Friday, November 5, 2010
Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress
Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress. San Francisco: Jossey-Basse.
How Critical Reflection Triggers Transformative Learning
Mezirow, Jack. (1990). In J. Mezirow & associates (Eds.), Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: A guide to transformative and emancipatory learning (pp. 1-20). San Francisco & Oxford: Jossey-Basse.
Mezirow argued that central to adult education is reflecting upon prior learning to determine its validity against present circumstances. He called this critical assessment of assumptions critical reflection, which bases reflective action. He stated, "the most significant learning experiences in adulthood involve critical self-reflection--reassessing the way we have posed problems and reassessing our own orientation to perceiving, knowing, believing, feeling, and acting" (p. 13).
In this light, he classified two distinctive learning paths: instrumental learning and communicative learning. Instrumental learning occurs while involved in task-oriented problem solving. In the process, Mezirow asserted, "reflection is significantly involved when we look back on content or procedural [sic] assumptions guiding the problem-solving process to reassess the efficacy of the strategies and tactics used." (p. 7) It also involves "the process of learning to control and manipulate the environment or other people," thus the results can be empirically demonstrated. (p. 8). On the other hand, communicative learning involves understanding the meaning of others' values, feelings, decisions, and such abstract concepts of justice, love, democracy and commitment. Mezirow emphasized that this learning has even greater significance in adult learning. It focuses on achieving coherence rather than exercising more effective control. It is like a "building block of understanding" (p. 9) by integrating further insights, which involves "hermeneutic circle," which move back and forth between parts and a whole of what we seek to understand. Thus, reflection in this learning ensures identifying similarities and unfamiliarities in order to give them coherence.
Precisely, Mezirow defined as critical reflection "challenging the validity of presuppositions in prior learning" (p. 12). He argued that although critical reflection may be an integral part of making decision, it cannot be an integral element in the immediate action process. He contended that this transition requires transforming their own perspectives. He argued that perspective transformation occurs in response to "disorienting dilemma"(p. 13): a divorce, death of a loved one, job change, an eye-opening discussion, book, culture shock, etc. He put it:
"Anomalies and dilemmas of which old ways of knowing cannot make sense become catalysts or "trigger events" that precipitate critical reflection and transformation." (p. 14)
Mezirow pointed out psychic distortions as something that hinders adults from learning: unwarranted anxiety that impedes taking actions, which resulted from traumatic events in childhood (Roger Gould, 1978, transformation: Growth and change in adult life). Mezirow wrote, "Adulthood is a time of regaining such lost functions. The learner must be helped to identify both the particular action that he or she feels blocked about taking and the source and nature of stress in making a decision to act" (p. 17). In this light, educators "can provide skillful emotional support and collaborate as co-learners in an educational context" (p. 17).
Mezirow defined as transformative learning the process of learning through critical reflection via either instrumental or communicative learning, and acting on the learned insights derived from transformation of their perspectives. Emancipatory education is "an organized effort to help the learner challenge presuppositions, explore alternative perspectives, transform old ways of understanding, and act on new perspective" (p. 18).
Looking at educational approaches, Mezirow asserted that they are adaptable as research methods for study the nature, significance, and changes in perspectives. He wrote:
"In transformative learning, the line between learning, education, and research often becomes mercifully blurred. The educator becomes a co-learner, helping the learner explore alternative ways of interpreting his or her experience." (p. xix-x, Preface)
Mezirow argued that central to adult education is reflecting upon prior learning to determine its validity against present circumstances. He called this critical assessment of assumptions critical reflection, which bases reflective action. He stated, "the most significant learning experiences in adulthood involve critical self-reflection--reassessing the way we have posed problems and reassessing our own orientation to perceiving, knowing, believing, feeling, and acting" (p. 13).
In this light, he classified two distinctive learning paths: instrumental learning and communicative learning. Instrumental learning occurs while involved in task-oriented problem solving. In the process, Mezirow asserted, "reflection is significantly involved when we look back on content or procedural [sic] assumptions guiding the problem-solving process to reassess the efficacy of the strategies and tactics used." (p. 7) It also involves "the process of learning to control and manipulate the environment or other people," thus the results can be empirically demonstrated. (p. 8). On the other hand, communicative learning involves understanding the meaning of others' values, feelings, decisions, and such abstract concepts of justice, love, democracy and commitment. Mezirow emphasized that this learning has even greater significance in adult learning. It focuses on achieving coherence rather than exercising more effective control. It is like a "building block of understanding" (p. 9) by integrating further insights, which involves "hermeneutic circle," which move back and forth between parts and a whole of what we seek to understand. Thus, reflection in this learning ensures identifying similarities and unfamiliarities in order to give them coherence.
