Transformative Learning in Action: Building Bridges Across Contexts and Disciplines

509 Pages·2003·4.66 MB·English

FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING
Transformative Learning in Action:
Building Bridges Across Contexts
and Disciplines
In cooperation with:
The Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation
Teachers College Columbia University
525 West 120th St.
New York, NY 10027
Teachers College, Columbia University
October 23 - 25, 2003
PROCEEDINGS OF
THE FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING
Transformative Learning in Action:
Building Bridges Across Contexts
and Disciplines
Teachers College, Columbia University
October 23 - 25, 2003
Proceedings Editors:
Colleen Aalsburg Wiessner
Susan R. Meyer
Nancy Lloyd Pfhal
Peter G. Neaman
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The copyright for the papers in these Proceedings is retained by the individual authors.
Unauthorized use is not permitted. Content, editing, and proofreading were the responsibility of
each author or group of authors.
Conference Design Team:
Dr. Jack D. Mezirow
Dr. Victoria J. Marsick
Dr. Heyoung Ahn
Rachel Ciporen
Dr. Terry Maltbia
Dr. Susan R. Meyer
Krystina Pawlak
Dr. Nancy Lloyd Pfahl
Sandra Hayes
Dr. Colleen Aalsburg Wiessner, Conference Coordinator
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"Thinking of things as if they could be otherwise," a phrase adopted from Maxine Greene's
essay of the same title, captures the spirit and focus of this conference. (Maxine Greene,
Variations on a Blue Guitar. New York: Teachers College Press, 2001, p. 116). Led by a group
of conference presenters and leaders, participants will explore a diversity of perspectives on
transformative learning and the various contexts where it can happen. The conference will
juxtapose conceptions, practices, ideologies and epistemologies in conversation with each other,
exploring differing definitions and visions of transformative learning.
Transformative learning is the process by which we call into question our taken for granted
frames of reference (habits of mind or mindsets) to make them more inclusive, discriminating,
open, and reflective so that they may generate beliefs and opinions that will prove more true or
justified to guide action. Transformative learning often involves deep, powerful emotions or
beliefs and is evidenced in action. "We experience a sense of surprise oftentimes, an acute sense
that things may look otherwise, feel otherwise, be otherwise than we have assumed" and
suddenly the world seems new, with possibilities still to be explored (Greene, 2001, p. 116).
We invite you to come together in community through authentic engagement with other
scholars and practitioners who care about the transformative potential of learning and other
related issues. Participants will focus on transformative learning for individuals, groups,
organizations, and communities through various conference venues:
Papers, innovative sessions, workshops, and artistic representations of transformative learning
will be presented by scholars from around the world.
Dialogue groups, reflective opportunities, will follow the presentations to contextualize and
explore, with a group of participants who share a practice area or interest, what the speakers
presented.
Personal reflection on keynote presentations, individual reflection activities, will follow each
keynote presentation or panel, giving participants time to integrate their own thinking related to
the topic.
Learning circles and interest groups will be led by conference leaders, meeting with groups of
participants, to explore topics they are planning to research in the future. By exploring common
areas, interests, or experiences, participants will have an opportunity to further their own
thinking and to provide helpful perspectives on an issue.
A research agenda will further the field of transformative learning.
Fifth International Transformative Learning Conference, October 23–25, 2003 5/508
FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TRANSFORMATIVE
LEARNING TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING IN ACTION:
BUILDING BRIDGES ACROSS CONTEXTS AND DISCIPLINES
Teachers College, Columbia University
October 23 - 25, 2003

Thursday, October 23

8:00 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 a.m. Welcome and Conference Introduction

Victoria J. Marsick
William J. Baldwin
Colleen Aalsburg Wiessner

9:30 a.m. Panel on Different Theoretical Perspectives:

Jack Mezirow, Coordinator
Peter Coleman -- Transformative Conflict Resolution
Patricia Cranton -- A Jungian Perspective on Transformative
Learning
Jack Mezirow -- Epistemology of Adult Knowing
Ed O’Sullivan -- The Ecological Terrain of Transformative
Learning
Carlos Torres -- Critical Pedagogy

10:45 a.m. Dialogue with Panel Presenters

11:30 a.m. Break

11:45 a.m. Paper Presentations

12:45 p.m. Lunch

2:00 p.m. Keynote Presentation

Robert Kegan

3:00 p.m. Reflection in Large Gathering

3:30 p.m. Break

3:45 p.m. Dialogue Groups by Contexts

5:00 p.m. Evening Arts Options (Explored with Transformative Interest)
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Friday, October 24

8:00 a.m. Learning Circles in Breakfast Areas

9:00 a.m. Paper Presentations

10:15 a.m. Paper Presentations

11:30 a.m. Concurrent Sessions:

John Broughton – Media in Transformative Learning
Dean Elias and John Dirkx – Jungian Perspectives and Spirituality
Elizabeth Kasl and Lyle Yorks – Mapping the Territory: Finding
Your Way with Presentational Knowing
Sharon Lamm
Vanessa Sheared
Kate Unger, Jennifer Locraft Cuddapah, and Katie Armstrong –
Synergies—Transformative Learning and New Teacher
Support: Connections, Communities, Complexities

12:30 p.m. Lunch

2:00 p.m. Panel on Research

Terry Maltbia, Coordinator
Pierre Dominice -- Transforming Biography through the Process of
Transformative Learning
Juanita Johnson-Bailey -- Enjoining Positionality and Power in
Narrative Research: Balancing Contentious and Modulating
Forces
Terrence E. Maltbia -- Strategic Learning Capabilities for
Leveraging Diversity: A Process of Personal and
Organizational Transformation.
Sharan Merriam -- The Relationship between Cognitive
Development and Transformative Learning: A Research
Agenda
Ed Taylor -- Looking Back Five Years: A Critical Review of
Transformative Learning Theory

