Using Mezirow's (1991) transformative learning theory as a framework, this qualitative case study investigated conditions conducive to transformative learning experiences among theological students in an online program at a seminary. Learning Activities Survey developed by King in 1998, a Community of Inquiry framework proposed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer in 2000, and semi-structured interviews were employed. Emails were sent to 85 students (81 current In-Ministry M.Div. students and four recent graduates), and 38 (44.7%) took the online survey. A typical participant in this survey was a married White male in his 30s. Of the 38 survey respondents, 30 (78.9%) indicated having experienced transformation during their study. Among those 30, class assignment (66.7%) and a person (60.6%) were two factors that influenced them the most in their transformative learning experiences. Data collected from the online survey and two online courses shed light on the semi-structured interviews conducted with 11 students. A qualitative analysis software ATLAS ti. and Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory were utilized to analyze the data. This resulted in a proposed integrative learning condition model which proposed two conditions conducive to transformation, being in-ministry and using integrative learning strategy. These two conditions were significantly influenced by physical presence. A surprising result was that physical presence does not indicate a three- or four-year stay on campus at a traditional seminary, but is a by-product of a blended, online program which gives students more opportunities to develop quality relationships both during their on-campus intensives and in their local ministries. This study provides empirical evidence supporting the idea of online theological education using a blended model which promotes integrative learning strategy and learners being in-ministry.

<p>The overarching objective in undertaking this study is to examine the impact of the implementation of EGP and ESP program for ESP teachers in China, to explore into tertiary-level ESP teachers’ transformative learning experiences as well as the personal, institutional and societal factors that either facilitate or constrain such transformation. I employed narrative inquiry as the research methodology to reflect teachers’ profound transformative learning experiences from story collections through co-construction and collaboration with participant teachers in all phases of research. Five ESP teachers’ unique trajectories mirror their unique learning and professional development roadmap.</p> <p>Through detailed examination, I concluded that teachers stepped into the new territory of ESP instruction with various degrees of hesitation and resistance. Their non-linear transformative learning experiences shed lights on the uncertainty and struggles they confronted along the journey, and demonstrate how teachers hold their own stance adjusting the complex instructional ecosystem to enhance their potential success being as an ESP instructor.</p> <p>The significance of this study lies in the exploration of ESP teachers’ transformative learning from a critical perspective. By taking into consideration the essence of a teacher as an adult learner, this study will not only break through the existing studies’ inadequate attention to teacher’s transformative learning, but also emphasizes the value of teacher learning for their own transformation, emancipation and professional advancement.</p>

No

‘Climate change is not gender neutral’ is a statement that has gained more recognition within the climate change debate over the last decade. This has resulted in a new field of research called gender and climate change. The mainstream gender and climate change debate has earlier almost exclusively focused on women’s vulnerability. A brief reading of the literature clearly shows that men are rarely observed in this context. The objective of this thesis is to broaden the understanding of the relation between gender and climate change by bringing men into the discussion. I have selected four cases/countries where existing research on men’s gendered experiences of climate change are mentioned. These take place in Greenland, Australia, Peru and South Africa. The result show five common findings between the cases: gendered responsibilities, changing traditional gender roles, psychological impacts, alcohol consumption and violence against women. The concept hegemonic masculinities is utilized as a framework used to understand why men are negatively affected by climate change. Masculine norms of attitudes and behavior identified in the multiple case studies are invulnerability and unwillingness to seek help. The analysis show that in times of climate variability can masculine norms be damaging for both men and women. A second analytical framework, the gender transformative approach brings the analysis to critically reflect upon masculinities and climate change as functions of power. From this perspective this thesis concludes that the gender and climate change discourse needs to move beyond a focus on women’s vulnerabilities, which divide the world into two classes: women as victims and men as perpetrators. This approach rather urge for a focus on the structures of power and domination within laws, behaviors and institutions that generates injustices.

