The thread on transformational learning has been very interesting for me. In
addition to the references already given, I would suggest two books by the
psychologist, James Hillman. The books are: 1) The Force of Character and
the Lasting Life, 1999, Random House, NY and 2) The Soul¹s Code; in Search
of Character and Calling, 1996, Random House, NY. Hillman provides a very
interesting perspective on change, consistency and transformation in humans.

On another note, I had the opportunity to observe a form of transformational
'design' learning. For over twelve years I was the Director of two graduate
programs in social and organizational systems design. The concept of
transformational learning was one of the key underlying principles I used in
the pedagogical design of the degree process.

The two-year Master of Arts programs were designed for mid career adult
learners. Many of the students had advanced or professional degrees or
extensive practical experience. The degree process was designed to unfold
through the phases (creativity and innovation) and stages (commitment,
immersion, divergence etc.) of a design process with a focus on three design
projects (design of the designer, design of learning, design for a real
world client). The curriculum and learning experiences were designed to
match the stages or phases of the degree process the student were in at any
point in time.

Students were interviewed at key points throughout the degree process. They
were asked to be reflective about their learning experience in addition to
the focused presentations on their design projects. With few exceptions, the
students reported at their final degree committee meeting that, looking back
over the process, they had experienced changes in themselves that could only
be described as Œtransformational¹. They did not always use that term
necessarily but their comments invoked the same idea. The students
consistently commented on the fact that their learning was multidimensional
and multileveled. They consistently commented on how significantly different
their final work was from what they had imagined it would be at the
beginning of their studies. The difference was not just that they knew more
stuff but that they now knew and thought about things in different and
significant ways.

There was an ongoing dialogue in the Dept. around what was meant when the
term Œtransformational learning¹ was used. More caution was taken around
what could be claimed on behalf of the degree process itself in relationship
to Œtransformational learning¹ given the difficulty in coming to any
consensus on what that meant. Despite the lack of transparency and clearly
defined causal links between the design based degree process and the
transformation students felt they had experienced, the evidence seemed to
make a case that a particular form of transformational learning was evoked
by the unique design of the degree process.


--
Harold G. Nelson, Ph.D., M. Arch. RA
President; Advanced Design Institute
www.advanceddesign.org
Past-President; International Society for the Systems Sciences
www.isss.org