April Monthly Summary

Samantha Pickens commented on April Monthly Summaries for group 1 and group 2
Kate Bowers commented on April Monthly Summaries for group 1 and group 2
Sean Rodgers commented on April Monthly Summaries for group 3 (Michelle) and group 4





The month of April is so conflicting in formal academia/higher education. So much end-of-semester work and assignments pile into sludgy mounts of stressful timelines with hopes of rewarding outcomes. A key ingredient of success is to keep the feet moving through the muck and emotions. Move forward. Once stopped, it is difficult to restart. The conflict arises when the nice weather appears between April showers with nature calling for outside activity and the health benefit of the sun’s everlasting dose of Vitamin D (i.e. get outside and play). In the Midwest, April’s clean and crisp seasonal feel and longed-for warmth after a cold dark winter marks it as a month for change, renewal and (re)birth. In itself April is charged with Spiritual Learning.

This last month our group improved in their communication and in their teamwork to finalize the program evaluation, and finish up the program demonstration and the survival memo. The feedback from evaluations and Bo Chang’s comments allowed us to gain confidence and momentum going into our final project demonstration. Since we knew our time management was a problem last month, we got a head start on the project demonstration a week early. Our communication continued to be an advantage this past month as well. We divided our roles out based on our strengths once again. This allowed us to create the best possible project. We used the project demonstration as more of creative outlet than our past projects. The final project demonstration was chance to review some of learning concepts presented in the course. It also allows a rationale behind all the projects that came before, and culminates in the final project. Our group did a pretty good job throughout the semester so the tips in the survival memo should prove to be helpful for any future student looking to survive the course!

It has been fascinating to learn more about spiritual learning, which was not entirely what we originally thought or even expected. It has also been interesting to see how other groups have handled the tasks, and how they have addressed their own chosen methodologies. As, always, it was fruitful process learning from fellow classmates and teammates. Looking forward, it is time for reflection, which will be addressed in the final project, and also to tie together any loose ends and incomplete projects.

15 Minute Yoga Introduction and Survival Memo

Samantha Pickens commented on group 3 program demonstration audio introduction
Sean Rodgers commented on groups 1 and 2 survival memos.
Keith Cozart Commented on Group 3 Intro and Survival Memo and Group 6 combined intro/memo
Kate Bowers commented on group 1 and 2 survival memos

Program Demonstration

See our program demonstration at www.spirituallearningyoga.weebly.com

Keith Cozart commented on groups 3 and 6 demonstrations
Kate Bowers commented on group 2 demonstration
Samantha Pickens commented on group 1 and group 4 demonstrations
Sean Rodgers commented on the program demonstrations of groups 2 and 4 .

 

Introduction

This final presentation brings together all facets of our previous projects about spiritual learning and adult education from the EDAC634 course. Throughout the duration of the course we have conducted literature reviews on spiritual learning, investigated programs that used spiritual learning in an educational setting, designed an adult education program based on the main ideas and themes of spiritual learning, and had our program design evaluated by two education professionals. The overall purpose of this presentation is to convey how to use spiritual learning to design a learning activity for the adult learner.  We also hope to inform our audience about the most significant ideas and strategies we have found and lessons we have gained from this process.

Literature Review

The first assignment was to choose a learning theory and individually conduct a review of literature. The main ideas we found guided our program investigations and program design.

Due to the fact that there is no theoretical model for spiritual learning, there have been many variations of the definition of spirituality offered by scholars and how it applies to an educational setting. Based off of Bo Chang’s comments, this proved to be challenging to our group when finding the most significant themes and ideas within spiritual learning. Revisiting our literature reviews over the course of the semester, however, helped in finalizing the main ideas and themes of spiritual learning.

The main ideas and themes of spiritual learning are summarized in the following table: 

Program Investigation

The second assignment we undertook was an investigation of two adult learning programs that applied spiritual learning in their practice. This assignment was important for us because it provided us with a picture of how spiritual learning can be adapted and applied in a practical context. It would provide the framework needed to construct our own adult learning program that incorporates spiritual learning.

Personal connection played a big role in choosing the two programs we investigated. In hindsight, we should have had a better idea of what kind of program we wanted to design before investigating these programs. While the elements we identified as essential in these programs were helpful, it would have been more beneficial to find a program similar in design to our adult education program. We also picked two programs that were religious in nature. We found in our literature review that religion and spirituality should be viewed as two different things. Therefore, finding programs that were not religious but spiritual in nature would have been more beneficial.

An additional strategy we gained at this point in the course was the use of video, pictures, and tables. It enhances the learning process and allowed our audience to see how the programs work and how they related to spiritual learning.

Program Design

The third assignment of the course was to design our own adult education program that applied spiritual learning. The main themes and ideas found in the literature review and practical examples found in the program investigation were applied to this assignment.

A lesson we learned at this point in the course was to use more straightforward language and to avoid redundancy and repetitive language. We lose our audience if we are not straightforward and repeating ourselves. This is also the point in time where we realized it would have been more beneficial to investigate a yoga and meditation program. Based off Bo Chang’s comments about our action plan we really could have used an example to simulate.

Program Evaluation

The fourth assignment was to invite two educators to evaluate our program design. The evaluations of our program design gave us the critical feedback we needed to improve our program and make it better for our participants.

A strategy for this assignment was to provide the educators with an evaluation form, a copy of our program design, and a link to the group blog so that they could see the scope of the group project and read the posted materials. This provided them with the background of our projects and familiarized them with spiritual learning.

Where our program design needed the most improvement was in the action plan. Again, this emphasizes the importance of investigating at least one program that is similar to the one that is being designed. This would have helped us design a program that better connects spiritual learning and growth to the participants. A lesson we learned by the end of the program evaluation is the importance of revisiting and revising older assignments in order apply spiritual learning effectively. Another lesson we learned in regards to earlier assignments is that they set up the foundation and framework for the later assignments. If that information is not conveyed correctly it causes problems down the road. Planning ahead and having an idea of future program designs helps that process out tremendously.