Transformative Learning: A Review of the Assessment Tools

In this review essay, I try to explore the following question: How can we evaluate the process and the outcomes of perspectives transformation? Where is the research on the assessment of transformative learning outcomes today and where it is going in the future? I will describe the most popular tools (see Stuckey, Taylor, Cranton, 2013) for the evaluation of the outcomes of learning activities that may be conceptualized as transformative experiences. The four instruments compared are: 1. Kember’s Critical Reflection Questionnaire, a 16-question, four-scale questionnaire (Kember et al., 2000, p. 392); 2. Learning Activity Survey (Learning Activities Survey, King, 2009) questionnaire, based on the theory of the ten steps precursors to transformative learning (King, 2009); 3. Transformative Learning Survey (Stuckey, Taylor, Cranton, 2014); 4. VALUE rubric (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) (AACU, 2013), whose variation Student Transformative Learning Record (Barthell et al., 2010) was created for the assessment of students’ own authentic work. Those instruments represent the effort of (a) going beyond the qualitative retrospective approach and (b) finding indicators for the critical reflection engaged by people (students or professionals) in their learning experiences. The purpose is to appeal to faculty members, adult educators, professional coaches, mentoring experts, healthcare professionals in Counselling and Psychotherapy, offering them a review of both qualitative and quantative approaches that they could adopt in their professional practices.