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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:
Abstracts contain links to online copies of papers.
Published Conference Proceedings
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Michigan State University
Mary V. Alfred, University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
Epistemology, Learning, and Self-Development
among Immigrant Women of Color: The Case of the British Caribbean Women in the
United States
Abstract: This study examined how British Caribbean women construct knowledge from their transcultural experiences and how they use their acquired knowledge to facilitate their learning and development. The women have endured the challenges of their cross cultural transitions because they learned how to work, how to learn, how to overcome silence and marginality, and how to negotiate their way through the American cultural systems.
Donna D. Amstutz, University
of Wyoming, USA,
Scipio A.J. Colin, III, National Louis
University, USA,
Fred Schied, Penn State University, USA,
Vanessa Sheared, San Francisco State
University, USA
Lifelong Learning: A Debate Regarding
the Appropriateness of Adult Education Faculty's Participation in Teacher Preparation
Programs
Abstract: The academic study of adult education remains in a precarious position in schools of education because adult education is often viewed as neither necessary nor integral to the colleges' main mission: usually the preparation of beginning teachers.
Joseph L. Armstrong, Ph.D., Ball
State University
Collaborative Learning from the Participants'
Perspective
Abstract: Collaborative learning is generally reviewed in the literature and researched from the perspective of the facilitator. This study looks at the phenomena of collaborative learning from the perspective of the participants. This results in a different understanding of the collaborative learning process.
Irene C. Baird, The Pennsylvania
State University at Harrisburg, USA
Evolution of Activists: Prison Women's Writings as
Change Agent for their Communities
Abstract: Within the context of a Freirian/humanities adult education program for incarcerated women, 1972 militant women's poetry serendipitously precipitated the emergence of an activist perspective among "repeaters" for effecting change within their community, confirming theoretical constructs regarding the development of a confident, meaningful "voice" for social engagement.
Ian Baptiste, Kristine Lalley, Fred
Milacci, Honoratha Mushi, USA, The Pennsylvania State University,
USA
Anatomy of Adults' Learning Experiences:
A Phenomenological Inquiry
Abstract: Phenomenology is concerned with understanding phenomena from the perspective of those who have experienced them. From an interpretivist standpoint, the researchers set out to construct a plausible understanding of the phenomenon adult learning. The researchers sought to find out how adults describe their learning experiences and what meanings adults attach to those descriptions. Respondents revealed three interconnecting components of their learning experiences: content (CT), context (CX), and con-fects (CF). Rather than sustaining the notion of "adult learning", the researchers found that the more expansive concept "the learning experiences of adults" provided a more appropriate vehicle to highlight not only the commonalties but also the differences in adults' learning experience.
Carole Barlas, California
Institute of Integral Studies
Learning-within-Relationship as Context and
Process in Adult Education: Impact on Transformative Learning and Social Change
Agency
Abstract: This paper presents one major finding from a broader set of findings encompassed in a doctoral dissertation. The study describes the learning experiences of twenty adults who identified themselves as significantly transformed by their participation in a doctoral program in transformative learning. This result describes and explores the impact of learning within the context of relationship on how adults changed their basic assumptions about themselves and the way they act in their social worlds.
Lisa M. Baumgartner, Buffalo
State College, USA
The Incorporation of HIV/AIDS into Identity
over Time: Transformational Tales Continued
Abstract: Using data collected from the same individuals at three points in time, this qualitative study explored the incorporation process of HIV/AIDS into identity. In addition, the nature of learning that occurred was investigated. A six-component incorporation process emerged. Transformative learning occurred and new meaning schemes were uncovered.
Hal Beder, Rutgers University
Teaching in Adult Literacy Education: Learner-Centered
Intentions, Teacher-Directed Instruction
Abstract: This paper describes and attempts to explain an apparent contradiction noted in a study of classroom dynamics in adult literacy education: while in interviews adult literacy teachers expressed the intention of being learner centered, when classes were observed it was found that instruction was highly teacher-directed.
Alisa Belzer, PhD, Rutgers
University
Shaping practice from the top down: The impact
of federal legislation on ABE practice
Abstract: Through case descriptions of twenty-four programs in six states, this study documents the ways in which policy-oriented federal legislation, namely the Workforce Investment Act and Welfare Reform, influences the day to day practices of program administrators and instructors.
