Assessing transformative learning

Enjoyed the intense discussions on online learning and its implications for professional adults and transformative learning during the European Distance Education Network’s 8th Research Workshop in Oxford, UK, 2014. In online professional programs where the educational design carefully scaffolds and aims for transformation, students should ideally be better able to make connections between practice and theory or research because they remain embedded in their practice and their working environments as they continue their education. However, researchers face several methodological challenges when attempting to assess transformation. I presented a paper highlighting these challenges based on research in the UF Ed.D. program in Educational Technology and the BASA-online program at the University of Applied Sciences, Germany, in collaboration with Dr. Patricia Arnold.

Tony Bates provides a summary at http://www.eden-online.org/nap_elgg/pg/blog/read/10035/edenrw8-by-tony-bates-continuing-to-map-research-in-online-learning