Transformative Learning - Conf Nov 2001, Canada

[Artur F. Silva]

[Maybe this may interest Chris os some others - A]



CALL FOR PAPERS and PANELS

Fourth International Conference on Transformative Learning:
"Multiple Currents: Expanding The Boundaries of Transformative Learning"

HOSTED BY: The Transformative Learning Centre at the Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (http://tlcentre.org)

CONFERENCE DATE: November 1-3, 2001

PLACE: Toronto, Canada

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: April 30, 2001

CONFERENCE WEB SITE: http://tlcentre.org/tlconference2001.htm

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

The theme of this year's conference is: 'Multiple Currents: Expanding
The Boundaries of Transformative Learning'. In the field of education
there is a growing use of the term transformative learning which appears
to be coming out of multiple and diverse areas of educational concern.

At the Transformative Learning Centre (TLC), we attempt dialogue between
people in areas as diverse as ecological and aboriginal studies; feminist,
anti-racist and post-colonial critiques; popular, global and holistic
education; critical pedagogy and cultural studies. This dialogue generates
creative tensions that have informed and expanded our views of
transformative learning and the possibilities of transformation. Our
intention in hosting this Fourth Annual Conference is to engage other
educators/learners in this broader exploration. The TLC's working
definition of transformative learning is as follows:

'Transformative learning involves experiencing a deep, structural shift in
basic premises of thought, feelings, and actions. It is a shift of
consciousness that dramatically and permanently alters our way of being in
the world. Such a shift involves our understanding of ourselves and our
self-locations; our relationships with other humans and with the natural
world; our understanding of relations of power in interlocking structures
of class, race and gender; our body awareness, our visions of alternative
approaches to living; and our sense of possibilities for social justice
and peace and personal joy.'

This conference will emphasize knowledge diversities, and bring into
dialogue educators from different sites where the language of
transformation is being used. We will continue to carry forward the
history of the previous conferences at Teachers College Columbia
University and the California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS), and
also expand the boundaries to encourage participation from others. We will
attempt to support this diversity for creative educational dialogue in the
hope of deepening existing theory and practice. In this spirit, the
conference will include :

- Innovative practice workshops
- Paper presentations - Poster presentations and other visual displays
- Presentations by noted leaders in the field of transformative learning
- Arts based performances that address transformation
- Popular education approaches to transformative learning - Self-organized
pre and post conference sessions or workshops
- Special speakers

The Transformative Learning Centre at OISE/UT (TLC), the Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education (OISE) and the University of Toronto are
sponsoring the Fourth International Conference on Transformative Learning,
in collaboration with the Centre for Arts-informed Research (CAIR at
OISE/UT), the Indigenous Education Network (IEN at OISE/UT;
http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/other/ien/ienpage.html).

The TLC is also associated with Focus on Work Place Learning and Change
(OISE/UT), Centre for Anti-Racist Studies (OISE/UT), Institute for
Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto (IES;
http://www.utoronto.ca/env/ies/ies.htm), and the Elliot Allen Institute
for Theology and Ecology at St. Michael College-University of Toronto
(http://www.utoronto.ca/stmikes/).

We are also pleased to have the assistance of the Transformation Fici at
Teachers College, Columbia University (http://www.tc.columbia.edu/) and
the California Institute for Integral Studies http://www.ciis.edu/).

The conference design committee is conformed by: Dr. Edmund O'Sullivan,
Dr. Daniel Schugurensky, Lisa Lipsitt, and Renee Shilling. Luis Barnola is
responsible of the website and electronic communication.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

To assist potential conference presenters and panel organizers in the
areas listed above, some guiding questions may be kept in mind :

1. In your work as an educator, how do you understand transformative
learning and how does your understanding relate (or not) to the definition
posed above?

2. How do you distinguish transformative learning from other types of
learning?

3. Does the process of transformative learning imply or require particular
content, i.e. are all changes transformational? Does any content-shift
constitute transformative learning? Or do we as educators make implicit
assumptions about what constitutes a "perspective transformation"?

4. Transformative education for what? And transformation from what to what?

5. People who are not in the formal educational field of transformative
learning nonetheless do transformative education. How do we understand and
theorize this currently unacknowledged work?

In sending a conference proposal (papers and/or panels), identify at the
top what type of proposal it is from the options above. The proposal
should be no more than 350 words (about a page and a half) double spaced.
Participants should also include a short vitae not over half a page.

THE DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS IS: April 30, 2001. Please send a HARD COPY of
your proposal directly to Daniel Schugurensky by fax (416-926-4749) or by
mail at:

Dr. Daniel Shugurensky, OISE/UT
252 Bloor Street West, 7th floor
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1V6, Canada.

For any furhter inquiries about the conference, please communicate with us
by e-mail at tlcentre at oise.utoronto.ca or visit our conference Web Site:
http://tlcentre.org/tlconference2001.htm


The Transformative Learning Centre (http://tlcentre.org) is a Centre for
Research, Education, and Social Transformation.
-

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