Laura L. Bierema, University
of Georgia, USA,
Maria Cseh, Oakland University, USA,
Andrea Ellinger, Penn State University,
USA,
Wendy Ruona, University of Georgia, USA,
Karen Watkins, University of Georgia,
USA
HRD on the Margins: Exploring Resistance to HRD
in Adult Education
Abstract: This paper examines the debates and critiques surrounding HRD and confronts myths about HRD philosophy and practice. We argue that the HRD field is "marginalized" in adult education and reflect on both the problems this situation creates and the possibilities of ever bridging these two fields.
Mary Beth Bingman, Center
for Literacy Studies, The University of Tennessee, USA,
Cristine Smith, World Education, Boston,
MA, USA
Research to Practice, Research in Practice:
Disseminating Results or Supporting Change?
Abstract: This roundtable will provide an opportunity to discuss what the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy has been doing to connect research and practice and to explore how to facilitate collaborative associations between practitioners and researchers.
Annie Brooks, University of
Texas at Austin, USA, Carolyn Clark, Texas A&M University, USA
Narrative Dimensions of Transformative Learning
Abstract: The concept of narrative is useful for theorizing transformative learning. Three characteristics are that it (a) moves from past to future, (b) spans the psychological, social, cultural, and historical dimensions in content and form, and (c) includes cognitive, affective, spiritual, and somatic dimensions. Narrative analysis of data suggests insights unavailable with other analytic approaches.
Shauna Butterwick, Adult Education
Program, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
We've Got Nothing/Everything to Lose: Lessons
Learned from an Anti-poverty Action Research Project
Abstract: This paper explores my efforts as a feminist activist scholar working with a group of poor women engaged in creating, on their own terms, a viable economic venture. Negotiating through this landscape marked by different class, race, status and institutional locations illuminates the challenges to conducting research and establishing relationships of solidarity.
Margaret L. Cain and Elizabeth Kjar,
Westminster College, USA
Learning in Context: Women in Transition from Situations
of Domestic Violence
Abstract: This empirical study explores learning among women in a transitional housing program for women and children who have experienced domestic violence. It situates this learning in the context of the women's lives, the program structure, and larger socioeconomic factors.
Gary Cale, National-Louis
University, USA
When Resistance Becomes Reproduction: A Critical Action
Research Study
Abstract: This paper explores how adult learners in a college composition course resisted pedagogies and teaching strategies designed to critically examine student and teacher assumptions about classism, racism, and sexism as well as other oppressive structures and discourses.
Alison A. Carr-Chellman, Professor-In-Charge,
Instructional Systems, Penn State University
Davin J. Carr-Chellman, Graduate Student,
Philosophy, Penn State University and Pastor, Emmanuel United Church of Christ
Adult Education as Snake Oil under the Guise
of Democracy
Abstract: Based on initial content analysis research into the semiotics of advertising for online learning, this paper extends our understanding of the commodification of education via the web by carefully examining the implications of this marketing on the goals of democracy, the just distribution of education and knowledge as resources, and the consequent impact on social justice and equity.
Vicki K. Carter, Sharon L. Howell, Fred M. Schied,
The Pennsylvania State University, USA
Education as Function of Productivity: An Hermeneutic
Study of Standards on Ethics and Integrity in Human Resource Development Texts
Abstract: This critical hermeneutic analysis of the AHRD Standards on Ethics and Integrity and six HRD textbooks identifies unexamined assumptions and silences related to the practice of HRD.
Dr. Jane Castle, Professor, Department
of Adult Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Gillian Attwood, Lecturer, Department
of Adult Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Suzanne Smythe, Department of Language
and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia
Are Women-Targeted Programs Women-Positive?
Abstract: The authors distinguish between women-targeted and women-positive programs, citing examples of unsuccessful education programs in South Africa that were targeted at women. They question the educational and political aims of these initiatives and suggest that women-positive programs foreground gender within a broader context of transformation involving both men and women.
Nadira K Charaniya and Jane West Walsh,
National - Louis University, USA
Adult Learning in the Context of the Interreligious
Dialogue Process: A Collaborative Research Study Involving Christians, Jews
and Muslims
Abstract: This paper reports on a collaborative qualitative research study where the purpose was to explore the nature of the learning that occurs in the interreligious dialogue process. Participants were 20 Christian, Jewish and Muslim adults who have participated in interreligious dialogue, for a period of more than a year.
