Dr. Jane Vella
Founder of Dialogue Education™ and Global Learning Partners, Inc.
Global Learning Partners was founded in the work of Jane Vella and the Jubilee Popular Education Center in 1981. From New York City to rural North Carolina, from Africa to South America, Jane tested and developed a proven set of principles and practices, which continue to guide us today. The principles and practices of Dialogue Education™ outlined then are the foundation of today’s GLP courses.
In 1996, Jubilee became Global Learning Partners, Inc. In 2000, as Jane was committed to research and retirement, Peter Noteboom assumed ownership of GLP.
Check out Our Team to see how we have evolved and expanded.
JANE’S STORY
1931
Jane Vella was born in 1931 and raised in New York City, a daughter of an Italian immigrant family. Drawn to a vocation in the Catholic Church, Jane became a Maryknoll Sister in 1950.
1956
Jane went to Tanzania in 1956 and spent her formative years in education, teaching in various settings for the next 25 years. She taught at the Institute of Education at the University of Dar es Salaam from 1968 to 1973. Her teaching there brought her into contact with Sally Timmel and Ann Hope who developed the Training for Transformation program, Julius Nyerere, visionary and former President of Tanzania, and Paulo Freire, a legendary advocate for the democratization of learning in South America. Freire’s work has inspired adult educators around the world.
1977
In 1977 Jane left Maryknoll and returned to the US. She took up a program of study at The University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she completed her doctorate in Adult Education, doing research entitled Community Education for Development. She began teaching at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
1981
Jane started the Jubilee Popular Education Center in 1981. As a training entrepreneur, Jane took the best of her experience and study of formal and participatory education and developed a series of training courses. The principles and practices of Dialogue Education™ outlined in her seminal book Learning to Listen Learning to Teach are the foundation of today’s GLP courses and work. Across the globe, individuals and organizations have experienced great value in learning her approach. Over time Jane trained others to teach her courses.
Now
Today, Jane is an enthusiastic opera fan, avid reader and loves welcoming friends and guests to her home. Dialogue feeds her soul!
Jane continues to write, offering wisdom, observations and questions through personal reflections.
We invite you to enjoy the feast!
Recent WRITINGS
New Reflections from Jane
We've added some new personal reflections from our founder, Jane Vella, during the pandemic. We're still celebrating Jane's upcoming 90th birthday. Join us with these words from the back porch on vulnerability, biology and oranges! Learning -- It's Biology, Baby...
More from Jane’s back porch!
This week's reflections from Jane include a new word from the wordsmith in Twogether and an imperative to create an experience! Check them out and more reflections on Our Founder page.
More Personal Reflections from Jane
Read the latest musings from the back porch of our beloved founder, Dr. Jane Vella. In this week's collection, Jane creates a new word in Disappointment vs. Dis-attention. She reflects on the quote - hope is a memory of the future in It Takes a Village. In Tears of...
A COLLECTION OF WORKS BY JANE VELLA
BOOKS
Learning to Listen Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults
Jane Vella | June 2002 | Jossey-Bass | ISBN 0-7879-5967-7
This landmark book uses engaging, personal stories in a variety of adult learning settings, in different countries and with different educational purposes, to show readers how to utilize the twelve principles in their own practice with any type of adult learner, anywhere. The GLP training, Foundations of Dialogue Education (link) is based on this book.
Read an Excerpt: Chapter One
Buy this Book: chapters.indigo.ca | betterworldbooks.com | amazon.com
On Teaching and Learning: Putting the Principles and Practices of Dialogue Education into Action
Jane Vella | November 2008 | Jossey-Bass | ISBN: 978-0-7879-8699-5
This book explores how Dialogue Education has been applied in educational settings around the world. On Teaching and Learning was nominated for the 2008 Cyril O. Houle Award for Outstanding Literature in Adult Education.
Read an Excerpt: Chapter One
Buy this Book: chapters.indigo.ca | betterworldbooks.com | amazon.com
How do They Know They Know? Evaluating Adult Learning (with Paula Berardinelli and Jim Burrow)
Jane Vella, Paula Berardinelli, Jim Burrow | 1998 | Jossey-Bass | ISBN: 0-7879-1047-3
This book provides a practical process and approach to measuring training at a learning, transfer and impact level. It also provides practical tools for determining the effectiveness of learning that takes place in programs and learning initiatives.
Buy this Book:betterworldbooks.com | amazon.com
Taking Learning to Task: Creative Strategies for Teaching Adults
Jane Vella | 2000 | Jossey-Bass | ISBN: 0-7879-5227-3
This book builds on her earlier work and shifts the spotlight from teaching tasks to learning tasks. She provides seven steps to planning learning-centered courses, four types of learning tasks, a checklist of principles and practices, critical questions for instructional design, key components for evaluation, and other invaluable tools.
Buy this Book: betterworldbooks.com | amazon.com
Dialogue Education at Work: Case Studies (with Associates)
Jane Vella and Associates | 2004 | Jossey-Bass | ISBN: 0-7879-6473-5
This book is a collection of 24 stories of dialogue education used in very diverse situations and settings around the world.
Read an Excerpt: Introduction
Buy this Book: betterworldbooks.com | amazon.com
Training Through Dialogue: Promoting Effective Learning and Change with Adults
Jane Vella | 1995 | Jossey-Bass | ISBN: 978-0-7879-0135-6
The precursor to Learning to Listen Learning to Teach, this book includes a lively, step-by-step approach to training the trainers of adults. This book invites instructors to critically examine their old teaching model and discover a new experience in education.
