Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The purpose of this research paper is to explore and examine the nature of learning within the context of and situated within a social movement. Based on an exploratory qualitative study of learning within the Jyoti Jivanam Movement of South Africa, this research explores the nature and purpose/s of learning within a social movement. Accordingly, this study is guided by the research questions: How and why do adults learn as they collectively participate in social movements; and what factors facilitate, contribute, hinder and influence learning within social movement? This study confirms that social movements are important sites for. Collective learning and knowledge construction. For this reason, social movements need to be acknowledged as pedagogical sites that afford adults worthwhile learning opportunities. Furthermore, social movements, as pedagogical sites, not only contribute to conceptions of what constitute legitimate knowledge(s), social movements also contribute to the creation of transformative knowledge(s).

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The purpose of this research paper is to explore and examine the nature of learning within the context of and situated within a social movement. Based on an exploratory qualitative study of learning within the Jyoti Jivanam Movement of South Africa, this research explores the nature and purpose/s of learning within a social movement. Accordingly, this study is guided by the research questions: How and why do adults learn as they collectively participate in social movements; and what factors facilitate, contribute, hinder and influence learning within social movement? This study confirms that social movements are important sites for collective learning and knowledge construction. For this reason, social movements need to be acknowledged as pedagogical sites that afford adults worthwhile learning opportunities. Furthermore, social movements, as pedagogical sites, not only contribute to conceptions of what constitute legitimate knowledge(s), social movements also contribute to the creation of transformative knowledge(s).

Despite extensive team studies research over the past 40 years, team learning remains an emerging field of study where there is significant conceptual discord. Three conceptualizations have dominated the literature where team learning is represented as: acquisition; participative activity, or an open system. Team learning models have also emerged integrating these three conceptualizations and included elements such as feedback, mediational factors and emergent states, though they have generally maintained the linearity of traditional input – process – output models. Teams have also recently been conceptualized as complex learning systems, yet there is a paucity of research at the team level of analysis particularly within dynamic work teams. In conjunction, exploration into a complementary area, collective transformative learning within authentic work teams, is also limited. Through an instrumental case study, the researcher investigated in what ways is collective informal learning is enacted within this authentic work team. Additionally, the potential for unfacilitated collective transformative learning was also studied. Using a social constructivist lens, this case study leveraged multiple methods including document analysis, observation, focus groups and interviews to capture a rich picture of team informal learning at the collective level of analysis. The study found that team informal learning was embedded in work activities and enacted in various ways through team interactions and activities. Moreover, the findings supported that the team had experienced collective transformative learning. The study concluded that conceptualizing teams as complex learning systems supports team informal learning and emergence as well as the potential for collective transformative outcomes in and through work. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of collective informal learning in authentic work teams and collective transformative learning.

Stemming from increased levels of participation and diversity of the student base (Biggs & Tang, 2011) and growing scrutiny on the quality of university degrees (Crowley, 2013; Marr, 2013), governments have begun putting in place mechanisms to monitor and support quality in higher education. Over the last few decades, a notion of quality that has gained traction in the scholarly community is that of quality in terms of enhancement and transformation (Cheng, 2017; Houston, 2008; Williams, 2016). Guided by the discourses of Transformative Learning Theory (Mezirow, 2000) and transformative conceptions of quality in higher education (Harvey & Green, 1993), this study examined graduate student learning experiences and perceptions of quality. Of further interest was the extent to which these learners were living the intended transformation that academic programs are seeking to foster. Using a multiple case-study design, Seidman’s (2013) three-stage interview protocol served as primary source of data from a sample of six PhD candidates across three faculties. Secondary data sources included collected documents, a reflexivity journal and field notes. A within-case analysis was performed for each case and compared via a cross-case analysis. Institutional characterizations of quality were examined across 25 artifacts via a document analysis. The four principal factors that characterized the PhD candidate learning experience emerged as the significance of intentional individualized guidance, becoming an independent scholar, the importance of social interactions and community, and the transformative nature of learning. Gaps were identified between institutional intent and the learner experience. However, complementarity between discourses of transformation appeared to offer bridges between the macro-level institutional orientation toward fostering student transformation and the micro-level transformative learning experiences lived by students. The dissertation makes conceptual, methodological and empirical contributions to the domains of postsecondary quality and transformative learning. Implications for policy related to quality assurance as well as practice in program development and doctoral supervision are equally shared.