Simone Conceição-Runlee,
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
A Phenomenological Study of College Faculty
Experiences Derived from Teaching in a Computer-Mediated Environment When There
is an Absence of Physical Presence
Abstract: This phenomenological study investigated the meaning of the online teaching experiences of college faculty when there was an absence of physical presence. Findings suggest that teaching online is work intensive because of the length of engagement before and during instruction and the depth of engagement during the delivery of a course; however, it is also rewarding when the instructor experiences satisfaction throughout the process of design and delivery of instruction.
Sarah C. Conklin, Northern
Illinois University, USA
Spiritual Formation and Sexuality Education in
Seminaries: What Can Adult Education Theory Contribute?
Abstract: This "research in progress" roundtable session seeks theoretical suggestions and strategies for encouraging spiritual development, perspective transformation, self knowledge and development of the whole person within the education of adult helping professionals, especially clergy. The goal of such development is the sexual and spiritual health of clergy and their congregants.
Olga Ebert, Mary Ziegler, and Gail
Cope, Center for Literacy Studies, The University of Tennessee,
USA
Learning and Earning: The Role of Incentives in Educational
Achievement
Abstract: Can external rewards develop intrinsic motivation? Based on the research projects conducted with adult basic education programs for recipients of public assistance, this roundtable will examine how incentives influence participation in educational activities and achievement of educational outcomes.
Dorothy Ettling, University
of the Incarnate Word, USA
Leadership for Action: Wedding Adult Education
and Social Change
Abstract: This paper presents an initial model of transformative education with adult women in a community setting designed to foster personal growth and the development of leadership capacities as a pathway to working for social change.
Tara J. Fenwick, University
of Alberta, USA
Transgressive Possibilities in Post-Corporate Enterprise
Culture
Jesus Gomez-Alonso, University
of Barcelona, Spain
Tere Sorde-Marti, Harvard University,
USA
Adult Education and The Scientific Community
Abstract: In this paper, we analyzed the recent developments of the AE Scientific Community in Spain. Particularly, we focus in which factors have made possible to overcome its isolated initial situation towards a high quality one. Finally, we identified current works and future trends in order to characterized its main aspects such as its dialogic approach as a result of their interdisciplinary and interinstitutional efforts.
André P. Grace, University
of Alberta, Canada
Robert J. Hill, University of Georgia,
USA
Using Queer Knowledges to Build Inclusionary Pedagogy
in Adult Education
Abstract: This paper turns to queer history, theory, and studies to develop themes useful to adult educators who wish to build alternative pedagogies that explore issues of difference, inclusion, transgressive politics, knowledge production, and the inextricable link between culture and power.
Dr. Daphne Greenberg,
Georgia State University, USA
Are Linguistic Responses Similar in Adult Literacy
Students and Third-Fifth Grade Children?
Abstract: This roundtable discussion will focus on a study of adult learners and children who recognize words at the third-fifth grade levels. Their responses to different linguistic task items will be compared and analyzed. Theoretical and instructional implications will be discussed.
Dr. Zelda Groener, University
of the Western Cape, South Africa
Articulations between global and local development
agendas in South African adult education and training policies. Whither social
transformation?
Abstract: Convergences, tensions and contradictions between global and local development agendas in South African adult education and training policies undermine initiatives to redress the adult education and training inequalities which plague the lives of 13 million black adults.
Catherine A. Hansman, Cleveland
State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Who Plans? Who Participates? Critically Examining
Mentoring Programs
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the literature concerning formal mentoring programs from a socialist feminist perspective that allows an examination of power issues and the intersection of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation within mentoring relationships.
Elisabeth Hayes and Wendy Way,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
The Politics of Learning at Work: Experiences of
African American Women in Entry-Level Jobs
Abstract: This research was designed to investigate the on-the-job learning of low-income African American women in entry-level jobs, in particular the relationships between the social context of the workplace, the nature of these jobs, and the kind of skills and knowledge the women acquired. We draw implications for adult basic education research and practice, in which the provision of work-related education for low-income women has become increasingly important due to the effects of welfare reform.