3:30 p.m. Dialogue in Main Room

3:45 p.m. Break
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4:00 p.m. Keynote Presentation

Carlos Alberto Torres
Globalization and Education: Critical Remarks

5:00 p.m. Reflection in large gathering

5:30 p.m. Dialogue Groups by Interest Areas

6:30 p.m. Book Signing and Reception in Macy Gallery

Saturday, October 25

8:00 a.m. Learning Circles in Breakfast Areas

9:00 a.m. Panel on Practice

Kathy King, Coordinator
Dorothy Ettling -- Development of Women
Kathy King – Facing the Music: What Happens When Theory
Comes to the Classroom?
Knud Illeris -- Defense and Resistance towards Transformative
Learning
Victoria Marsick -- Opportunities and Limits of Transformation in
Organizations
Vanessa Sheared -- Inclusion & Afro-centrist

10:00 a.m. Dialogue

10:30 a.m. Break

10:45 a.m. Paper Presentations

12:00 p.m. Dialogue Groups by Context areas

12:45 p.m. Lunch

Video Screening
"Exclusions & Awakenings: The Life of Maxine Greene"

2:15 p.m. Keynote Presentation – Maxine Greene

The Arts Against Apathy: Openings to Transformation

3:30 Reflection in Large Group
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3:45 p.m. Break

4:00 p.m. Closing Session –

“Hachijo” -- Manhattan Taiko, Japanese Drum Ensemble
A Photo Reflection on the Building Bridges Across Contexts and
Disciplines – Peter Nieman and Terry Maltbia

5:00 p.m. ACE/AEGIS Reception

Optional Sunday Post-Conference on Spirituality

9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
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Table Of Contents (Alphabetical by First Author)
Rethinking Transformative Learning and the concept of
‘Critical Reflection’ through the Paradigm of Complexity
Michel Alhadeff, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Creating Space for Somatic Learning within Transformative Learning Theory
Tara L. Amann
Mount St. Mary’s College
Using Transformative Learning to Teach for Wisdom: Starting the Conversation
Dr. Caroline Bassett
The Wisdom Institute, Minneapolis, MN
Dancing on the Threshold of Meaning: Recognizing and Understanding
the Growing Edge
Jennifer Garvey Berger, Ed.D.
Initiatives in Educational Transformation, George Mason University
Self-Directed Learning: An Opportunity for Transformation
Dr. Bernadette M. Black and Dr. Cheryl B. Henig
University of Virginia
Transforming the Workplace: Feminist Educators Challenge Sexism
in Elementary and Secondary Schools
Lynn Villyard Brannon
Cornel West as a Transformative Intellectual
Stephen Brookfield
University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis-St. Paul
“My Misfortune Is To See The Grid Of Assumptions”
(Eva Hoffman, Lost In Translation)
Annie Brooks
University of Texas at Austin
Travel as Transformation? A Cuban Experience in Education
Phyllis C. Brown, Ed.D., Lesley University, Graduate School of Education, Cambridge,
MA
Cheryl A. Smith, Ed.D., Lesley University, Adult Baccalaureate College, Cambridge, MA
The Women’s Integral Leadership Circle: How the Experience of a Transformative
Crucible Helps Women Develop the Capacity for Integral Leadership
Susan Cannon, Ph.D. and Suzanne Anderson, M.A.
Center for Creative Change, Antioch University Seattle
“Dancing in Front of the Blue Screen: Just Where Do You Think You’re Going?”
Katharine S. Childs
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec & Eastern Townships School Board, Cowansville,
Quebec
Surprised by the Joy of Wholeness! Transformative Learning and the Art of
Academic
Writing
Janice E. Clark
York University, Toronto Ontario
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Table Of Contents (Alphabetical by First Author)
The Voices of Three Ethno-Sisters:
Transforming the Ethno-Autobiographical Voice Through Cooperative Inquiry
Phyllis L. Clay, Ph.D.
Youth Policy Research Group, Inc., Kansas City, MO
Saybrook Graduate School, San Francisco, CA
Hatha-Yoga and Transformative Learning— The Possibility of Union?
Judith Beth Cohen, Ph.D,
Lesley University
An Outsider’s Reflections on the Relationship between
Transformative Learning and Conflict
Peter T. Coleman
International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution
Teachers College, Columbia University
Critically Reflective Practice:
Weaving Community Action and Social Reflection into Professional Graduate
Studies
Donald Comstock and Kristin Woolever, Antioch University Seattle
Transformation, Power, and the Shadow
Patricia Cranton, Saint Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
Merv Roy, Athabasca University1, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada
Lin Lin, Teachers College, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York
A Jungian Perspective on Transformative Learning
Patricia Cranton, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
Pedagogy for the Economically Privileged: “Tuning In” to the Privileged Learner
Ann Curry-Stevens
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada
Dialogue of the Soul: Transformative Dimensions of the Experience of Spirit
Dent. C. Davis
Columbia Theological Seminary
Sustained Dialogue: An Integral Part of the Princeton Transformation
Ande Diaz and Robin Stennet
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Awakening to White Consciousness: Transforming Habits of Mind
Through Presentational Knowing
European-American Collaborative Challenging Whiteness1
A Group of Scholars/Practitioners Without Institutional Affiliation, USA
“I'm Not a Social Activist; I'm Just a Teacher”
European-American Collaborative Challenging Whiteness1
Group of Scholar-Practitioners without Institutional Affiliation, U.S.A.
“Re-weaving the Pattern”
Developing a Learning Culture in a Non-Profit Organization
Dorothy Ettling & Alison Buck
University of the Incarnate Word
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