Educ 5950 Educational Design: Applying Transformational Learning Theory Summer 1999 James Brakke Nesseth

Education was always a high priority in my family. As a child, my parents main goal was to provide me with a quality education, which in their mind would lead to more career opportunities. They instilled in me the importance of extra curricular activities, hands-on-experience and programs building people skills. Programs like 4-H, that had the motto "learning by doing" fit their personal theory of learning by action or hands-on methods. This technique not only would teach and develop skills, but also would help in building people skills that could help in future learning methods.

The more structured technique in action learning was through grade school and high school. This method was a more subject oriented traditional method. It certainly didn't allow for much creativity and we were basically confined to the paradigms of this type of learning. The educational system basically wanted a cause and effect type of teaching that left measures like test scores, right or wrong answers. This type of system labeled students as either "smart" or dumb". I think it was still a successful system because it demanded discipline, work commitment, and a high percentage of students did develop their basic skills. The pitfall of this system was that some students for various reasons may have not done well in testing and been labeled as "dumb". This system then made certain assumptions about these students and in many cases not given them the opportunity or challenges to achieve and believe in themselves. Building self esteem was probably not a high priority or consequence with this system. I believe this type of system also lead to a power situation for some educators, which stifled the learning development of some students. As I attended college and attended adult educational classes in my ag production career, the traditional method probably fit more in my college classes and my adult professional classes were more practical and communicative with a mix of consumer-need based learning. These methods were effective if I was opened-minded and possessed the attitude that I wanted to learn and develop new skills.

My practices and assumptions now in regards to the learning methods that were applied to me is probably a mix of all the different kinds of learning.

First, I think it is extremely important that educators ask the right questions to their students. They must become a good listener and learn from their audience or students. The power trip some educators can have over their students is a negative experience and promotes poorer performance from students, because it tears down positive self esteem, discourages motivation, and removes any fun component that could encourage creativity. If we can create an environment where students can self reflect and seek new resources that can broaden one's vision, then a process can be developed by students or audiences to learn how to learn. It's similar to the traditional cause and effect method that somehow stimulated students to do some "extra credit" work on their own. The other important aspect in my practices is the need to question my assumptions and beliefs about my audiences. I need to take the time to become more open and flexible. Becoming a better listener has helped me focus on both teaching methods and programs.

It is my belief that these practices and assumptions came into being by my own personal self-reflection. I have looked inside myself and tried to remove old biases and assumptions and then apply them so the people I am trying to reach can learn and benefit.

A challenge I see as an educator is to engage my audiences so they will learn more. It is difficult to have the time to self reflect, promote collaborative dialogue and participate more fully and freely and develop that trust level, which is needed for transformative learning. It can be done and is being done more in policy education programs and probably less in technology transfer. As an educator, I think it's best to avoid hegemonic assumptions. Transformative learning can be the most effective method in learning for adult audiences.

Finally, I believe the next iteration will be to develop a pattern or structure in program development and delivery, which will include transformative learning methods. This can begin by building relationships first before the research transfer. Whatever the educational process is, it must include all the people together. When you work together you usually come up with the right answer. You need to involve all sides in the decision-making process. In Extension, it is important to understand certain things about transformative learning. One would be that there are two different kinds of products in our line of work, the product (information) and the people. People may access information, but Extension still is the only institution that can teach you how to apply it. I heard the comment that "people are drowning in information, but starving for wisdom". Transformative learning methods that can be duplicated by educators into a process could very well help develop constructivism and enhance our wisdom. The other facet in transformative education is the emphasis on self-knowledge and self-reflection. Technique really doesn't matter. There is less emphasis on methods we use and more on trust and vulnerability.

Good teachers will weave subject matter and life experiences together. Technique is less of an item if you have the passion and integrity with students. A note I wrote down from a class discussion that made sense to me was "heart, intellect, spirit, and will equals the learning process". Many times we believe there is always some technical fix in teaching or learning. We forget the spirit and enthusiasm needed to connect with our audiences. Reflective questioning shows passion and goes through assumptions. Critical reflection evaluates those assumptions for positive change.

Bottom line - transformative learning needs to have a learning environment where the students and teacher can become engaged. The audience must be comfortable with the teacher so a trust level is built. I know as an educator, I will have to possess the willingness to self-exam myself and self-reflect my assumptions. If I am emotionally positive and display conviction for them and the subject matter, I will connect with them and meet their needs. If I can transfer this energy to them they will be open to learning how to learn and to gain knowledge or changes in perspectives.

I believe transformative learning methods can be incorporated into Extension programming and delivery methods if an educator truly values learning. I my opinion it is our responsibility to see this is done. We can learn new techniques, but it must be interwoven with trust and passion. We need to support staff time and resources allowing staff to teach different ways. If we recognize innovations in teaching methods and reward staff for valuing the purpose of learning, we can have some positive long-range impacts.

I would hope to provide opportunity for dialogue with my audiences and not be intimidated by it. I do not want teaching and learning to be oppressive. I would hope the lesson to be learned in this class for Extension Educators is there are lots of ways to teach, but not as many ways to learn. Develop a trusting and positive environment for successful programming with positive impacts. Teaching truly is a calling and gift that you can give.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2000

Answers

Response to Jim's Reflection Paper

Jim, I wanted to respond to your paper after I read the comment you quoted about people drowning in information, but starving for wisdom. It really struck me as true, and the basis of much of what we've learned through this program. I think as educators, we need to become comfortable with the fact that we'll never be knowledgable enough about a subject to be the "expert", but we have to be bold enough to facilitate important discussions. It's tough when we know many of the discussions we'll start could be controversial, and not have any real answers or solutions. So much of our role as Extension educators seems to involve gathering people together to work on community concerns. Developing that trust and passion in people that you talked about truly is a gift. If we can be confident enough in our abilities to do that, we can be true leaders. It seems like the trick might be getting people together long enough to take them through the transformative process we've learned. It would be great is we could share "best practices" we find as we move along with this challenge. Good Luck to all of us!! Kari

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2000

Jim's reflection paper: I liked your comment about needing to bring spirit and enthusiasm to any teaching situation. I to believe that technique is not everything when reaching your students. While a perfect presentation is great, showing genuine interest in sharing a topic new to someone else is enough to develop an engaging, learning atmosphere. When I think back to my favorite educators, that is the part I focus on first. Did they express an excitement about what they were teaching me. The ones that did could have taught Shapespeare(not high on my interest list)to me and still had me engaged.

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2000