Carman de voer writes: Hi Lisa, I haven’t heard of Hargrove’s model. My conception of transformation derives from the texts of Mezirow, Brookfield, Banathy, and Tennant and Pogson. Your transformative-holistic learning model has really piqued my curiosity, however. Could I hear more about it?
Your reference to transformation is fortuitous because “transformation” will be the theme of an impending conference I and my co-workers will attend.
Though it is important to know what words mean I anticipate that “transformation” will be applied in a single-loop fashion: that is, it will be the label under which the organization will discuss whether it is “on course” (probably in a budgetary sense). For me, transformation in a double-loop sense signifies questioning the relevance of the “destination,” among other things.
Could we talk transformation Lisa? I expect that our interchange will be steel and flint (interchangeably) igniting a conflagration of ideas.
The fog continues to sit like an elephant on the city. No seal sightings yesterday—only actors appearing from and disappearing behind the curtain. The sun attempted to re-assert its dominion– but in vain. How I long for the “virtuous light” (to quote Elinor Wylie).
Bye for now!
Hi Lisa,
How do we define “transformation”? Dictionary definitions are nebulous at best. Here is one example from the Free Dictionary:
transform – change or alter in form, appearance, or nature; “This experience transformed her completely”; “She transformed the clay into a beautiful sculpture”; “transubstantiate one element into another”–
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/transform
Among adult educators, however, there seems to be a consensus that “information” changes “what” we know, whereas “transformation” changes “how” we know. Change thus appears to involve the re-perception of reality.
Tennant and Pogson suggest that transformation involves the “deconstruction of a given world-view and its replacement by a new world view” (p.114).
I believe it is superfluous to talk about collective (organizational) transformation without first clarifying individual transformation. Lisa, how would you define transformation?
Bye for now!
Reference
Learning and Change in the Adult Years, A Developmental Perspective
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