Learning Power from the Margins: Analyzing Action and Reflection in a Social Movement

In this paper, I apply the notion of praxis, the dynamic interaction of action and reflection needed for social change, to empirical analysis of a defining moment in the Chilean women’s movement

Formative, Restorative and Transformative Learning: Insights into the Critical Consciousness of Social Activists

Based on our research with diverse social activists in North and South America, we explore the central importance of critical consciousness and how it develops. We analyze the formation, restoration and transformation of critical consciousness in social activists and discuss implications for adult education

Philosophy-in-Action in University Teaching

Fourteen professors expressed their "traditional," "humanist," and "critical" philosophies about teaching and learning when they engaged in dialogue with us and each other. The relationship between their philosophy of teaching and their practice in the classroom is the research question. Four themes that elaborate these philosophies-in-action emerged from a grounded-theory approach to data analysis. One theme, "Expert vs. Co-learner" describes these professors' views of themselves as teachers. A second theme, "The Relationship of Comfort to Critique, " outlines some of the tensions that arise from attempting to create a comfortable classroom environment while also encouraging critical thought. "Learning for Change, " the third theme, is about the differing forms of change in the learner that these professors seek as evidence that learning is taking place. Finally, in the section called "Coping with Constraints, " our study participants identify institutional issues that have made it difficult for them to enact their particular teaching-learning philosophies in university classes.Quatorze professeurs commentent leur approche pédagogique de type "traditionnelle", "humaniste" ou "critique" et le lien entre leur philosophie d'enseignement et la pratique dans la salle de cours. Quatre thèmes essentiels issus de ces philosophies-en-action relient la conceptualisation théorique du problème à l'analyse des données. Le premier thème portant sur le rôle "d'expert vs celui de co-disciple" décrit les perceptions qu'ont les professeurs d'eux-même en tant qu'enseignants. Un second thème portant sur la relation entre "Bien-être et Pensée critique" décrit certaines des tensions engendrées par la volonté qu'ont les professeurs de créer un climat d'apprentissage favorable au bien-être tout en encourageant la pensée critique. Le troisième thème portant sur la notion de "Progression dans l'apprentissage" reflète la problématique d'évaluation du progrès des étudiants à travers ses diverses manifestations. Enfin, dans la section portant sur "Les Contraintes à l'action", les participants relèvent les difficultés rencontrées dans leur établissement respectif par rapport à la pratique dans la salle de cours de leur philosophie d'enseignement

Disrupting the Hegemony of Choice: Community Service Learning in Activist Placements

In this paper, we share insights from a research project that investigated the effects of a service learning experience in a graduate adult education seminar with an explicitly critical pedagogical focus and activist placements. We analyze a subset of the findings related to the lack of “choice” through a critique of CSL as a market commodity and argue that disrupting the hegemony of choice had implications for reconstructing student identities

The experience of consciousness-raising in abused women

This study suggests a process by which battered women experience emancipatory learning. The participants identify three themes common to a definition of consciousness-raising, i.e., a sense of personal power, realization of societal power, and action. This qualitative research process draws upon feminist research, participatory research and grounded theory method

Doing interpretive research in a technocratic age: A clash of paradigms

This paper uses Habermas’ paradigmatic conception to look critically at a research experience. It is postulated that a clash between an interpretive research approach and an institutional technocratic positivism was revealed through competing interests. Following a review of the paradigms and the research situation, conflicts around value, control and simplicity are discussed