This course will focus on the impact of war on women and their rights. We will engage in critical analyses of contemporary conflicts and their impact on gender, race and learning. Specifically, we will examine the link between war, globalization, nation-states and learning and the link between non-state, non-market forces and learning. We will look at current feminist approaches to the study of war, violence and women's resistance and learning. The theoretical approach in this course is anti-racist and anti-imperialist feminism.

This course will examine the gender, race, and class dimensions of population movement and forced migration. The focal point of our work will be understanding how these experiences intersect with questions about learning and work. Much of the world population is ‘on the move.’ According to the United Nations, as of 2020, about 281 million people were living outside their country of birth. War, environmental disasters, and massive restructuring of certain sectors of economy are forces that displace population mostly from the global south. In this context, a significant percentage of migrants move in search of financial stability. Participants in this seminar will study a range of learning experiences connected to the flow of people and jobs in various sites and scales––Canada, transnationally, globally. We will follow the adjustment and transformation of market economy and educational initiatives in response to these movements. Emphasis will be on the challenges faced by women migrants and refugees as they navigate changing labor markets in search of waged work. The course will pay attention to competing theoretical analyses of the relationship between gender, sexuality, race, and class in the context of migration, learning and work. We will discuss critical feminist and race theories, Marxist feminist analysis, transnational, diaspora, mobility and cultural studies, and adult education. The course will rely on theoretical studies and pay attention to social relations, politics, policies, and practices of migration, learning and work. Additional course materials, including policy documents, reports, novels, and other creative media will further inform our discussions and inquiries. 

This course explores theories and practices of democratizing work, organizations, and the economy. It looks at the ways workers and communities can take stewardship of working life, work organizations, and the economy and critically assesses management and workers' strategies of workplace and organizational participation. The course also homes in on how contemporary alternative economic arrangements (such as worker cooperatives and numerous forms of self-managed community initiatives), the social and solidarity economy, and environmental and social movements prefigure the expansion of economic democracy and social change while they, at the same time, directly contest the ongoing crisis spawned by neoliberal capitalism. The course applies theory to practice via multiple case studies from the global North and South and student' own experiences with work and participative organizations in the for-profit, not-for-profit, and public sectors. Throughout, the course interlaces explorations of workplace, organizational, and economic democracy with critical adult learning theory and practice.

Some of the most pressing problems affecting community wellness can be traced to how stable infrastructures are eroding, resulting in underemployment, insecure housing, expulsions from prime real estate, and criminalization of the racialized and indigenous poor. This course provides some important conceptual frameworks that help us understand how these themes are interconnected through militarized finance capitalism that is also alternatively referred to as 'the new economy', 'casino economics', and 'crisis economics'. As devastating as these trends are, never have possibilities for transformation been more accessible through a myriad of inspiring social movements and innovative community activism and development. This course provides some critical literacy for organizing, and some hands-on experience in transformative community development.

Critical approaches to organizations focus on how organizational change and development is experienced by diverse groups of women and men who work within organizations, as well as how organizational change is influenced by broader historical, social, political, and economic forces. Through this course, students will have the opportunity to develop theoretical and analytical skills to critically assess organizational change, its socio-economic contexts, and its dimensions of sense making, language, power, inequality, and resistance in a variety of organizational settings (offices, factories, service sector firms, NGOs, non-profits, cooperatives, community groups, government units, schools, family businesses, etc.). We will explore the methods frequently used to ''restructure'' organizations (such as downsizing, outsourcing, contingent just-in-time policies); develop critiques of recent trends which emphasize ''empowerment'', ''organizational learning", and ''reengineering'' and reflect on alternative organizational models with a vision of social change. Throughout the course, we will endeavour to situate the critical perspectives, theories, and methods of organizational change we will be studying to actual cases (including your own experience with organizations) via a variety of learning formats.

Specialized exploration, under the direction of a faculty member, of topics of particular interest to the student that are not included in existing courses. While credit is not given for a thesis topic proper, the study may be closely related to such a topic. Guidelines and Form are available from the website: http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ro/UserFiles/File/Graduate%20Registration/GradReg_ReqIndReadRsch.pdf This course can also be designed as a field-based practicum in adult education and/or community development in an agreed setting. The course will include reflection, research, and writing on issues raised in practice.

This is the foundation course for Transformative Learning studies. It is designed to introduce students to a global planetary perspective. The concept of a global world order will be examined from historic, critical, and visionary perspectives. Issues of development/underdevelopment, human rights, and social justice perspectives are considered. A critical understanding of social power relations will be highlighted in the areas of gender, class, and race dynamics. The topics are approached as interdependent dimensions within a holistic education perspective.