Syftet med föreliggande studie har varit att uppnå ökad förståelse för hur det upplevs att få en synskada i en sen ålder i livet, samt hur synskadade äldre hanterat denna livsförändring.  Studien utgick från semistrukturerade intervjuer av sex äldre personer med synskada i Danmark, som alla drabbats av grav synnedsättning efter att de fyllt 60 år.  En kvalitativ innehållsanalys ledde fram till fyra överkategorier som tillsammans summerar de centrala teman i intervjuerna; Lärande, Coping, Självständighet och Acceptans. Den studie som presenteras här grundar sig i Mezirows teori om transformativt lärande kombinerat med ett fenomenologiskt livsvärldsperspektiv. Studien beskriver hur det att drabbas av en synskada innebär en stor livsförändring som tvingar individen genom en lärande process på flera plan: fysiskt, mentalt och inte minst identitetsmässigt. Studiens konklusion pekar därför på betydelsen av att ha ett holistiskt synsätt när man arbetar med människor som genomgår stora livsförändringar samt behovet av mer kunskap om hur professionella och samhället i övrigt bättre kan stödja individen genom den sorge- och bearbetningsprocess det innebär att förlora sin syn, helt eller delvis, i en sen ålder. / The aim of this study was to improve our understanding of how elderly people, affected by visual loss late in life, experience and handle such a life-changing process. The thesis is based on a qualitative scientific method, in which six elderly participated in semi-structured interviews, after which thematic content analysis was conducted. The analysis resulted in four overarching themes: Learning, Coping, Independence, and Acceptance. This thesis presents a phenomenological study of the experiences of visually impaired elderly people. It is grounded in the concept of the “life-world” - the world we perceive in living our daily lives, and the theory of Transformative learning. Our research aims to highlight the perspective of the senior him- or herself. The results show that learning processes are individual and related to the participants' respective life-worlds and lived experiences. The conclusions show the importance of adopting a holistic approach adapted to the needs of the individual and providing integrated mental health support alongside the conventional low vision intervention.

The purpose of this exploratory study of adult learning was to investigate the lived experience of 15 employees who encountered a significant job loss event (an unplanned loss of employment with no immediate replacement of employment—coupled with an unintentional and tangibly significant reduction in income), and how the resultant fear(s) from that event affected their navigation through unemployment in order to become successfully reemployed. This study used two theories in the field of adult learning—Transformative Learning (TL) and Learning From Experience (LFE)—with an aim of uncovering how the principles and methods of TL and LFE were relevant to the participants’ job loss episode and self-assessed, perceived workplace performance. TL offers adults a path for reframing a job loss episode. LFE can help advance an understanding of how the cumulative set of life events develops and shapes coping capacities (ways of learning) and skills relative to job loss episodes. This study was conducted using qualitative research methods, predominately exploratory participant interviews. The participants were 15 U.S.-based employees: five Black males, nine White males, and one White female. The participants were largely but not exclusively middle management staff. Through a series of one-on-one interviews, the research process captured the participants’ perceptions and learnings with respect to how they experienced their job-dismissed event, navigated unemployment, and applied learnings from their job loss episode. In addition, given the availability of five Black participants, discussions related to how race permeated the study were pursued when surfaced. Findings from the study indicated that participants experienced manifestations of fear from losing their job; used their intervening period of unemployment in a constructive, action-based manner; and saw themselves differently as a result of their job loss event. Several conclusions were derived from the study: (a) the job dismissal event is unlike onboarding—employees generally feel kicked out without care or warning; (b) navigation through unemployment requires self-awareness, self-determination, and both social and financial support; and (c) the richness of experience from a job loss episode can offer improvements to perceived workplace performance.

