Thesis advisor: Irwin Blumer / This case study examined the creation of a collaborative learning environment focused on the development of teacher attitudes, perceptions, and practices that are culturally responsive. Sixth and eighth grade teachers collaborated in small groups over the course of a school-year, focusing on dialogue, activities, and readings related to race and culture. The ways in which teachers involved in the study developed thinking in regards to their cultural awareness, sense of efficacy, and instructional practices played central roles in this study. This qualitative case study was conducted by the school principal, who was a participant-observer. Data collection instruments included pre-program interviews, mid-program reflective journals, post-program interviews, and researcher field notes. Prior to the start of the program, teachers expressed that they rarely spoke with students and peers about issues related to race and culture, provided minimal accommodations for students of color within the classroom setting, exhibited mixed beliefs in terms of their abilities as teachers to meet the learning needs of students of color, and had a limited understanding of their own racial identities. As a result of their participation in the Culturally Responsive Teaching Program, most teachers experienced growth in terms of their perceptions of the their own racial identity development, efficacy, and increased their sense of comfort and desire to speak with students and peers about issues related to race and culture. Implications for practice include the need for; courageous leadership, persistence, promotion of the development of racial identity, understanding of racial identity development, promotion of collaboration, advancement of transformational learning, and the development of multi-dimensional learning experiences. Limitations of this study include the researcher's role as school principal and participant-observer, small sample size, and relatively short study duration. Recommendations for future research include increasing the sample size and program duration, investigation of changes in student experiences as a result of teacher participation in a similar program, and investigating the effect of a similar program when focused upon particular racial and cultural groups, as opposed to the broad approach utilized within the Culturally Responsive Teaching Program. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

A case study has been conducted on the College Counts program, a well-integrated service-learning program, to examine the experiential learning of 10 former participants. It was the objective of this investigation to view the learning of 10 college students, through the lens of transformational learning, as they reflect on their experiences as participants in the College Counts program. Transformational learning theory was used as a lens to determine if high school students have the ability to engage in transformative learning. Students reported in their own voices transformative learning in one or more of the following forms: increased cultural inclusiveness, commitment to social justice, and/or shift in personal perspective and choices. Results of the study suggested that Mezirow’s transformational learning theory should be expanded to include secondary students.

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This study explored how avid users of Second Life (SL) experience and make meaning of informal learning activities in virtual art museums and similar cultural spaces through their avatars. While recent literature has laid the groundwork for studying student engagement and formal learning, the lacuna of research bound by the historical traditions of qualitative research design has done little to ease the skepticism surrounding the value of virtual worlds for learning. Within the context of museological discourse, virtual museum learning experiences have the potential to shift viewing practices as well as how meaning is generated, interpreted, and disseminated. Technical, conceptual, and methodological barriers to studying virtual worlds remain. Another goal of this study was to demonstrate the potential of hermeneutic phenomenology, particularly my conceptualization of virtual hermeneutics, to study virtual worlds. Hermeneutic phenomenology has the potential to make practical understanding of the informal learning process in SL explicit by providing an interpretation of this process. The challenge lies in applying the philosophy behind the methodology to the changing reality of virtual worlds. It is only by studying these experiences in context and situated within virtual spaces that we can expand our understanding of the avatar-mediated informal learning process. Findings from this study show that in-world informal learning experiences can, in fact, be studied on their own terms. Furthermore, rich textural data can not only be extracted from exclusively in-world interaction, but collaborative relationships can also develop with no actual world contact. These experiences and interactions can lead to experiential learning, but also transformational learning where the avatar-identity can affect users' actual world viewing practices and meaning making. It is not so much the technology per se that can affect change, but rather identity exploration, diegesis, and relationship building afforded by the technology. Albeit some learning outcomes were observed, affective outcomes and cognitive strategies, including metacognitive skills, were more frequently described by participants. Due to the complexity of assessing such outcomes and the present obsession with quantitatively measurable outcomes in formal education, it is unlikely that SL can or will be used outside the scope of informal learning in the near future unless formal education undergoes social reform.

