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University of
Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Abstracts of Papers
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.
Abstract of Panel Session
The abstract from the panel session is provided.
ARLTM Inquiry
Life on the seesaw:
Tensions in an Action Reflection LearningTM
program.
Abstract: As organizations increasingly recognize a need for continuous learning, adult educators are gaining interest in techniques that will enable people to learn from their work. Th literature suggests that people learn better when dealing with issues important to them. In the real world, however, important, strategic issues have deadlines and perceived constraints. This paper examines some of the tensions created between learning, and the action that needs to be taken to resolve these strategic issues in an Action Reflection LearningTM program.
Belawati, Tim, University of British
Columbia
Reducing dropout in
distance education: A contextual approach.
Abstract: Dropout phenomenon needs to be understood within the context in which the problem occurs. This study tested the effectiveness of several institutional interventions in reducing early attrition in distance education within Indonesian context.
Blunt, Adrian, University of
Saskatchewan
Yang, Baiyin, University of Georgia
An examination
of the validity of the education participation scale (EPS) and
the adult attitudes toward continuing education scale (AACES).
Abstract: Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, with LISREL as the estimation technique, were used to assess the validity of the Education Participation Scale (EPS) and the Adult Attitudes Toward Continuing Education Scale (AACES). Results of the analyses revealed: 1) the six factor structure of the EPS to be reproducible and the three factor structure of the AACES to be weak and poorly determined, 2) acceptable levels of convergent and concurrent validity for the EPS and a revised version of the AACES, 3) weak evidence of discriminant validity for each scale, and 4) poor predictive validity for both scales.
Boshier, Roger, University of British
Columbia
Words from the edge:
A postmodern reflection on Coolie Verner and the black book.
Abstract: Coolie Verner was a Virginian patrician who made significant contributions to the black book. He lived on the edge of society where he yearned for love that invariably slipped away. This impeded his ability to complete projects and, for him, the black book turned into an "unmitigated disaster".
Briton, Derek, University of Alberta
The imaginary
institution of adult education: A reassessment of the
field’s collective identity.
Abstract: This paper draws upon central concepts from the psychoanalytic tradition, and the work of several theorists working in that tradition – Copjec, Lacan, Laclau & Moffe, Lefort, and Zizek – to explain the identity crisis confronting the institution of adult education and outline a potential course of action for adult educators.
Brookfield, Stephen, University of St
Thomas
Storming the
citadel: Engaging adult educators in the critical analysis of
adult educational theory.
Abstract: Despite numerous injunctions and exhortations by adult educators about the value of doing a critical analysis of professional literature, very few suggestions are available on how this might be done. In this paper I want to build on my own experience structuring a critical reading of theory around four general categories of questions (epistemological, experiential, communicative and political). Asking a series of questions about a text provides a structure for critical inquiry that makes this activity seem less daunting. The reader has a road map to take her into unfamiliar terrain.
Brooks, Ann K., University of Texas
at Austin
The myth of
self-directed work teams and the ineffectiveness of team
effectiveness training: An argument with special reference to
teams that produce knowledge.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to argue that the notion of self-directed teams is a myth that is part of the dominant cultural pattern of competitive individualism in the United States. I additionally argue that the failure of many teams to achieve their objectives is wrongly addressed by teambuilding interventions. Focusing on knowledge producing teams in particular and drawing on research data, I will argue that team boundaries are so permeable and team membership so fluid that teams cannot help but reproduce the culture of the parent organization which in turn reproduces the dominant cultural patterns within the United States. The most important of these patterns as it effects teamwork is competitive individualism. Teambuilding interventions which wrongly problematize team members focus on personal awareness and group interaction skills while ignoring the organizational context which not only directs team task and implementation, but reproduces competitive individualism among team members. Although these interventions may temporarily introduce countercultural behaviour such as trust among team members and promote the illusion of team goals, they do not address the influence of the dominant culture of the parent organization on team functioning.
