In this interactive session, we will explore how the beliefs that we (faculty and staff) have about learning and expertise shape our educational practices – and how those practices make transformation more, or less, likely for our students. In other words, we will consider how our assumptions enable or constrain student learning and transformation.

This session will draw on interviews and focus groups with hundreds of students, faculty, and staff who were asked to reflect on their own experiences with learning and teaching in higher education. One theme emerging from this research is the nature of the relationships that contribute to transformative learning. Powerful experiences commonly involve a blurring of the traditional roles in higher education institutions; rather than “student” and “professor” equating with novice and expert, during many transformative experiences the two act as partners in the shared task of learning.

Building from this research, we will consider practical ways that faculty, staff, and students can become partners in the challenging yet essential work of making higher education a transformative experience for all.

Colleges and universities can and should be life-changing places for students. Higher education offers students the chance to learn deeply and broadly, to hone professional and personal skills, and to wrestle with fundamental questions of meaning, purpose, and identity. The potential for individual transformation is immense, as is the possibility of contributing to changes socially, economically, culturally, scientifically, and politically. Too often, however, students drift through the academy, learning little that lasts and missing a unique opportunity to transform themselves and to develop new capacities to enhance our world.

In this interactive session, we will explore how the beliefs that we (faculty and staff) have about learning and expertise shape our educational practices – and how those practices make transformation more, or less, likely for our students. In other words, we will consider how our assumptions enable or constrain student learning and transformation.

This session will draw on interviews and focus groups with hundreds of students, faculty, and staff who were asked to reflect on their own experiences with learning and teaching in higher education. One theme emerging from this research is the nature of the relationships that contribute to transformative learning. Powerful experiences commonly involve a blurring of the traditional roles in higher education institutions; rather than “student” and “professor” equating with novice and expert, during many transformative experiences the two act as partners in the shared task of learning.

Building from this research, we will consider practical ways that faculty, staff, and students can become partners in the challenging yet essential work of making higher education a transformative experience for all.

Johansson, C. & Felten, P. (2014). Transforming students: Fulfilling the promise of higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Felten, P., Bauman, H. D., Kheriaty, A., & Taylor, E. (2013). Transformative conversations: A guide to mentoring communities among colleagues in higher education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Plenary

Communicating Transformative Learning