Precisely, Mezirow defined as critical reflection "challenging the validity of presuppositions in prior learning" (p. 12). He argued that although critical reflection may be an integral part of making decision, it cannot be an integral element in the immediate action process. He contended that this transition requires transforming their own perspectives. He argued that perspective transformation occurs in response to "disorienting dilemma"(p. 13): a divorce, death of a loved one, job change, an eye-opening discussion, book, culture shock, etc. He put it:
"Anomalies and dilemmas of which old ways of knowing cannot make sense become catalysts or "trigger events" that precipitate critical reflection and transformation." (p. 14)
Mezirow pointed out psychic distortions as something that hinders adults from learning: unwarranted anxiety that impedes taking actions, which resulted from traumatic events in childhood (Roger Gould, 1978, transformation: Growth and change in adult life). Mezirow wrote, "Adulthood is a time of regaining such lost functions. The learner must be helped to identify both the particular action that he or she feels blocked about taking and the source and nature of stress in making a decision to act" (p. 17). In this light, educators "can provide skillful emotional support and collaborate as co-learners in an educational context" (p. 17).
Mezirow defined as transformative learning the process of learning through critical reflection via either instrumental or communicative learning, and acting on the learned insights derived from transformation of their perspectives. Emancipatory education is "an organized effort to help the learner challenge presuppositions, explore alternative perspectives, transform old ways of understanding, and act on new perspective" (p. 18).
Looking at educational approaches, Mezirow asserted that they are adaptable as research methods for study the nature, significance, and changes in perspectives. He wrote:
"In transformative learning, the line between learning, education, and research often becomes mercifully blurred. The educator becomes a co-learner, helping the learner explore alternative ways of interpreting his or her experience." (p. xix-x, Preface)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The search for a separate theory of adult learning
: Does anyone really need andragogy? Hanson, Ann. (1996). Boundaries of adult learning (pp. 99-108)
Hanson pointed out the self-conflict of Knowles's andragogy: while it demonstrates "a strong humanistic and individualistic commitment," it simultaneously may dehumanize children (p. 100). For Hanson, the distinction between pedagogy and andragogy is artificial, for the rationale for andragogy is also relevant to pedagogy. More, andragogy is problematic, she argued: it effectively moved the issues of knowledge, power and control. Centered on autonomous, self-directed learners, andragogy obscure the system of their learning as a social, cultural and political construct. Hanson wrote: "Theories of adult learning which do not take account of culture and power do adults little service, even if they aim to produce self-directed learners." (p. 101) [WHY? she doesn't explain]
More critically, Hanson argued that the goal of self-direction, a western value presented as universal, left unexamined. Even critical self-reflection is not always beneficial, for they are characteristics of seriously depressed people, she argued.
In contrast, Hanson called for reflective learning, in which learners "reflect critically on a situation or piece of knowledge, to understand its meaning, to be able to incorporate the new concept into their own understandings sufficiently to transform perspectives." (p. 106) To do so, Hanson emphasize contextualizing learning within questions of culture and power.
[Why do learners need to transform their perspectives? Does this author say anything about it?]
Hanson pointed out the self-conflict of Knowles's andragogy: while it demonstrates "a strong humanistic and individualistic commitment," it simultaneously may dehumanize children (p. 100). For Hanson, the distinction between pedagogy and andragogy is artificial, for the rationale for andragogy is also relevant to pedagogy. More, andragogy is problematic, she argued: it effectively moved the issues of knowledge, power and control. Centered on autonomous, self-directed learners, andragogy obscure the system of their learning as a social, cultural and political construct. Hanson wrote: "Theories of adult learning which do not take account of culture and power do adults little service, even if they aim to produce self-directed learners." (p. 101) [WHY? she doesn't explain]
More critically, Hanson argued that the goal of self-direction, a western value presented as universal, left unexamined. Even critical self-reflection is not always beneficial, for they are characteristics of seriously depressed people, she argued.
