How have you utilized the concepts behind transformative learning moments, and transformative learning in general in your work, life, or school? And what would you think the literature say about how you've used it and why?
This prompt and a post by my classmate made me think of some of the training I've provided in my past. Specifically, I had a "craft certification" class wherein I would facilitate a hands-on course around large heavy machinery.
Invariably, I would show up and the class of operators who came for the class would arrive despondent, doubtful, and defensivenss. They had been operators for many years, and I, a corporate training director for headquarters couldn't show them what they already knew, right?
What we did however was instead of making it a "training" as was common in the industry, we tailored it into a "facilitation" which the operators were not used to. Usually, by the second or third hour, the defensiveness and doubt had been erased. The operators started to share their stories about their work, and integrated their stories into the training I was facilitating.
They became their own best advocates for the course and for the other operators. I had many of them tell me it was the best course they'd ever had. Knowing now what transformative learning experiences are, I see now that we modeled that to some degree. The disorienting dilemma, the dialogue and critical reflection, context and acting on revision; all of these things were present and we actually engineered them to be a part of the training not because I knew about transformative learning, but because it seemed right to do.
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