Learning and Teaching Forum 2013
Transformative learning through
critically reflective inquiry
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Carolin Kreber
School of Education
University of Edinburgh
OUTLINE: 10 points
What is PTAS for?
1.
Inspires a particular professional practice: The 'scholarship of teaching
and learning'
2.
A professional practice based on inquiry
3.
Directed at the question: How can we help students learn and
develop? Or, more profoundly, how can we enhance the students'
capabilities to succeed in their academic studies but also in
their continuing learning in the spheres of professional practice
and civic life?
4.
What challenges await students both during their studies and after
graduation?
5.
It is in the students' important interests that they be afforded opportunities
to move beyond frames of reference that limit how they make meaning of
their experiences and thus engage in ‘transformative learning’ .
6.
Transformative learning leads, on the one hand, to more valid
conceptions of the subject matter and on the other to greater agency
and personal commitments.
7.
PTAS is also a way that encourages university teachers to engage in
transformative learning about their own teaching practice.
8.
Scholarship, understood as critically reflective inquiry, is fundamentally
about encouraging transformative learning among students and
academics.
9.
The goal of PTAS, then, is to support significant learning on two levels:
a. Students are supported in their learning
b. Academics are supported in their development as teachers
10.
The key concept underpinning both academics’ engagement with
teaching and student learning at university is ‘scholarship’
A broadened notion of ‘scholarship’ with ‘scholarship of
teaching’ as one domain of academic practice (Boyer, 1990)
Scholarship
Scholarship
Potential meanings of the term ‘scholarship of
teaching’
The nature of the
‘scholarship of
teaching’
(1) the activity of university teaching, naturally underpinned Process
by the scholarship of the discipline that is taught (e.g., what
we have come to know about history, chemistry; psychology,
etc)
(2) the activity academics become involved in as they inquire Process
into their own teaching and the learning of their students
(reminiscent of Stenhouse’s ‘teacher researcher’)
(3) the activity academics become involved in as they apply
research evidence produced by educational researchers to
their own teaching practice
Process
(4) the knowledge about teaching and learning that
Product
educational researchers have produced over the years that is
now accessible through books, articles and conference
presentations
If in doubt consult ‘Wikipedia’…??
► “The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL or
SoTL; pronounced so'tl saw'tl or S O T L) is a growing
movement in post-secondary education. SOTL is scholarly
inquiry into student learning which advances the practice
of teaching by making research findings public”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholarship_of_Teaching_and
_Learning)
This conventional view seems rather narrow
One might instead consider:
►
a broader understanding of the relationships between
teaching and scholarship;
►
a less restricted perspective on what counts as relevant
inquiry in relation to university teaching;
►
a more creative understanding of ‘going public’.
What do we mean by ‘scholarship’ (Andresen, 2000)?
Scholarship
►
►
deep knowledge base
► inquiry orientation
► critical reflectivity
peer review and going/making
public
‘Scholarship ‘:
The central feature of university teaching and learning
Academics:
Professional
engagement
with teaching/
learning about
teaching and
developing as
teachers
Scholarship
-deep knowledge base
-inquiry orientation
-critical reflectivity
-peer review and
going/making public
Students:
develop
capabilities to
succeed in their
present studies
and future
continuing
learning
The linkages between a broader notion of
scholarship and learning
Engagement
Serving the
community
Teaching
Professional
engagement
with teaching
Scholarship
Integration
Working across
different perspectives
and disciplines
Discovery
Inquiry-based
learning
‘Critical reflectivity’ and scholarship
►
Scholarship = ‘critically reflective inquiry’
►
Critically reflective inquiry, or simply critical reflection, may lead to
‘transformative learning’ (TF)
►
TF: Revised understandings, ideally leading to (revised) actions.
►
‘Revised understandings’, resulting from critical reflection, may relate
to understanding the subject matter in a new way (e.g., threshold
concept acquisition) but may relate also to new understandings of
oneself.
A particular interpretation of critical reflection would involve reflection
on social structures and ideologies as well as beliefs about oneself that
often conspire to foster conformity and prevent identities being
grounded in a sense of responsible agency and commitment.
►
Is this relevant to the university?
►
A. What do we want students to learn at university? How do we
conceive of the nature of important learning that we hope students will
experience while studying with us?