In contrast, Hanson called for reflective learning, in which learners "reflect critically on a situation or piece of knowledge, to understand its meaning, to be able to incorporate the new concept into their own understandings sufficiently to transform perspectives." (p. 106) To do so, Hanson emphasize contextualizing learning within questions of culture and power.
[Why do learners need to transform their perspectives? Does this author say anything about it?]
Andragogy
: An emerging technology for adult learning. Knowles, Malcolm. (1996). In Richard Edwards, Ann Hanson, & Peter Raggatt (Eds.), Boundaries of adult learning (pp. 82-98). This edited chapter originally appeared in M. Tight (Ed.), Adult learning and education, London: Croom Helm, 1983. Original first published in 1970.
Knowles proposed the term andragogy to better formulate technology for adult education as opposed to pedagogy. He argued pedagogy means, specifically, the art and science of teaching children; andragogy means adult learning. At the heart of angragogy, he contented, lies the principle of ego-involvement. He put it:
"The important implication for adult education practice of the fact that learning is an internal process is that those methods and techniques which involve the individual most deeply in self-directed inquiry will produce the greatest learning. This principle of ego-involvement lies at the heart of the adult educator's art. In fact, the main thrust of modern adult educational technology is in the direction of inventing techniques for involving adults in ever deeper processes of self-diagnosis of their own needs for continued learning, in formulating their own objectives for learning, in sharing responsibility for designing and carrying out their learning activities, and in evaluating their progress toward their objectives." (p. 96)
Centered on the view on individuals as autonomous and self-directed entities (Ann Hanson, 1996), Knowles proposed four assumptions.
1. Self-concept=self-directivity
Adults see themselves as a self-directing producer or doer. Thus, adult should be treated with respect, be involved in mutual inquiry with the teacher, and are given responsibility of their learning. To do so, Knowles proposed students' participation in planning their learning. He stated:
"Every individual tends to feel committed to a decision (or an activity) to the extent that he has participated in making it (or planning it). Teachers of adults who do all the planning for their students, who come into the classroom and impose preplanned activities on them, typically experience apathy, resentment, and probably withdrawal. For this imposition of the will of the teacher is incongruent with the adults' self-concept of self-directivity. [To an extent, it is true to education for children.]
Accordingly, a basic element in the technology of andragogy is the involvement of the learners in the process of planning their own learning, with the teacher serving as a procedural guide and content resource." (p. 87)
Thus, Knowles wrote, "The teacher's role is redefined as that of a procedural technician, resource person, and co-inquirer; he is more a catalyst than an instructor, more a guide than a wizard." (p. 88) [It is not irrelevant in participatory environment. Yet, the teacher's role should not be diminished to a catalyst. As Gramsci mentioned, teachers as organic intellectuals should be directive. In a sense, they cannot be indirective, as they bring their own socioeconomic and cultural background.]
2. Experience
Emphasizing adults' experience, Knowles stated, "An adult is [sic] what he has done [sic]" (p. 89). According to Knowles, adults are distinct from children in that they have more and different kinds of experience; adult education, therefore, should respect their experience and built upon it. In this regard, he wrote: "Adults have acquired a larger number of fixed habits and patterns of thought, and therefore tend to be less open-minded" (p. 90). [I do not agree on this]
Therefore, Knowles emphasized participatory experiential techniques, writing: "Indeed, 'participation' and 'ego-involvement' are boldfaced words in the lexicon of the adult education, with the assumption often being made that the more active the learner's role in the process, the more he is probably learning." (p. 90)
3. Adults' readiness to learn is parallel to their social roles.
4. Adults' orientation toward learning is more on problem-centeredness.
Knowles defined as the central dynamic of learning the learner's experience of interacting between him or her as an individual and the environment. Thus, the critical function of the teacher is "to create a rich environment from which students can extract learning and then to guide their interaction with it so as to maximize their learning from it" (p. 96)
[Does Knowles indicate any concrete adults or general adults? Do all the adults involve in their learning in the same way? Here, there is only abstract adults, which is critical oversight.]
