In 2002-03, a qualitative case study explored the perspectives of 70 stakeholders connected to two community-based adult literacy programs in Manitoba, Canada. Four themes emerged from within-case and cross-case analyses of the data: program design, human relations, community context, and financial support. Instructor-learner and learner-learner relationships were essential to the theme of human relations. Research participants noted the powerful impact that these relationships had on the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Program Design, Financial Support, Classroom Environment, Human...
This paper examines theoretical issues arising from technical and further education and training reforms over the last few decades. It illustrates how these reforms have been dominated by particular knowledge concerns assumed to be central to specific areas of human activity. It then examines the reforms in terms of theoretical relationships among knowledge, skills, activity and meaning, as advanced by Piaget (1980a, 1980b) and Vygotsky (1934/1986); and discusses the implications for this and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Educational Change, Technical Education, Vocational Education,...
This article presents two stories that represent a common paradigm shift at the community college level. The life journeys of Tony and Mary Ann are very different. Tony, a traditional-aged student, reluctantly entered his local community college because he was unable to prove, scholastically, that he was capable of handling the coursework at his choice flagship institution in the state. After spending four semesters at the community college, he not only proved he was able to compete...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Community Colleges, Adult Education, College Transfer Students,...
This case study examines the life journey of a self-directed adult learner who has made remarkable achievements in overcoming a difficult educational beginning in early childhood, as well as personal trauma in adulthood. The subject has shown determination in seeking out his own opportunities to learn in spite of major drawbacks, chief of which was a vehicle accident in which he acquired both physical and brain injury. The paper compares accepted adult educational models and theories with the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Informal Education, Neurological Impairments, Adult Students, Literacy, Higher...
This paper concerns the experiences and effects of a tertiary entrance program from two perspectives: that of a former student now engaged in her Honours program and of her enabling lecturer. The main aim of the paper is to present a literature review of published studies about mature women's engagement with tertiary study at the entry level. The authors utilise their enabling education biographies to connect the review of literature to lived experiences. The study asks: how far does the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Needs, Biographies, Postsecondary Education, Higher Education, Literature...
The concept of knowledge building communities has not traditionally been associated with agricultural extension, but is one which has the potential to increase the rate of adoption of best management practices by the industry. A potentially important mechanism to facilitate knowledge building is information and communication technology (ICT); however, very little research has been conducted on how effective it is in facilitating agricultural extension. In this study, the potential for the use...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Extension, Interpersonal Relationship, Interaction, Agriculture, Educational...
The paper examines how the educational environment within the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has changed over their 25 year history. The case study was used as a methodological framework through which content analysis and interviews were conducted. It was found that due to the changing nature of their profession, the involvement of police personnel in ongoing personal and professional development is essential. Further, the educational environment fostered within the AFP was found to be one...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Educational Change, Content Analysis, Educational Environment,...
This article reports on a study focussed on the identity formation of a second generation male Australian Chinese. Learning was a major part of his adult life: from poor beginnings he studied repeatedly to achieve his goals. It was posited that education was the potent force throughout the individual's development. The study, a life story, was underpinned by two theories: (i) "Psychological impact of biculturalism: evidence and theory" by La Fromboise et al. (1993) and (ii) "The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Biculturalism, Case Studies, Foreign Countries, Adult Education, Hoy, Dorathy
Since adults with an intellectual disability are accessing not only adult education but the workforce and recreation centres as part of government policies towards greater inclusion, it should be in the interest of educators and workplace trainers to understand more about this particular impairment and its impact on learning. This article considers both intellectual disability, and learning and then describes how these concepts were used to develop the Partner Assisted Learning System--this...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research and Development, Mental Retardation, Adult Education, Recreation, Foreign...
In this study, a conceptual system is outlined for the educational science sub-discipline of adult education. Adults' attending instruction or not attending instruction is conceptually specified. Focusing as it does on a cardinal event of adult education, this represents a first step toward a system for the educational science sub-discipline of adult education. Attending instruction is mainly understood as action, and non-attending instruction as behavior. Instruction is a system of educational...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Discipline, Adult Education, Science Education, Science Instruction, Schneider, Kaethe
Adult learners are being attracted to university programs based on the granting of either academic credit or the recognition of prior learning (RPL). Typically, this attraction is being aligned to fast-tracking degree attainment or student cost effectiveness. It appears from the literature that there are varied interpretations and application of RPL within Australian universities. This can be problematic for adult learners with diverse experiences and expectations. Given the uniqueness of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Prior Learning, Higher Education, Adult Education, Adult Students,...
