A Transformative Learning Model Prototype for Strengthening Master’s Students’ Academic Culture in Islamic Education

Abstract

Master’s programs in Islamic Education require critical reasoning, ethical writing, inquiry, and knowledge dissemination, yet these practices are not consistently embedded in everyday coursework. This article reports two components of a larger 2024 development study: an empirical needs analysis and literature-based theoretical development culminating in a transformative learning model prototype. The four-month study in the Master’s Program in Islamic Education, now Universitas Islam Negeri Jurai Siwo Lampung, involved two classes with 26 students; eight coded informants were interviewed, and 22 group papers (11 per class) had similarity reports. The lead researcher’s preceding two-year role as lecturer and program secretary was treated as contextual familiarity rather than an additional dataset. Needs analysis combined observation, interviews, curriculum and assignment documents, and similarity reports; prototype construction relied on focused literature synthesis. The analysis showed uneven participation, task-driven reading, no reported course-based scholarly publication, and 14 of 22 papers with similarity above 50%. Theoretical synthesis produced a six-phase prototype integrating problematization, ethical inquiry, investigation, critique, revision and dissemination, and reflective transfer. The prototype is a literature-grounded conceptual design, not evidence of effectiveness. It offers a testable framework for strengthening academic thinking, morality, and activity and should next undergo expert validation and staged field testing.