define how this process develops but also how it changes over time. “Because transformative learning is defined as a process in which the ‘meaning perspective,’ including ‘thought, feeling and will’ (Mazirow, 1978, p. 105), fundamentally changes, understanding how these processes evolve over time is crucial.” (Nohl, 2015) The study included 80 interviews of people in different stages in their lives and of different backgrounds. The author than developed stages of transformative learning.
Five stages of transformative learning were identified. The first is described by a non-determining start. The process has to start somewhere. Participants described this stage as happening by an unanticipated instance that introduced them to something that sparked their interest. This stage is followed by a person pursuing this interest in the second stage. The participants describe self-directed inquiry about their newfound interest. The next stage is described as testing and mirroring. In this stage participants described being exposed to new practices and people who are in the environment of their interest. Then shifting relevance occurs where participants describe expansion within their new interest while old habits begin to become unimportant. This is the beginning of the transformation process. The process ends where the participants find a new social environment that stabilizes their experience and new interest into their lives.
I think this is relevant to the learning that I hope will take place in this course. I hope students will not only accept the new information, but begin to see how important it is outside of the classroom. This process is about internalizing the information being presented. And according to this article, it starts with an unanticipated instance or spark of interest. Which tells me that this class could not reach every student in this way. It may reach one student to the point where they feel inclined to move to the inquiry stage. The process also doesn’t occur in 12 weeks. So it couldn’t be included as a course outcome. It might be that one of our program outcomes is reflective of this process. If there were one student in this 100-level course that sparked an interest in this topic and pursued it, they would naturally take the rest of the Native Studies courses. That inquiry pursuit could be part of the process of acquiring a bachelors degree in Native Studies. I am just thinking out loud at this point. But this article was enlightening and I would like to know more about this theory.
Nohl, A. (2015). Typical Phases of Transformative Learning: A Practice-Based Model. Adult Education Quarterly, 65(1), 35-49.