Realizing the Power of Transformative Learning in Higher Education

An Innovative Approach to Cultivating the Whole Student

This collaborative project between JMU, Elon, and Kansai University with Crossing Borders Education and funded by Bringing Theory to Practice, taught creative ways to encourage, strengthen and nurture authentic student voices in an online learning environment, which are instrumental to the development of emotional intelligence and intercultural awareness. What we observed in this project can help to address a number of key challenges of online interactions by supporting students to overcome isolation and address fears by connecting deeply across differences.

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)

James Madison University was named one of six U.S. colleges and universities chosen to be part of the American Council on Education’s U.S.-Japan COIL Initiative, which aims to expand U.S.-Japan higher education ties through collaborative online international learning, a method of linking faculty and students in two countries for shared teaching and learning using online communication. Faculty from JMU and Kansai University in Osaka, Japan, will collaborate to develop joint syllabi, and students in the two countries will then work together to complete assignments that meet shared learning objectives.

Engaging Difference: A Deep Dive into the Assessment of Transformative Learning

The Center for Global Engagement and a research team from Elon University received the Colonial Academic Alliance’s 2018 IN/CO $40,000 Grant, awarded in support of a multi-institutional project entitled Engaging Difference: A Deep Dive into the Assessment of Transformative Learning. The study will investigate the importance of understanding the background and prior experiences learners bring to high impact, global learning environments while investigating transformative learning outcomes of self-awareness, other-awareness, and complex thinking.

To view a PDF describing the grant and 2018 recipients, click here.

For more information, please contact Dr. Vesna Hart.

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