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​Think back over your experiences as an adult learner.  Post your responses to the following questions to your Lesson 5 Learning Logs.



1. Do any of these learning experiences reflect characteristics or attributes of transformative learning, as it has been described here and in your text readings?



The biggest transformative event occurred when I returned to college to get my four year degree. My belief was that I would skim along as usual and earn another degree in the travel and tourism field and do nothing with my life. Upon attending class as an adult I wasn’t worried about the social aspects of school (as I did during all my prior schooling), I was only there to learn. The transformative process began a day or two into the school year, I started cognitively observing classroom settings, teaching methods, and the interaction (or lack of) between lecturer and student. I also reflected and generalized on what I would do if I were teaching. After my first semester in the University, Some of my perspectives changed, not only did I realize I wasn’t stupid but I would soon follow my childhood dream of becoming a teacher.

I believe the event was an example of Mezirow’s psycho-critical transformation because I had changed my belief that I was stupid in terms of academic learning and I developed a new perspective that I could accomplish higher goals in life.



2. What aspects of the stories in Vella suggest transformative dimensions to the participants' experiences of lifelong learning?



Villa discusses numerous conversations she had with Paulo Freire and she seems to have been heavily influenced by his philosophy of social-emancipation. The stories she shared in the book have themes of personal empowerment and social transformation. She specifically says here stories were meant to demonstrate Freire’s belief in taking power away from the teacher, “Paulo Freire describes how in a dialogue approach to adult learning the teacher learns and the learner teaches. I trust this was obvious in all the stories told here” (villa 2002, p. 239)



Furthermore, the stories within the book were meant to highlight her use of dialogue learning/dialogue education in various programs throughout the world. Part of her construction of dialogue education came from the transformative concepts developed by Paulo Freire She says “In the 1994 edition of this book I called this approach popular education, Building it from the foundation laid by the Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire. In this revised edition, I want to show how dialogue education is congruent with the kind of thinking about the universe and about men and women and society that emerges (Villa, 2002, p.30)”.

In most of the stories the oppressed participants were able to face their oppressors and learn how to fend for themselves as members of the society and as learners.

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3. What implications for the design or delivery of educational experiences for adults does transformation theory suggest to you for working with your adult learners?


As an ESL teacher who predominantly teaches adults with very limited English skills, it is difficult to develop lessons that involve discourse and reflection. But I would not say that students cannot or have not had transformative events in my class, they very well could have but their English vocabulary was not advanced enough for them to express themselves. I like the idea that Transformative learning is a very personal process and that it depend on the meaning making skills of the learner.

Reflective activity 2

1. What is your reaction to the critical, feminist, postmodern theory, embodied, spiritual, narrative and nonwestern ways of learning as theoretical perspectives to understanding how adults learn? Do they strike you as being useful or helpful in your own practice or learning? Why or why not?



Critical: I think that critical theory is beneficial in pointing out faults in institutions and power which individuals/groups can exploit or partially change to benefit themselves. Yet, I believe one sides attempt to shed light on what they perceive to be wrong could lead to social action which will just lead to  reversal of roles; there will always be oppressors and the oppressed.



Feminist: I used to have a totally negative view on feminism based on pure ignorance, I kind of thought about it in the stereotypical “man haters”. Now that I have read a little bit about it and it’s multiple theories I have found a theory I can relate to. I think Tisdell’s poststructuralist feminist pedagogy is interesting because it takes into account women’s differences in race, class, power, and sexual orientation; I believe this model can also show the differences and similarities between woman and men. 



Postmodern theory: I have learned in this class that I am a postmodernist thinker so I was really interested in learning about postmodern learning and teaching. I anticipated that using this theory for teaching and learning would be complicated considering its nature of not following any particular path.  But, I do think asking questions similar to this one which has the learner take many points of view is one way to teach.



Embodied: This is the first time I’ve read about this concept. A lot of it makes scenes especially if you get into neurobiology (which the reading didn’t cover much of). The text does relate embodied learning with experiential learning I must admit that I’m having difficulty understanding this concept for now. But from my experience in education psychology I think that embodied learning can be linked to behaviorism because the learner will more likely continue doing / learning from what feels good for   body (positive reinforcement) and inversely stop the process of learning when the body feels pain or uncomfortable (extinction). Also one can learn from pain and being uncomforted (negative reinforcement) e.g touch a hot pan, don’t do it again. If I am interpreting embodied theory correctly this may be one of the best forms of learning. Because many senses and cognitive process are involves.



