









































Caralyn Zehnder, Cynthia Alby, Karynne Kleine, Julia Metzker. 
(2021). Learning that Matters: A Field Guide to Course Design 
for Transformative Education. Myers Education Press. 225 pp.  
$ 111 (Hardcover), ISBN: 978-1975504502 

In today’s 21st century, the traditional way of teaching has mostly 
given way to transformative education in which teachers should not 
only impart knowledge, but also facilitate the acquisition of skills by 
students (David, 2016). Educators in transformative education play 
the role of helping students to understand and acknowledge “the 
dynamics between their inner and outer worlds” (Boyd & Myers, 1988, 
p.261). This book provides guidance to teachers in the higher education 
system to help them design courses that can create meaningful learning 
experiences for students and actively engage them in social issues. 

Z. Zhang. Global Journal of  
Transformative Education (2022) Vol 3   
DOI  10.14434/gjte.v3i1.34176

Open Access

Published by the Global Insitutute of Transformative Education (http://www.gite.education)
© Zhang, 2022. Open Access This journal is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 
NonCommercial NonDerivative 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which 
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you 
give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,

BOOK REVIEW

Zhaoyi Zhang

Full listing of authors and contacts can be 
found at the end of this article.

Summary
In this book, “learning” covers multiple layers of 

meaning, including learning theories, learning out-
comes and assessments, course design, teaching strate-
gies and techniques, etc. As educators who will pursue 
careers at universities or are already teaching in higher 
education, no matter whether you are novice or se-
nior, this book provides scaffolding for you from three 
aspects: a). how to design transformative lessons, how 
to create successful transformative learning experienc-
es for students, and how to shape the identity of the 
transformative teacher.

This book consists of 10 chapters. And each chapter 
is completed by a team of four brilliant and profession-
al educators who have specific disciplinary expertise. 
Collaboration is constantly brought up in the book. 
Whether it is the way the book is written or the various 
activities that are recommended throughout the book, 
readers will find traces of collaboration. This is the 
element that the authors are proud of.

Each chapter of the book covers ample content and 
inspiration. Chapter one (“Teaching Matters”) begins 
with the challenges that American higher education is 
facing in the present era, which include unequal distri-
bution of educational resources, teachers who are very 
productive in research but weak in pedagogical knowl-
edge, unequal power relations between “Black, Indig-
enous, and people of color (BIPOC) and their White 
counterparts” (p. 2), and the lack of capacity of higher 
education institutions to respond quickly to unexpected 
situations (e.g. Covid-19). All these problems are calling 
for changes in course design. The authors mention 
that educators in higher education institutions should 
regard exposing all of their students to transformative 
learning experiences as their teaching goal. This chap-
ter also contains the introduction for all four authors 
and their beliefs about course design and teachers’ 
professional development. At the end of this chapter, 
the authors provide a guide to using this book so that 
readers can get insights into how to get the most out of 
this book.



Zhang - Book Review: Learning That Matters Page 35

In chapter two (“From the Foundation Up”), the 
authors firstly mention that trying to turn the class-
room into a base for transformative education requires 
fostering creativity, and that means a degree of “impro-
visation” (p.18). This chapter provides four important 
concepts and principles for supporting this improvisa-
tion. The first one is about equity. The authors extract 
decentering pedagogy from critical theory, starting 
from no longer viewing students “within a deficit 
framework” (p. 27) and cherishing all students’ funds 
of knowledge, the authors then propose pedagogical 
approaches that promote equity. The second concept 
is aimed at the constructivist approach. In this sec-
tion, by explaining the crucial role of constructivism in 
acquiring knowledge, the authors remind readers that 
students in the classroom are not just passive recipi-
ents, and transformative education cannot be teach-
er-centered. The third concept emphasizes creativity 
in promoting students’ engagement. The authors point 
out that the course focusing on active learning could 
be helpful to students’ scores. It is vital for teachers to 
understand how motivation influences learning. The 
fourth concept, therefore, focuses on the role of motiva-
tion. In this part, the question of whether students are 
motivated by mastery or performance goals is dis-
cussed. In the end, the authors hope teachers who have 
already built their teaching foundations could think 
about how to connect these concepts and theories with 
students’ deep learning.

In chapter three (“Design Matter”), the authors shift 
the center from concepts to practical issues, focusing 
on course design. The aim of this chapter is trying to 
convince teachers that using design to guide teach-
ing can be a very beneficial thing for both teachers 
and students. Additionally, the authors provide three 
complementary and connected designing approach-
es for teachers, which are design thinking, backward 
design, and universal design for learning (UDL). In 
short, design thinking is human/student-centered. It 
firstly needs teachers to develop empathy and collect 
students’ information before class, then anticipates the 
kinds of problems they will encounter in their classes, 
lists the worst possible outcomes for their classes, and 
find out the solutions in advance. This approach offers 
a framework for planning courses that are closely tied 
to the student experience. Backward design is a course 
design approach guided by learning objectives, which 
requires teachers to think about what students need 
most to be successful. For UDL, it is an approach consid-
ering serving more students. It aims at establishing a

learning environment to support students’ diversity. In 
the end, the authors mention that the strategies provid-
ed in this chapter are important and will be repeatedly 
mentioned in the following chapters.

