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Select the letter from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the abstracts index. Abstracts are in alphabetical order by the first letter of the author's last name.
NOTE:
Online copies of papers are not available at this time.
Abstracts of Panel Sessions
Abstracts from panel sessions are listed in the order they appear in the published version of the proceedings.
Abstracts of Symposia
The abstract from the symposium is provided.
Adrian, Judith, Neuman, Tim, Rossing, Boyd and Sadowske,
Sue, University of Wisconsin
Impacts of transformative leadership
education in a professional development context: The national
extension leadership development (NELD) program.
Abstract: In the W.K. Kellogg Foundation supported National Extension Leadership Development (NELD) Program, Jerold W. Apps integrated professional leadership development with transformative and experiential education approaches. Initial impacts are described in the areas of intern experiences, program evolution, staff perceptions, ripple effects, and social significance.
Babchuck, Wayne and Courtney, Sean University of
Nebraska
Toward a sociology of participation in
adult education programs: The personal influence hypothesis.
Abstract: This study brings an interdisciplinary approach to the study of participation in adult education programs through the reconstruction of the sociological concept "personal influence." This approach holds important implications for issues surrounding recruitment, retention, and instruction of the adult learner.
Bailey, Juanita Johnson, Tisdell, Elizabeth, and Cervero,
Ronald M.
Race, gender, and the politics of
professionalization.
Abstract: Societal patterns of racism and sexism are played out in the professionalization of adult education.
Baptiste, Ian
Adult education as political
participation.
Abstract: Most adult education programs are wedded to human capital theory, a theory which ignores structural barriers to social equality such as sexism, racism, and classism. Proposed is an alternative, which, in addition to dispensing human capital (marketable skills), seeks to provide opportunities for students to hone the tools needed to overcome the impediments to social equality. I call this type of education: education as political participation.
Beder, Hal Rutgers University
Dilworth, Robert L. Virginia Commonwealth University
Looking beyond the obvious: How the
National Literacy Act translates to adult education policy at
state level.
Abstract: Using the National Literacy Act of 1991 as a reference point, this paper explores the interrelationship between federal and state adult education policy formulation and execution, with particular focus on the dynamics at state level.
Beno, Jane E. University of British Columbia
Conceptions of instruction in the
workplace.
Abstract: From interviews of twenty-two workplace instructors of adults, three conceptions of instruction emerged: imparting information to learners (Transmission Conception); assisting learners to share ideas and experiences (Enablement Conception); involving learners in the construction of meaning (Constructive Conception). These findings have implications for training instructors of adults and evaluating instruction.
Bingman, Mary Beth
Appalachian women learning in
community.
Abstract: This paper reviews findings from a study of learning and change in women active in grassroots organizations in rural Appalachia.
Boshier, Roger University of British Columbia
A topography of adult education theory
and research.
Abstract: Adult education researchers are vulnerable to epistemological fads and bandwagons because they do not have a map of the territory. The map in this paper contrasts functionalism with radical structuralism, interpretivism and radical humanism.
Boud, David University of Technology, Sydney
Conceptualising learning from
experience: Developing a model for facilitation.
Abstract: The key feature of adult learning is the experience which learners bring with them. Whatever else they may be, adult educators are essentially workers with the experience of others. This paper describes a model designed to aid thinking about learning from experience and how it can be facilitated.
Brookfield, Stephen University of St. Thomas
Tales from the dark side: A
phenomenography of adult critical reflection.
Abstract: This paper attempts a phenomenography of critical reflection as it pertains to one group of adults who happen to be adult educators themselves. The adult educators whose voices are heard here were all graduates students at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. They are mostly female, include African Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans, and work in contexts as varied as the Quaker movement, the U.S. Army, IBM, psychiatric hospitals, community colleges, public schools, and universities. The sample comprises 337 educators, with 223 doctoral students majoring in adult education and 114 graduate students who have written autobiographical analyses of critical reflection episodes in seminars on critical thinking. Their stories of critical reflection are told in four ways: (1) in optional learning journals many have chosen to write during their studies, (2) in personal (office, bar, coffee shop, subway, corridor) conversations, (3) in classroom discussion during troubleshooting time explicitly allocated to making public the internal dimensions of critical reflection as a learning process, and (4) in the structured autobiographical analyses already mentioned. These stories were shared over an 11 year period, 1982-1993 and analysed qualitatively using categories of 'triggers', 'resources', 'rhythms', 'resources' and 'consequences'. As understood here, critical reflection is defined as comprising two interrelated processes: (1) learning to question, and then to replace or reframe, an assumption that is accepted by majority opinion as representing commonsense, and, (2) taking a perspective on social and political structures, or on personal and collective actions, that is strongly alternative to that held by the majority.
