2020 Transformative Learning Conference

Demonstrating Transformative Learning During the Conference Session

Global Voices: Unfiltered is a project designed to reintroduce and redefine international students’ identities by highlighting their personal, social, and academic experiences in the United States through their respective unique and unfiltered voices. The project focuses on the work of 20 international students currently attending the University of Central Oklahoma with submissions taking a variety of formats to include essays, poems, paintings, photographs, audio recordings, videos, monologues, and personal objects. Student submissions tell stories of courage and commitment; discuss positive and negative social and academic experiences; reflect on experiences of discrimination and harassment; work to provide clarification about culture, religion, and country of origin; and reflect on mental health issues. The intent of Global Voices: Unfiltered is to advocate the importance of tolerance, empathy, and diversity within the university community and to cultivate a global perspective and metacognitive skills using the Universal Design for Learning Framework (UDL).

In our session, we will discuss the purpose and theoretical framework of Global Voices: Unfiltered and its connection to transformative learning initiatives. However, we believe what will be truly transformative for TL conference attendees will be to experience the exhibit itself. We are planning on setting-up all 20 submissions for TL conference attendees to explore, experience, and reflect on. The hope is that the experience is one of transformative social change propagated by a sense of human connectedness and that it facilitates reflective dialogue and critical action.