Assignment 6: Transformational learning by Molly Burns and Abigail Saunders

  

MBurns ASaunders Week 6 Project EDAC 634

Names: Molly Burns and Abigail Saunders

Molly’s Roles: Title, goals, design

Abigail’s Roles: Learning objectives, rationales

Project Title: Debunking Nutrition Myths

Goals: The goal of this project is to discuss common nutrition myths and provide participants with tools to both identify nutrition misinformation and locate credible nutrition information. 

Learning Objectives: In this course, there will be 4 modules that use Mezirow’s Psycho Critical Approach to transformational learning. The overall course objectives for participants to: 

1.    Understand what nutrition myths are and identify nutrition myths they have heard and may believe themselves. 

2.    Understand the negative impact nutrition myths can have on overall health and eating habits. 

3.    Be able to identify nutrition misinformation and learn about the credentials individuals should have in order to give nutrition information.  

Rationales: 

We framed our project around Mezirow’s Psycho Critical Approach to transformational learning. This approach focuses on past experiences and taking actions to change pre-existing perspectives and assumptions. Nutrition myths are extremely prevalent in our world today and these can unknowinlgy lead to unhealthy eating habits. Nutrition myths include thinking carbohydrates are unhealthy, you should not eat sugar, organic foods are healthier, etc. Mezirow’s psycho-critical approach to transformational learning has four components: experience, critical reflections, reflective discourse, and action. 

·       Experience: Adults have gained a vast amount of knowledge and experiences throughout their life that frame their habits and beliefs. Participants will participate in an icebreaker and will share nutrition myths they have heard before with other members of the group. A Registered Dietitian will also share their professional experience with nutrition myths and the impact it has had on individuals. 

·       Critical Reflection: The process of reflecting on experiences and why those experiences occurred is key to fully understanding how they may shape thoughts, feelings, or actions on certain topics. The participants will complete a survey created by a registered dietitian that will include questions about which non-evidence based sources they use and what credentials they look for when researching nutrition information.  Participants will critically reflect on what sources they commonly use for nutrition information and what credentials, if any, they look for in people, websites, etc.,that provide nutrition information. This will allow participants to better understand why they may believe certain nutrition myths and where they are hearing them from. The participants will reflect on their survey results to attain a better understanding of where and who they are getting their nutrition information from.

·       Reflective Discourse: Discussing nutrition myths and sources where participants are getting nutrition information as a group will allow for better understanding of why these myths are believed in society. Group discussions allow for participants to see how their experiences are similar or different from others. Participants who are comfortable will share their survey results and discuss where they commonly get nutrition information from. This will help develop a shared understanding of nutrition myths among the group.

·       Action: The last component of Mezirow’s psycho-critical approach is action. Participants will be educated on the credentials nutritional professionals have and tools they can use to identify potential nutrition misinformation. They will also be provided with evidence-based resources they can use and social media accounts they can follow with accurate information. Participants will be able to actively identify nutrition myths they come across and learn about nutrition topics from credible sources. 

Design: 