Brown, Richard, Florida A&M University
Easton, Peter, Florida State University
The effects of continuing
professional education on the upward career mobility of health
services administrators.
Abstract: This study brings quantitative and qualitative data to bear on investigation of the relationship between the participation of health care administrators in formal and informal types of continuing professional education and their upward career mobility.
Butterwick, Shauna, Dawson, Jane, and Kastner, Andrea, University
of British Columbia
Radical worker education for
academics?
Abstract: In this paper, the authors explore the possibilities of interpreting and analyzing academic work within a radical worker education framework.
Carr, Camille, A.,
An ethic of care in the legal
profession: Not for women only.
Abstract: This study examines how lawyers with an ethic of care handle conflicts between their personal values and professional ethics. Lawyers maximize their ethic of care by being selective in their practice, extending responsibility, and by being person centered. Conclusions and implications for continuing and legal education are drawn.
Carriere, Elizabeth, University of British Columbia
Re-enchanting research: Using narrative
in antiracism education.
Abstract: "Does it sag like a heavy load? Or does it explode?". This syncopated question, quoted in Studs Terkel’s book, Race (1992), and the truncated narrative of which it is a part, are fragments of a vast and hidden discourse about what racism means to people. Is there a role for these understandings of racism in the design and teaching of antiracism to adults? In this paper I develop a case for reclaiming narrative domains of the everyday as a focus for research in education. I argue that narratives, stories which resonate with particularities of lived experience (Lyotard, 1992), can be divined in both formal scientific theory, as well as in people’s descriptions of their lives. An emphasis on stories as media for social analysis is counterpoint to the way modernist theory silences narrative as an 'unusable' base for knowledge (De Certeau, 1988). Deconstructing, or 'unpacking' theoretical works through critical reading, however, reopens them as highly narratized texts, replete with imagery, nuance and seductive devices to arouse the commitment of readers. Whether ideas about racism are expressed in theoretical texts or through people's everyday experience, such reading can make visible the dynamics of contestation, resistance, difference, jouissance, play and contingency, which can be used to emancipatory effect in antiracism education. The following pages present highlights of an argument for re-enchanting and re-enlivening research by 'reading', as narrative, ocial dynamics of theorizing about racism.
Cervero, Ronald M., The University of Georgia
Wilson, Arthur, L., Ball State University
Integrating agency and structure in
program planning theory.
Abstract: The paper proposes a way to theorize program planning in adult education that integrates planner discretion and the structural conditions in which planners must always act.
Clark, Carolyn M., Texas A&M University
Caffarella, Rosemary S., University of Northern
Colorado
Ingram, Peggy B., Texas A&M University
The view from beneath the ceiling: The
link between development and practice for women in midmanagement
leadership roles.
Abstract: This study examines the leadership experiences of midmanagement women in light of major themes in the women's developmental literature.
Collins, Michael, University of Saskatchewan
From self-directed learning to
postmodernist thought in adult education: Relocating our object
of theory and practice.
Abstract: This paper makes a case for abandoning the "andragogical consensus" and its pedagogical trappings (a.k.a. SDL). Questions are raised about the potential of postmodernist critique and its denial of reason.
Courtney, Sean, Babchuck, Wayne, and Jha LaDeane
Evolving the method: Grounded theory
in the context of post-hoc analysis.
Abstract: In a study of student experiences in an ABE/GED program, three researchers collaboratively engaged in a process of learning grounded theory (GT) while simultaneously conducting research on a population of adult learners. This paper reports the conduct of the study, paying particular attention to how participants were sampled, how the coding evolved, and how the eventual theory emerged. The paper concluded with some reflections on the practice of grounded theory research.
