Transformational Learning In Community Colleges

Transformational Learning in Community Colleges details the profound social and emotional change that nontraditional and historically underserved students undergo when they enter community college. Drawing on case study material and student observations, the book outlines the systematic supports that two-year institutions must put in place to help students achieve their educational and professional goals. The book offers guidance on how a renewed focus on student transformational learning can complement the skills curriculum, accelerate current reforms, and help lead to higher student success rates. "Chad Hoggan and Bill Browning have produced an excellent guide for assuring greater levels of success at the place community colleges and students meet at scale everyday: the classroom. It will provide community college academic leaders and faculty alike with a guide that will significantly improve student success in the classroom. This book is both timely and relevant as the classroom becomes the next frontier for community college reformation." --Kenneth L. Ender, professor of practice, The Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, and president emeritus, William Rainey Harper College "Transformational Learning in Community Colleges makes a meaningful contribution to the literature on student success by addressing pressing challenges such as the need for coordinated efforts at the program level. Intended for practitioners in community colleges and career pathways training programs, this book focuses on the changes students experience in college and provides helpful real-life examples, case studies, and applied strategies for readers to use." --Meredith Archer Hatch, senior associate director for Workforce and Academic Alignment, Achieving the Dream Chad D. Hoggan is an associate professor of Adult, Workforce, and Continuing Professional Education in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at North Carolina State University. Bill Browning is an independent consultant with a thirty-year career combining management roles in corporate training, a community-based nonprofit, community college, and workforce development policy and leadership training. Robert G. Templin, Jr. is professor of the practice at the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research at North Carolina State University and senior fellow of the College Excellence Program at The Aspen Institute.

The leading authorities in the field produced this comprehensive resource, which provides strategies and methods for fostering Transformative Learning (TL) practice in a wide variety of higher and adult education settings. The book answers relevant questions such as: What are effective practices for promoting TL in the classroom? What is it about TL that is most helpful in informing practice? How does the teaching setting shape the practice of TL? What are the successes, strengths, and outcomes of fostering TL? What are the risks and challenges when practicing TL in the classroom?

From the foreword by Walter G. Bumphus, President & CEO of AACC: “Becoming an Equity-Centered Higher Education Institution is a significant contribution to the on-going struggle to find practical approaches to implementing an equity agenda in higher education.” The authors had three main goals for this text: Relevance: This book is the result of many years of teaching, leading, researching, and coaching individuals and institutions about equity inside higher education. The authors place a clear emphasis on awareness and teaching skills first, but also ensure that those skills are based on practical application in the field. Practical Application: To describe and explain equity and transformational change concepts, this book provides step-by-step implementation approaches that can be used to integrate equity-centered principles into practices and policies to implement or improve equity work into the organizational culture. A Purposeful Approach: The authors defined the act of becoming an equity-centered institution in terms of a transformational change approach using Kotter’s Eight-Stage Process. Kotter’s Model and AACC’s Leadership Competencies for Community College Leaders are introduced in Chapter 1 and integrated throughout the book. This integrated framework allows practitioners to place the intersectionality of equity, transformational change, and requisite leadership competencies into the larger context of higher education. While using Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model, the authors emphasize that operations and situations inside higher educational institutions are not linear as implied in Kotter’s model. They show how the stages of change may occur at different times and different situations at different institutions, and demonstrate what leadership competencies are recommended for each stage in the change process.

Presenting current trends in transformative learning and adult higher education, this volume paints a vivid picture of the Transformative Learning theory in action. The concepts that knit these articles together despite the variety of educational settings and populations are: relationships, community, and the body experience—often missing in higher education. This volume includes: the voices of marginalized populations often excluded from research studies such as community college students, emerging adults with learning differences, English language learners, native Alaskans, African-American health educators, doctoral students, and yoga practitioners; new paradigms for thinking about adult undergraduate education; new ways to deal with social conflict and advise doctoral students; and personal stories from Black women leaders, college teachers, student writers as well as pregnant women, and social service providers. This is the 147th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education series. It offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers.

