Nicoletta Manns

I don't know if any of you ever come to Toronto, but this conference sounds
really interesting (see message below).

~Nicoletta
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"It is paradoxical, yet true: Children are the most in
need of loving attention when they act the least
deserving of it!"
by Aletha Solter, 1998
from the article "Why Children Misbehave"
www.awareparenting.com
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Subject: [LearningCommunities] Re: Cooperative Learning Transformative
Learning Conference - Nov 2001


> CALL FOR PAPERS and PANELS
>
> Fourth International Conference on Transformative Learning:
> "Multiple Currents: Expanding The Boundaries of Transformative
> Learning"
>
> HOSTED BY: The Transformative Learning Centre at the Ontario
> Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
> (http://tlcentre.org)
>
> CONFERENCE DATE: November 1-3, 2001
>
> PLACE: Toronto, Canada
>
> DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: April 30, 2001
>
> CONFERENCE WEB SITE: http://tlcentre.org/tlconference2001.htm
>
> CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
>
> The theme of this year's conference is: "Multiple Currents: Expanding
> The Boundaries of Transformative Learning". In the field of education
> there is a growing use of the term transformative learning which appears
to be
> coming out of multiple and diverse areas of educational concern.
>
> At the Transformative Learning Centre (TLC), we attempt dialogue
> between people in areas as diverse as ecological and aboriginal studies;
> feminist, anti-racist and post-colonial critiques; popular, global and
> holistic education; critical pedagogy and cultural studies. This dialogue
> generates creative tensions that have informed and expanded our views of
> transformative learning and the possibilities of transformation. Our
> intention in hosting this Fourth Annual Conference is to engage other
> educators/learners in this broader exploration. The TLC's working
> definition of transformative learning is as follows:
>
> "Transformative learning involves experiencing a deep, structural
> shift in basic premises of thought, feelings, and actions. It is a shift
of
> consciousness that dramatically and permanently alters our way of
> being in the world. Such a shift involves our understanding of ourselves
and
> our self-locations; our relationships with other humans and with the
> natural world; our understanding of relations of power in interlocking
> structures of class, race and gender; our body awareness, our visions of
> alternative approaches to living; and our sense of possibilities for
social
> justice and peace and personal joy."
> This conference will emphasize knowledge diversities, and bring into
> dialogue educators from different sites where the language of
> transformation is being used. We will continue to carry forward the
> history of the previous conferences at Teachers College Columbia
> University and the California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS),
> and also expand the boundaries to encourage participation from others. We
> will attempt to support this diversity for creative educational dialogue
> in the hope of deepening existing theory and practice. In this spirit, the
> conference will include :
>
> - Innovative practice workshops
> - Paper presentations - Poster presentations and other visual displays
> - Presentations by noted leaders in the field of transformative
> learning - Arts based performances that address transformation
> - Popular education approaches to transformative learning - Self-
> organized pre and post conference sessions or workshops - Special speakers
>
> The Transformative Learning Centre at OISE/UT (TLC), the Ontario
> Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and the University of Toronto
are
> sponsoring the Fourth International Conference on Transformative
> Learning, in collaboration with the Centre for Arts-informed Research
(CAIR at
> OISE/UT), the Indigenous Education Network (IEN at OISE/UT;
> http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/other/ien/ienpage.html).
>
> The TLC is also associated with Focus on Work Place Learning and
> Change (OISE/UT), Centre for Anti-Racist Studies (OISE/UT), Institute for
> Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto (IES;
> http://www.utoronto.ca/env/ies/ies.htm), and the Elliot Allen
> Institute for Theology and Ecology at St. Michael College-University of
> Toronto (http://www.utoronto.ca/stmikes/).
>
> We are also pleased to have the assistance of the Transformation Fici
> at Teachers College, Columbia University (http://www.tc.columbia.edu/)
> and the California Institute for Integral Studies http://www.ciis.edu/).
>
> The conference design committee is conformed by: Dr. Edmund
> O'Sullivan, Dr. Daniel Schugurensky, Lisa Lipsitt, and Renee Shilling.
Luis
> Barnola is responsible of the website and electronic communication.
>
> CALL FOR PROPOSALS
>
> To assist potential conference presenters and panel organizers in the
> areas listed above, some guiding questions may be kept in mind :
>
> 1. In your work as an educator, how do you understand transformative
> learning and how does your understanding relate (or not) to the
> definition posed above?
>
> 2. How do you distinguish transformative learning from other types of
> learning?
>
> 3. Does the process of transformative learning imply or require
> particular content, i.e. are all changes transformational? Does any
> content-shift constitute transformative learning? Or do we as educators
make
> implicit assumptions about what constitutes a "perspective
transformation"?
>
> 4. Transformative education for what? And transformation from what to
> what?
>
> 5. People who are not in the formal educational field of
> transformative learning nonetheless do transformative education. How do we
> understand and theorize this currently unacknowledged work?
>
> In sending a conference proposal (papers and/or panels), identify at
> the top what type of proposal it is from the options above. The proposal
> should be no more than 350 words (about a page and a half) double
> spaced. Participants should also include a short vitae not over half a
page.
>
> THE DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS IS: April 30, 2001. Please send a HARD
> COPY of your proposal directly to Daniel Schugurensky by fax
(416-926-4749)
> or by mail at:
>
> Dr. Daniel Shugurensky, OISE/UT
> 252 Bloor Street West, 7th floor
> Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1V6, Canada.
>
> For any furhter inquiries about the conference, please communicate
> with us by e-mail at tlcentre@... or visit our conference Web
> Site: http://tlcentre.org/tlconference2001.htm
>
>
> The Transformative Learning Centre (http://tlcentre.org) is a Centre
> for Research, Education, and Social Transformation.
>
>
>
> Cooperative Community Life-Long Learning Centers (CCL-LLCs) are emerging
> from the rapidly growing homeschooling and autodidact movements. They are
> the foundation for a radically different society. What are your thoughts?
>
>