Cunningham, Phyllis and Smith, Glenn, Northern
Illinois University
Reproduction and resistance in a
university graduate program of adult education: Developing
ideological space for program transformation.
Abstract: This study explored transformation within a graduate program. The data support the conclusion that ideological space and program transformation can be forged to support a non dominant ideology and resulting diversity in the student body. Transformation triggered countering regulatory processes within the university but not in the faculty.
Dortch, Sammie M.
Let the brothers speak: African
American men designing an inclusive learning paradigm that
transforms an urban community college classroom culture.
Abstract: Professor and learner collaboration through authentic discourse is a key to African American men discovering their "voice," and engaging in paradigm design that will increase the men's sense of inclusion in the urban community college culture. The future of the institution and of the workplace are linked to this process.
Dykstra, Corina and Law, Michael, University of
Waikato (New Zealand)
Popular social movements as
educative forces: Towards a theoretical framework.
Abstract: This paper offers a formative analytical framework designed to help the field of adult education understand better the inherently educative character of social movements.
Eastmond, Daniel V.,
Alone but together: Adult distance
study through computer conferencing.
Abstract: Computer conferencing allows students to interact with each other and the instructor in structured communications from geographically dispersed locations, participating in the conference by personal computer and modem connection at any time of the day. This qualitative study investigated the following: (a) distance student life situations and reasons for seeking a degree as adults; (b) student perceptions of the computer conference and its role in learning; (c) the learning approaches students employ in this instructional environment; and (d) the nature of group discussions by diverse participants and the formation of on-line relationships.
Easton, Peter A., Florida State University
Ilboudo, Paul T., University of Ouagadougou
Mukweso, Mwenene, Florida State University
Making literacy functional in rural
West Africa: The experience of Groupements villageois
in Burkina Faso.
Abstract: This paper examines the results of an innovative functional literacy program in rural Burkina Faso which gives accelerated training to village enterprise managers.
Easton, Peter A., and Sidikou, Maman S., Florida
State University
Adult education and the
cross-cultural transfer of innovation: A curricular analysis of
the rural organization development project in Niger.
Abstract: Careful examination of the "curricular viability" of a new USAID-supported cooperative development strategy in the Republic of Niger provides a key complement to standard forms of development intervention assessment.
Falk, Cliff, University of British Columbia
Postmodern doors into a modern community
college: Of empires and entryways, of doors jammed open and door
jambs broken.
Abstract: The sureness of the modern educational project has been undermined by shifting epistemological and material conditions. The shift from modernity to postmodernity develops its own incongruencies and anomalies as well as highlighting those extant during modernity. The author argues that the modern community college in British Columbia can be read postmodernly as a metaphor for and an exemplar of the modern American recolonization of the Canadian mind. Amelioration can result through developing a postcolonial, localized discourse.
Finger, Matthias and Woolis, Diana, Columbia
University
Organizational learning, the learning
organization and adult education.
Abstract: In this paper we will present and critically analyze the literature on organization learning and the learning organization. After recalling the historical context of the emergence of these two concepts, their conceptual differences will be clarified. The main portion of this paper will identify and discuss the five schools of thought that deal today with organizational learning and the learning organization. We will point out the main weaknesses of each of these schools and derive, from there, the challenges for adult education.
Flannery, Daniele D., Pennsylvania State
University--Harrisburg
Women's learning in leisure.
Abstract: This study asked, "What meanings do women give to learning in leisure?" Learning in leisure was described by the women as a holistic, simultaneous and on-going process of seeking-the-self.
Gonzalez, Virginia G., Northampton Community College
Mccaulay, Barbara A., Quinsigamond Community College
When more is less: Perceived
barriers to collaborative learning by adult college students.
Abstract: Collaborative learning is postulated as a principle of effective facilitation of adult learning; little research regarding the effectiveness of this instructional strategy has been conducted. This paper presents findings gleaned from research conducted at four colleges with adult students, revealing common barriers to collaborative learning in need of examination and discussion.
Group for Collaborative Inquiry
A model for transformative learning:
Individual development and social action.