The late 20th century attempts at the professionalization of translation as a modern system – with professional associations as its organizing institutions – have been accompanied by the ‘need’ to codify and regulate ethical issues. The purpose of this process of ‘professionalization’ and, by extension, ethics codification as a part of that process, is to reduce doubt and uncertainty between the different agents involved in the translation occupation, on the one hand, and impose the translator’s recognition, on the other hand – as we learn from the sociology of professions. Within this context, a number of translator associations have created codes of ethics , adopting a deontological approach based on a priori principles. Precise solutions have been proposed in these documents to respond to the ethical issues that arise in translation. This thesis argues that these solutions are problematic as they may not only ignore the complex nature of ethical encounters but may also impact on the translator’s empowerment. The study demonstrates how codes of ethics – supposedly one of the traits of professionalism, which is equated with symbolic recognition and self-control of one’s occupation in the sociology of professions – may be internal sites where a low status of the translator is reinforced and an external control is discerned. Also, the thesis shows how in the name of ethics, these documents may be sites where ‘ethics’ function as ideologies of alienation and where the translator’s ethics per se are neutralized. It also examines how codes may impact on those beyond the circle of translation, as a consequence. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s and Zygmunt Bauman’s sociologies, the current project investigates the codes/charter of ethics of a selection of national/provincial and international associations, in addition to the UNESCO Nairobi Recommendation, in order to find out how they impact on the translator's capital and moral self. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s notion of Epimeleia Heautou (self-care) and transformative learning theory, the study proposes alternative ethics to the current codes of ethics.

This thesis is a documentation of an empirical study in which qualitative methods were employed to investigate the current programmes offered to pre-service Creative Arts teachers at selected South African universities. The subject, Creative Arts, is one of the compulsory learning areas for grades R - 9 in all South African public schools as prescribed by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement of 2011. In order for learners to gain maximum benefit from the subject Creative Arts, pre-service teachers should be educated to gain an understanding of the interrelatedness of the different art forms. The theoretical framework underpinning this study is Mezirow's theory of transformative learning which is based on critical reflection. Pre-service teachers should therefore be encouraged to critically reflect on the learning process, rethinking their own perspectives and constructing new knowledge in the process of discourse with others. Information on the current programmes offered at five South African universities involved in this collective case study, was extrapolated from interviews with both lecturers of Creative Arts programmes, and pre-service teachers enrolled for courses in Creative Arts. Furthermore, observations were done at various sites to obtain an in-depth perspective of how the arts are presented at these institutions. Findings revealed that most universities offer Creative Arts programmes with an arts specific approach. This corresponds with the demands of artistic disciplines, and especially performance arts, which require the development of practical skills which should be developed over an extended period. Although developing these specialized skills and knowledge in each art form is important, the discrete presentation of these arts may limit opportunities for students to experience integrated arts activities. Moreover, pre-service teachers need practice in school based settings to hone their teaching skills in delivering meaningful arts activities to learners. The recognition of common grounds between the different art disciplines makes the merging of these arts into the broad subject, Creative Arts possible. These commonalities should be further explored, especially in a South African context where African arts are inherently integrated. Benefits of co-operative curriculum planning between the departments of Basic and Higher Education in the provision of competent and skilful teachers for Creative Arts is the key to successful arts education in South African schools. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Music / DMus / Unrestricted

This paper is a case-study on a group of American students, who spent a four- month period in Oman on a semester abroad program hosted by Al Amana Cen- tre. This paper examines the changes that have occurred in the students concep- tual thinking, their attitudes towards Muslims, Arabs and Islam and their personal theology, and identifies causes of those changes. In the first section, I will introduce the interfaith work that Al Amana Centre does, and lay a summary of the history and theory of Christian-Muslim dialogue. I will also explain the concept of Theology of Religion, which is central in examining the students’ own theological views. I will also introduce transformative learning theory that I use as a theoretical framework in this study In the last section of this paper, I analyze the research material which includes program curriculum, student interviews, student essays and students’ answers to questionnaires and surveys. From this material, I have identified repeating ideas and patterns and compared them to the framework offered by transformational learning theory. This paper seeks to answer to the question: what kind of effects does the Al Amana semester abroad program, infused with cultural immersion, have on the students in this particular case study. In the conclusion part of this paper, I con- clude that the semester abroad program facilitates opportunities for deep reflec- tion and extrarational experiences that work as a catalyst for transformation. It is hoped that this study can offer guidelines for other programs that aim at transforming attitudes and believes, and that work with cultural immersion and interfaith dialogue. It should be noted though, that the conclusions and outcomes of this study are tied to the specific context and people who attended the semes- ter abroad program, and should not be taken as universal or context-free.

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