Campbell, Pat
Participatory
literacy practices: Creating possibilities.
Abstract: This paper outlines the design of an eight month doctoral study on participatory literacy practices in five adult literacy programs and touches upon some of the possibilities and their implications in the field of adult literacy.
Carriere, Elizabeth, University of
British Columbia
Seeing is believing:
Educating through a gender lens.
Abstract: Drawing on feminist perspectives, the author positions policy analysis as an activity that has significant impact on the lives of women, and the attainment of equality. The gender lens project is described as an experimental application of feminist adult education principles in a government setting.
Collard, Susan
Remapping adult
education: Beyond social movement & professionalization.
Abstract: The purpose of this research was to re-map adult education in light of the cultural ideology of intellectuals. The specific aim of the paper was to move toward a critique of the social movement tradition.
Collins, Michael, University of
Saskatchewan
Collard, Sue, University of British Columbia
Examining the case
for class analysis in adult education research.
Abstract: An explanation is given for the absence of class analysis in North American adult education discourse. Various perspectives on class analysis are examined. A case is made for class analysis and class action in adult education research and practice.
Conti, Gary J., Montana State
University
Kolody, Rita , Medicine Hat College
The use of learning
strategies: An international perspective.
Abstract: Learning strategies were examined for students at a post-secondary college in Canada. While some differences were found due to groupings, no distinct patterns were found. A discriminant analysis produced a weak function which was different from previous studies.
Cunningham, Phyllis M., Northern
Illinois University
U.S. educational
policy and adult education: Social control; social demand; and
professional adult educator participation.
Abstract: Adult educators lobby for adult education legislation often without a critical analysis of its intent. Federal legislation supporting adult education has increased markedly since 1964 as a response to popular sector demands with little involvement by the adult education profession. Increasingly, the professionals’ interest has been limited to policies promoting the instrumental use of adult education often for narrow goals. This is not consistent with the democratic social agenda of many early U.S. adult educators.
Davis, Dent C., The University of
Tennessee
Ziegler, Mary F., The University of Tennessee
The identification,
assessment and implications of an organization's learning system
for the practice of adult education in organizational settings.
Abstract: Traditional approaches to adult learning in organizational settings concentrate on the individual rather than the organizational setting. This study focused on the organizational context for adult learning in the workplace. We present the background that led up to the study, the purpose of the research, the conceptual framework, the methodology and findings. Implications for practice and research conclude the article.
Dilworth, Robert L., Virginia
Commonwealth University
Perceptions of adult
literacy policy and practice: A survey of leaders in the field.
Abstract: Research encompassed 115 interviews of key opinion leaders in surveying perceptions of adult literacy policy and practice, with special focus on the period surrounding passage of the National Literacy Act of 1991.
Dirkx, John M., University
of Nebraska – Lincoln
Babchuk, Wayne A., University of
Nebraska – Lincoln
Sharpie, Tom L., University of
Nebraska – Lincoln
Opening the black
box: Toward a field systems approach to the study of teaching in
adult education.
Abstract: This paper reports the development and implementation of a contextually driven research methodology for studying the process of teaching within adult education settings. The significance and theoretical basis for this approach, as well as a detailed description of the analytic system and its potential applications for research and practice are discussed.
Ferry, Natalie M.
The use of
reflection-in-action by adult educators: An inquiry into
Schon's’s epistemology of practice.
Abstract: This qualitative study documented the use of reflection-in-action by adult educators in problematic situations. The results demonstrated that novice and experienced reflecting educators use reflecting-in-action and reflecting-on-action as a means to develop expertise. The results indicated that experience alone is not the "master teacher" of the reflective process.
Flannery, Daniele D., Penn
State-Harrisburg
Hayes, Elisabeth, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Adult women’s
learning in higher education: A critical review of scholarship.