Many countries across the globe are undergoing rapid economic and social change; and there are increasing efforts to reform, revamp and revitalise education – to equip students for the ever-changing future. Education is considered to be transformative; but the area of transformative learning has been mainly theorised in the field of adult education. Comparatively, teaching approaches designed to bring about such transformation or transformative teaching has been less explored or understood. Connecting various related literature, this study places deeper learning at the centre of transformation through learning. Aiming to fill a gap within the literature, this study explores transformation through learning in a comprehensive school setting at a K-5 School in the North East of the United States by asking the following questions, ‘What are the teachers’ and students’ lived experiences of transformation through music and arts infused creative learning as practiced at an Elementary School in Northeast of USA?’ and ‘What is the role of the arts and music in this process?’. Located within the interpretive paradigm, this ethnographic case study included 7 – 14-year-old students (Grade 2 – Grade 5) and staff, aimed at investigating the phenomenon of ‘transformation through learning’ through a range of sources within its natural environment. Various data collection methods were used, including semi-structured interviews, observations (field notes, video-recordings, still images), conceptual drawing and learning walks. These provided rich, in-depth data, permitting triangulation which strengthened the findings and allowed for an illuminating understanding of the topic. An iteratively developed framework representing elements or behaviours relating to transformation was utilised as a lens to identify relevant critical incidents during the data collection process. Employing thematic analysis on the data collected resulted in eight themes that represent the lived experiences of transformation through learning. These thematic findings highlight that relevance, mindsets and placing arts at centre of the school culture are key to providing transformative learning experiences. The study connects two arguments, that fostering deeper learning enables students to meet new expectations and demands of the changing future; and that it is vital to provide students with a well-rounded curriculum with rich arts education to prepare them for success in the future. Thus, the findings of this study develop the understanding of ‘transformation through learning’ and offer a model framework from the practice at this research site from which others could create their own.

This qualitative study uses narrative analysis to explore the outcomes of information seeking and use among public library users. Twelve women between the ages of 51 and 72, all residents of Fayetteville, Arkansas who self-identified as regular library users, were interviewed to gather their life stories and their experiences using the public library. The participants in this study used information to enable learning and, often, a change in their affective state. The participants used the new information they encountered constructively, to engage with the knowledge and experience they possessed; this use of information always involved reflection, dialogue, or both. The outcomes from these actions are the creation of new knowledge, a change in the participants' meaning schemes, and/or an affective change. In addition, the narratives strongly suggest that information seeking and use by adults in public libraries can sometimes facilitate or, on its own, precipitate a perspective transformation and the adoption of new meanings. Overall, the findings support Mezirow's theory of transformative learning as a model for understanding information use and outcomes among users of the public library. The major implications of this study are two-fold. One, it introduces to information science Mezirow's theory of transformative learning which could provide greater understanding of how adults use information, and the outcomes that arise from this use. Two, it provides library professionals with information about the library in the lives of their users and concrete information about how libraries can enable transformative learning.

Abstract Purpose – The aim of this thesis is to describe and explain how service employees create personal wellbeing through improving the customer’s experience of the service by being proactive in their work, continuously running the service interaction and stimulating the customer. Design/methodology/approach – The study takes on a qualitative approach and data was collected through a primary analysis of 9 extensive interviews performed on service providers within the mobility service-business in Gothenburg.   Findings – The findings of this study show how service employees’ can create personal wellbeing for themselves in different ways and to varying extent using different tactics, judgement procedures and implicit knowledge resources. Research limitations/implications for future research – The service setting in this study is not comparable to all other organisations, something must be taken into account. Future research should focus on further analysing the findings of this thesis by performing similar studies in other service contexts and a more detailed examination of the different components. Practical implications – The findings of this thesis provide valuable insights for managers within similar service organisations where there is need for improved employee wellbeing and performance. This could lead to significantly enhanced service experiences that would benefit, not only the employees’, but also customers’ and the organisation as a whole. Keywords – Employee Wellbeing, Service Employees, Service Interaction, Transformative Service Research, Service Dominant Logic, Employee Tactics

