Transformative Learning and Higher Education Essay

Accordingly, the approach taken to academics will center on the refinement of more generally applicable skill sets such as interpersonal communication, team orientation and learning through practical usage of emergent skills. Accordingly, Moore points to instances of interdisciplinary learning as the manifestation of this set of values which is increasingly seen as essential to yielding the best results from one's higher education. Accordingly, Moore indicates that "new models of interdisciplinary education promote student teamwork in a shift toward transformative, experiential, and collaborative learning." (p. 77)

The text goes on to note that in spite of the rising scholarly consensus on the value of such approaches, they contrast from actually practices across the general higher education spectrum. Here, there is instead a tendency toward retrenchment in traditional modes of instruction, pedagogy and evaluation. This suggests that the absence of transformational strategies in many higher education contexts is not as a consequence of curricular restrictiveness or limited resources. Instead, these seems to emerge from a cultural commitment to familiar, comfortable and predictable modes of instruction and testing. As Moore points out, "despite having academic freedom in teaching and research, few professors engage in alternative models for teaching and learning in their classrooms or emphasize social change as an outcome of their classes." (p. 77)

Moore suggests that this may be both an outcome of cultural constructs and of the university system's broader mode of operation. Accordingly, the text makes the argument that certain educational prerogatives such as formal graded evaluation and strict degree course paths will tend to dominate the experience of students in a way that defies the opportunities for transformation which might otherwise be keyed into by coursework. An example which Moore provides and which therefore forms the basis of the recommendations emerging from the present discussion is that relating to environmental education. Here, the researcher proceeds from the argument that a transformational curriculum will recognize the opportunity of a higher learning institution to seize on the individualized talents, competencies and ambitions of students for the benefit of society as a whole. By imbuing all course content with an interdisciplinary sustainability lens, Moore indicates, her university successfully brought about a transformation in the culture of the institution as a whole. The unifying emphasis would help to transform myriad students into a multi-disciplinary, socially conscious generation of professionals.

Works Cited:

Glisczinksi, D.J. (2007). Transformative Higher Education: A Meaningful Degree of Understanding. Journal of Transformative Education, 5(4), 317-328.

Moore, J. (2005). Is Higher….....