Abstract: An extensive search of major journals and data bases raises issues and concerns about the current knowledge of women’s learning. Articles on adult women’s learning in higher education were difficult to locate and limited in number. Scholarship often was based on questionable assumptions about women’s learning. Emerging themes about women’s learning need to be supported by further research.
Garrison, D.R., The University of
Calgary
Intuition in adult
education: A non-intuitive view.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept and process of intuitive thinking in relation to rational thought processes. Through the use of a critical thinking/learning model the goal will be to understand and integrate these processes. Critical thinking (CT) has generated much interest in adult education and has shown considerable potential in guiding learning and understanding. Intuition and reason are seen here as complementary components of CT. That is, they are complementary parts of a comprehensive and coherent view of the thinking/learning process in adult education.
Grace, Andre P. Dalhousie University
Plumb, Donovan, Dalhousie University
Pictures,
perspectives, profiles: Reflections on interviews with critical
adult educators.
Abstract: This paper reports on interviews we conducted with twenty critical adult educators from Europe and North America. While they express divergent opinions on a range of topics, these critical adult educators largely agree on several core themes in adult education.
Hansman-Ferguson, Catherine, Ball
State University
Garofolo, Patricia, Ball State University
Toward a level
playing field: The roles of mentors and critical friendships in
the lives of women doctoral students.
Abstract: This study examines mentoring relationships and supportive friendships formed by women doctoral students in an adult education program and examines how these affinities affected the women students’ persistence in pursuing their doctoral degrees.
Haughey, Dennis, University of
Alberta
Recent strategic
planning decisions by the University of Alberta and their
implications for its faculty of extension.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of recent strategic planning decisions by the central administration of the University for the vitality of its Faculty of Extension and the institution’s extension function in general.
Tom Heaney, National-Louis University
Learning to control
democratically ethical questions in situated adult education.
Abstract: This paper begins with a theoretical framework (situated learning) developed by Lave and Wenger and builds on its metaphorical content in order to bring several ethical issues into focus, among them: the disempowering consequences of many training models, the anomalies of schooling as a vehicle for becoming a practitioner, and inconsistencies between the practices of higher education and adult education.
Hemphill, David F., San
Francisco State University
Ianiro, Sally L., San Francisco State
University
Faffa, Damien A., San Francisco State
University
Media, technology,
and literacy in immigrant and multicultural contexts.
Abstract: The impacts of electronic media on literacy, language, and cultural knowledge among immigrant and multicultural youths and adults in a diverse urban setting are addressed. We analyze electronic media consumption in terms of preferred forms and genres, social functions, support for maintenance of cultural identity, and education and information functions, concluding that media perform complex and unique functions for marginalized adult learner populations that merit much more serous consideration for adult basic education policy and curricula than they currently receive.
Hill, Robert J., Penn State
University – Harrisburg
Fugitive and
codified knowledge: The struggle to control the meaning of
environmental hazards.
Abstract: The purpose of the qualitative research was to determine the ways that knowledge is constructed and used by four Pennsylvania emergent citizens' groups (ECGs) engaged in environmental conflicts, and by the government environmental regulatory agency. It documents the struggle for who controls the meaning of hazardous scenarios. ECGs were cultural producers at the local level, while the state department constructed intellectual and moral capacity from a bureaucratic locus. As such, both were instrumental in community learning, as well as sites of contest. The results show that regulators most frequently constructed "official" knowledge that reproduced the status quo. ECGs constructed "fugitive" knowledge, based on collaborative learning. Bureaucrats did not use local knowledge to make environmental decisions. Citizens responded with rebellious collective action, quiescence and despair.
Holford, John, University of Hong
Kong
Britain's forgotten
minister of adult education: Arthur Creech Jones and a socialist
strategy for development and democracy in Africa.
Abstract: Creech Jones is the only major British Minister who has made adult education central to his policies. His outstanding contribution to adult education policy and practice has been unjustly ignored in adult education literature.
