Peter Jarvis and 30 years of the International Journal of Lifelong Education

We live in a time of constant change—in liquid modernity—and this has created a rapidly growing need for Transformative Learning (TL): we must be able to constantly change and develop ourselves in order to keep pace with the changes in our environment and life situation. However, the need for change has grown so fast and in so many directions that the term of TL has itself become uncertain or even confused. In 2000, Robert Kegan posed the question ‘What “Form” Transforms’? He advocated a new approach to TL but did not propose any new definition; this situation still remains: among several proposals for new approaches to TL, there is a general agreement that the traditional definition of the term as changes in the learner’s ‘meaning perspectives’, etc. is too narrow and too cognitively oriented. In this article, it is argued that TL should be re-defined as ‘changes in the learner’s identity’. The article explains why this definition is better and more up to date. Through discussion of range of issues, the article shows that the linking of the concepts of TL and identity open the way for new understandings and possibilities.     

Child-Directed Speech Produced by Mothers with Symptoms of Depression Fails to Promote Associative Learning in 4-Month-Old Infants

Child-directed (CD) speech segments produced by 20 mothers who varied in self-reported symptoms of depression, recorded during a structured play interaction with their 2- to 6-month-old infants, were used as conditioned stimuli with face reinforcers in a conditioned attention paradigm. After pairings of speech segments and faces, speech segments were assessed for their ability to increase time spent looking at a novel checker-board pattern (summation test) using 225 4-month-old infants of nondepressed mothers. Significant positive summation, an index of associative learning, was obtained in groups of infants tested with speech produced by mothers with comparatively fewer self-reported symptoms of depression (Beck Depression Inventory or BDI < or = 15). However, significant positive summation was not achieved using speech samples produced by mothers with comparatively more symptoms of depression (BDI > 15). These results indicate that the CD speech produced by mothers with symptoms of depression does not promote associative learning in infants.     

Learning design and learning analytics in mobile and ubiquitous learning: A systematic review

Mobile and Ubiquitous Learning (m/u-learning) are finding an increasing adoption in education. They are often distinguished by hybrid learning environments that encompass elements of formal and informal learning, in activities that happen in distributed settings (indoors and outdoors), across physical and virtual spaces. Despite their purported benefits, these environments imply additional complexity in the design, monitoring and evaluation of learning activities. The research literature on learning design (LD) and learning analytics (LA) has started to deal with these issues. This paper presents a systematic literature review of LD and LA, in m/u-learning. Apart from providing an overview of the current research in the field, this review elicits elements of common ground between both communities, as shown by the similar learning contexts and complementary research contributions, and based on the research gaps, proposes to: address m/u-learning beyond higher education settings, reinforce the connection between physical and virtual learning spaces, and more systematically align LD and LA processes.     

Learning to be critically reflective: exploring fiction writing and adult learning

Many educators in adult, community and higher education contexts are concerned with fostering reflective learning amongst their students. This paper explores the concept of critical reflection and considers how engaging with fiction may be an innovative pedagogical approach to support critical learning opportunities. Drawing upon interviews with fiction writers, ways in which critical reflection may be encouraged in connection to reading and writing fiction are taken up by exploring three different thematic areas that relate to a Habermasian framework of knowledge constitutive approaches to learning. These different areas can be categorised as (a) technical-rational, (b) humanistic and (c) critical or emancipatory. The first of these considers critical reflection as a way to develop technical capacities as a creative writer. The next section takes up a humanistic framework to explore the value of individual and collective learning opportunities to enhance personal growth and critical reflection. The third area of discussion considers a deeper critical or emancipatory framework of learning through critical reflection which may lead to social change. The paper concludes by considering the value of arts-informed adult education approaches, such as those related to fiction writing, to enhance the development of critical reflection amongst adult learners.     