Chapter four (“Portable Outcomes”) is about porta-
ble outcomes, which means that students can take what 
they learn in one class to subsequent classes, and even 
to later work and life, rather than outcomes that are 
forgotten once the test is completed. In this chapter, the 
authors begin by differentiating the definition of stu-
dent learning outcomes (SLOs) and aspirational goals. 
Compared with aspirational goals which could be long-
term and ideal, SLOs are more specific and measurable, 
which refer to as knowledge, skills, and dispositions. 
Before introducing how to design SLOs, the authors 
demonstrate the “alignment” between SLOs and “the 
coherence students experience” in the classroom. 
(p.83). Then, the authors give suggestions for how to 
write substantive SLOs. They should be student-cen-
tered, measurable, interlude, and inclusive. Specifically, 
students are able to know what they should anticipate 
from the course, and realize how they will perform in 
class to meet the outcomes. In addition, the authors 
mention that substantive SLOs should take affection 
into consideration, which means that teachers should 
present clearly what they want their students to care 
about after finishing the course. What is more, well-de-
signed SLOs should also care about students’ diversity 
so as to avoid biases. In the end, the authors advocate 
that after encompassing the above four characteristics, 
a truly portable goal must be to help students achieve 
higher order thinking skills that include analyzing and 
evaluating.

Chapter five provides an approach, which is also a 
framework, called the Dilemma, Issue, or Question Ap-
proach (DIQ). The authors summarize it as an approach 
to connecting subject knowledge with social issues. 
Teachers utilize this approach to guide students using 
the knowledge they have learnt in class to solve real so-
cial problems. The authors point out that by doing this, 
students can more easily understand the usefulness of 
the knowledge and the reason why they need to learn 
it. In this chapter, multiple resources including refer-
ence websites and books are given to help readers think 
about how to design their DIQ framework. The authors 
also focus on describing the four steps of designing DIQ 
from brainstorming to getting feedback. It is important 
to summarize from the authors that DIQ breaks the 
status quo that critical thinking skill is only limited to 
“elitist activity” (p. 114).

Global Journal of Transformative Education (2022) Vol 3



Zhang - Book Review: Learning That Matters Page 36

Global Journal of Transformative Education (2022) Vol 3

In Chapter six (“Connected Assessment”), the 
authors spend a great deal of time explaining assess-
ment-related knowledge. The significance of this 
chapter is evident in the way that it helps address 
teachers’ ongoing focus on what a few students can-
not do, in suggesting that teachers need to think about 
how to support the progress of all students, and in the 
need to recognize the strengths that each individual 
brings to the classroom. The authors start by express-
ing their concerns about unequal issues brought about 
by today’s assessments. In the next part, instead of 
explaining “assessment jargon”, the authors present 
assessment along “two continuums”, which are from 
connected to unconnected assessment, and from sum-
mative to formative assessment. In terms of comparing 
unconnected and connected assessment, the authors 
interpret connected assessment as the one which un-
derlines the growth and achievements of students. It is 
aligned with SLOs with a stepped increase in difficulty 
as a way to see students’ progress. The authors also 
compare formative and summative assessment and sug-
gest that formative assessment is not done by scoring 
at the end, but by collecting and using the information 
obtained during the learning process to change and 
improve students’ learning process. It is a relatively fair 
way of assessing. The rest of the chapter is reserved for 
how to provide effective feedback to students, which 
also contains the forms, focuses, rubrics that teachers 
need to pay attention to when they give feedback. 

Chapter seven (“The Power of Projects”) involves 
some of the practical skills that teachers use to design 
classroom activities that can effectively engage stu-
dents and are simultaneously convenient for teach-
ers to give formative feedback. The authors start this 
chapter by explaining the reason for the popularity of 
project-based learning. Then, three characteristics that 
should be equipped by a good project are explained in 
detail by the authors, which are authentic, collabora-
tive, and transparent. The authors give many examples 
of actual classroom activities to make these three char-
acteristics more visual and tangible. 