Abstract: This paper explores the transformative learning process as affirming a world view grounded in an understanding of reality as permutable and interconnected. The process involves moving from cultural embeddedness through learning-in-relationship and whole person learning. An integration of phenomenology and heuristics, the research involved 132 interviews and reflections on the researchers' lived experience of the transformative learning process.
Guy, Talmadge C.
Prophecy from the periphery: Alain
Locke's philosophy of cultural pluralism and adult education.
Abstract: Alain Leroy Locke was born in 1886 during the post-reconstruction era and died a month before the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. An intellectual steeped in the realities of color in 20th Century America, Locke possessed a range of interests that makes chronicling and interpreting his career in adult education challenging. Nevertheless, he is most commonly known for his leadership in the New Negro movement of the 1920s. However, he was a leading African American figure in the adult education movement of the 1930s. In 1947 he became president of the American Associate for Adult Education. This paper fills in the gaps in knowledge regarding Alain Locke the adult educator. Particular attention is paid to Locke's philosophy of cultural pluralism and adult education.
Harris, Felecia C., North Carolina State University
Lugenia Burns Hope and the neighborhood
union: Culturally grounded community-based programming in the
early twentieth century.
Abstract: This study extends the conceptual framework of traditional community-based programming models to include a culturally grounded community-based programming model developed during the early twentieth century by Lugenia Burns Hope and the Neighborhood Union (1908).
Hemphill, David F., San Francisco State University
Critical rationality from a
cross-cultural perspective.
Abstract: This paper explores the impacts of cultural transition on the adult cognitive process of critical rationality. It presents ethnographic findings from case studies of Asian immigrants who successfully negotiate the cultural transition to work positions of supervisory responsibility. A series of findings--some culture-specific, some broader--are reported. Finally, a critique of the study's conception of the presumed universality of critical rationality is offered from a postmodernist, cross-cultural perspective, suggesting that prevailing conceptions of critical rationality may be culturally bound, thus requiring re-examination.
This paper is presented in two parts: the first reports on a study of critical rationality among Chinese immigrant adults in the United States; the second reflects on the underlying conceptual framework of the study, calling into question the notion of critical rationality employed in the study as an unexamined, arguably Eurocentric thought form that needs to be recast in the context of a multicultural society.
Hill, Robert J., Penn State University
Heterosexist discourse in adult
education: A gay/lesbian critique.
Abstract: Heterosexism is a widely-shared system that assumes heterosexuality is the only life option. The result is the domination of members of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and transsexual communities. Gay resistance discourse exposes this hegemony and is an agent for social change. Adult education plays roles in both heterosexist- and gay-discourses in at least two significant ways. Mainstream adult education reproduces heterocentric social relations and beliefs; gay discourse is silenced and forgotten. However, numerous sites of popular adult education promote gay and lesbian liberation.
Holford, John, University of Hong Kong
Adult education without a soul?
Colonialism, economic progress, and democratic underdevelopment
in Hong Kong.
Abstract: Key moments in the evolution of adult education in Hong Kong are explored: these shed light on the relationship between adult education, economic development, and democratisation under late colonialsim.
James, Ronald M.,
African Americans and adult literacy
education: Towards a more inclusive model of participation.
Abstract: The use of SES to explain non-participation is critiqued. Arguments are presented which demand that more serious study be given to structural factors related to race that affect participation.
James, Waynne B.
Abney Jr., Howard M.
Revitalizing Havighurst's social
role research.
Abstract: The purpose of this exploratory research was to update, revise, and content validate Havighurst's classic social role studies for use by educators and education program planners in the 1990s. One major intent of this initial study was to generate hypotheses for further research into adult development and social role performance.
Jha, LeDeane R.
Dirkx, John M.
"Students at risk:" A
practitioner-based approach to noncompletion in adult education.
Abstract: The primary purpose of this study was to statistically assess the efficacy of an instrument designed by a task force of program teachers, volunteers, administrators and researchers to prospectively differentiate completing from noncompleting students in adult basic education. Three broad groups of enrollment patterns were identified and analysis of variance demonstrated statistically significant difference among these three groups. Post hoc analysis found significant difference between the mean number of risk factors identified for completing and noncontinuing students. In addition, potentially important practical differences were found among outcome of enrollment groups on ten of the fourteen "risk factors".