Tom Heaney, Roberto Sanabria, and Elizabeth Tisdell
with Wendy Figueroa, Delilah Garcia, Marvin Garcia, Lourdes Lugo, Gloricelly
Martinez-Franceschi, Socorro Rivera, Tito Rodriquez, and Erica Van Opstal,
National-Louis University, USA
Reinventing the Adult Education Curriculum within
an Urban Latino Community
Abstract: This paper will examine an adult education Masters program developed in collaboration with an urban Latino community. Its pedagogy and its content are described in the voices of students reflecting on how they have applied their new understandings and research skills to social change initiatives within the community.
Deana Hensley, Patricia A. Maher, Denise Passmore,
Major Professor: Waynne B. James, Ed. D, University of South
Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Conversations With Long-Time Adult Educators
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze information from long-time adult educators, to learn from their experiences, and to ensure the wisdom they have gained throughout their time spent in the field is not lost.
Sharon L. Howell, Pennsylvania
State University, USA
The Production of Knowledge in Work Teams: The View
from Below
Abstract: This paper examines the experiences of entry level hourly wage workers in a workplace shaped by the "excellence" movement. Their micro-level encounters with the "new work order" are set within the macro-level economic, political and cultural context that structures the work experience.
Kyungmi Hyun, Adult Education,
The Pennsylvania State University, USA
Susan Strauss, Speech Communication/Applied
Linguistics, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
"Place": Classrooms and Cyberspace--A Discourse
Analysis of How Place Shapes Interaction and Learning
Abstract: This is a cross-environmental study focusing on how interactants in two distinct learning settings communicate and engage in course-related planning and problem solving-activities as members of their particular academic community. One setting is a face-to-face class; the second is the identical course offered on-line. The primary methodological approach is discourse analysis.
Laurel Jeris, Northern Illinois
University. USA
Comparison of Power Relations Within Electronic and
Face-to-Face Classroom Discussions: A Case Study
Abstract: Numerous aspects of design and delivery of online instruction are well researched but little exists on power relations of electronic versus face-to-face discussions and consequences for learning. This case study centers on the experiences of participants in a graduate course in human resource management. Implications for reconsidering prevailing views of adult education are discussed.
David Jones, School of Continuing
Education, University of Nottingham, England.
Learning Culture
Abstract: This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework for analysing the ways in which adult education can contribute to the development of cultural values and cultural identity.
Dr. Carol Kasworm, North Carolina
State University, USA
Adult Learner Experiences of an Accelerated Degree
Program
Abstract: This qualitative case study explored the experiences of adult learners in an undergraduate accelerated degree program. Key beliefs of the experience focused upon four themes: 1) the adult degree program as a supportive world, 2) fellow students as a family, 3) successful adult students are dedicated, and 4) the paradoxical involvement in learning in an accelerated program.
Jodi Kaufmann, University
of Georgia, USA
Oppositional Feminist Ethnography: What Does It
Have To Offer Adult Education?
Abstract: In this paper I struggle to understand oppositional feminist ethnography and examine what it may offer us in Adult Education, as it appears to have the propensity to multiply difference and deal with complexity without collapsing it into the normative.
Linda Klimczyk, The Pennsylvania
State University, USA
Separate but (UnEqual)? A Critical Investigation
of Disabled Adults' Access to Online Education
Abstract: Online distance education technology has the potential to include adults with disabilities by allowing for the use of adaptive technology in order to provide an accessible learning environment. Paradoxically, however, online distance education can also be a barrier to access.
Randee Lipson
Lawrence, Jane West Walsh and Nadira K Charaniya,
National - Louis University - Chicago, Illinois - USA
Collaborative Inquiry: Expanding the Boundaries
of Knowledge Construction in Graduate Adult Education Research
Abstract: The purpose of this roundtable session is to share ideas about collaborative inquiry as a research methodology. Facilitators include a faculty member from a doctoral program that encourages collaborative learning and collaborative inquiry, and two students, from the same doctoral program, who completed a fully collaborative doctoral research project.
Ming-yeh Lee, San
Francisco State University, USA
The Skewed Voices and Lost Meaning: The Reflections
of Multilingual Issues in the Cross-cultural Context
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the correlative effects of multilingualism, as it is associated within a cross-cultural context. Strategies that were used to assure language accuracy and reliability of the study will also be discussed.