Transformative Learning seeks to encourage learners to critically reflect on their assumptions and preconceptions, thereby transforming their existing frameworks and perspectives. This qualitative study investigates what Transformative Learning looks like in a diverse group of adult learners at a graduate school of education who attended sculpture classes intentionally designed to enable such change. When Transformative Learning is part of the teacher’s intention, how, if at all, does learning through artmaking in mixed media sculpture classes transform these adults with regard to their understanding of their identities as artists and learners (“Who am I?”), their approaches to artmaking (“How do I make art?”), and their understanding of art (“What is art?”)? Furthermore, the study seeks to understand what aspects of their class experiences contributed to these transformations. The study examines the studio creations and artmaking processes of five adults from diverse backgrounds and experiences and analyzes what they reported about their artmaking experiences. Data gathered from semi-structured interviews, retrospective surveys, and class artifacts are organized and analyzed based on three stages of the Transformative Learning cycle—Stability, Reflection, and Transformation. The five participants’ three stages are then discussed according to the participants’ perceptions of their identities as artists, their understanding of art, and their approaches to artmaking, based on the research questions. The findings of the study suggest that the participants experienced heightened levels of Transformative Learning in individualized ways. Data indicate that specific class activities—a gallery trip, in-class artmaking sessions with material and time constraints, and an artist statement exercise—contributed to participants’ transformations over the course of the semester. Once the semester ended, some participants took further actions based on their changed perspectives of artist identities, understanding of art, and approaches to artmaking, which indicates that dramatic shifts and multiple perspectives can be achieved in an art class designed to teach for Transformative Learning.

Thesis advisor: Jane Regan / American society has been labeled a consumer culture. Consumer culture is not another term for materialism or a framework to explain one's relationship to money; it is an evolving ethos shaping our vision of ourselves, of our neighbor and the common good. The breadth and depth of commodification in the contemporary West informs the collective imagination in unprecedented ways. This dissertation brings together social science critique, educational tools and theological resources to create models for effective adult disciple building that are adequate for addressing challenges of a dominant culture's ideology and practices. Christian formation practices should heighten the Christian community's awareness of its role in dominant culture, both as inheritors of culture and as agents. This awareness requires transformation in many dimensions of one's being: a holistic discipleship. Jesus reminded his followers, "Where your treasure is there your heart will be also." One of the driving questions of this dissertation is: how can the Christian community wrestle ultimate concerns back from the consumer culture to the heart of God for the world? To address that question the discourse of the dissertation is interdisciplinary while maintaining an ultimate vision for an approach to educating for mature Christian discipleship. The dissertation is structured to include social analysis, a vision of alternatives to the dominant lifestyle promulgated by the consumer culture, and effective pathways toward achieving that vision. The first half of the dissertation analyzes the relationship of contemporary consumer culture and Christian experience. The sociological and historical descriptions of this phenomenon lead toward the question, what are the implications for religious identity and meaning-making in light of the consumerist context? Theological resources include the gospel of Luke, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Gustavo Gutierrez for highlighting key dimensions of culturally responsive discipleship. There are also two brief cases presented of organizations who are attempting to live out promising approaches to Christian community in light of consumer culture patterns.The second half explores theories that can serve as a framework for Christian education practices. Transformative learning theory is introduced as a resource for cultivating awareness of underlying assumptions shaped by culture that are operative in adult decision making and worldview. Henriot and Holland's pastoral circle is described as a transformative learning tool. The dissertation moves toward a model of adapting the pastoral circle for educating congregations to think theologically about culture for the sake of personal transformation and social action. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Mindfulness and the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programme is becoming increasingly popular in the Western world. These days, there are many institutes and organisations that support and promote mindfulness, while there is also a growing body of research and academic literature on the topic. Yet, despite the implicit connection to social change, the focus of secular mindfulness in the Western world has primarily remained on the benefits that mindfulness hold for the individual. This notion prompts the question whether there is a relationship between mindfulness and social change. The key theoretical constructs that constitute the theoretical framework of my study include Habermas’s critical theory and his emancipatory-cognitive interest in knowledge creation, and Mezirow’s transformative learning theory, which expanded the Habermasian theory in terms of adult education and learning. Guided by my theoretical framework, the primary research question was formulated as follows: ‘What are the relationships between mindfulness, emancipatory learning and social change?’ In order to address this research question, I selected a case study research approach and collected data using both quantitative and qualitative instruments. For my empirical investigation I selected, as my case study, an MBSR programme offered in Cape Town, South Africa. The data were collected from 55 adult learners who participated in the programme. To my knowledge, this is the first academic research study that investigates the MBSR programme in the field of adult education and learning in a South African context.