Kreber, Carolin, Brock University-Ontario
Teaching behaviour as a function of
faculty's teaching philosophy.
Abstract: The intent of this study was to investigate whether the implicit goals of higher education, critical thinking and self-direction in learning, are accounted for in the university setting by faculty who, on an espoused level, subscribe to these goals. Results indicate that some discrepancies existed between faculty's espoused philosophy of teaching and their observed teaching behaviour. Instructors' teaching behaviour, however, was a function of their personal theory of practice (theory-in-use). The repertory grid is suggested to be a suitable tool for identifying underlying assumptions. Psychological type and locus of control orientation are suggested to make a difference in the way faculty understand themselves as teachers; however, the small number of participants does not allow for any generalizations to be made.
Laswell, Terri Deems
Adult learning in the aftermath of
job loss: Exploring the transformative potential.
Abstract: A qualitative design was used to explore the experience of job loss and to gain insight into the ways in which adults learn and change within this context. Findings reveal incidental learning and new meaning perspectives as central components of the job loss experience. This study contributes to a growing empirical exploration of transformative learning and re-frames the experience of job loss in terms of opportunities for fundamental change and transformation.
Little, David
Toward recovering and reconstructing
andragogy.
Abstract: Emerging outlines for a reconstruction of andragogy are put forth. The situated activity stream of cultural psychology is initially explored and later connected to the Frankfurt stream of critical sociology with the intent to uncover a more robust construct of learning that holds potential for preserving the notion of a self-directed learner that is central to andragogy while at the same time superseding it with a conception of development within which learning is seen to occur as a culturally initiated, interpersonal process that is subsequently influenced through an intrapersonal process grounded in the somatics of the person.
Marienau, Catherine
Self-assessment: An essential skill
for learning and performance in the workplace.
Abstract: Using qualitative methodology, the study examined perspectives of working professionals concerning the role and value of self-assessment in their professional lives. Content analysis revealed six major themes concerning the benefits of self-assessment in relation to workplace learning, workplace performance, and personal and professional development.
Marsick, Victoria J., Columbia University
Watkins, Karen E., University of Georgia
O'Neil, Judy, Columbia University
Dixon, Nancy, George Washington University
Catalanello, Ralph, Northern Illinois University
Portrait of a learning organization:
Stories from early adopters.
Abstract: This article tells the stories of selected learning organizations. The authors first describe their research and lay out a set of four lenses by which to understand organizational learning theories: experiential, structural, informating, and cultural. They then examine the way in which the researched companies positioned their initiatives, built the new capacity, implemented their strategies, and transferred learning within the company. The authors conclude by tying these findings back to their conceptual framework and by discussing implications for practice and for the use of this conceptual framework.
Martin, Larry G.
Ethnicity-related adult education
cultural diversity programs: A typology.
Abstract: Organizations that experience ethnicity-related problems often identify cultural diversity training as a solution. However, there are multiple approaches and perspectives to such programs and programmatic outcomes will vary considerably with the approach selected. A typology is presented which identifies five types of programs.
McKenna, Robert J., Sidney Public Schools
Conti, Gary J., Montana State University
Fellenz, Robert A., Montana State University
Learning in personal and
professional situations.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of personal and professional learning situations of the utilization of real-life learning strategies. Measurements using the Self-Knowledge Inventory of Lifelong Learning (SKILLS) indicated that Wyoming school administrators differed in four strategy areas in relationship to the strategies they used in personal and professional situations. Metacognition skills were used in both areas, and demographic variables were not related to learning strategy use. Results indicate that learning strategy usage is contextual and that SKILLS can be adapted for specific situations.
McKnight, Joyce S., Pennsylvania State University
Toward a substantive theory of control
of learning within grassroots initiatives.
Abstract: This study uses the grounded theory building methods of Glaser and Strauss (1967) to produce a substantive theory of the control of learning within the context of grassroots initiatives.
Miller, Nod, University of Manchester
Invisible colleges revealed:
Professional networks and personal interconnections amongst adult
educators.