Modules	Content	Activity	Rationale
Module 1   Presentation by Registered Dietitian (RD)	A RD will present on common nutrition myths and how this can negatively impact health.	Myth Busters Icebreaker:    The participants will break the ice and get to know each other and discuss the common nutrition myths they have heard and possibly followed in the past.    After the icebreaker, the registered dietitian will present the common nutrition myths she often sees. The dietitian explains how certain myths, if followed, can negatively impact health.	Component: Experience   By discussing with each other and breaking the ice, the participants will be able to reflect on their experiences when it comes to nutrition myths. It is important for the participants to understand the myths they have followed in the past in order to be prepared to learn about why the myths are myths and potentially change the way they think about certain nutrition-related topics.
Module 2   Survey on Nutrition Information Sources	Participants reflect on where they get nutrition information from and what they look for in the individuals portraying the nutrition information. Participants will learn about sources of nutrition information that are evidence-based and those that are not reliable sources. Participants will also learn about what credentials to look for in authors of nutrition information.	Survey:   Participants will complete a survey created by the registered dietitian. The survey will consist of nutrition websites or blogs that are not evidence-based. There will also be questions about which credentials, if any, participants look for in authors of nutrition-related information.	Component: Critical Reflection    Completing a survey and understanding their results will help the participants reflect and understand more about the sources they use for nutrition information and who they retrieve nutrition information from. Critical reflection on how they get nutrition information can lead to individual and social transformation when it comes to nutrition myths.
Module 3   Group discussion	During this module, the participants will discuss with small groups and the registered dietitian to learn more about how false nutrition information can lead to negative health effects. The participants will also discuss strategies they can use to make sure they are following nutrition information that is evidence-based.	Group discussions:   Participants will discuss the common nutrition myths the RD presented in module 1 and discuss with one another their experience with nutrition myths if any. The participants will  discuss the common sources of false nutrition information and the credentials that are important to look for.	Component: Reflective Discourse   Reflective discourse will allow for better understanding of why these myths are believed in society. Also, group discussions allow for participants to see how their experiences are similar or different from others. Discussing each others’ results from the survey will help develop ashared understanding of nutrition myths among the group.
Module 4   Finding Credible Nutrition Information	The RD will share what red flags to look for in nutrition information online. Credible nutrition resources will be shown and participants will learn how to identify nutrition professionals’ credentials. The participants will also learn what tools they can use to identify nutrition myths and how to debunk them. The registered dietitian will also give the participants evidence-based resources they can use and social media accounts they can follow with accurate information.	Practice: The registered dietitian will pass out examples of evidence-based nutrition sources and sources that are non-reliable. The participants will write down which sources are reliable, which are not, and why. The registered dietitian will go through the answers with the whole group to check the participants’ understanding of what nutrition sources and credentials should be followed.  After practicing, the registered dietitian will provide participants with credible resources for nutrition information to take home and also tools to identify nutrition misinformation.	Component: Action   By providing participants with credible resources for nutrition information and also giving tools to identify nutrition misinformation, participants can actively avoid nutrition myths. Participants will have the information they need to make science-based nutrition decisions rather than believing information given online from uncredentialed individuals.

Handout given to participants:

References: 

YouTube. (2009, June 29). Transformative learning: IDEAS AND STRATEGIES. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUxrip6w2g4Links to an external site.

Valamis. (2023, July 7). Transformative learning theory by Jack Mezirow . https://www.valamis.com/hub/transformative-learningLinks to an external site.  

 

 

How to Deal with Dysfunctional Relationships: Transformational Learning by Amanda Huynh

 How to Deal with Dysfunctional Relationships

A Transformational Learning Project by Amanda Huynh

1. Goal: The goal of the project is to motivate participants to evaluate the dysfunctional relationships in their lives and take action as needed using Mezirow’s Critical Approach to transformational learning. It is important to note that this project is not aimed at those who suffer domestic violence or abuse, since the variables are very different.

Objectives:

1. 1. Evaluate a dysfunctional relationship in their life.
   2. Consider the pros and cons of maintaining the relationship.
   3. Develop an action plan. 

Audience: Anyone who is struggling to maintain a healthy relationship with someone in their life.

2. Rationales: In this project, I will be using Mezirow’s Psychocritical Approach. Composed of 10 phases, my project will focus on the four main components, experience, critical reflection, reflective discourse, and action.
   • Experience: As adults learn new information through personal experience, they will undergo a crisis when their new learnings challenge their past understanding/experiences.
   • Critical Reflection: As learners acknowledge their own limitations, they recognize the need to explore other perspectives.
   • Reflective discourse: By sharing experiences, learners discover that they are not alone in their problems, as other learners experience the same problems.
   • Action: Through sharing and learning from others, learners will develop a new mindset and perspective to help guide future behaviors.