Knowles proposed the term andragogy to better formulate technology for adult education as opposed to pedagogy. He argued pedagogy means, specifically, the art and science of teaching children; andragogy means adult learning. At the heart of angragogy, he contented, lies the principle of ego-involvement. He put it:
"The important implication for adult education practice of the fact that learning is an internal process is that those methods and techniques which involve the individual most deeply in self-directed inquiry will produce the greatest learning. This principle of ego-involvement lies at the heart of the adult educator's art. In fact, the main thrust of modern adult educational technology is in the direction of inventing techniques for involving adults in ever deeper processes of self-diagnosis of their own needs for continued learning, in formulating their own objectives for learning, in sharing responsibility for designing and carrying out their learning activities, and in evaluating their progress toward their objectives." (p. 96)
Centered on the view on individuals as autonomous and self-directed entities (Ann Hanson, 1996), Knowles proposed four assumptions.
1. Self-concept=self-directivity
Adults see themselves as a self-directing producer or doer. Thus, adult should be treated with respect, be involved in mutual inquiry with the teacher, and are given responsibility of their learning. To do so, Knowles proposed students' participation in planning their learning. He stated:
"Every individual tends to feel committed to a decision (or an activity) to the extent that he has participated in making it (or planning it). Teachers of adults who do all the planning for their students, who come into the classroom and impose preplanned activities on them, typically experience apathy, resentment, and probably withdrawal. For this imposition of the will of the teacher is incongruent with the adults' self-concept of self-directivity. [To an extent, it is true to education for children.]
Accordingly, a basic element in the technology of andragogy is the involvement of the learners in the process of planning their own learning, with the teacher serving as a procedural guide and content resource." (p. 87)
Thus, Knowles wrote, "The teacher's role is redefined as that of a procedural technician, resource person, and co-inquirer; he is more a catalyst than an instructor, more a guide than a wizard." (p. 88) [It is not irrelevant in participatory environment. Yet, the teacher's role should not be diminished to a catalyst. As Gramsci mentioned, teachers as organic intellectuals should be directive. In a sense, they cannot be indirective, as they bring their own socioeconomic and cultural background.]
2. Experience
Emphasizing adults' experience, Knowles stated, "An adult is [sic] what he has done [sic]" (p. 89). According to Knowles, adults are distinct from children in that they have more and different kinds of experience; adult education, therefore, should respect their experience and built upon it. In this regard, he wrote: "Adults have acquired a larger number of fixed habits and patterns of thought, and therefore tend to be less open-minded" (p. 90). [I do not agree on this]
Therefore, Knowles emphasized participatory experiential techniques, writing: "Indeed, 'participation' and 'ego-involvement' are boldfaced words in the lexicon of the adult education, with the assumption often being made that the more active the learner's role in the process, the more he is probably learning." (p. 90)
3. Adults' readiness to learn is parallel to their social roles.
4. Adults' orientation toward learning is more on problem-centeredness.
Knowles defined as the central dynamic of learning the learner's experience of interacting between him or her as an individual and the environment. Thus, the critical function of the teacher is "to create a rich environment from which students can extract learning and then to guide their interaction with it so as to maximize their learning from it" (p. 96)
[Does Knowles indicate any concrete adults or general adults? Do all the adults involve in their learning in the same way? Here, there is only abstract adults, which is critical oversight.]
Learning in Social Action
: A contribution to understanding informal education. Foley, Griff. (1999). London and New York: Zed Books.
Introduction (pp. 1-13)
Foley argued that the most powerful learning occurs when people struggle again oppression and understand the circumstances they encounter; this learning often occurs informally and "incidentally" such that people does not recognizing it as learning. In addition, against cultural approach to radical adult education, Foley stresses material analyses of learning, contending that capitalism must lie at the heart of emancipatory adult education theory and practice. Finally, Foley noted that incidental learning in the process of emancipatory struggle is also ambiguous, complex and even contradictory, which is one of the foci he drew attention to.
Ideology, Discourse and Learning (pp. 14-26)
"The unlearning of dominant, oppressive ideologies and discourses and the learning of insurgent, emancipatory ones are central to processes of emancipatory change. But these processes of emancipatory learning and action are not straightforward; they are complex, ambiguous, contradictory." (p. 16)
Introduction (pp. 1-13)
Foley argued that the most powerful learning occurs when people struggle again oppression and understand the circumstances they encounter; this learning often occurs informally and "incidentally" such that people does not recognizing it as learning. In addition, against cultural approach to radical adult education, Foley stresses material analyses of learning, contending that capitalism must lie at the heart of emancipatory adult education theory and practice. Finally, Foley noted that incidental learning in the process of emancipatory struggle is also ambiguous, complex and even contradictory, which is one of the foci he drew attention to.