This paper focuses on two key aspects of self-evaluation in adult education and training through the perspective of (a) a social-cognitive framework which is used to categorise those factors that enhance self-efficacy and self-evaluation, and (b) the accuracy of self-evaluation. The social-cognitive framework categorises the factors that enhance self-evaluation, namely, social messages (e.g. comparison with others, feedback from others, social and cultural stereotypes), personal factors (e.g....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Self Efficacy, Adult Education, Self Evaluation (Individuals), Social Cognition, Meta...
This study provides a framework for the evaluation of assessments that may be used in adult continuing education. It provides an example of the analysis of an examination for 33 solicitors seeking specialist accreditation. Resampling was used to generate a group of 1000 results, and responses were analysed using a Rasch model. Results indicated a select and capable group of candidates for whom many items in the assessment were redundant. A five-step general model for evaluating formal...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Continuing Education, Psychometrics, Licensing Examinations (Professions), Adult...
This article reviews current literature and discussion about the policies and sites of Australian adult education and training and their potential impact on the development of social capital in a regional context. The review stems from a current research project examining the impact of participation in adult education by people from diverse cultural backgrounds in a regional town in northern Victoria. There is evidence that adult education can transform individuals via access to new knowledge...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Foreign Countries, Public Education, Student Diversity, Educational...
The Leventis Foundation (Nigeria) Agricultural Schools (LFNAS) are schools established to train youths to develop their state and their nation in the area of food production. This study sought to assess the trainability of enrollees in the three operating LFNAS. Five research questions were posed. The CIPP evaluation model was adopted. The population and sample for the study consisted of a total of 247 enrollees. Questionnaires, structured interviews and observational techniques were used to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Career Development, Economic Development, Developing Nations,...
Government-provided services are caught in the jaws of a "cost-tax vice". On the cost side, the long-term trend of rising relative prices of services, including education, seems set to continue. The other jaw of the vice is the high efficiency cost of raising additional taxes. Recent research making the case for public provision of post-compulsory education has concentrated on the difficult task of quantifying its economic and social benefits. However, given the effects of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Compulsory Education, Community Education, Vocational Education, Adult Education,...
The adult and community education (ACE) sector is consistently responsive to changing community needs and government priorities. It is this particular function that has drawn ACE into the lifelong learning debate as one model for sustaining communities. The responsiveness of ACE means that the sector and its programs continue to make valuable contributions to the quality of social and economic life, particularly in local communities. Although a major focus of ACE is on non-vocational outcomes,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Human Capital, Community Needs, Community Education, Lifelong Learning, Adult...
Podcasting is becoming more and more common as a method of delivery at universities and for training purposes. The concept to set up podcasting is simple, and the costs vary. The advantages of podcasting are enormous. Podcasting is especially effective for adult education programs. (Contains 17 online resources.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Educational Technology, Distance Education, Telecommunications,...
This paper discusses three levels of "what works" in enabling education--namely, current and successful engagement, transition and future participation, and managing uncertainties. It points to the importance of high quality programs that get the students involved with learning, effectively preparing them for further study and providing the necessary survival skills for an essentially unknown and technology-driven future.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Educational Quality, Child Care, Program Effectiveness, Minority...
When adult learners return to formal education after a period of absence, coping with change is a constant and often omnipresent challenge. As they come to break down previous barriers to success in an educational arena, many adult learners are able to change the perceptions they have of themselves as learners. Previously held assumptions are often challenged and perceptions of how individuals come to hold these views undergo scrutiny. Using Cranton's (2002) phases of perspective transformation...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Transformative Learning, Adult Basic Education, Adult Education, Adult Learning,...