Shu-chuan Liao,
Northern Illinois University, USA
Voices from Within-Homemakers as Agents for Social
Change
Abstract: This study is to document how Taiwanese women learned from participating in social action. The focus is on homemakers who are socially marginalized but are involved in private as well as public spheres and speak out on various issues which relate to their everyday lives. The findings suggest that ordinary people can be agents for social change via social movement learning.
Ellen Long,
ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation, Canada
Enrolment and Retention in Adult Basic Education Programs
Some Theoretical Implications of a National Study Follow-up Study
Abstract: Using the findings of a national follow-up study (n=338), this paper discusses the factors associated with nonenrolment and dropping out of literacy and upgrading programs. In addition to illuminating the complexity of low enrolment and high drop out rates, the paper moves toward a more integrated understanding of the structural and agency-related explanations for these patterns.
Antonina Lukenchuk,
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
Modal-Ontological Status of Subjectivity In the
Context of Adult Education: Possibilities and Dilemmas
Abstract: This paper intends to demonstrate the importance of metaphysical arguments for interpretations of the nature of adult and adult education and to connect these arguments with current theories of adult learning, development and transformation. Broadly conceived, this research represents theorizing from the literature that may shed an additional light on the problems of personal identity in the context of adult education.
Carol R. Lyon,
National-Louis University and St. Ambrose University, USA
Cultural Mentors: Exploring the Role of Relationships
in the Adaptation and Transformation of Women Educators Who Go Overseas to Work
Abstract: The overseas experiences of thirteen women educators in adult and higher education were characterized by four chronological stages: departure, first three months, after three months, and re-entry. Four stages of relationships emerged to coincide with the chronological contexts. The line between personal and professional relationships was often blurred.
Christie Knittel Mabry and Arthur L. Wilson,
Cornell University
Managing Power: The Practical Work of Negotiating
Interests
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate how adult educators negotiate power and interests in program planning for training and development in a corporate setting. The research methodology was a descriptive qualitative study of typical program planning practices of adult educators in a multi-national corporation. The chief finding was that planners' "practical" strategic action for negotiating interests and power varied according to specific situations and how planners perceived the involvement of various stakeholders.
Peter G. Malvicini, Cornell
University, USA
Negotiating Curriculum in a Critical Pedagogy
Abstract: Through critical reflection and dialog on experiences in participatory planning, curricula that values participatory democracy can be fostered. An empirical study, using participatory research, demonstrates that students and faculty can move toward a more critical and inclusive pedagogy by reflecting on cultural diversity.
Barbara McDonald, USDA
Forest Service, USA
Spirituality and Social Action: An Exploration
of Committed Environmental Activists
Abstract: This paper examines the spirituality of committed environmental activists. Eight descriptors of spirituality are offered, and spirituality's relationship to adult learning is explored.
Patsy Medina, USA, Rutgers
University
The Intricacies of Initiate-Response-Evaluate in
Adult Literacy Education
Abstract: The results of a study of adult literacy education classroom dynamics found that the predominant mode of instruction closely parallels the initiation-response-evaluation (IRE) mode that Mehan (1979) identified in his study of an elementary education classroom. The initial conclusion of this study was that adult literacy education closely parallels elementary education. A closer analysis of the data, generated some interesting differentiations.
Shahrzad Mojab and Rachel Gorman,
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto
The Struggle Over Lifelong Learning: A Marxist-Feminist
Analysis
Abstract: The concept of lifelong learning has become both an ideological distraction that shifts the burden of increasing adaptability to the worker, and a ray of hope for a more democratic and engaged citizenry. The purpose of this paper is to provide a Marxist-feminist analysis of the responses of the field of adult education to the concept of lifelong learning.
Mark Murphy, University of
Stirling, Scotland
The political economy of civil society: Implications
for adult and community education
Robert Nolan,
Oklahoma State University
Randal Ice, University of Central
Oklahoma
A Re-examination of the Role of Power and Politics
in the Planning of Adult Education
Abstract: This historical study of the political interplay of the federal government and a states' rights governor illustrates Cervero and Wilson's (1994) thesis of the importance of context in program planning. Contrary to their thesis, the study presents an historical illustration of the primacy of theory over context.