Holtslander, Cathy, University of
Saskatchewan
Annie Hollis, adult
education, and the development of socialist political culture on
the prairies, 1917 to 1938.
Abstract: Annie Hollis was prominent in the agrarian left for almost two decades, yet her name has nearly escaped the historical inventory. She, along with hundreds of now relatively anonymous farm men and women, struggled against the particular forms of capitalism and patriarchy that dominated the people of Saskatchewan in the 1920s and 1930s. the institutions they developed in the course of their struggle still shape the political and social structure of Western Canada.
This study will look at one woman and her praxis as an adult educator. By examining how she integrated her philosophy into action, and her experience into theory, Annie Hollis can be seen as one of the organic intellectuals of the prairie farm movement, who educated – and were educated – through the organizations they founded to change their world.
This is not meant to be a biography of the "great (wo)man" genre, but an example of one person shaped by her own history, who in turn helped shape the course of history. By examining her life and the ways she worked, adult educators of today can take encouragement and inspiration. Particularly in Western Canada, Annie Hollis and her contemporaries are part of who we are, and of who we can be.
Home, Alice, University of Ottawa
Do universities
support multiple role women students?
Abstract: This paper presents findings of a study of adult women who carry both family and work roles while studying adult education and social work.
Adult educators have always advocated on behalf of learners who occupy concurrent roles in the family, the work world and the community. Increased access combined with changing demographic and economic trends have resulted in a marked increase in the number of adult learners in universities. These changes challenge universities to re-examine their commitment to and support for adult learners at a time when the adult student group is becoming more diversified. Increasing numbers of adult learners in universities come from "new" clienteles, such as women with family responsibilities (Apps, 1988, Edwards, 1993). This raises the question as to whether traditional accommodations designed for working men meet the needs of specific groups. This paper presents results of a study of adult women who carry both family and paid work responsibilities while studying in two professional disciplines. This study focused on different actors’ perspectives on needs of these students and on university-based support.
Hu, Jiazhen, National-Louis
University
A new model OF SLA
and its implications in teaching ESL to adult learners.
Abstract: This paper proposes a new information processing model of second language acquisition and discusses its andragogical implications.
Johnson-Bailey, Juanita, Georgia
College
Making a way out of
no way: An examination of the educational narratives of reentry
black women with emphasis on issues of race, gender, class, and
color.
Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the educational narratives of eight reentry Black women to determine the existence of common themes and to discover if there are parallels between the women’s primary and secondary school stories and their reentry school stories.
Kasworm, Carol E., University of
Tennessee
Collegiate
involvement from an adult undergraduate perspective.
Abstract: This current qualitative study of adult undergraduate students challenges past assumptions of effective undergraduate involvement based in substantive time commitments and collegiate role involvements. Five categories of adult student beliefs of involvement are suggested. A conceptual perspective of "adult undergraduate involvement" as situated learning through communities of practice is explored.
McDonald, Barbara
Blanche, Catalino
Krause, Katrina
Brown, Michael
Power and planning
in environmental education.
Abstract: This case study explored government-initiated community-based planning involving issues of motivation and power within the context of a southern city.
Melichar, Ken, Piedmont College
A social
definitional approach to the crisis of literacy: Contestory
definitions of literacy as skills, information, and critique.
Abstract: The social definitional approach is discussed and then applied to the social problem of illiteracy.
Mishoe, Shelley C., University of
Georgia and Medical College of Georgia
The effects of
institutional context on critical thinking in the workplace.
Abstract: The purpose of this research was to identify and describe the critical thinking (CT) skills and dispositional traits that are evident in professional practice. The interrelation and interaction of the essential skills for CT can be described. However, dispositional traits and organizational factors and their collective impact on CT must be considered. The importance of consideration of the context when attempting to explain or facilitate CT in practice is advocated.
Nesbit, Tom, University of British
Columbia
Lost in space:
mathematics education for adults.