Abstract: This paper describes some findings from a study conducted in Australia to investigate professional networks (or invisible colleges) and personal interconnections amongst university-based adult educators. The importance of such networks in personal career terms and in the development of professional cultures is analysed. The significance of conferences, e-mail and 'opinion leaders' in the formation and maintenance of invisible colleges is discussed and power relations and patterns of influence are examined.
Mishoe, Shelley C.
Courtenay, Bradley C.
Critical thinking in respiratory
care practice.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the reflective, communicative, practical and experiential aspects of critical thinking (CT) in respiratory care practice using a qualitative research methodology. Critical thinking is described in terms of practical knowledge grounded within the actual performance, culture and context of clinical practice.
Mott, Vivian Wilson
The role of intuition in the
reflective practice of adult education.
Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role of intuition in reflective adult education practice. While the study began with the assumption that intuition is deeply embedded in professional practice, the data further indicate that intuition aids in perception, guides practice, and enhances professional competence.
Nesbit, Tom, University of British Columbia
Tackling adult innumeracy.
Abstract: Twenty-five years ago, the traditional educational response to adult illiteracy was simply framed in two key questions: Was whole language or phonics the correct approach? Which textbooks were most useful? There was little attempt to place illiteracy in any historical cultural, or social context, or to greatly consider the needs and aims of adult learners. Today such notions seem hopelessly reductive, and yet educators largely perpetuate a similarly inadequate response to an equally grave problem--adult innumeracy. The urgency of addressing innumeracy demands more creative approaches to mathematics education for adults.
Peters, John M., University of Tennessee
Instructors-as-researchers-and-theorists:
Action research in a community college.
Abstract: Instructors in a community college engaged in reflective practice undertook action research projects in order to improve their teaching practices. Collaborative inquiry and learning resulted in individual and collective change in assumptions, ideas and practices.
Podeschi, Ronald, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The rise and fall of liberal adult
education: CSLEA at mid-century.
Abstract: Drawing from archival sources concerning the Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults (CSLEA), and from secondary literature about the 1950s and 1960s, an analysis is made of the contextual forces that influenced the growth and the demise of CSLEA. This research was made possible in part by support from the Syracuse University Kellogg Project.
Rose, Amy D.
Creating a middle-class culture:
Arthur Bestor and adult education in transition.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the work of Arthur Bestor, President Chautauqua Institution in the first half of the twentieth century. It discusses Bestor's view of the changing nature of adult education and examines his speeches and writings in order to understand how this work fit into what historian Joan Shelley Rubin calls middlebrow culture.
Ross-Gordon, Jovita M., Penn State University
Toward a critical multicultural pedagogy
for adult education.
Abstract: As a step toward developing a multicultural pedagogy for adult education a review of literature on multicultural education and related critical pedagogies was conducted. From the analysis of this literature a number of principles for teaching and learning were identified. These are shared here for further discussion.
Schied, Fred M., Penn State University
From workers to trade unionists:
Transformation and instrumentalism in workers and adult education
after the First World War.
Abstract: This paper traces the movement from workers' education for social transformation to a more accommodative form of education. It argues that the dispute between progressive elements and the business trade union faction centered on control over the Workers Education Bureau.
Schlattner, Christine Joanna
The body in transformative learning.
Abstract: In Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning, Jack Mezirow advances a theory of transformative learning. He focuses on rational, critical reflection as the primary means for this change. This research explores the role the body may play in transformative learning.
Sissel, Peggy A., Rutgers University
Parents, learning and project Head
Start: A socio-political analysis.
Abstract: This ethnographic study of parent involvement and education in Head Start addressed adult learning within the context of an interactive social system. This holistic approach based on both staff and parent perspectives revealed that teaching and learning were affected by issues of Capacity, uses of Power and the development of Connections among staff and parents.
Sork, Thomas J., University of British Columbia
Changing dogmas in mid-stream:
Responding to the challenges to rational planning.
Abstract: Rational planning has been challenged from a growing number of fronts in the last two decades. This paper identifies four of these challenges, suggests some implications for planning theory, and proposes an alternative view of planning that responds to the challenges.
Stalker, Joyce, University of Waikato
Discourse, power relations and male
bias: Reforming the field.