Based on a study of 256 exemplary community college presidents, this book examines the attributes of outstanding leaders and their ability to orchestrate organizational change. Chapter 1 provides the background for the study, emphasizes the importance of leadership, and identifies attributes common to transformational leaders; that is, leaders who work with their followers so that each raises the other to higher levels of motivation and morality. Chapter 2 summarizes leadership theory and offers a discussion of transformational leadership and its place in a rapidly changing society. After chapter 3 reviews the study methodology, chapters 4 and 5 present findings on the demographic and leadership characteristics of the presidents selected for in-depth study. Chapters 6 through 10 discuss key elements of transformational leadership, including shared vision, teamwork and collaborative decision making, institutional climate and the relationship between the institution and the individuals within it, motivation as a means of achieving followers' acceptance of the shared vision, and personal values, integrity, and commitment to learning. Chapter 11 examines women in community college leadership roles. Finally, chapter 12 presents a summary of the research, a discussion of the problems faced by minority leaders, and a review of study implications. The survey instruments and an eighty-five-item bibliography are appended.

"Provocative and illuminating, this book is a must read for adult educators seeking to understand and facilitate transformational learning. It showcases a stellar group of authors who not only engage each other and the reader in constructive discourse, but who also model the heart of the transformational learning process." --Sharan B. Merriam, Department of Adult Education, University of Georgia This volume continues the landmark work begun by Jack Mezirow over twenty years ago--revealing the impact of transformative learning on the theory and practice of adult education. Top scholars and practitioners review the core principles of transformation theory, analyze the process of transformative learning, describe different types of learning and learners, suggest key conditions for socially responsible learning, explore group and organizational learning, and present revelations from the latest research. They also share real-world examples drawn from their own experiences and assess the evolution of transformative learning in practice and philosophy. Learning as Transformation presents an intimate portrait of a powerful learning concept and invites educators, researchers, and scholars to consider the implications of transformative learning in their own professional work.

America’s community colleges are experiencing the most creative and substantive period of transformation in their 118-year history. There has never been so much research, so much support from foundations, and so much commitment from national leaders to reimagine community colleges for today and for the future. 13 Ideas that Are Transforming the Community College World, edited by Terry U. O’Banion, is the seminal work that captures the major ideas faced by community college leaders in this period of transformation. The book includes 23 authors representing 12 national organizations, perhaps the most significant and substantive list of individuals ever to participate in an edited book on the community college. Each author is a nationally-recognized authority on his or her chapter, and all have played major roles as leaders of national organizations.

Education as if people and planet mattered In Transformative Learning, Satish Kumar reflects on the legacy of Schumacher College, a beacon of innovation that fosters an ecological-based, holistic model of higher education built around the college's unique "learn by doing," head, heart, and hands pedagogy. Over fifty current and former instructors and alumni, including Vandana Shiva, David Orr, Kate Raworth, Fritjof Capra, Bill McKibben, Mary Evelyn Tucker, and Jonathon Porritt, paint a rich picture of education for human well-being and the ecological health of the planet. Contributions delve deeply into the nature of transformational learning and holistic education, present a wealth of alumni experiences of working towards an ecological society, and detail the expansion of the Schumacher model to Belgium, Brazil, India, Japan, and beyond. The result is a rich tapestry of ideas and educational methods packed with insights and experience for practitioners and activists looking to build a just, ecological society.

This compact, accessibly written text prepares students for their experience of community-based learning. It is designed for students to read and reflect on independently or to foster discussion in class on their motivations and dispositions toward community engagement and service learning. It prepares students to work with diverse individuals, groups, and organizations that may be outside their prior experience. Faculty can use the book as a tool to deepen the educational experience of the course and enrich community engagement. This text is a guide to what’s involved in community-engaged learning, from understanding the pervasiveness of social, economic and environmental problems, to learning about how individuals and organizations in communities work to overcome them. Students will discover through a process of reflection how service connects to personal development and the content of their courses, builds their ability to engage with people different from themselves, and develops new life skills, all in the context of working with communities to overcome systemic injustice.Critical questions woven into each chapter prompt students to reflect on ideas and perspectives about social justice, community development, and their role in fostering them.The book concludes with case studies of students who have experienced the transformative power of community-engaged learning. The stories illustrate common themes inherent in the student experience, including listening to understand, challenging stereotypes, learning the nature of their role, and seeing the world through a new lens.A special feature of this book is the embedded QR codes that provide access, as students read the text, to online resources, and original and public videos that explore particular themes or perspectives more deeply. The authors also include text directed to faculty to provide ideas about framing their community-engaged course and integrating the book.