Michael Kroth

Fostering Transformative Learning

When we are children, growing up in a family, community, and culture, we absorb the values and beliefs we encounter in our surroundings. We believe that our parents and teachers know best, and we strive to please those important people in our lives by following their values and beliefs.

Caring as a Managerial Strategy

The purpose of this article is to broaden the discourse about caring as a managerial strategy by describing caring from three perspectives: nursing, education, and management. The authors suggest that current organizational models inadequately address the caring connection between manager and employee. Definitions of managerial caring and care building are offered. A model, the Recursive Model of Manager—Employee Caring, is proposed and discussed. Potential lines of inquiry associated with the model and implications for HRD are reviewed.

Stories of transformative learning

Stories of Transformative Learning is intended to encourage people to explore the potential for transformative learning in their lives, practices, and communities. This book illustrates the transformative learning process through ten stories of individuals from both inside and outside of the classroom. Adult educators and adult learners will find the book to be personally insightful and professionally useful.

Immunity to Transformational Learning and Change.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine and synthesize Argyris and Schons Theory of Action and Kegan and Laheys theory of Immunity to Change in order to produce an integrated model.Design/methodology/approach – Literature discussing Argyris and Schons Theory of Action (Model I and Model II), single and double‐loop learning, espoused theory and theory‐in‐use; and Kegan and Laheys theory of Immunity to Change was examined. The two theories were then summarized, analyzed, compared and synthesized into an integrated model.Findings – Within Kegan and Laheys model of an immunity system, the Argyris and Schon Model I Unilateral Control Model should be considered a competing commitment. Kegan and Laheys theory identifies a critical causal element (underlying assumption) not previously identified by the Argyris and Schon Theory of Action, thus opening the potential for expanded effectiveness by practioners of Argyris and Schons theory.Originality/value – Little attention has been given in the lite...

Using the Discovering Model to Facilitate Transformative Learning in Higher Education

This chapter discusses a simple model that faculty and students can use to help understand the transformative learning process and the role personal agency can play for individuals who wish to initiate the process themselves.

Student Organization Advisor Motives to Volunteer at Four-year Institutions of Higher Education

Many higher education institutions require student organization advisors to be employees. Such requirements can be interpreted as barriers to students and can limit the number and types of groups found on college campuses. Using quantitative analysis, this study investigates the motivation of student organization advisors at six public institutions in the northwest U.S. Conclusions from this study may assist student affairs professionals in the identification, recruitment, and recognition of faculty and staff who volunteer as student organization advisors.

The Spiritual Disciplines as Practices of Transformation

Spiritual disciplines are practices of transformation intentionally pursued through the day-to-day actions of deeper living. The spiritual disciplines are conceptualized here in their relationship to profound learning. The authors contend that profound learners exhibit certain dispositions, such as curiosity, that facilitate continual growth. These dispositions, when developed, become practices, habits, or routines which result in continual exploration, skill development, growth in understanding and, over time, transformation of the individual. Spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, fasting, and worship, which move the individual toward the divine, are experienced in all the traditional religious traditions. This is an intentional process of personal transformation, evolving over time, and not contingent on serendipitous circumstance. Transformational learning within this framework is a process of individual conversion from shallowness toward becoming an ever deeper, more authentic person.

Educational services in Swedish prisons: successful programs of academic and vocational teaching

This article examines Swedish prison academic and vocational programs. The article synthesizes various case studies reported concerning Sweden’s prisons and describes the use of successful practices. Data from a previous study conducted in Swedish prisons are presented to show the need for education for offenders and its benefits. A key concept of successful prison management, the Normalization Principle is discussed. In addition, the Prison Treatment Act, established by Sweden in 1994, shows the need for prisoners to be provided with suitable work. This information aids in establishing positive foundations for offender’s lives leading to successful re-integration back into society.

Understanding Self and Society through Storytelling

“Did I tell you the story about the time a raccoon carried off my old cat?” “Could you tell me the story of how you became a teacher?” “There must be a story behind that!” “Remember the time our Aunt Gertie told us just what she thought of our garden?” So often, in conversations with friends, families, and students, we rely on stories to communicate important events in our lives, tell funny anecdotes to amuse listeners, or use a story to illustrate a point in a teaching and learning situation.

Transformative Learning Based on Psychological Dilemmas

This chapter focuses on transformative learning related to shifts in a learner’s psychological meaning perspective, to use Mezirow’s language. Psychological meaning perspectives are often formed in childhood and relate to constructs such as self-esteem, self-concept, fear, anxiety, and identity. In adulthood, when learners face a psychological dilemma such as illness or changing jobs, uncritically assimilated childhood perspectives are often called into question.