Abstract: This paper uses both feminist and adult education literature to create a framework which can be used to examine the adult education literature and research in terms of androcentricity.
Stanage, Sherman M., Northern Illinois University
Adult education as ethical
and moral meaning through action.
Abstract: not available in published proceedings.
thINQ
Phenomenology as an interpretive
frame: The evolution of a research method for understanding how
learning is experienced in collaborative inquiry groups.
Abstract: To make meaning of a three-year study of collaborative inquiry, thINQ, a group of five doctoral candidates, adopts phenomenology as an interpretive frame and discovers phenomenology-in-five-voices and collaborative phenomenology.
Tisdell, Elizabeth J. and McLaurin, Sylvia, University
of Georgia
Effects of including gender and
multicultural course content on classroom dynamics in adult
higher education classes: A qualitative study of faculty
perspectives.
Abstract: This qualitative study examined how instructors who include gender and multicultural course content view the effects of the inclusion of those issues on the classroom dynamics in their classes.
Townsend, Kimberly A.
The making of a WASP: Promises and
realities of a nontraditional role.
Abstract: From 1942-1944 a controversial training program prepared women "to fly the Army way." But more than the development of cockpit skills is revealed through the voices of the women themselves who tell stories of personal development and a unique culture of women.
Turner, Michael K. and Dirkx, John M.
Beyond the vessel: Fostering
adoption of innovation and change in adult education practice.
Abstract: Recent studies suggest that continuing professional education (CPE) programs utilizing traditional "update" models are relatively ineffective in facilitating actual change in practice. This study investigated the efficacy of a "commitment to change" (CTC) strategy as a means of fostering intended change in the practice of adult educators.
Uhlir, Paula Burk
White collar workers in the 50's: A
lack of coverage and responsibility by adult education.
Abstract: Adult Education (AE) was designed as a conduit of information from the AEA to their members in all areas of adult education and as a forum for debate and discussion concerning those issues. During it's first decade of operation AE published articles chosen by its executive committee based on themes selected by the committee. Because the committee was void of direct representation with interests in corporations business and industry, AE was not the representative voice it could have been in the field of adult education in business and industry during the 1950s.
Umble, Karl E., University of Georgia
Whom should we fund? A multi-site study
of program adaptation, implementation and persistence in a public
agency grants program.
Abstract: The Division of Health Education of a state health department evaluated its replication grants for program adaptation, implementation and persistence. Findings have implications for grantmaking programs and agencies promoting program implementation and maintenance within host organizations.
Valentine, Thomas, University of Georgia
Kim, Kwang, WESTAT, Inc., Rockville Maryland
Understanding adult learners'
preferences for classroom social environment.
Abstract: This exploratory study sought to identify learner characteristics that explain preferences for classroom social environment. Data about preferences for classroom social environment and about learner characteristics were collected by means of a self-completion, selected-response survey instrument administered in a variety of adult education settings. Data were then subjected to both simple and multiple regression analyses. Educational attainment, social introversion/extroversion, and gender were found to be the best predictors of environmental preferences.
Walker, Joyce A.
The letters in the attic: The
mid-life perspectives of educated women reflecting on personal
success and achievement.
Abstract: This paper advocates for qualitative research as a methodology to study contemporary closed groups and private materials in their time.
Wilson, Arthur L., Ball State University
Melichar, Kenneth E., Piedmont College
History as critique: Collective
representation in constructing the pasts of adult education.
Abstract: If we are to understand who we are as educators in the present as well as who we hope to become, then we must examine and critique how we have collectively represented who we have been.
Wolensky, Ken
An oral history of workers'
education in Pennsylvania's anthracite coal mining region: Min
Matheson and the ILGWU.
Abstract: Min Matheson led a grass roots workers' education movement for the LDGWU in Pennsylvania's coal region from 1944 to 1963. Part of her story is told here utilizing oral history to provide insight as to the history of adult education and social change.
Yang, Baiyin and Cervero, Ronald M., University of
Georgia
An empirical test of Houle's typology of
professionals.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to test Houle's typology of professional practitioners and its relationships with their demographic characteristics and their participation in CPE.
Zacharakis-Jutz, Jeff, Iowa State University
Participatory evaluation as an
instrument of popular education.
