Transformative Teaching and Learning Through Engaged Practice: Lecturers’ and Students’ Experiences in a University and Underserved Community Partnership in Ireland

Abstract

The Community Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership and Lifeskills (CWell) program is a twoyear community-driven program developed in partnership between an underserved-community in Limerick City, and staff at the University of Limerick (UL), Ireland. This paper explores the transformative teaching and learning experiences that arose throughout the duration of the progam for the lecturers and students. Data were collected through interviews and focus groups with lecturers and students involved in the program. Students supported the notion of "learning differently" and focused around prior learning and attitude to learning, learning about learning and impact of learning. Lecturers supported the notion of "teaching differently," focusing on how they had revised their usual teaching practices to more overtly emphasize the importance of culturally-responsive pedagogy and student-centered learning (as opposed to content-centered) and the situated learning perspective. There is a necessity for research on diverse and innovative programs to inform culturally-responsive pedagogies and transformation for learning.

Predicting students’ intention to continue business courses on online platforms during the Covid-19: An extended expectation confirmation theory

“…However, the transformative teaching and learning experiences of the teachers and students emerged ( Quillinan, MacPhail, Dempsey, & McEvoy, 2018 ). Recent studies note that quality factors of digital library systems strongly influenced the satisfaction, behavioral intent, and variance during their actual use (Alzahrani et al, 2019; Alzahrani, Mahmud, Ramayah, Alfarraj, & Alalwan, 2017a , 2017b ).…”

Development and validation of a quantitative measure for parent empowerment via transformative learning

“…A rigorous psychometric approach can thus be adopted to generate items and validate a quantitative measure that can be used to understand the perspective of practitioners engaging in parent empowerment interventions and to assess possible changes made by practitioners participating in transformative learning-based training programs. Meanwhile, previous literature points out that a transformative learning approach requires practitioners to have a deep understanding not only of their skills and abilities that allow for culturally responsive practices in collaboration with learners, but also of their mindsets and attitudes toward the nature of learning and transformation ( Taylor and Cranton, 2012 ; Quillinan et al, 2019 ). Thus, it seems warranted to measure both the attitudes and competence of practitioners to capture their perceptions of reflections and practices in the transformative learning process ( Baartman and De Bruijn, 2011 ).…”

“…Future trainings or workshops targeting practitioners may consider themes based on specific items of this scale, especially for practitioners’ competence in facilitating parents’ personal growth and helping them to explore the meaning of being a parent. Previous research on parent empowerment practices also emphasizes similar training components for practitioners, such as the capacity for reflective listening, showing empathy toward parents, and encouraging mutual support and learning among parents ( Day et al, 2012 ; Quillinan et al, 2019 ; To et al, 2019a ).…”

“…While current literature demonstrates how parents benefit from parent empowerment programs (e.g., Nieves et al, 2021 ), few studies elaborate on the perceptions and abilities of practitioners who facilitate the collaborative learning journey. In fact, previous research on community empowerment interventions has indicated that practitioners, as co-learners during the empowerment process, gradually adopt a more situated learning perspective by highlighting flexibility, support, and holism ( Quillinan et al, 2019 ). However, the development of a quantitative measure of parent empowerment has garnered limited attention in parenting intervention research.…”

Effects of Student Training in Social Skills and Emotional Intelligence on the Behaviour and Coexistence of Adolescents in the 21st Century

“…These benefits occur because in the context of a learning community, a multitude of transversal activities are carried out at an educational level that allow secondary school students to enhance their social skills and their emotional management in the face of conflicts [47][48][49].…”