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Transformative Learning Program Analysis

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Early in my undergraduate education as a music major, I decided I wanted my career to be in higher education but was not sure of the route I would take. My mentor was quick to say to me, “Brooke, you are quite different from most students in the fine arts. You are outspoken and have a drive to make connections with people, no matter how diverse their background is from your own. You also know what you want and how you are going to get it. I see you becoming an administrator in higher education someday and we are going to need more people like you, not just another music professor, as times become more difficult.” He swayed me from the traditional route of obtaining a Doctorate of Musical Arts and told me about the Ed.D. program, a program in which he had seen others have great success. He said this program would …show more content…

It is for this reason though that transformative learning can be quite powerful. As a teacher in the arts, and also as an advocate and counselor for international students, I have been in the middle of many experiences where I can stop for a moment and say, “Think about what you did/said just now? What effect does that have on you or someone else? What can we do to change this?” My students and I find a little more meaning and power behind something that is “in the moment” and that we are all experiencing together. Including this dialogue and critical reflection could be life changing (Taylor as cited in Mezirow, 2009). As an educator who supports and does look for moments of transformational learning, I am also aware though of the consequences I face as I may stir up discomfort or conflict among my students and subordinates in these “in the moment” situations. I plan to further educate myself about handling these situations, although I am aware most of this education will come from various experiences from which I will have to learn life

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