►
B. How do we conceive of our own learning, here our ‘learning about
teaching’?
A and B are based on
Scholarship
►
deep knowledge base
► inquiry orientation
► critical reflectivity
► peer review and going/making public
Tranformative
learning
Transformative learning defined
(more than one definition)
►
Transformative learning involves experiencing a deep,
structural shift in the basic premises of thought, feelings,
and actions. It is a shift of consciousness that dramatically
and irreversibly alters our way of being in the world. Such
a shift involves our understanding of ourselves and our
self-locations; our relationships with other humans and
with the natural world; our understanding of relations of
power in interlocking structures of class, race and gender;
our body awarenesses, our visions of alternative
approaches to living; and our sense of possibilities for
social justice and peace and personal joy (Sullivan, 1999).
►
Transformative learning is the expansion of consciousness
through the transformation of basic worldview and specific
capacities of the self; transformative learning is facilitated
through consciously directed processes such as
appreciatively accessing and receiving the symbolic
contents of the unconscious and critically analyzing
underlying premises. (Mezirow, 1991, 2000)
Different ways of ‘being reflective’?
►
►
1. Problem description
 Describing the problem, one’s beliefs about the problem
and what one feels needs to be done in this situation.
2. Problem-solving


a.) “How effective am I with solving this problem?”
(instrumental learning),
 b.) “What is the most meaningful thing to do here?”
 (communicative learning)
►
3. Reframing
 What is the underlying premise? Is there an alternative?
 How have I come to think that? Why do I believe this?
 Can the problem be posed differently? (emancipatorylearning)
Critical reflection on what?
(Mezirow, 1991)
►
Psychological perspectives
-Reflection on any thoughts, feelings and perceptions we
have developed regarding our self-confidence, selfefficacy, self-concept, etc
►
Epistemic perspectives
-Reflection on the beliefs we hold about the nature, limits
and certainty of knowledge
►
Socio-linguistic perspectives
-reflection on the various beliefs, expectations and ways of
justification that we ‘learn’ as being true or morally
desirable through our interactions with the various
communities we are part of
Ten steps in the TF model
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
a disorienting dilemma;
self-examination;
a critical assessment of assumption;
recognition that one's discontent and process of transformation are
shared and that others have negotiated a similar change;
exploration of options for new roles, relationships, and actions;
planning of a course of action;
acquisition of knowledge and skills for implementing one's plans;
provisionally trying out new roles;
building of competence and self-confidence in new roles and
relationships; and
a reintegration of new assumption into one's life on the basis of
conditions dictated by one's new perspective.
TF is rare but significant
Reframing
‘Subjective Reframing’
and
‘Objective Reframing’
Problem- solving
‘Objective Framing’
‘Inter-subjective Understanding/Framing’
Problem description
‘Objective Framing’
‘Inter-subjective Understanding/Framing’
It’s about testing validity claims
►
Reflection is a response to an unsettling situation (Dewey,
1933).
►
In order to make unsettling situations more controllable we
refer to standards of inquiry appropriate for certain types
of inquiry:
►
►
Scientific approaches (try to explain)
Communicative practices (try to reach understanding)
Emancipatory practices (critique-try to question the taken
for granted)
►
Transformative learning
►
Critical reflection holds out the promise of emancipatory
learning, learning that frees adults from the implicit
assumptions constraining thought and action in the
everyday world. Through critical reflection, adult learners
can act on the forces creating inequality in professional
practice and in the world (Imel 1999).
Engaging students in significant, possibly
transformative, learning
► WHY
is this important?
►
Success in present academic study and preparation for
future learning (in professional practice, civic life, etc)
►
Desirable attributes typically highlighted: adaptability,
creativity, communicative competence, problem-solving
skills and ability to deal with ill-defined problems, critical
thinking skills and dispositions, confidence, leadership
skills, resilience, ethical awareness, imagination,
community orientation, etc.
These attributes are recognised in the
literature
Supercomplexity?
►
Barnett’s (2004b, 2005) notion of ‘super-complexity’, is a short-hand for the multi-level challenges
students are exposed to in making sense of their experiences.
►
It is helpful for exploring the meaning of ‘graduateness’.
►
Barnett suggests that there are in fact two different challenges students need to grapple with, and
the two stand in a hierarchical relationship to one another.