Spiritual: Similar to Merriam I had a strong spiritual event happen in Asia (Tokyo) so I can understand the concepts of learning (changing) do to spiritualism, yet It seems to me that aspects associated with spiritual learning can be related to transformative events which are registered as a spiritual events for those who are inclined to believe in spirituality.

Narrative: I think using narrative is a very powerful learning tool. I especially agree with the notions that “the construction of that narrative is how we see our understanding come together and make sense” and that “the narativising of our understanding is how we make our learning visible to ourselves, if only in our heads” (Marriam et al, 2007, p. 210). 



Nonwestern: As a teacher and former college student in Thailand I can attest that Thai student practice community learning. As a person who was raised in the west I first thought everyone was prone to cheating. But after becoming a teacher and learning about learning methods I know realize these students are just helping each other. It frustrates me when new English teachers complain that their students cheat too much and try to stop their learning process.  I must note there is also blatant cheating as in many institutes of learning.



2. To what extent does Vella seem to employ any of these theoretical perspectives in her stories? Would you say her analysis is primarily reflective of a modernist or a postmodernist perspective on learning? Why?



Critical: As stated earlier she is practitioner of many of Paulo Freire critical ideas and she seems to strive for the emancipation of the learner when developing programs.



Postmodernist: Villa seems in tune with the duality and complexity of life and in her stories she is always willing to change depending on the context of the situation and the abilities of her learners. She furher articulate these thoughts when she writes that “Quantum Physics gives new weight to context, relationship, personal perception, holistic viewpoint, fluidity of fact and content, and the celebration of opposites. Zohar reminds us: a quantum entity must always be seen within the larger context of its defining relationships. Change the context and the entity itself is different” (Vella 2002, p. 185).



Spiritual: One of Tisdell’s assumptions of spiritual learning is that it is about the awareness and honoring of wholeness and the interconnectedness of all things.  Vella uses of holism (wholeness, energy) as part of her model of teaching and learning; to me spiritual learning and holistic learning seem to share a lot of similarities.



I think Villa practices postmodernism in her teaching methods, while trying to explain it in the vial of her modernist concept of quantum learning, which is just a hodge-podge of many learning theories and psychological concepts developed by others. 



3. What implications for the design and delivery of educational programs for your adult learners are suggested by these perspectives?



Critical: I have very little interest in using critical theory in my teaching. I must say that some of us teachers talk about the terrible Thai education system and social corruption. But I personally don’t seek to change the system or my student’s views. I guess, if my students learn English that can be a means for them to get out of an oppressive situation or then again they could use English as a way to oppress others.



Feminist: In terms of teaching I think my wife can attest that I’m no exactly sensitive on how women think. I will just stay with being lighthearted and respectful.



Postmodern theory: I’ve never tried this on my students but I think asking questions similar to this one that has the learner take many points of view, and consider many truths is one way to teach.

Embodied: I actually used embodied learning a lot with my students; I ask them to touch objects, point and compare. Recently I had a group of beginners who could not remember the difference between “on top of” and “bellow”. So I had them stand in front of their desk and touch the top of the desk and say “on top of, then bend down and point under the desk chair and say below of” I had them repeat this task 10 times, the strategy seemed cruel considering one of the students was a 40 year old lady but, they never forgot the difference between top and bellow. I guess the argument could be if this was embodies learning or negative reinforcement.



Spiritual: I try not to touch this subject at all. It’s up to the student to find something spiritual from learning.

Narrative:  As an ESL teacher I have my students tell/write stories and dialogues during almost every class. Before this lesson I thought about the teaching method as a good way to teach English but know I realize that my students could use these narrative learning to find deeper meanings.

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Nonwestern: I will continue letting my students help each other in class as a learning community, which means they can speak Thai in class as a means of translating or explaining concepts to their classmates. This method is frowned upon by some ESL educators but I believe my Thai students learn better this way. Now have some academic literature to back I up.