The article presents a comparative analysis of educational policy and provision in Sweden and Australia, with particular emphasis on the relative investment in continuing and further education in both countries. The authors investigate the extent to which further education opportunities provide a "second chance" at learning for adults and contribute to social and economic capital. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Foreign Countries, Comparative Analysis, Educational Opportunities,...
The challenge of peace building in Nigeria is increasing as communities continue to show adversary tendencies. This is happening even after many third party conflict transformation efforts have been expended to resolve and set a conducive climate for stakeholders to sustain peace. Some peace building assessment projects have indicated that the peace building process is not fully realised, which justifies exploring the place of literacy education in peace building. Since illiteracy has been...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Literacy Education, Foreign Countries, Teaching Methods, Conflict, Illiteracy,...
This article presents the outcomes of recent research into adult education programs and experiences in the Shire of Campaspe, a region in northern Victoria. Research data of people from diverse cultural backgrounds reveal how individuals can utilize adult education as a space to explore their own social and cultural isolation in a regional context. The research reveals patterns of migration, internal population mobility, social isolation and cultural identity within the context of this one...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Policy, Cultural Isolation, Adult Education, Adult Learning, Cultural...
Helen Ladd takes a comparative look at policies that the world's industrialized countries are using to assure a supply of high-quality teachers. Her survey puts U.S. educational policies and practices into international perspective. Ladd begins by examining teacher salaries--an obvious, but costly, policy tool. She finds, perhaps surprisingly, that students in countries with high teacher salaries do not in general perform better on international tests than those in countries with lower...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Salaries, Mentors, Special Programs, Teacher Shortage, Foreign Countries,...
In this article, the author discusses how narratives, which are part of the common currency of the day, have dramatically changed over the years. Grand narratives, which grew exponentially in the mid-nineteenth century, have now been replaced by two different narratives: life narratives and small-scale narratives. He also discusses how small narratives have been expressed in emerging patterns of art, politics, and business; and describes an example of a research project that seeks to address...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Informal Education, Adult Education, Biographies, Personal Narratives, Adults,...
Family literacy programs reflect a recent trend in educational reform that has proven to be a successful educational model for all members of the family unit. Based on the literature that links family involvement to student achievement, these initiatives focus on empowering parents of school children. These programs have been particularly beneficial for linguistically and culturally diverse families, since they provide opportunities for adult family members to acquire English language/literacy...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Personnel Selection, Family Involvement, Academic Achievement, Educational Change,...
This quasi-experimental study (based on parent self-selection) examines the effects of a parent involvement program on kindergarten children's English language skills. This program was implemented as one component of a Migrant Even Start Family Literacy Program. The study was conducted at a rural Midwestern elementary school with 14 kindergarten children of families participating in the parent involvement training program, and 15 kindergarten children from families not participating. This study...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Control Groups, Parent Participation, Family Involvement, Parent School Relationship,...
New England's research universities are widely recognized as major contributors to the region's economy. In many of the communities in which they are located, they rank among the largest employers. They purchase goods and services from New England companies, and are often among the leading procurers of construction activity. Each year, they bring billions of dollars in federal research funding into the region. There is, however, one aspect of the research universities' role in the regional...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Universities, Continuing Education, Extension Education, College School...
This paper examines recent reforms in the Irish further education and training (FET) sector in response to government commitments to move towards a lifelong learning society. The context is set by tracing development of the Irish FET sector. An outline of legislative change and measures that have been put in place to reform the Irish system in accordance with European developments on learner mobility is provided. The basic architecture of the Irish national framework of qualifications is set...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Lifelong Learning, Quality Control, Educational Change, Educational...
Our paper examines and analyses the contexts and organisations in rural and regional communities that informally and effectively encourage men to learn. It is based on a combination of local, rural adult education practice and a suite of studies in Australia and elsewhere of learning in community contexts, most recently into community-based men's sheds. It is underpinned by both experience and research evidence that many rural men tend to have an aversion to formal learning. The intention of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Population, Foreign Countries, Males, Adult Education, Learning Motivation,...
This article describes one of the first developments and deployment of radio for distance learning and education in Canada, beginning in the early 1920s. Anticipating a recent initiative of public-private partnerships, the impetus, infrastructure, and initial programs were provided by a large corporation. Description of the system, its purpose, whom it served, and the problems encountered during its development are described and discussed. The reasons for the demise of this system in the 1930s...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Distance Education, Foreign Countries, Partnerships in Education, Educational Radio,...