 

2.    Design

Modules	Activity	Content	Rationale
1.      Identify a challenging  experience in Learning Journal	Participants are asked to pinpoint a specific challenging experience in their Learning Journal that they’ve hadwithin a dysfunctional relationship, specifically, one that has challenged their prior beliefs about the person/relationship.	Using a provided Learning Journal, participants will write about their challenging experience. They are guided to answer the following and explain the experience in detail.	By identifying their personal challenging experience, learners will be able to use a concrete experience as a point of reference throughout this project.
2.      Reflect on Experience	Participants are asked to answer reflection questions in their Learning Journal about the situation.	The Learning Journal prompts the following questions: - How did this experience make me feel? - What surprised me about this experience? - What about this experience challenges what I believed about this person/relationship before the experience? - Did either party benefit from the results of the experience? If so, who? - Am I willing to experience this experience again? ·       What are the pros and cons of continuing this relationship?	By using critical reflection, participants can understand their own limitations and discover the need to explore other perspectives and solutions to the situation.
3.      Participate in Sharing Circle with other participants	All participants of this project will participate in a loosely guided Sharing Circle. Participants are encouraged to share their experience, listen to others’, and offer their perspective. The ideal mode of the Sharing Circle is in person, however, Zoom and online forum options will be offered to those who want to share anonymously.	An instructor will loosely guide the Sharing Circle. The instructor will guide participants to share, listen, and offer perspective. Participants should use their Learning Journal to take notes of other perspectives/solutions offered.	By engaging in reflective discourse,participants can feel seen and heard while listening and sharing their experiences.
4.      Identify and implement solutions and perspectives into an action plan	Using the Learning Journal, participants will be guided to reflect on what they’ve learned during the Sharing Circle.   Participants will also have a one-on-one with the instructor to discuss their learnings and develop an action plan.	The Learning Journal asks the following reflection questions: - Write about one experience that was shared in the Sharing Circle. What advice would you give to this person? What did you learn from their experience? - List 3 pieces of advice you learned from other participants in the Sharing Circle. - What advice were you given after sharing your experience? How did you feel after receiving this advice?   Participants will also meet with their project instructor to develop a personalized action plan. Some action plans include the following steps: -        Establishing boundaries -        Limiting contact -        Creating a solid support system	After reflecting on the Sharing Circle, participants have learned from one another and have added new tools to their toolbelt.   Participants will meet for a one-on-onewith the project instructor to discuss their learnings and action plans to take action in their future behavior regarding their dysfunctional relationship.

 

 

 

2.  Resource: https://elearningindustry.com/transformative-learning-a-way-to-develop-our-mindset-for-organizational-change

Links to an external site.

Transformational Learning by Carly Pease

 Assignment 6: Transformational Learning

Goals/objectives: To empower participants to become environmental activists, reflect on, and address environmental challenges from cultural, personal, and societal perspectives. 

Rationales: Transformational learning shows how individuals undergo significant shifts in their perspectives and overall understandings in the world. This includes critical reflection while looking into alternative viewpoints. The goals of these modules and activities are to integrate new insights to create a more inclusive perspective. 

• Experience: This part of the module is meant to immerse learners in a different community or environment to engage them in a new perspective. The first activity includes a Guided Nature Exploration where learners learn more about their local environments. Here they are encouraged to observe and listen to the environment in order to foster a deeper connection to nature. This is a great way of introducing a planetary view for learners to experience. This shows the interconnectedness between us and our natural environments. The goal of this activity is to help learners transform their old views about our impacts on the environment into a new one which values this interconnected system. This nature walk helps learners immerse themselves in a natural environment, which could potentially challenge any assumptions they had prior to this activity. The end reflection helps learns take actions to want to change their pre-existing perspectives and assumptions about the environment and environmental activism.
  
  
• Reflection: Learners will reflect on their experiences and engage in discussion. Participants look into their own energy usage and overall impact to reflect as a group. Encouraging discussion about different cultural approaches to sustainable living helps learn on a more cultural context. This activity applies to several different approaches. For instance, reflecting on these experiences and engaging in group discussion aligns with Daloz's idea of mutual storytelling. This encourages conversation about any challenging perspectives through those shared stories of cultural perspectives on sustainable living. Daloz's Psychodevelopmental Perspective is shown when reflecting on one's energy usage as well as any cultural approaches which contribute to personal development. 
  
  
• Critical Discourse Analysis: This section is meant to help learners observe different perspectives on the main topic like through social media. Learners are encouraged to search more about environmental activism and sustainable living on various forms of media. There will there be a group discussion to go through these findings as a group. This conversation is meant to discover the many societal, cultural, and political factors that affect any of these environmental perspectives. This is a prime example of Freire's Social-Emancipatory View where learners become more aware of the societal, cultural, and political factors influencing these external forces that shapes one's consciousness.
  
