Transformational Change Essay Example

Transformational Change Essay Example Transformational Change Paper Transformational Change Paper Transformational Change John Hulka EXP105: Personal Dimensions of Education Instructor Eva Ananiewicz December 12, 2010 Transformational Change When you experience a dramatic change in your life, such as a career change or going back to school you are faced with learning a whole different set of skills and often doing this requires you to unlearn the old skills that you were so used to doing, and by doing this new kind of learning and as you are completing these dramatic changes in your life, you are broadening your horizons, (so to speak) you are opening your mind and realizing that there is always something new to learn and new ways in which to learn them, this is called Transformational Change. We do this kind of change in what is called a â€Å"learning cycle† and it is done in four stages. The first stage of the learning cycle is recognizing a significant problem, ask yourself what is the problem? Think hard and analyze the problem and look for possible solutions, the second stage is to narrow them down to the most logical solution. What solution will work best for you. After that plan carefully just how and what you are going to do, then (this third stage is the most crucial and causes the most stress) review and refine until your sure that you have a good well thought out plan, then the fourth stage is to implement your plan; put it into action, following these stages will help you decide on the best solution to your problem. Remember, that nobody plans to fail, they fail to plan. Let me briefly explain how this works and how I used this in my personal life: I was ordered by my Doctor to stop working and go on disability; as I need a heart transplant and the process is quite long. I was faced with a decision to just sit a home doing nothing till I get (or even if I was to get) a new heart or do something positive in my life. I chose to do something positive. So I realized the problem, and had to look at possible solutions : 1. Just sit at home doing nothing and wait. 2. Find a job I could do and risk losing my disability. 3. Go back to school, learn another career that I could do in case I could not get a heart. I chose #3. It was the most practical choice for me, and as it turned out it was the best one for me (because of my diabetes, I was taken off the transplant list) I chose to go back to school to become a therapist, something I could do Non-physical and something I was very interested in doing. The next step was to find the right school that would have the best course of action to complete my degree. After careful research, I decided on Ashford University. I then put my plan into action; I called and enrolled, and I am in class now. This Transformational change will be challenging, being out of school for 20 years will take some dedication, a good support system, and an open mind to learning. Jack Mezirow (1991) conducted research on adults engaged in transformational change and identified â€Å"Seven phases† typically occurring in the challenging learning process: 1. Experiencing a disorienting dilemma 2. Self-examination 3. Critical assessment of assumptions 4. Recognizinging that others have gone through a similar process 5. Exploring a process 6. Formulating a plan of action . Reintegration Out of these â€Å"Seven Phases† I have experienced many of them in my personal life. (in which I described in above paragraph) below are those â€Å"Seven Phases† and how they worked in my life along with a brief example of each, they are the following: 1. Experiencing a disorienting dilemma: on disability and what to do for the future. 2. Self-examination: Disabled, what to do. 3. Critical assessmen t of assumptions: Deciding on options 4. Exploring a process: choosing to go to school, and which school to go to. 5. Recognizinging that others have gone through a similar process: knowing that it can be done. 6. Formulating a plan of action: Looking for the right school, and get enrolled. 7. Reintegration: This one I expect to be going through, getting use to a new way of life something very different than I was use to. I will need to keep my motivation and a good support system in place. References: *   (Ashford’s text book) Learning online and achieving lifelong goals