This course is designed to provide an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of Aboriginal education in Canada. Emphasis is on understanding the influences of policies, programs, and institutions that affect the Aboriginal community in respect to Aboriginal education. One of the major data sources will be the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Aboriginal guest speakers will also comment on selected topics. Components of this course will include the Aboriginal world view; contemporary history/politics relevant to Aboriginal Peoples; and Aboriginal education and healing. Treaties were originally signed between First Nations and the Federal Government of Canada. These treaties for the most part have not been honoured. In this course we shall discuss the ways and means to redress this situation as we focus more specifically on issues relevant to Aboriginal education.

This course will provide a deeper understanding of Aboriginal worldviews and an appreciation of how this knowledge can enhance teaching, learning and research. Learners will examine philosophical views shared by Aboriginal people while honoring a diversity of identities, culture, language, and geographic locations. Course content may include Aboriginal cognitive styles, values and ethics, traditional teachings and indigenous methodologies. This course will promote an understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal perspectives and explore strategies for integrating this knowledge into the work of educators and researchers.

Some very innovative community activism takes place through creative forms of embodied learning, including theatre, dance, slam poetry, hip hop, and various other art forms. In addition, many of these art forms offer alternatives to western Eurocentric frameworks of objectification, subjugation and alienation, emphasizing, instead, relationality and connectedness. The two alternative embodied arts explored in this course include Qigong and Mindfulness Meditation, with a view to examining how these can augment Marxist Feminist dialectics, and inform social justice movements, through deep personal and social transformation. Students will develop a community development proposal involving embodied learning and social movement building, and will participate in a group-based art-as-public pedagogy project.

This course discusses critical issues facing nonprofits, co-operatives, and the social economy, which is a bridging concept for organizations pursuing a social purpose. The course examines the differing organizational forms and accountability structures and the challenges faced by these organizations. Issues to be considered are: social enterprises and their increasing prominence in an age of government retrenchment; community economic development in low-income communities; and civil society organizations and their functions in encouraging social engagement and challenging social norms. The course views the social economy in relation to the government and business sectors, and attempts to understand the multiple roles of organizations in the social economy as they interact with the rest of society. The course materials include innovative case studies and adult education materials with regular guest lectures from social economy practitioners.

This seminar is designed to support Master's students in the process of writing a thesis or a substantial research paper. Issues to be discussed will include: choosing a topic, writing a proposal, developing an argument, selecting a supervisor, and organizing the writing process. The class will be participatory, and weekly readings will be assigned on the various parts of the thesis-writing journey. Class members will also receive instruction on effective library research techniques. In addition, students will have the opportunity to read completed theses and proposals. The course is required for all MA students. Full-time MA students are encouraged to take this course at the start of their program. Part-time MA students should ideally take this course when they are ready to start working on their thesis proposals. If you have difficulty fitting this into your schedule, please contact the instructor.

The course is also open to MEd students who are interested in gaining research experience by writing a substantial research paper equivalent to a thesis.

This course will explore Indigenous ways of knowing and knowledge systems and how this knowledge might inform the work of teaching, learning and research. Course content may include indigenous research protocols, decolonizing methodologies, ethics and politics of researching and teaching in Aboriginal communities, indigenous knowledges in the academy, intellectual property rights, curriculum development and innovations in Aboriginal education. Traditional teachings from respected Elders may be incorporated into learning. For learners with a research focus, this course enables inquiry into the production of knowledge, from both western and indigenous perspectives. For those interested in education implications, the course provides a footing in the workings and characteristics of indigenous knowing which will aid their pedagogical practices in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal contexts.

This course provides you with opportunities to examine current principles, practices, trends and issues related to organizational leadership, and apply these concepts to your own professional practice. You will explore leadership styles, practices, tasks and models, and are encouraged to reflect on and analyze your own leadership experiences in light of theories examined.

This course explores concepts, practices and processes in organizations, with specific emphasis on the challenges and strategies for addressing the human aspects of change. The course combines an experimental approach and critical analysis to examine issues in organizational change. Students will gain understanding of theories, practices and the importance of Human Resources Development, Human Resources Management and Labour Relations principles in planning and implementing effective organizational change.

This course will examine issues faced by individuals, groups and communities trapped in ongoing cycles of violence due to historic and current traumas, and systemic injustice. The course will focus on healing and peacebuilding initiatives at the community level and will draw on diverse cultural traditions. The course will acquaint students with current theoretical concepts of community healing and peacebuilding. Participants will also develop skills, values and attitudes that will enable them to work towards healing, reconciliation, and comprehensive, viable peace. The notion of praxis is key, and students will be given the opportunity to reflect on their own practice.

This course will introduce students to the emerging field of adult education for sustainability. As a form of critical pedagogy, it concentrates on the interface between the education of adults and the question of sustainability. The task of adult education for sustainability involves helping us to learn our way out of unsustainable modes of thinking, feeling and acting about ourselves, our communities and the wider world, and to learn our way in to more sustainable ways of life. This course will cover issues such as globalization, sustainable development, community, environmental integrity, social justice, gender, energy and ecological literacy. It will also examine the role of adult education in exploring alternative models to our current unsustainable direction.