Buy this Book: chapters.indigo.ca | betterworldbooks.com | amazon.com
ACADEMIC RESEARCH-ABOUT VELLA AND DIALOGUE EDUCATION
- Promoting Dialogic Teaching Among Higher Education Faculty in South Africa
- A Biography of Dr. Jane Vella: Twelve, Seven, Six, Six
- Building Community through Adult Learning Principles & Practices
- Basic Field Guide to Christian Dialogue Education
- Paulo Freire & Jane Vella: From Theory to Accessibility
- Unlocking Chilean Communities by Training
- More Than a Conversation: Using Aspects of Dialogue to Improve Academic Advising
- The Death of the Professor: the Case for Dialogue Education
- Learner-Centered Education to Improve Fruit & Vegetable Intake in WIC
- Dialogue Education: A Learning-Centered Pedagogy
- Learning Design in a Global Classroom
- Blended Learning: Curriculum Design for Effective Learning
- Death of the Professor: Dialogue Education’s Learning Focus
- Urban Environmental Education Review, Chapter on Adult Education
- Shifting Focus: Agency and Resilience in a Self-Management Program for People Living with Dementia
ACADEMIC RESEARCH-BY VELLA
- A Spirited Epistemology – published article
- Lose the Podium – published article
- Quantum Learning: Teaching as Dialogue – published article
- Respecting Learners in their Unique Cultures – published article
- The Power of Dialogue in Adult Learning – published article
- My Letter to the World – unpublished article
BLOG POSTS
- Quality Dialogue Education: A Checklist
- Whence depth
- Dialogue Education Essentials – Laughter
- Dialogue Education Essentials – Safety
- Dialogue Education Essentials – Verbs
- Dialogue Education Essentials – The Right Bit of What for the When
- Dialogue Education Essentials – Well Researched Content
- Teacher as Neuroplastician?
- Inclusion Means All
- How to Stop Dialogue and How to Make Dialogue Thrive
- Evaluating Adult Learning as Seasonal Change
- The Praxis of Dialogue
- Please do Not Disturb
- Play it Again, Sam
- Excellent Engagement
- Cognitive, Affective, Psychomotor
- School of the 80s
- The Fourfold Framework Called Dialogue Education
- Don’t tell what you can ask
- A Delightful Epiphany
- Creating the System; We Make the Road by Walking
- Tracing, from Decision back to Principles and Practice
- A New Principle: Resilience
- A Surprising Lesson with Deep Insights
- What Jane is Reading: Parker Palmer’s Newest Book
- School of the 80s: Learning from Stillness and Suspending
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
- An Exhilarating Review
- A Letter from Ken Williams
- A Gift for Springtime
- A Book Launch
- A Good Week
- The Teacher Is in the Room
- Jane’s Reflections during the Pandemic
- Thanks-living
- Learning at 89
- Lavish Affirmation
- Considering Silence
- Learning – It’s Biology, Baby
- Learning to Yield, Learning to Teach
- Machungwa No More
- Celebrating Vulnerability
- A New Framework
- Love Shows
- A Surprising Bit of Learning
- Looking for You
- He Must be a Bakuria
- Evolution
- One Small Step at a Time
- Disappointment vs. Dis-attention
- It Takes a Village
- Tears of Recognition
- Twogether
- Give Them an Experience
- A Piquant Approach
- Do Less More, Now
- Mifano Halisi
- In Love with Life
- Who Woulda Thunk It
- Jane Made the Journal of Higher Education, or Did She?
- Proclivity
- The Wilderness of the Nineties
- Emergent Research
- Learning from Tennis
- What’s Next
- How Did I Get Here
- Celebrating the Quiet
- The Pyramid System
- Irenic Education
- From Both Sides Now
- I Love a Good Mystery
- Thanks and Praise
- Listen to their Feelings Part I
- Listen to their Feelings, Part II
- A Joyful Reading Lesson
- New, or Renewed
- I Send Myself Flowers
- Was It Augustine
- Say Nothing, Do Nothing
- YOU are the Content
- To Dream Dreams
- Sign-ificance: Signs
- Twogether-ness
- Her Own Eye Doctor
- Transformation
- And In Color
- Doin’ Nothing
- Passing the Baton
- You are Special
- Affirmation: Lavish Indeed!
- Find Your Martha
- Selfebration
- Emergence-see
- Who Sends Flowers
- Thank you, Regina
- Who Makes the Music
- Change at the Met
- Whence A Dream
- Penny-Aware
- Who Goes First
- On the Back Porch
- Bring the Love
- Principles and Practices
- Time Today
- Opera As Metaphor
- Affirmation and the Environment
- Listen to the Stage
- A Synapse in Your Future
- Pray for Doubt
- What is a Nudge
- This Butterfly
- The Backstory is Infinite
- They Were Well Served
- Talk Talk Talk
PODCASTS-GLP
Listen to Simply True with Dr. Jane Vella
On this limited series podcast, GLP Founder Jane Vella is joined by friends and colleagues to explore the simple truths behind some of her favorite axioms about how adults learn. These veritable “fireside chats” feature rich dialogue, stories, and laughter.
Listen today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or virtually anywhere you listen to podcasts. Transcripts for all
episodes are available on our podcasts page.
Simply True is produced by Global Learning Partners and Greg Tilton Jr, with theme music by Kyle Donald. Check out our sister series – Shift the Power: A Learning-Centered Podcast.