►
1. The so-called knowledge explosion. What to believe or consider 'true' is constantly being called
into question due to these rapid changes in knowledge. Students are told that what they learn today
may no longer be considered valid by the time they graduate. This leads to a sense of increased
epistemological uncertainty and universities, according to Barnett, have a responsibility to develop in
students the capacity to cope with this uncertainty. However, this challenge is made still more
complex, indeed super-complex, by yet an additional challenge.
►
2. Supercomplexity through increased specialisations. It is one thing to prepare students for the
reality that knowledge advances through further scholarship or discoveries within a particular field or
discipline; it is quite another to prepare them for the additional challenge of different disciplinary
specialisations producing often incompatible frameworks by which to interpret this knowledge.
Preparing students for ‘uncertainty’ and ‘supercomplexity’
►
Given this ‘super-complexity’, Barnett argues that higher education should see its role
principally as cultivating in students “human capacities needed to flourish amid
‘strangeness’” (Barnett, 2005).
►
Such flourishing he continues can be supported “a pedagogy of human being” (Barnett,
2004). What is important, he contends, is that students are encouraged to not only
endure such strangeness but to, in a very real sense, become part of it. “For ultimately”,
he suggests, “the only way, amid strangeness, to become fully human, to achieve
agency and authenticity, is the capacity to go on producing strangeness by and for
oneself“ (Barnett, 2005).
Now what might this intriguing statement mean?
► What would it entail if students were to develop the capacity to produce strangeness by
and for themselves?
►
Words that come to mind include
►
Exploring, inquiring, investigating, reflecting, considering,
questioning, …
►
But also trying out, experimenting, innovating, challenging,
imagining different perspectives…
►
And being courageous, moving out of one’s comfort zone,
being creative, daring…
What are the educational opportunities we provide for?
Perspectives on HE
► “Contained within the idea of higher education are the
notions of critical dialogue, of self-reflection, of
conversations, and of continuing redefinition. They
do justice to the idea of higher education ….” (Barnett,
1992).
Perspectives on HE cont’d
►
“The college should encourage each student to develop
the capacity to judge wisely in matters of life and
conduct….The goal is …to set them free in the world of
ideas and provide a climate in which ethical and moral
choices can be thought-fully examined, and convictions
formed” (Ernest Boyer, 1987)
Perspectives on HE cont’d
►
“In order to foster a democracy that genuinely takes
thought for the common good, we (in higher education)
must produce citizens who have the Socratic capacity to
reason about their beliefs” (Martha Nussbaum, 1997)
Perspectives on HE cont’d
►
The great challenge for education is to offer experiences
that help students become prepared “for the task of
renewing the common world” (Arendt, 1954).
Perspectives on HE cont’d
•
“Higher education institutions bear a profound, moral
responsibility to increase the awareness, knowledge, skills
and values needed to create a just and sustainable future”
(Cortese, A. 2002. The critical role of higher education in
creating a sustainable future. Planning for Higher
Education, 31 (3), 15–22).
How could this be achieved?
Expanding the university classroom through Building
community partnerships
Engagement in learning
How could this be achieved? One possible way
►
Community-service learning, and other experiential ways of learning in
higher education, that are fully integrated with academic courses,
where academic knowledge is applied, but also broadened and
challenged, often through interdisciplinary working groups and real life
situations, have the potential to engage students in genuine reflective
inquiry, about the academic knowledge they study in university courses
but also about what this means to them on a more personal level and
how they can make a difference to the world.
►
Such learning, underpinned by public exchanges (debates, discussions,
presentations, etc) where knowledge claims are questioned and
defended, and meaningful forms of self, peer, field–based tutor and
university-based tutor assessment, can become transformative,
leading to a deeper understanding of subject matter and self, an
identity grounded in a sense of responsible agency, commitment and
authenticity.
Service Learning:
University–Community Partnerships
Such learning, on the part of students, is underpinned by
scholarship
Scholarship
 deep knowledge base
 inquiry orientation
 critical reflectivity
 peer review and going/making public
Transformative learning and academic practice
“The scholarship of teaching is concerned not so much
with doing things better but with doing better
things” (Lewis Elton, 2005)
Two personal stances on professionalism (Hoyle,
1975): restricted and extended
►
The so-called ‘restricted’ stance, is characterised by teachers relying
principally on experience and intuition, and focusing on daily classroom
practicalities.
