Transformational Learning

We know that the telling of the personal experience narrative is a powerful avenue to self-understanding, transformative learning, and personal growth. This book explores these and other ways in which narrative can inform the practice of adult education, as well as how we can understand learning as a narrative process.

First, this collection serves as a space to synthesize current research on transformative learning. Through an extensive literature review, the editors have discerned several important strands of research in the area of transformative learning and solicited chapters dealing with these topics. The second objective of the collection is to expand the current knowledge-base in the area of transformative learning by creating a space for dialog on the subject and bringing together diverse voices. The third objective of the collection is to transcend the field of adult education, with a specific goal to reach an audience in human services (psychology, counseling, social work, marriage and family therapy).

Drawing on numerous examples from nearly twenty years of experience as an adult educator and researcher, Cranton relates transformative learning to current adult education perspectives. She describes how learners undergo transformative learning. She examines individual differences among learners, and she presents practical strategies for fostering and supporting transformative learning--including questioning techniques, journal writing, consciousness-raising exercises, and experiential activities.

Orality and Literacy investigates the interactions of the oral and the literate through close studies of particular cultures at specific historical moments. Rejecting the 'great-divide' theory of orality and literacy as separate and opposite to one another, the contributors posit that whatever meanings the two concepts have are products of their ever-changing relationships to one another. It reveals the powerful ways in which cultural assumptions, such as those about truth, disclosure, performance, privacy, and ethics, can affect a society's uses of and approaches to both the written and the oral.

Explores some of the profound changes in our thought processes, personality and social structures which are the result of the development of speech, writing and print.

The simple premise of this book is that the purpose of education is to serve the well-being of students. Karl D. Hostetler explores how teachers can 'seduce' students' souls, guiding and provoking while still respecting individuals' rights to conceive and live a fulfilling life for themselves. He prompts serious reflection about the purposes of education and challenges dominant ideas about the aims of education, the politics of policy-making, and the practice of teaching. Seducing Souls argues eloquently and provocatively for the necessity of experiences that touch the soul, that elevate the young self so that students can better understand life and discern value.