Drawing from several disciplinary perspectives, this course provides an opportunity to interrogate the relationship of the Internet to adult education. The main objectives of this course are: to engage participants in an examination of the influence of contemporary information and communication technology, including social media and other platform-mediated activity, on key adult education praxis areas such as community development, literacy, employment and services. The course provides participants with a critical framework for analyzing Internet mediated environments; and encourages students to explore Internet resources that may be used in conjunction with traditional community development and adult education practice. The course is conducted using a seminar format where discussion is informed by weekly readings.

This course examines a moving target, the interface between emerging technologies, primarily information and communication technologies, and the workplace. Drawing from various disciplinary perspectives, including education, sociology, social psychology and communication studies; the course provides an opportunity for students to interrogate the ways in which technology is embedded in the work place. Some topics that will be covered include the knowledge economy, virtual teamwork, surveillance and the future of authority. The course is designed as a hybrid or blended course, which means that it is taught through face-to-face and online sessions and activities. A mixed course format allows participants to experience diverse technology platforms and applications and illustrates course content.

Humans are fundamentally social creatures, depending on good relationships with those around us for optimal functioning. When harm is done in these relationships people suffer. If restoration does not occur and the underlying structural and cultural issues are not addressed, suffering and violence will likely continue, whether acted out inwardly within the individual or group, or outwardly, directed to others. Reconciliation, the complex, dynamic, long-term process of restoring relationships, structures and identities after violent conflict, is a concept that is becoming increasingly relevant. This course has been developed to study reconciliation in accordance with the following principles: reconciliation is necessary; reconciliation is complex; reconciliation is praxis; and reconciliation has implications for adult education and community development.

Following the lead of American essayist Wendell Berry, who has argued that eating is an agricultural act, this course will focus on the idea that eating is also a pedagogical act. What do we learn, and unlearn, from the food we eat? How is the food on our plate connected to such issues as food systems, food politics, food justice, food security, food sovereignty and food movements? Can we consume our way into a more sustainable future, or does this simply reinforce our current unsustainable way of life? This course will explore these and other questions, keeping in mind that food can be a catalyst for learning, resistance and change.

An examination of some of the many issues that have been characteristic of postsecondary education in the past and are likely to continue to be faced in the future.

This course provides an overview of the history, philosophy and evolution of community colleges. While the focus will largely be on the Ontario college system, students will also engage in exploration of wider issues, controversies, challenges and opportunities that community colleges face more broadly in Canada, the United States and in other countries, particularly Anglophone countries with similar systems. The themes of social justice, access and equity run through all topics, as a key purpose of community colleges is to promote these objectives.

A comparative description and analysis of tertiary-level systems of education with special attention to their structure and governance and the relevant features of the societies in which they operate.

This course is about system-wide policy and planning in higher education. The primary goal of this course is to help students understand how to conduct sound analyses of major policy issues at the system level, and make well-grounded recommendations on how to address them. This course is organized around a realistic planning assignment to address a policy issue, following a problem-based approach.

This course explores how administration, management, and leadership are conceptualized, studied, and practiced in higher education institutions. The course will contrast mainstream and critical perspectives on administration, management, and leadership and examine the specificity of academic settings in shaping both the practice and the investigation of administration in colleges and universities.

This course examines multiple theories and concepts that will help learners better understand colleges and universities as complex organizations and how they change. The aim is to help learners acquire a strong conceptual foundation for their analysis of organizational issues faced by colleges and universities, and to familiarize themselves with useful theoretical tools for interpreting and explaining organizational change in higher education.

This course reviews theoretical debates regarding the nature of professions and professional education, placing them within their historical context in western societies. Contemporary issues that are addressed include the implications of globalization of the professions, diversity in the professions and the ''entrepreneurial university'' and the professions. Perspectives of practitioners as well as faculty teaching in the professions are considered.

This course on lifelong learning and professional and vocational education has four broad aims: First, it explores debates about: the learning society and lifelong learning; globalisation, the ‘risk’ society and reflexive modernisation; and, the knowledge society and the knowledge economy. Second, it explores the nature of, and debates concerning, professional and vocational education. Third, it explores different ways in which post-secondary education systems can be structured and organised, the relationships between universities and colleges and how this helps to structure relationships between professional and vocational education. Fourth, it explores regulation of post-secondary education through qualifications frameworks, and considers debates about the Ontario Qualifications Framework. It explores debates about skills, employability skills, generic skills, learning outcomes and competency-based education/training. It considers the contrasting theoretical frameworks that underpin various positions in these debates.

The course is about the resources — public and private — that support schools, colleges, and universities: how the resources are raised, how they are allocated, how they are budgeted for, how they are economically justified, and how they are accounted for. The course is also about the connections: connections between investments in education and the larger economy, between the organization of systems and the way funding is allocated and accounted for, between forms of budgets and the efficiency with which funding is deployed, and between funding and educational quality. Although the ideas of classical economists – Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Becker, Rostow – about the formation of human capital will be discussed, the course does not require a background in economic theory.