Service-learning (SL) has gained global popularity for promoting students' civic engagement and democratic and pluralistic values and impacting faculty and communities. It relies on foundational pillars (the 4 Rs): respect, reciprocity, relevance, and reflexivity. While the drivers of faculty motivation have received attention from researchers, a…

The increasing ubiquity of gamification in everyday life normalizes it as a motivational tool. While much scholarship supports gamification, labor sociologists have long problematized the phenomenon. In this mixed-methods action research study, we explore the results of gamifying a lesson on gamification in a sociology of work course. We designed…

This dissertation describes the experience of a group of international school teachers engaging in a cooperative inquiry exploring the influence of mindfulness-based social-emotional learning (MBSEL) practices on their personal and professional lives. The current reality for educators is one of systemic stress and burnout, with teachers working…

Creativity is a set of skills, a form of thinking, and a way of meeting and excelling in the demands of the 21st century. This article explores creative gaps and inadequacies that hinder the development of teacher and student creativity in classrooms. Drawing from various disciplines, this article explores the challenges schools face in nurturing…

Within the broad, interdisciplinary field of adult education, affective aspects of experience and the roles they play in learning have, thus far, not been properly theorized or researched. This dissertation first explores how John Heron's whole person theory (WPT) conceptualizes feeling as an expansive affective capacity at the root of all human…

Background: A safe and inclusive indoor learning environment reflects different ways of knowing, actuality and thinking. In the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) context, indoor learning areas influence the exploration of teaching and learning activities. Aim: This article explored rural ECCE teachers' experiences of creating indoor…

This study delves into the transformative impact of a professional development model (PDM) across three affiliated private schools in Beirut, Lebanon, spanning three years, with a primary focus on nurturing teacher leadership. At the heart of this PDM, teachers assumed the role of trainers, guiding their colleagues during dedicated professional…

We examine the ideal twenty-first century learner as discursively produced in recent future-oriented documents published by the OECD and UNESCO. Drawing inspiration from Bacchi's question 'What is the problem represented to be?', we identify a constellation of interrelated discourses that together craft an image of a post-political, resilient,…

This study investigates the role of Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) in facilitating Transformative Experiences (TE) and enhancing everyday engagement with learning. Using the Teaching for Transformative Experiences in Science (TTES) model, this research integrates IVR's unique affordances--presence and agency--to examine how immersive learning…

Narratives have a unique capacity to hold attention, challenge assumptions, and create transformative experiences. In this paper, I will draw upon narrative homiletics to show how educators who teach theology or scriptural texts can create learning experiences that follow narrative structure. First, I will discuss the advantages of teaching in a…

Although the literature on critical thinking and transformative learning has remained relatively distinct, they have both emphasized the importance of working through and resolving states of doubt. There has been less focus, however, on how we can bring ourselves from a confirmed belief to a position of doubt. This is a foundational skill. Without…

Mezirow's theory of transformative learning presupposes agency. Agency is the means by which the limitations of an inadequate meaning perspective are transcended. It is the creative activity necessitated by an encounter with a disorienting dilemma. This implies that transformation cannot be achieved "from within" the existent meaning…

Although the implementation of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in educational contexts appear to have demonstrated some benefits for students and teachers in research studies conducted over the last two decades, there are also those who criticize MBI's for their instrumental focus. Exploring this debate, this article offers a case for the…

This article investigates one undergraduate's path towards critical literacy around racial inequalities as a result of engaging with, reading, and discussing a challenging children's novel during a book study with peers. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory, the author examines the personal and cultural resources the students brought to the…

Although there has been considerable empirical support for the effect of reflection, and specifically reflective activities, within the domain of transformative learning (Ballon & Skinner, 2008; King, 2004; Mezirow, 2012; Roessger, 2014; Taylor, 2017), there is a gap in the literature concerning the value of formal reflective activities when…