Gerri Outlaw, Cathy Stanley,
Northern Illinois University, USA
Roots and Culture as a Basis for Transformation
in Adult Education
Abstract: This paper discusses the completed indepth interviews of six youth who participated in hip-hop and reggae critical music reflection sessions. The group process experience and the voices of the youth are reported in this presentation. Hip-hop and Reggae cultural movements provide a medium for learning and presents possibilities for social transformation through the generation of new voice and knowledge.
Mary Anne Phelan Penner, Ph.D, USA
Helping Adult Learners Overcome Alienation: What
Can I Do if Most of My Learners/Participants Are Not Pre-literate, Brazilian
Peasant Farmers?
Abstract: This theory-building research paper describes the ideal environmental framework in which to help adult learners overcome alienation. It includes the theoretical background and tools for assessing any participatory group environment for its proximity to this ideal.
Peter Grein Renner, Vancouver,
Canada
Evocative Narrative as Educational Research
Abstract: After thirty years of teaching others how to teach, I enter a doctoral program to explore the question of how lived experience informs professional practice. Moving into the centre of my own doubts, I discover multiple selves, suffer death and rebirth, and ruminate on the nature of transformational learning.
Tonette S. Rocco, Ph.D, Florida
International University, USA
"My disability is part of me:" Disclosure
and Students with Visible Disabilities
Abstract: Self-disclosure is "any information exchange that refers to the self, including personal states, dispositions, events in the past, and plans for the future" (Derlega & Grzelak, 1979, p. 152). An individual's disclosure creates comfort or discomfort in the person receiving the information in the disclosure (Chelune, 1979). The level of (dis)comfort created affects the response the receiver of the disclosure has. Disclosure can increase interpersonal intimacy and decrease interpersonal distance however it can produce the opposite effect, rejection (Wright, 1982). It is also assumed to be reciprocal in ordinary social relationships. The work done on disclosure and disability most often examines the effect disability has on the comfort level of able-bodied individuals (Elliott, MacNair, Herrick, Yoder & Byrne, 1991; Elliott, MacNair, Yoder & Byrne, 1991; Stephan, Stephan, Wenzel & Cornelius. 1991). Little research has been done on disability disclosure in education and employment. Learning is considered a major life activity under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The purpose of accommodation, under Section 504, is to provide students with disabilities an equal opportunity to achieve equal results (Biehl, 1978) with the intent of preventing exclusion based on disability status (Mangrum & Strichert, 1988). Accommodation is "an adjustment to the learning environment that does not compromise the essential elements of a course or curriculum" (Schuck & Kroeger, 1993, p. 63). In order to access the learning environment certain accommodations may be needed. The student discloses disability status, requests an accommodation, and the instructor complies with the request.
Elice E. Rogers, Cleveland State University,
USA
A Critical Review of Race, Class, and Gender in
Adult Development Models and Theory: Implications for Adult Education
Abstract: The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss North American literature showing how race, class, and gender has been treated historically and presents three approaches or perspectives that inform contemporary literature.
Jovita M. Ross-Gordon, University of
South Florida, Tampa, Florida
Cynthia Plotts, Julie Noble, Autumn Leal, and Robert
Wells, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas
Assessment of Adult Learning Disabilities :
A Triangulated Study
Abstract: The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss North American literature showing how race, class, and gender has been treated historically and presents three approaches or perspectives that inform contemporary literature.
Michael L. Rowland, Ph.D., The Ohio
State University USA
African Americans and the Self-help Revolution:
A missing link in adult education
Abstract: This roundtable discussion will recognize the significant role of self-help education and self-help literature in the lives of African American adults and to determine ways for adult educators to expand our knowledge base of self-help education for African Americans.
Peter Rushbrook, Charles Stuart University,
Australia
"My business was not with lost souls and
the underprivileged": The Contribution of Colin Badger (1906-1993) to Adult
Education in Victoria, Australia
Abstract: The paper is a narrative of the contribution of Colin Badger to Victorian adult education and the founding of the Council of Adult Education. Theoretical issues are raised about individual agency and historical change, and the place of narrative history in adult education research.
Ujwala Samant and Patsy Medina,
NCSALL, Rutgers University, USA
New Perspectives in ESOL Classrooms
Abstract: There have been no major studies that have compared or studied classroom dynamics within the range of ESOL programs, nationwide. This study attempts to develop an in-depth understanding of the ESOL experience from a variety of perspectives, using class observations, and a qualitative approach to analysis.