Abstract: This study considered the teaching of mathematics to adults. The constraints on teaching processes result in an inadequate response to adult innumeracy.
Orem, Richard A., Northern Illinois
University
Measuring the
public’s perceptions of adult basic education.
Abstract: This study was designed to measure public perception of the need for and quality of adult basic education in Illinois. Using a combination of data collection techniques, including focus groups and interviews with stakeholders, and a telephone survey of randomly selected Illinois residents, this study found a high level of support for continued public funding of adult basic education and a positive attitude toward adult basic education programs in general, but particularly among those with some knowledge of these programs.
Plumb, Donovan, Dalhousie University
Critical adult
education and identity in postmodernity.
Abstract: This paper argues that the fragmentation of identity in postmodernity has profound consequences for critical forms of adult education.
Podeschi, Ronald, University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Community-based
organizations and mainstream educational change: Dynamics and
Dilemmas.
Abstract: Based on a decade of working with a Southeast Asian refugee organization, this analysis attempts to sort out useful working ideas and perspectives for professionals involved in change efforts at educational institutions through community-based organizations.
Price, Michael A.
Knowles, Evelyn
Learning and
motivation associated with changes in the lives and practices of
architects: A study in support of a natural learning model for
professionals.
Abstract: Findings from a study of change among architects support the broader application of Fox’s model of learning and changing. This model describes professionals’ natural learning process within the context of change and provides a framework for research in learning, motivation, and change.
Quigley, B. Allan
Literacy and
postmodernism: A deconstruction model for analysis of our myths,
our past, and our profession.
Abstract: Today we see a decline in confidence towards past authority that claimed "illiteracy can be eradicated." The field is adrift – uncertain of what to believe, more powerless than ever. Postmodernism calls for re-interpretation of our past. This model re-interprets our past through two Perspectives
Rose, Amy D., Northern Illinois
University
O’Neill, Linda, Northern Illinois University
The individual in
the community: Horace Kallen, cultural pluralism and the making
of the early adult education movement.
Abstract: This paper examines the work of Horace Kallen in light of his interest in individualism, the community, and the meaning of cultural pluralism. This work is then discussed in terms of its relationship to early adult education.
Rowland, Frank C.
Attempting to
destroy a people by attacking their way of knowing: A case study
of the northern Cheyenne.
Abstract: Interviews were conducted with elders to understand the Northern Cheyenne way of knowing. Both positive factors about the nature of Cheyenne learning and negative elements concerning the attempt to destroy the Cheyenne way of knowing were uncovered. The results suggest that problems on the reservation can best be understood from an educators perspective concerning the nature of knowing.
Schick, Carol, The Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education
Racial formation in
the reporting of Canadian immigration.
Abstract: Using Howard Winant’s racial formation theory, I analyze the coverage of news stories and editorials in Canada'’ national newspaper in light of recent changes to Canadian immigration policy. Discourse analysis reveals the structural and racial significance of immigration to the racialization of Canadian identity.
Schied, Fred M., Penn State
University
"How did humans
become resources anyway?:" HRD and the politics of learning
the workplace.
Abstract: This paper examines the origins of HRD. It argues that HRD emerged out of the struggles over the control of work and the workplace during and immediately after World War II.
Schmitt-Boshnick, Margo, University
of Alberta
Spaces for
democracy: Researching the social learning process.
Abstract: Critical adult educators and a number of social theorists view social learning processes as a means of contributing to the democratization of civil society. The qualitative research project discussed in this paper examines these processes within a community development oriented women’s organization.
Scott, Sue M., University of Alberta
Schmitt-Boshnick, Margo, University of Alberta
Lester, Shelley, University of Alberta
Power and program
planning in a community-based context.
Abstract: Recent theorizing in program planning focuses on the critical perspective which examines contextual factors and power relationships. The research question here asks, to what extent do power relationships affect the program planning process in Candora, a community-based organization?
