PROGRAM DESIGN

Program Design: Crossroads

 
 Introduction
Welcome to “Crossroads.”  This program was designed to challenge community organizers to think outside of the box and step out of their comfort zones to learn from other communities outside of their own. “Crossroads” is largely based off of the learning process that is referred to as transformational learning. The original concept stemmed from Jack Mezirow, whose initial goal was to challenge students to learn and develop new knowledge through independent learning (Taylor, 2015). He also expressed that learning through personal experiences was one of the most effective ways to achieve this. By the end of this course, students should take with them a new perspective outside of their own experience. Students should not only learn more about their peers but hopefully learn more about themselves as well. 

Rationale

Transformational learning sets itself apart from other learning experiences in that it allows individuals a way to experience new things, critically reflect on them, and change their views on previously-held ideas or assumptions about the world around them. This program will allow adults living in a large English speaking city in the United States to travel to a new community with the majority of people speaking both English and a non-English language. It is important for adults to immerse themselves in this new community in order to understand the culture, problems, and perspectives that they can bring back and implement in their own respective communities.

Transformational learning can be described as a way to critically think about our worldview in a world that is constantly changing. This process requires learners to have an experience that does not fit into a prior category or experience that the learner has had in the past. Faced with an uncomfortable feeling and unsureness of how to process this experience, learners must critically reflect on this new experience. Learners must reevaluate their prior frames of reference and beliefs to determine how they will process this new experience. Through critical reflection learners are able to form a new perspective that leads to a more fully developed and mature adult. “Developing more reliable beliefs, exploring and validating their fidelity, and making informed decisions are fundamental to the adult learning process. It is transformative learning theory that explains this learning process of constructing and appropriating new and revised interpretations of the meaning of an experience in the world.” (Taylor 2008)

Nerstrom has created a model for transformative learning that integrates it into the development of learners and helpfully describes the role that transformational learning has in the life of a learner (Nerstrom, 2014).

 

Figure 1. Nerstrom integrates transformative learning into the development of learners in a newly-formed model. 

Nerstrom, N. (2014). An Emerging Model for Transformative Learning. Adult Education Research Conference. Retrieved from http://newprairiepress.org/aerc/2014/papers/55

This program will have participants explore the community and critically reflect through various modes. These will include journal entries, article reviews connected to the community, and in-person discussions. Because the transformational experience will most likely happen naturally through full immersion, the program will revolve around ample time throughout the trip to critically reflect on their new experiences. For example, journal entries will play a big role in adults being able to express their thoughts in regards to what is being challenged, new information, and their emotions through the process. It also allows for later reflection when adults form their new view based off their experience.

A program that incorporates transformational learning in their design is Service Over Self, also known as S.O.S. (Service Over Self, n.d.). This Christian-based program is based in Memphis, Tennessee. This program functions to empower the local Memphis community and serve through home repair and leadership development. S.O.S. focuses on alternative spring break trips for high school and college students and reaching young adults to serve over the summer in Memphis. The program also focuses on equipping participants to care for those who are marginalized. This program wants participants to be able to have a general idea of how poverty can affect our communities and what types of methods can be taken to help those experiencing poverty in our own communities. For most participating in this program, it gives a sense of culture shock as they interact closely with individuals heavily affected by poverty and in a highly minority population. The idea of culture shock is something that we want to incorporate in this program, although the economic conditions of the participants’ home and the host city are similar. Having participants challenged with new and sometimes shocking perspectives can being the transformational learning process that will hopefully lead to a new way of thinking about the world.

Program 

“Crossroads” is an opportunity for 10 community organizers from the small Midwestern city of Muncie, IN, to encounter a different type of community, to reflect on how to implement new ways of living into Muncie, and to learn to value the characteristics of the city they call home. The encounter with a different culture is meant not as a vacation, but as a dilemma through which transformational learning can take place. While there is no way to guarantee personal transformation in program participants, this program sets learners in a position to do so if they choose to fully invest themselves.

Hialeah, Florida, is the chosen destination for this program, although subsequent programs could take participants to a different location. Hialeah is a city close to Miami, FL, and has one of the highest populations of Cuban and Cuban American people in the country (Dumenigo, 2002). Hialeah also has a very high rate of a language other than English spoken at home, 94.4% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). Muncie, Indiana has a primarily white and African American population and a low rate of languages other than English spoken at home, 4.4% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). The differences in the race, ethnicity, and languages spoken in a new setting will function as a disorienting dilemma for participants from Muncie, similar to the way that Service Over Self helps their participants encounter the community of Memphis.

As community organizers the participants from Muncie will be accustomed to being connected, capable, and in charge. The opportunity of this program is to have participants act as spectators rather than leaders and see the ways that Hialeah residents approach similar community challenges. Both Hialeah and Muncie have pasts as industrial towns built during the 1920’s that grew into working class cities later in the twentieth century (History of Delaware County, n.d., Alvarez & Vickery Impink, 2005). Both cities have been studied by sociologists for their prototypical attributes in an industrial setting: Muncie for its white, midwestern population and Hialeah for its large Cuban exile population (Center for Middletown studies, n.d., Alvarez & Vickery Impink, 2005).