Abstract: In 1991, Lindeman Center staff began working with ten United Way agencies in the Rockford, Illinois, area to develop an evaluative approach that enhanced their capacity for self-directed decision making. Through a collaborative process, the participating agencies decided to experiment with the participatory evaluation approach. This paper discusses this project within the framework of North American of popular education.
Brockett, Ralph G., University of Tennessee,
Knoxville
Caffarella, Rosemary S., University of Northern Colorado
Cavaliere, Lorraine A., Penn State Great Valley
Guglielmino, Lucy M., Florida Atlantic University
Kasworm, Carol E., University of Tennessee,
Knoxville
Long, Huey B., University of Oklahoma
Self-direction in adult learning:
What we have learned and what we need to know.
Introduction: Few research topics in adult education have received more attention that self-direction in learning. It has been nearly 25 years since Tough's (1979) original investigation of the learning projects undertaken by adults. This study, and the numerous replications using the learning projects methodology, offered to the field an understanding of the frequency and nature of learning projects that are self-planned. This line of inquiry served as a foundation for other branches of inquiry into the study of self-direction in learning. Together, these approaches have greatly enhanced our understanding of self-direction. At the same time, some critics have challenged the appropriateness of certain methodological approaches to studying self-direction, while other critics have advocated de-emphasizing this research direction altogether.
The purpose of this discussion is to examine research on self-direction in order to address the following questions: 1) How has previous work on self-direction contributed to the development of the future research agenda in this area? And 2) What are some of the promising direction for future research on self-direction? In order to accomplish this, brief discussion will be offered relative to qualitative methods of studying self-direction (Cavaliere), measurement of self-direction in learning (Guglielmino), and emerging theoretical perspectives that can contribute to the future research agenda (Caffarella). In addition, two responses to these developments will be provided (Kasworm and Long).
Heaney, Tom, Lindeman Center
Austermiller, Judy, Boehm Foundation
Williams, Lee, University of Tennessee
Gaventa, John, University of Tennessee
Learning from the Highlander
experience: Contributions of the post-civil rights period.
Introduction: In recent years, Highlander has become widely known among aspiring adult education professionals - celebrated, in fact - a legend all the more remarkable because it is living still. While its early history is often reduced in the curriculum of graduate programs to an array of anecdotes which support the profession's renewed but marginal interest in social purpose, the more recent work of Highlander suggests a vision and potential for adult education as a local response to national and global issues.
We've become selectively fascinated with "our" past, perhaps because our present has become so boring, so like schooling. We recognize that Highlander's past is inextricably linked with the great social movements in the 30s, 40s and 50s. But even more fascinating is Highlander's endurance. Actually, there have been many Highlanders, each articulated as its work moved across the South and adapted itself to changing conditions of oppression and an emerging potential for collective action. Only Highlander's principles and commitments have remained the same.
In the presentations that follow we will have an opportunity to hear about research growing from Highlander's more recent history - events that have unfolded since the fine and seminal texts of Frank Adams, Aimee Horton, John Glen and others. We will look closely at the contributions which the more contemporary achievements of Highlander have made to the field of adult education - contributions which will engender discussion of the principles of democratic education for social change.
Leonelli, Ester D.
Merson, Martha W.
Mullinix, Bonnie B.
Giving practitioners a say:
Participatory models of research for adult basic education
mathematics.
Abstract: This paper will describe three current, federally funded, and integrally connected projects investigating the teaching of adult basic education mathematics in Massachusetts. Practitioner participation in the research is discussed herewith attention to the pragmatic, professional, and political both in terms of the treatment of practitioners and topics and outcomes of research.
Hi Kim, Kyung
Flecha, Ramon
Hart, Mechthild
Schied, Fred
Knight, Joye
Stanage, Sherman
Diversity in critical perspectives
in adult education: Conflicts and commonalities.
Abstract: The objectives of this symposium are to a) explore the commonality and differences inherent in five distinct critical approaches to the study of adult education: Neo-Marxist, Feminist, Phenomenological, Afrocentricist, and Communicative Modernism (Habermasian Theory), b) examine their impact on the study of adult education, and c) critically examine the role of commitment in bringing about social change through adult education.
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