Kathryn A. Sanders, Ed.D,
Langston University-Tulsa,Oklahoma, USA
Marilon Morgan, Doctoral Candidate, Oklahoma
State University-Stillwater, USA
Study Abroad Programs: A Mirror for Adult Learning
and Perspective Transformation
Abstract: This pilot study qualitatively sought to examine how study abroad programs in Third-World countries provide a means of fostering perspective transformation in adult learners. A diverse group of students and faculty from four cooperating universities participated in a six-week study abroad program in Africa. It examined the concepts of perspective transformation, transformative learning, and critical reflection.
Jennifer A. Sandlin, The
University of Georgia, USA
Manufacturing Workers: How Adult Literacy and Welfare-to-Work
Programs Construct the World of Work
Abstract: This paper examines the complex ways educational programs for welfare recipients construct "success," especially in terms of the workplace. Teachers, students, and curricula in the programs represented success as largely an outcome of individual agency, while also recognizing but minimizing the importance of structural factors.
Irwin H. Siegel, Pennsylvania College
of Technology/Penn State University, USA
From Symbols, Stories and Social Artifacts to Social
Architecture and Individual Agency: The Discourse of Learning and the Decline
of "Organizational Culture" in the "New Work Order"
Abstract: The functionalist models of organizational culture, which have often relied on ethnographic and/or anecdotal studies of organizations in an attempt to discern the "culture" or an organization, do not appropriately account for individual learning and agency. This paper suggests an alternative model of "social architecture" comprised of "institutional" and "individual agency" components.
Regina O. Smith and Patricia L. Farrell,
Michigan State University, USA
"MUD Play": A Transformative Learning Context
Abstract: This case study describes Multi-user domains (MUDS) as a virtual learning environment for fostering the imaginative and symbolic aspects of transformative learning by relying primarily on the work of Boyd and Freire. MUDs are an increasingly popular but largely unexplored location for adult learning.
Marta Soler, Harvard University, USA
Adriana Aubert, University of Barcelona,
Spain
La Verneda-Sant Martí Adult Education
Center: Dialogic Learning and Democratic Participation both Within and Without
Abstract: This case study describes Multi-user domains (MUDS) as a virtual learning environment for fostering the imaginative and symbolic aspects of transformative learning by relying primarily on the work of Boyd and Freire. MUDs are an increasingly popular but largely unexplored location for adult learning.
Thomas J. Sork, University of British
Columbia, Canada
Ethics in the Curriculum: A Study of Ethical Frameworks
and Moral Imperatives Embedded in Adult Education Graduate Programs
Abstract: This study concerns the ways in which programs designed to prepare adult educators for practice represent moral imperatives and ethical frameworks in the curriculum. Preliminary findings support the central role of social and political context and personal biography of faculty in determining which imperatives and frameworks are reflected in the curriculum.
Barbara Sparks, North Carolina State
University, United States
Collage of Welfare-to-Work Perspectives: Views
Inside and Outside the System
Abstract: The political interests and educational orientations advocates have about welfare-to-work influence the strategies they use to advance poor women's education.
Ralf St.Clair, Illinois State University,
USA
Cracking the code: Problems and possibilities
of curriculum analysis in adult education
Abstract: In this paper I argue for the importance of explicit curriculum analysis as a critical approach to adult education research, and highlight several intriguing and challenging aspects of the endeavour. The discussion is illustrated with examples from my own work on the structures of knowledge in our vocation.
Susan L. Stockdale, Dewey L. Fogerson, Ralph G. Brockett,
University of Tennessee, USA
Revitalizing the Study of Self-Directed Adult
Learning
Abstract: Self-directed learning has been an important research area in adult education for the past three decades, and holds much potential for future scholarship. Three areas for possible future inquiry are examined.
Edward W. Taylor, Penn State
University, Harrisburg, USA
John Dirkx, Michigan State University,
USA
Daniel D. Pratt, The University of British
Columbia, Canada
Personal Pedagogical Systems: Core Beliefs, Foundational
Knowledge, and Informal Theories of Teaching
Abstract: This case study describes a personal pedagogical system that acts a guide for adult educators in their practice. The system reflects core beliefs (assumptions about truth or propriety), foundational knowledge (essential knowledge for effective teaching of adults) and an informal theory of teaching (a theory of what works and what doesn't work), all of which interact dialectically. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.