Sheared, Vanessa, San Francisco State
University
The significance of
including the lived experiences of African Americans in adult
basic education curriculum and planning.
Abstract: The need to connect education and learning to the "lived experience" of adults has been discussed as a goal within adult education. One hundred fifty three interviews were conducted with African American adult students, administrators, and educators in the state of California. This study suggests that African Americans will participate and do participate in those programs that connect with their culture and life stories – their lived experiences.
Taylor, Edward W., Antioch
University-Seattle
Beyond the rhetoric:
What do the empirical studies say about Mezirow’s
transformative learning theory?
Abstract: This literature review is an attempt to get beyond the theoretical rhetoric of Mezirow’s transformative learning and investigate what the empirical studies have to say about a perspective transformation. The review finds much support for Mezirow’s theory, but at the same time suggest a need to reconceptualize the process of a perspective transformation.
Tussled, Elizabeth J., Antioch
University-Seattle
Taylor, Edward W., Antioch
University-Seattle
Out of the closet:
Lesbian and gay adult educators and sexual orientation issues in
the university learning environment.
Abstract: This qualitative study examined how "out" lesbian and gay faculty members deal with sexual orientation in the classroom and how they perceive their own sexual orientation affects the learning environment in adult higher education contexts.
Uhland, Roberta
Quigley, B. Allan
Retention and
literacy: An investigation of field dependence/field independence
and the effects of past schooling.
Abstract: Retention has become one of the highest priorities in literacy and ABE. This study selected at-risk Reluctant Learners during ABE intake. RLs were placed in one control and three treatment groups to study retention. High field dependence and the promise of small group approach were encouraging outcomes.
Welton, Michael R.
"Bolsheviks of
a better sort": Jimmy Tompkins and the struggle for a
people’s Catholicism, 1908-1928.
Abstract: None provided in the published version of the proceedings.
Wilson, Arthur L. Ball State
University
Cervero, Ronald M., University of Georgia
Siting program
planning theory in adult education: The selective tradition of
privileging technical rationality.
Abstract: Planning theory in adult education attempts to improve planning practice by prescribing a "selective tradition" of technical rationality. The problem is that this tradition selectively organizes our attention to only certain possibilities of action, thereby limiting our sense of what counts as planning practice and thus limiting our sense of what adult education could be. In this paper we depict the historical development of planning theory in order to show how effectively this selective tradition has managed planning theory discourse.
Wislock, Robert P.
The effects of group
cohesion on the productivity of advisory groups that plan
employee training programs in a university setting.
Abstract: Advisory groups are one important method that adult educators can use to plan programs. This study’s purpose was to determine if a relationship existed between group cohesiveness and productivity in advisory groups that plan training programs. The major finding indicated that there was a significant relationship between these two variables.
Yang, Baiyin, The University of
Georgia
Explaining and
predicting participation in adult education: A longitudinal
study.
Abstract: Few studies and theoretical frameworks have treated participation in adult education from a longitudinal perspective. This paper presents a model which posits that PAE is embedded in the adult developmental process and is the interactive result of individual internal and external forces. The model was tested on a national sampled data set.
Women’s issues: Upward mobility through adult education.
Jane Lee
Glenna Williams
Katie Barwick-Snell
Elizabeth Hayes
Bob Nolan
Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of access and opportunity for women to advance both educationally and economically in work and profession settings through non-formal education exemplified by mentorships and non credit programming, and through formal education as exemplified by non-traditional students in higher education. The approaches to these issues will be through three separate theoretical perspectives. One perspective derives from Darkenwald, Scanlan, Valentine and Hayes who studied deterrents to participation. Another perspective derives from Rice’s work on the access of welfare women to higher education. A final perspective comes from Riley and Wrench who assert that women, in general, are denied the opportunity for mentoring relationships so often given to men in the workplace. Hence the papers address the upward mobility of women in the workplace, in rural communities and in higher education.
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