  
• Action: This activity allows learners to take initiative by making plans of action to solve the main issue. The goal is to implement a community-driven initiative for sustainable living. Learners are encouraged to reflect on the impact of their actions. This activity aligns with the transformative learning perspectives by incorporating experiential learning and critical reflection. The reflection reinforces the transformative learning in this context through a community-driven initiative to create a more sustainable life. 
  
  

References:

Merriam S. B. & Baumgartner L. M. (2020). Learning in adulthood : a comprehensive guide. Jossey-Bass.

Transformative learning by Mike White

 (1) Goals/objectives: Mental Well Being is translated into Physical Well Being and finding balance in your work life can aid you to this point. Lean Change management assists employees in finding balance with creating better processes through eliminating waste internal and external to the processes most employees use in their daily management systems. Transformational Learning can help the employee understand and assist the employee in ownership of the problems they face instead of feeling weighed down by the possibility that no-one wants to let the employee fix the problem. 

 

(2) Rationales: 

•  Mezirow’s psychocritical approach: learners share with others their experience which is conflicted or disoriented from their previous perspectives/assumptions, and take actions to change their pre-existing perspectives/assumptions to better understand the current disoriented experience. Mezirow’s approach has 10 steps/phases, in which experience, critical reflection, reflective discourse and action are four main components. Applying these main points for directing humans into a better state of existence can lead to some very fundamental transformations psychologically and mentally. Satisfaction in life increases your gratefulness and gratefulness increases your ability to love unconditionally. 

• Tell us how you want to use these main ideas to frame your design: 

• Information saturation campaign. Sharing this link in emails. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKEWk4oWmjYLinks to an external site.
• Blanket Flyers: Dropped to the students during Lean sessions so that they can realize that time management can duplicate into healthy work life mental health. 

 

(3) Design:

• Based on the main ideas in the Rationales, please design the main components of your project.

• Discuss how Lean Change Management would have created a different perception of the: 

  1. Disorienting Dilemma- The trigger for most process changes, what the employee seeking training has sought better understanding from internal training for. Causation into the internal professional development. 

  2. Self-Examination- How did this trigger help me identify the problem/waste needing eliminated from my daily management system? 

  3. Critical Assessment- Will anyone miss this trigger/problem from the process? Examine the steps and how they affect each other in the process. 

  4. Recognition of Shared Experiences- Network with others that may have had this shared trigger/problem and associate/meet with them to discuss their way of overcoming the trigger/problem and see if it helps you. 

  5. Exploring Options for New Behavior- Testing any of the other solutions presented to overcome the trigger/problem created by others from shared experiences. 

  6. Planning a Course of Action- Any implementation requires you to take action and make your work life better. 

  7. Acquisition of Knowledge- Implementing through standard work can make this solution more easy to see and use for a better shared culture and organizational understanding.

  8. Trying New Roles- If that behavior change doesn't demonstrate a better work life by having  autonomy to fix your problems, then look for a different role to address your work life issues due to interpersonal triggers that may not be alleviated by a simple process change. 

  9. Building Confidence- Your work satisfaction will grow as you display more ownership over the things that trigger/problems that make your work life difficult. 

  10. Reintegration- Coming back to the work unit with a change in perspective, by learning that others have the same issues and how they bridged the gap for the same trigger/issue. 

• Please tell us how these learning activities will work in practice? These activities can be mutually shared in a Team Chat/ The VA platform within Microsoft. Logging the simple fixes into the National Quality Improvement Tracking Tool, so that it's not reinventing the wheel. 

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-mental-and-physical-health-connection-7255857Links to an external site.

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/how-does-mental-health-affect-physical-healthLinks to an external site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKEWk4oWmjYLinks to an external site.

https://www.diygenius.com/transformational-learning/Links to an external site.

 

Transformative learning by Julee Sims

 Assignment 6: Transformational Learning

 

Goals/objectives: The purpose of this project is to convince people to adopt rescue dogs instead of going to breeders.