The program will take place over four days, or ideally a long weekend. Pre- and post-departure workshops will prepare students to observe thoughtfully and to reflect on their experience after their return. Travel will be funded by grants, allowing participants from various economic backgrounds to join the program. Participants will fly between Indianapolis, IN, and Miami, FL, which is a six-hour trip when including travel to and from the airport and security checks. Participants will spend most breakfast, dinner, and evening hours with their host families. This is meant to increase the time that participants have to organically interact with other community organizers while giving them time to reflect on their experiences. Through personal reflection, group dialogue, a privilege walk, and a tour of nearby Miami, program participants will be able to engage the transformative learning process through cultural encounter. Facilitating high-impact activities during the day has to be balanced with ample space for reflection. The schedule may seem lax because of this allocated space. Transformational learning must include reflection and application of learning into action (Taylor, 2015). This program is also quite short and concentrated, which means that program facilitators must build the confidence in participants to take action through the post-trip meeting.

The participants will meet with nonprofit organizations in Hialeah which are related to the work they do in Muncie, which would be contacted after the participant group is finalized. Participants will be recruited from neighborhood leadership organizations, a local food bank, and shelters that serve the homeless, given that they are some of the principle organizations serving the Muncie area.                                                                                                                                    Goals 

• Present a disorienting dilemma to participants.
• Allow time for self-reflection and individual critical assessment.
• Facilitate encounters in a new setting, allowing participants to explore.
• Create group dialogue regarding plans for the participants’ community based on the cultural encounter.
• Encourage participants to take on new roles, exercise self-confidence, and integrate lessons from the cultural encounter into their daily work.

Pre-Trip Meeting

Saturday, January 4, 2020

9:00 am - 12:30 pm

Kennedy Library Conference Room

9:00 am - 10:00 am	Definition of life in Muncie Update group on projects currently underway in Muncie neighborhoods Overview of U.S. census data, including demographic information
10:00 am - 10:30 am	Group bonding activity
10:30 am - 11:00 am	Reflective mindfulness exercise
11:00 pm - 11:30 pm	Overview of Hialeah trip Travel itinerary Required materials Journal for logging each day’s activities Phone with group messaging capabilities for communication Assignment of host families Gift from Muncie for Hialeah host family Trip booklet
11:30 am - 12:00 pm	Sharing of concerns and hopes for the trip
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm	Distribution of trip booklet, which should be read prior to travel and taken on the trip Hialeah demographic and economic information from U.S. census Full itinerary
12:30 pm	Dismissal

 Crossroads Trip: January 10-13, 2020

 

Post-Trip Debrief Meeting

Saturday, January 18, 2020

10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Kennedy Library Conference Room

10:00 am - 11:00 pm	Sharing of trip stories, using information gathered in trip journals Muncie facilitator records stories to use in formalized report to be distributed throughout Muncie
11:00 am - 12:00 pm	Small group reflection Possible personal transformation Satisfaction with trip
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm	Creation of action plans for Muncie Integration of practices encountered in Hialeah Schedule follow-up meetings to carry out plans, if necessary
1:00 pm	Dismissal

Reflection

    We specifically designed this program to remove the students from the classroom so that each student could become fully immersed with the transformational learning method.  We felt it was imperative to create a program where the students would be challenged to step outside of their comfort zones and experience life in a different manner. This experience will require the students to stretch their perceptions and beliefs along with being willing to look at things from various viewpoints that were new to them.

Highlights

    A couple of the highlights of this program include the students spending time with the families who call Hialeah home which will allow them to experience the community beyond that of a tourist. The students will be able to not only learn about the culture but will also have the opportunity to ask questions directly which will provide them with deeper answers and knowledge of the history that surrounds their culture differences.

    Another highlight is that the students will be able to not only spend time sitting around the dinner table with their host families but participate in the preparation of new meals. This time spent with the families and community members of Hialeah should encourage the students to engage in critical reflection and independent learning as they absorb the difference of lifestyles and culture from Muncie to Hialeah.  Our hope is that the students will be able to identify common threads as well as broaden their perceptions of the world.

Process

    We felt it was imperative that the students incorporate time to journal during their time in Hialeah.  This will allow the students time to process what they observe throughout the day.  This will also provide an opportunity for the students to look back and see personal growth throughout the program.  Staying with host families and engaging the community through a service project will be instrumental to transformational learning for the students.  Although we believe that the students could have easily learned about the Hialeah community by reading books or researching the internet, they would not have truly experienced the culture and the knowledge gained by taking the time to get to know the faces of those who call Hialeah home and engaging in meaningful conversations to learn more about who they are and where they came from and to embrace those differences.
 

References

Addleman, R. A., Brazo, C., & Cevallos, T. (2011). Transformative learning through cultural immersion. Northwest Journal of Teacher Education, 9(1), article 5.

Alvarez, S. D., & Vickery Impink, R. (2005). Continuing business as usual: A case study of Hialeah, Florida. The Industrial Geographer, 3(1), 43-49. 

Bezard, C., & Shaw, S. (2017). Developing multicultural self-awareness through a transformative learning experience. Journal of Research in Technical Careers, 1(2), 36-46.

Center for Middletown studies. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bsu.edu/academics/centersandinstitutes/middletown/about

Dumenigo, A. (2002). Professor Patricia Fernandez-Kelly explores the world of the Cuban immigrant. Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/web_exclusives/features/features_032702b.html

History of Delaware County and Muncie, Indiana. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.co.delaware.in.us/category/subcategory.php?categoryid=11

Nerstrom, N. (2014). An Emerging Model for Transformative Learning. Adult Education Research Conference. Retrieved from http://newprairiepress.org/aerc/2014/papers/55

Service Over Self (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sosmemphis.org/about/about-us

Taylor, E. W. (2015). Transformative Learning Theory. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2008(119), 5–15.