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Considerable attention by scholars for the last two decades has focused on issues of spirituality and higher education. Literature in the field of college student affairs suggest that, in order promote the development of the whole student, practitioners in the field should consider adopting theories of faith and spiritual development. This study considered the application of faith development theory, as developed by James W. Fowler, for contextualizing students' response to the 1999 Bonfire tragedy at Texas A&M University. The primary intent of this study was to (1) understand how a student's level of faith development relates to the transformational learning resulting from the Bonfire tragedy, (2) whether such a tragedy was a trigger for transformational learning, and (3) how student affairs professionals can utilize faith development theory for understanding students' narrative account of the tragedy and their commitment to the university. This study utilized a comparative case study approach. Nine respondents were recruited and participated in a semi-structured and the classic Faith Development interviews. The accounts provided by three respondents were selected for in-depth analysis. The investigative tools used for this analysis were hermeneutical and included constant comparative methodology and narrative analysis. Results from the study indicate that transformation of meaning schemes and meaning perspectives are key components of young-adult faith development. Evidence indicates that Bonfire was a student activity that was unique to Texas A&M University and had the potential to become a center of value and power for many students. Findings suggest that faith development theory can be an effective tool for exploring the structure of students' faith relationships and their commitment thereto. Based on an analysis of the narrative accounts, the Bonfire tragedy was a source of cognitive dissonance but not necessarily a disorienting dilemma. For some students the 1999 tragedy was part of a longer cumulative process that advanced the faith development process. Implications from the research findings and recommendations for future research are explored at length.

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As calls for institutions of higher education to educate globally competent citizens have intensified over the last two decades, the field of international service learning (ISL) has responded resoundingly. ISL programs have been implemented at many institutions and there have been countless studies that demonstrate the great power for student learning and growth inherent in this exciting educational tool. In more recent years, experts have moved away from studying the student experience and have, instead, questioned the power relationships inherent in service learning programs abroad; related studies have made use of newer critical theories and community development philosophies, which have advanced the field tremendously. However, to date, the re-entry period has still been largely overlooked, and there has been a noticeable lack of studies that apply student development theories to the ISL experience. This study explores how a diverse group of students from a large, public, four-year institution on the West Coast experience transformational learning during an ISL program in Thailand and how they make sense of their experience upon their return to the U.S. and in the months afterwards. By utilizing a case study design and implementing qualitative methods, this study provides significant evidence that well-designed ISL programs can trigger transformational learning in a variety of ways and that the re-entry period is a significant time of learning and growth for students. Further, the findings importantly show that by creating strategic opportunities for students to learn and connect with others on the program, both during and after the ISL experience, students are better able to navigate the changes in themselves after returning home. Finally, the experiences of the students indicate that the processes associated with transformational learning continue well on after the in-country experience, highlighting the significant need to provide support and guidance for students during this time. / Educational Leadership

The medical profession is in a state of social transformation. Medical education must follow suit to continue to produce physicians who can meet the demands of the ever-changing field of medicine and of the public it serves. In this study, an institutional logic framework is used in examining how the implementation of transformative pedagogy in medical education may be impeded by competing institutional logics, thereby disrupting the change process. This study proposed three questions aimed at examining and understanding the perceptions of social actors as it relates to transformational change in medical education: 1) What is the impact of institutional logics on the implementation of transformative pedagogy in medical education? 2) What are the institutional logics in medical education that may impact change, and are there any conflicts between them? 3) Is there any evidence that these conflicts, if they exist, act as a barrier or disincentive to pedagogical reform when diversity, equity, and inclusion measures are introduced? A mixed method approach involving a two-step method of data collection and analysis was used in this study. Information from websites were used to create interview guidelines for interviews with faculty, administrators, and students at two US-based urban medical schools. By analyzing data from the websites of two US-based urban medical schools and comparing those findings to that of the perceived notions retrieved from interviews of the impact logics have on service learning, this research has shown that understanding institutional logics aid in the implementation of transformative pedagogy by better understanding the role of competing logics. This researcher provides three recommendations for medical schools to consider when using an institutional logics framework to enact transformational pedagogy. The first recommendation is change on the micro level (i.e., on the program level). The second recommendation relates to change on the macro level (i.e., relationship with governing bodies). And the third recommendation is related to the influence on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices on the change process. I end with providing reasons for how examining the perceptions of the role of transformative pedagogy as a change agent in medical education can advance the field of medical sociology. / Sociology