Rationales: Transformational learning is about changing people’s minds through education. Like the other learning theories that we have studied, transformational learning can be viewed through several different lenses. I chose to focus on Mezirow’s Psychocritical Approach and the four main components of the learning process: Experience, Critical Reflection, Reflective Discourse, and Action.

Experience: Andragogy assumes that adults have past experiences from which they can learn. There are different types of experiences and depending on the person, they may or may not lead to learning. Experiences can happen in the present time and be interpreted by past experiences (Merrium and Baumgartner, 2020). Experiences can also be imposed on a person by their beliefs and culture. For example, a student may not ever experience a school shooting, but they will still go through drills and prepare for the possibility of the situation since school shootings have become a recurring risk in our society and culture (Merrium and Baumgartner, 2020).

Critical Reflection: The learner must reflect on their experience and the beliefs that determine how the experience is interpreted (Merrium and Baumgartner, 2020). Upon reflection the learner revises, “specific assumptions about oneself and others until the very structure of assumptions becomes transformed.” (Merrium and Baumgartner, 2020). Mezirow defined three types of reflection(Merrium and Baumgartner, 2020):

1. Content Reflection – thinking about the actual experience
2. Process Reflection – thinking about how to deal with the experience, problem solving techniques based on what was learned
3. Premise Reflection – analyzing long held assumptions based on beliefs about the experience

Reflective Discourse: Now that the individual has a new mindset, they want to test whether their new viewpoint is correct (Merrium and Baumgartner, 2020). They seek different perspectives, look at evidence for and against their viewpoint, and assess their findings. It is important to understand that discourse is not a debate, but rather individuals working together to clarify and agree on a viewpoint.

Action: Action is the final component. It can range from “immediate action, delayed action or reasoned reaffirmation of an existing pattern of action”(Mezirow, 2000). It is when the individual acts on their new perspective.

*links in graphic do not work, please click here Download hereto view a PDF with working links

click here Download hereto view Critical Reflection survey

 

I thought that the experience of learning about breeders vs. shelters would give the person something to reflect on. To make it more immersive I could have the people share stories of past experiences with breeders or rescue groups. 

I chose to use a survey to help people really think about the purpose of their dog. If I could get the person to realize that they do not require a purebred then they would be more likely to skip a breeder and start looking at rescues. I thought presenting the issue as more of a problem that they needed to solve (What type of dog do I want, and where do I get it?) would force them to reflect on the purpose of their dog. I know a lot of people determine which type of dog they get based on appearances. But, if I could get them to conclude that they do not require a purebred and they simply want a nice dog, they could change their mind and start looking at shelters and rescue groups.

Download Bo,

MODULE	ACTIVITY	RATIONALE
Experience The learner will read articles that educate them on the benefits of supporting a shelter and not a breeder.	Top 10 Reasons to Adopt from a Shelter Buyer Beware: The Problem with Puppy Mills and Backyard Breeders 10 Reasons to Adopt a Shelter Dog	The learner will have the experience and the knowledge learned from the articles to begin to question their beliefs about where they will get their new dog.
Critical Reflection The learner will complete a short survey about what type of dog they want and why.		The learner will use Process Reflection to problem solve their question of What type of dog do I want, and where do I get it? The survey is meant to get them thinking about what they truly want out of a dog and if that can be accomplished through a rescue group instead of a breeder.
Reflective Discourse If the learner feels like they need a purebred dog, they will search for information on rescue groups for that specific breed. They also will search shelters for that breed using tools like petfinder.com.  If the learner does not need a purebred and simply wants a nice dog, they will search shelter sites like petfinder.com to view available dogs.	Petfinder.com	Now that the learner has determined if they will move forward with a purebred or a mix, they will research their options. Using their new information about breeders vs. shelters, it will help guide them to determine where their dog will come from.  The assumption is that once they are looking at photos and descriptions of available dogs who need homes, they will want to meet some and be excited at the prospect of adopting from a shelter or rescue group.
Action The learner will visit a shelter, rescue group, or adoption event to meet available dogs.		The learner knows that they helped save an animal by adopting a rescue dog. Their mindset has been changed from getting a purebred dog from a breeder, to adopting from a shelter or rescue group.

 

 

References: 

Merriam, S.B., & Baumgartner, L. (2020). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.