Martha Strittmatter Tempesta,
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, USA
A Phenomenological Study of Learning Experiences
of Leaders Within A Social Movement
Abstract: A phenomenological research study of the learning experiences that contribute to the development of leaders in a social justice movement organized in urban faith-based communities. Relationships that endorsed and agitated were crucial to the process of learning. Within the community of learners, action was the prevailing source of new thinking.
Elizabeth J. Tisdell, National-Louis
University
Derise Tolliver, DePaul University
Silvia Villa, University of Illinois
Chicago
Toward a Culturally Relevant and Spiritually Grounded
Theory of Teaching for Social Transformation and Transformational Learning
Abstract: This paper explores what spirituality offers to teaching for social transformation and cultural relevance. We ground our discussion in and beyond the adult education literature, and in our experience as three women of different race and ethnic identities who bring elements of spirituality to our own practice.
Steven Weiland, Michigan State
University, U.S.A.
Autobiographical Memory and Vocations of Learning
Abstract: This paper addresses these questions: What can be derived from current theories of autobiographical memory for understanding how individuals understand and represent their aspirations, activities, and achievements in adult learning? And, How does recent autobiography represent the role of memory in learning across the life cycle? The opening section introduces current ideas about memory, in particular how we recall the personal past. The second part of the paper explores three "vocations" in learning that depend on autobiographical memory. By vocation I mean more than simply a form of work or profession, but a conviction of fitness or suitability for a particular career, and what it requires of learning in adulthood.
Saundra Wall Williams, North Carolina
State University, USA
Karen Watkins, University Of Georgia
at Athens, USA
Barbara Daley, University Of Wisconsin
at Milwaukee, USA
Bradley Courtenay, University Of Georgia
at Athens, USA
Mike Davis, University of Manchester,
UK
Darryl Dymock, Flinders University, South
Australia
Facilitating Cross-Cultural Online Discussion
Groups: Issues and Challenges
Abstract: This action research identifies the issues and challenges experienced by facilitators who moderated cross-cultural group discussion activities in an online environment. This study found that in a cross-cultural online environment, the challenges of the facilitator expand beyond the currently identified range of problems for online discussion.
Arthur L. Wilson, Cornell University,
USA
Ronald M. Cervero, University of Georgia,
USA
Adult Education and the Struggle for Knowledge and
Power: Practical Action in a Critical Tradition
Abstract: Along with others we argue that practical space can be found in nearly all forms of adult education for the redistribution of knowledge and power. The purpose of the paper is to describe a way of understanding practical action in a world structured by the inequitable distribution of knowledge and power.
Meg Wise, University of Wisconsin -
USA
Expanding the Limits of Evidence-based Medicine: A
Discourse Analysis of Cardiac Rehabilitation Clinical Practice Guidelines
Abstract: This paper identifies the promises and pitfalls of relying on guidelines derived from evidence-based medicine for post-heart attack education, and identifies how adult educators can expand current cardiac rehabilitation practice beyond its emphasis rational individual behavior change. Assumptions behind the "evidence" are discussed.
Linda Ziegahn, Antioch University McGregor,
USA
Reflection and Transformation in the Intercultural
Context
Abstract: The context of this qualitative study of the ways in which students approach new learning around culture and social justice is an online course devoted to the study of inclusive community building. Results suggest both nonreflective and reflective orientations as students attempted to integrate new theories into their present and past intercultural experiences.
Mary Ziegler and Chas Durant, Center
for Literacy Studies, The University of Tennessee, USA
Engagement: A Necessary Ingredient for Participation
in Adult Basic Education
Abstract: Education plays varying roles in efforts to reform the nation's welfare system. Some states provide adult basic education as a precursor to employment and career advancement. This study examined psychological and programmatic factors impacting this group of participants in adult basic education. Engagement was found to be a key variable.
Miriam Zukas and Janice Malcolm, University
of Leeds, UK
Pedagogy, Positionality and Adult Education: Missing
Links?
Abstract: Adult educators in the UK are now covered by one of two sets of professional standards. Using our previously developed framework for evaluating pedagogic models, we examine the extent to which perspectives on, and assumptions about positionality are evident and the ways in which diversity is recognised by those standards.
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