Chapter eight (“Strategies that Matters”) mentions 
teaching strategies which could lead to significant 
learning. The authors introduce a concept of high-qual-
ity strategies which should be “active and engaging, 
intrinsically motivating, sticky, and culturally affirming” 
(p.207). A good high-quality strategy does not have 
to meet all of these characteristics, but it does need to 
equip many of them. Next, the authors mention the

need for teachers to develop different strategies at dif-
ferent stages of learning. The authors also give different 
and respective suggestions and activities that teachers 
can do to prepare students for learning, engage stu-
dents in learning, discuss in the classroom, and make 
learning visible so that teachers can choose and im-
plement them according to their own conditions and 
classroom conditions. This chapter concludes with a 
guide for readers to reflect on their own strategies and 
a summary of high-quality strategies so that readers 
will have a deeper understanding of what strategies can 
cause deep and significant learning.

In chapter nine (“Supporting Students”), how to 
provide targeted support to students to ensure their 
success, effectively address inequities in education, and 
ensure enduring learning is a core topic. The authors 
provide ideas from four perspectives. Firstly, teachers 
should guide students to find value in learning, which 
means that if students can understand the purpose of 
the course and tap into the value of the course, they 
can be more engaged. Secondly, the authors mention 
that by praising students for their efforts and scoring 
less, teachers should provide the support that allows 
students to be unafraid of challenges and setbacks, and 
allows students to develop a “growth mindset” (p.263). 
Thirdly, Teachers have the responsibility to make 
students find a sense of belonging in the classroom. 
Lastly, the authors mention the negative stereotype 
that students develop when they experience setbacks, 
which is also called “stereotype threat” in the chapter. It 
is important to help students reflect on their self-values 
to counter this stereotype. 

As a summary and ending chapter, chapter ten 
(“Your Turn: Self- and Collective Efficacy”) plays a cru-
cial role in helping reshape a transformative teacher’s 
identity. As was mentioned in Chapter two that inno-
vation is vital for developing transformative education. 
The authors in this chapter introduce Bandura’s “col-
lective-efficacy” to underline the significance of collab-
oration for innovation (p.281). At the same time, it is 
also important to build a community of mutual trust 
and respect for students, in which students can obtain 
the necessary skills. The authors also recommend that 
teachers join or establish teacher learning communi-
ties, or “communities of change agents”. There they 
can monitor and help each other to become qualified 
transformative educators (p.287).



Zhang - Book Review: Learning That Matters Page 37

Evaluation
The authors have succeeded in achieving the goal of 

improving and expanding teachers’ skill sets described 
at the beginning of the book. Especially when reading 
chapters 3-9, which encompass all the things educators 
should consider when designing a course.

The whole book is highly readable and interactive. 
As I took notes while reading, I found that I could easily 
extract the key information from each chapter and 
understand it without much difficulty. Another strength 
of the book is reflected in its writing structure. Each 
chapter begins with a Preflection in a box, which may be 
a thought-provoking question or a small survey, giving 
the reader a preliminary idea of the chapter’s content 
before they even start reading the text. Next, the au-
thors list the activities they set up in this chapter and 
what they hope the reader will ultimately gain from the 
chapter’s contents. By doing this, the authors make the 
outcomes of the chapter transparent to readers, which 
allows the scrutiny from readers when they finish this 
chapter. In writing each chapter, instead of explaining 
theories and concepts, the authors present numerous 
activities, their own experiences, and evidence-based 
strategies. After presenting a piece of content, the 
authors set up a “reflect to learn” session, asking one or 
two questions to give readers a short buffer and reflec-
tion time before moving on to the next module to better 
consolidate what they have just read. Each chapter 
follows the same pattern, starting with Preflection and 
ending with ensuring that the readers can make the de-
sign happen. With this step-by-step guidance, readers 
will become more and more confident and motivated.

Conclusion
Overall, facilitating students to find motivation and 

meaning in the university’s classroom, acquiring the 
competence needed for the 21st century, realizing and 
addressing social inequities are goals that teachers 
should be committed to designing their courses, and 
that is also what this book is trying to help teachers 
achieve. As a guide book, Learning That Matters: A Field 
Guide to Course Design for Transformative Education is 
suitable for both individual educators and a group, like 
a faculty study group, since collaboration is ceaseless-
ly mentioned throughout the book. Teachers can also 
practice the activities and evidence-based strategies in 
the book in a selective manner. 

References

David V. J. Bell. (2016). Twenty-first Century Education: 
Transformative Education for Sustainability and Re-
sponsible Citizenship. Journal of Teacher Education 
for Sustainability, 18(1), 48-56.

Robert D. Boyd & J. Gordon Myers. (1988). Transfor-
mative education. International Journal of Lifelong 
Education, 7(4), 261-284.

Zhaoyi Zhang (zhazhang@iu.edu) is Ph.D. student in the 
Literacy, Culture, and Language Education Program, 
Department of Curriculum and Instruction, School of 
Education at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 
USA.

Author