►
The so-called ‘extended’ stance, is characterised by teachers valuing
the theory underpinning practice, taking a more intellectual and
reflective approach and holding a broader vision of education.
►
An ‘extended’ stance on professional engagement in university
teaching is distinguished by three important features: 1) a wider sense
of what counts as relevant theory, 2) emphasis on critical reflection
and 3) a broader vision of what university education is for.
Teachers engaged in critically reflective inquiry might
ask questions such as
- What are the aims, purposes and goals of my (our) teaching,?
- How meaningful are these aims, goals and purposes?
- Why did I (we) decide on these aims, goals and purposes? Are they equally relevant for all learners? What
might be other possibilities/alternatives?
- What do I (we) expect or demand of students in terms of the learning that they need to master? What are
the challenges for different students? What are their present ways of knowing and being and what knowing
and being do we find desirable?
- How do I (we) know that these ways of knowing and being are important? How well do I (we) support
students in developing these ways of knowing and being? Who is doing well, who is not doing well?
- Why do I (we) believe these ways of knowing and being are important? Are they equally relevant for all
learners? Do all learners have an equal chance to develop them? Why do I (we) expect learners to behave
in these particular ways? What might be other possibilities/alternatives?
- What curricula and pedagogies are needed to support students in their learning and development?
- How do I (we) know that these curricula and pedagogies (and specific teaching and assessment
strategies) we decided on are good ones? How good am I (are we) at implementing them?
- Why did I (we) decide on these curricula and pedagogies? What considerations were driving these
decisions? How inclusive are these curricula and pedagogies? Are they appropriate for all students? What
might be other possibilities/alternatives?
Relationship to PTAS awards/projects
►
►
►
►
►
►
Websites and the creation of community (English Literature)
PeerWisdom: Evaluating and boosting biology student benefits from the
PeerWise online learning tool
Introducing psychology via public engagement
Defining non-technical skills in doctors
Ways of thinking and practising in Chinese and Japanese studies
Improved data collection, analysis and student support in Mathematics
With all of these projects there was a concern with questions such as 1)what
are we doing, 2) how are we doing, 3) why are we doing it and can we do
better?
► There was also a concern not just with learning of content but ‘learning
community’, with professional practice, with becoming better learners (not
just knowers), with skills that are non-technical requiring actual experience to
be developed.
► Concepts/theories of ‘supercomplexity and uncertainty’, ‘transformative
learning’, ‘pedagogies of being’ and ‘self-authorship’, ‘experiential learning’,
etc might help us make explicit the reasons for what we do.
►
Professional engagement in university teaching is
underpinned by scholarship
Scholarship
 deep knowledge base
 inquiry orientation
 critical reflectivity
 peer review and going/making public
Going public
►
May include sharing results from empirical investigations (at
conferences such as this one, through journals or on designated
websites).
►
However, going public also includes fostering public dialogue and
critical reflectivity within our communities about how to make a
difference in teaching and learning.
►
As MacIntyre (1987) once remarked “one can only think for oneself if
one does not think by oneself” (p.24). True reflectivity, a core attribute
of scholarship, therefore, requires a public sphere where debate
against certain standards of justification can take place.
Summarising the argument:
Scholarship and the potential for transformative learning
underpins both students’ learning and academics’
professional engagement in teaching
Academics:
Professional
engagement
with teaching/
learning about
teaching and
developing as
teachers
Scholarship
-deep knowledge base
-inquiry orientation
-critical reflectivity
-peer review and
going/making public
Students:
develop
capabilities to
succeed in their
present studies
and future
continuing
learning
Student learning is enriched through inquiry-based learning
that, ideally, is situated within the community and involves
working across disciplines
Engagement
Serving the
community
Scholarship
Integration
Working across
different perspectives
and disciplines
Discovery
Inquiry-based
learning
Professional engagement with teaching, in an ‘extended’
form, would aim to foster in students significant learning
(that is inquiry-based, ideally situated within the community
and involves working across disciplines)
Engagement
Serving the
community
Teaching
Professional
engagement
with teaching
Scholarship
Integration
Working across
different perspectives
and disciplines
Discovery
Inquiry-based
learning
► Thank
you very much!