Ideology, Discourse and Learning (pp. 14-26)
"The unlearning of dominant, oppressive ideologies and discourses and the learning of insurgent, emancipatory ones are central to processes of emancipatory change. But these processes of emancipatory learning and action are not straightforward; they are complex, ambiguous, contradictory." (p. 16)
Art as Experience
Dewey, John. (1980). New York: Perigee Books.
Chapter 4. Act of Expression (p. 60-84)
For Dewey, art is an act of expression, in which past experience that would otherwise be stale or inert obtain fresh meanings through media. Expression is "the clarification of turbid emotion" (p. 80). Unlike a discharge of emotion, it requires clarification, which makes art a purposeful action more than inspiration. Dewey put it:
The inspiration, however, is initial. In itself, at the outset, it is still inchoate. Inflamed inner material must find objective fuel upon which to feed. Through the interaction of the fuel with material already afire the refined and formed product comes into existence. The act of expression is not something which supervenes upon an inspiration already complete. It is the carrying forward to completion of an inspiration by means of the objective materials of perception and imagery ( 68-69)
Dewey implies that to express emotion, one needs a medium, a tool for expressing it and clarifying it. In addition, although Dewey did not articulate, there should be something that develop the faculty of expressing the emotion, not just discharging it.
Chapter 4. Act of Expression (p. 60-84)
For Dewey, art is an act of expression, in which past experience that would otherwise be stale or inert obtain fresh meanings through media. Expression is "the clarification of turbid emotion" (p. 80). Unlike a discharge of emotion, it requires clarification, which makes art a purposeful action more than inspiration. Dewey put it:
The inspiration, however, is initial. In itself, at the outset, it is still inchoate. Inflamed inner material must find objective fuel upon which to feed. Through the interaction of the fuel with material already afire the refined and formed product comes into existence. The act of expression is not something which supervenes upon an inspiration already complete. It is the carrying forward to completion of an inspiration by means of the objective materials of perception and imagery ( 68-69)
Dewey implies that to express emotion, one needs a medium, a tool for expressing it and clarifying it. In addition, although Dewey did not articulate, there should be something that develop the faculty of expressing the emotion, not just discharging it.
The Artistic-Aesthetic Curriculum
Greene, Maxine. (2007). In Randall Curren (Ed.), Philosophy of Education: an anthology. pp. 561-566. Blackwell Publishing.
Greene quotes John Dewey's approach to art as experience: art clarifies and concentrates the meanings of things ordinarily dumb and inchoate; works of art can keep alive "the power to experience the common world in its fullness"
In this light, Green argued: "This would not happen, I am sure, if it were not for the ability to pull aside the curtains of habit, automatism, banality, so that alternative possibilities can be perceived." (p. 562).
For Greene, art education contributes to developing the sense of agency when it takes participatory approaches or the "reader response" approach. She put it:
"How, on the various levels at which you teach, can you create the kinds of situations where involvement with the arts not only enables you and your students to combat boredom and banality, but develops among all of you the sense of agency that is most apparent (or so it seems to me) in encounters with the arts? This takes me back, of course, to the participatory approach or to the "reader response" approach. I have in mind the notion that works of art can never be realized by a merely passive attention. There has to be an active, energetic reading out." (p. 564)
Greene quotes John Dewey's approach to art as experience: art clarifies and concentrates the meanings of things ordinarily dumb and inchoate; works of art can keep alive "the power to experience the common world in its fullness"
In this light, Green argued: "This would not happen, I am sure, if it were not for the ability to pull aside the curtains of habit, automatism, banality, so that alternative possibilities can be perceived." (p. 562).
For Greene, art education contributes to developing the sense of agency when it takes participatory approaches or the "reader response" approach. She put it:
"How, on the various levels at which you teach, can you create the kinds of situations where involvement with the arts not only enables you and your students to combat boredom and banality, but develops among all of you the sense of agency that is most apparent (or so it seems to me) in encounters with the arts? This takes me back, of course, to the participatory approach or to the "reader response" approach. I have in mind the notion that works of art can never be realized by a merely passive attention. There has to be an active, energetic reading out." (p. 564)
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