Using the new "emerging adulthood" developmental period (Arnett, 2000) as a theoretical framework, this article emphasizes the challenges faced by emerging adults (17- to 24-year-olds) enrolled in adult education. First, emerging adulthood as a developmental period and the additional difficulties experienced by youths with emotional, behavioral and school disabilities during this period are briefly discussed. Then, a description of adult education within the Quebec's school system and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Young Adults, Foreign Countries, Intervention, Developmental Stages,...
The impact of performance funding on community college student outcomes is a contested issue. Performance funding policies in most U.S. states involve too small a proportion of funding to change college behavior. English further education colleges are similar to U.S. community colleges. 1992 policy reforms in England centralized policy control, and implemented a per-pupil funding formula; 10% of all funding is based on student success but other components of the funding formula pay colleges...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Community Colleges, Postsecondary Education, Educational Policy,...
This article highlights how citizenship and citizenship education are sites of contestation. I have analyzed the process of curriculum making of the LINC 4 & 5 Curriculum Guidelines (TCDSB, 1999) through three stages: from production, through reception, to implementation. The production stage is investigated by contrasting commentaries from two members of the Advisory or Specialist Committees who helped to prepare the document. The reception stage is investigated through interviews with...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Citizenship, Citizenship Education, Curriculum Development, Curriculum...
This study used a grounded theory case study to identify the theoretical areas that account for the nature and success of Royal Roads University's (RRU) learning community model. This instructional model enables RRU's mission to serve adult learners who want to further their careers through education while living and working across British Columbia, Canada, and the globe. These interrelated theoretical areas are: a strong learning community consisting of cohorts that alternate residencies and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Grounded Theory, World Problems, Distance Education, Online Courses, Adult Education,...
The purpose of this study is to review the main perspectives or issues dealt with in the research on considered to be key competences, in order to develop a fuller understanding of how human competence functions. As a result of this review, two themes considered as having important implications for the actual practices can be identified: that there exists an holistic nature with different aspects of a given competence and that influences of a contextual and cultural nature are factors which...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Research, Elementary Secondary Education, Business Education, Competence,...
This article revisits and reinterprets my previous paper. It is a snapshot of the lifelong learning system building in selected Asian countries, reflected in the mirror of the Asian Financial Crisis in the 1997s and the aftermath of that event. I reconsidered the arguments (1) the economic recession had delivered a global dimension of lifelong learning to the reshaping of the local education system beyond local attributes; (2) and that the divergent tradition of adult education in this context...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Lifelong Learning, Foreign Countries, Asian Studies, Review (Reexamination), Economic...
Many older adults are interested in learning long past the age dictated by social norms. Some want to learn simply for the joy of learning, others because of the social contacts made by joining a community of learners, and still others want to learn so that they have a purpose in life. The University of the Third Age (U3A) is one of several models for lifelong education after retirement which have been developed worldwide. This article reports on a survey which explored the experiences of U3A...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Lifelong Learning, Older Adults, Adult Students, Student Surveys,...
The development in today's society of knowledge workers for tomorrow is of critical importance. Worldwide, there is considerable interest in the respective roles of higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET) in building human capability. This paper is designed to provoke such questions as: what kinds of learning places and spaces are Australia's HE and VET institutions? and how do individuals make sense of the learning and teaching in these sectors? The paper focuses on...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Adult Education, Foreign Countries, Vocational Education, Colleges,...
In this paper I suggest that social dances and local markets are examples of resilient practices of place-making and community that involve active participation. These two activities create mobile and pliant communities of participants that involve considerable informal and incidental learning. With dances and markets in mind, I look at the two concepts, social capital and community, that are used to link adult education and development and explore the notion of place. Place is conceived here...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Informal Education, Incidental Learning, Social Capital, Adult Education, Context...