Early Second Language Learning through SparkLing™: Scaling up a Language Intervention in Infant Education Centers

Infancy (0–3 years) represents a unique time for language learning. Previous research shows that infants' second language (L2) learning advances rapidly in early education centers, through a research‐based method and curriculum delivered by native‐speaking language tutors. Here we test the potential of this method for broad application, through an interactive online tool, SparkLing?, which trains and certifies language tutors to implement the program in infant education centers. Intervention infants (n = 168) from families of predominantly low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds in Madrid, Spain, experienced 18 or 36 weeks of L2 (English) exposure, through daily, 45‐min, group sessions led by SparkLing?‐trained tutors and were compared to a matched Current Practice Comparison (CPC) group of peers (n = 72). Intervention children outperformed the CPC group and showed rapid gains in English comprehension and production. SES was not a significant factor in learning. Infants' L2 skills advance quickly using this research‐to‐practice, scalable program for play‐based infant L2 instruction.     

Restructuring: Imperatives and Opportunities for Academic Leaders

In an era when market imperatives have reached an unprecedented level of legitimacy within academic management, the spotlight is on campus leaders to respond strategically. For research universities, particularly public research universities, there are critical institutional legacies to consider in the process of weighing alternative academic futures. Campus leaders need support to reaffirm their broader institutional mandates so that vital educational and social justice values are not jeopardized in the service of short-term economic functions.of which she is a 1987 Ph.D. graduate. She serves concurrently as the director of the Stanford Institute for Higher Education Research and as executive director and principal investigator of the National Center for Postsecondary Improvement     

Community College Counseling: Why Are Research Outcomes So Elusive?

This article focuses on counseling research in the community college context. The article suggests the need for a robust community college knowledge base, describes some limitations of the current community college literature, and suggests a framework for more effective work in this area. The authors’ own experiences and selected examples of published studies are used as illustrations of the hurdles encountered and solutions available when examining counseling theories, practices, and outcomes in 2‐year settings.     

A teacher education program in elementary science that connects content,methods, practicum,and student teaching

Conclusion To educate teachers who have adequate content knowledge, possess the necessary skills to implement effective teaching strategies, and are confident and have positive attitudes toward science and the teaching of science, alternative teaching models are necessary. The University of Wyoming model provides such an alternative. Based on observations and interviews of students and the mentor teachers, it is apparent that it has created a very positive response in prospective teachers who have participated in it. The Wyoming model provided an effective process to train future elementary teachers. Even though it focused on science, the basis is general enough that it could be successfully extended to other disciplines with only minor modifications; however, all of the major components of the Wyoming model are vital to its success. Content courses designed specifically for prospective teachers have been successful in giving the students the content knowledge and providing opportunities for effective modeling. The seminars provide strong mechanisms to connect content to methodology and make the content relevant to teaching and to children. Because of their modeling, peer coaching, and sharing their time and students, the mentor teachers are essential partners in helping the university educate future teachers. Finally, the cooperation of all partners—district administrators, teachers, science content and science education university faculty, and students—is necessary to provide early and continuous experiences to prospective teachers. This material is based upon work supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. TTE-8851105). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NSF.     

Detectability and choice during visual search: joint effects of sequential priming and discriminability

Pigeons searched for symbolic targets among heterogeneous distractor items displayed on a video monitor. Phase 1 varied target identity and overall display size, thus establishing differential discriminabilities of three target symbols. Phase 2 varied the relative probability of these targets within sessions. The findings showed that reaction time was lower not only when targets were more discriminable, but also when they were relatively frequent; these effects did not depend on the discriminability of the less frequent targets. Phase 3 was similar in design but provided occasional choice trials on which two targets appeared. The birds were more likely to respond to the more frequent target on such trials only if it was also the most discriminable. The data are not consistent with certain predictions from Guilford and Dawkins’ (1987) reinterpretation of effects attributed to search images. The data indicate that detection and choice are modified jointly by priming-induced expectancies and stimulus-driven perceptual processes.