Educational discourse has often struggled to genuinely move beyond deficit-based language. Even action research, a predominant model for teacher development, starts with the identification of a problem (Cardno 2003). It would appear that the vocabulary for a hope-filled discourse which captures the imagination and influences our future educational activity seems to have escaped us. Moreover, we seem bereft of educational contexts where the experience for students is holistic and transformative....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Learning Activities, Action Research, Transformative Learning, Adult Students, Family...
Teachers distribute their time in many ways. The study sought to determine how agriculture teachers distribute their time among 11 selected teacher activities (i.e., preparation for instruction; classroom/laboratory teaching; laboratory preparation and/or maintenance; grading/scoring students' work; administrative duties-program management; professional activities; Supervised Agricultural Experience observations and recording; local FFA activities; non-local FFA activities; Career Development...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Characteristics, Faculty Workload, Teacher Responsibility, Agricultural...
Epistemological beliefs (beliefs about knowing and knowledge) have provided interesting insights into effective teaching and learning in higher education over the last 30 years. However, to date, little research has taken place in regard to teaching and learning in the technical and further education (TAFE) context in Australia Seventeen 1st and 2nd year child care students studying for a Diploma in Children's Services were interviewed about the nature of their epistemological beliefs. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Effectiveness, Child Caregivers, Adult Education, Foreign Countries,...
Background: In the early 1980s, the author of this article researched, in her M.Ed thesis, the state of adult education in Hong Kong with regard to its general support and delivery through university channels. At that time, adult education had a separate identity and, since, has generally become vocationalized, creditized or subsumed into postsecondary education and part-time higher education. Dr. Shak's recent book to be published: Lifelong Education: Consensus in Characteristics and Practices...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Needs Assessment, Continuing Education, Lifelong Learning, Educational Change,...
A survey of 63 employees in LINC programs in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta Indicated that the mandate of LINC to incorporate information on "Canadian values" remains partly unfulfilled. Although professionally trained ESL instructors may be equipped to incorporate Canadian values into the content of classroom instruction, those who lack specific preparation are likely to rely on published texts. We analyzed 67 textbooks used in LINC programs. In general, most of the materials...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Textbooks, Social Values, English (Second Language), Second Language Instruction,...
The purpose of this study was to assess the pedagogical equivalence, as determined by knowledge gains, and the pedagogical effectiveness of certain components in a video-driven multimedia, web-based professional development training program as compared to a traditional, face-to-face program under real-world constraints of time and limited economic resources. The study focused on the use of video-driven multimedia, web-based instruction in the corporate environment to determine if the quality of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Experimental Groups, Control Groups, Distance Education, Web Based Instruction,...
Conferencing--or dialogue--has always been a core activity in liberal adult education. More recently, attempts have been made to transfer such conversations online in the form of computer-mediated conferencing. This transfer has raised a range of pedagogical questions, most notably Can established practices be continued? Or must new forms of participation and group management be established? This paper addresses these questions. It is based on two sources: (1) 3,700 online postings from a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Education, Foreign Countries, Interviews, Adult Students, Adult Educators,...
Threaded discussion forums have been a popular topic for the past few years in distance education research and studied as a factor in student participation, satisfaction, learning outcomes, social presence and interaction. Only recently has it been considered as a potential vehicle for the development of critical thinking skills and deep learning. Thirty-seven current studies on critical inquiry, deep learning, presence and interaction in distance education were synthesized. The studies were...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Distance Education, Student Participation, Interaction, Critical Thinking, Thinking...
Integrating technology into the classroom and using the Internet for learning are now the norm in community colleges. Instructors are busy developing online resources and using them either in conjunction with traditional classes or in online courses. While this implementation surges ahead, how can teachers learn to use the online environment for the optimum benefit of learners? In this article, the author underlines the need for learning theory as a basis for college teachers' use of technology.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Learning Theories, Online Courses, Technology Uses in Education, Technology...
Adults in a therapeutic workplace working on a computerized keyboarding training program earned vouchers for typing correct characters. Typing technique was evaluated on review steps. Participants could pass the review and earn a bonus, or skip the review and proceed with no bonus. Alternatively, participants could continue practicing on the same step. Participants persistently repeated the same step, which halted progress through the program but allowed them to increase their rate of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adults, Job Skills, Skill Development, Office Occupations, Persistence, Responses,...