Adult and Continuing Education Administration Commons^™

Practicing Ethical Research To Empower Sexual Assault Survivors In Higher Education: An International Perspective, Amber L. Giffin, Mitsunori Misawa

Adult Education Research Conference

Sexual violence is a major global health concern and sociocultural issue (World Health Organization, 2021), with around one-third of sexual assault survivors developing mental health issues (Carey et al., 2018). However, there is a dearth in research about sexual assault survivors in higher education. Therefore, this paper will explore how researchers can ethically empower sexual assault survivors through research processes in higher education. The questions guiding this study are: 1) What are the current strategies used by researchers to ethically empower sexual assault survivors in higher education? 2) How do researchers employ these strategies in practice?

Transformative Learning Theory, A Theory In Progress? Thoughts From A Habermasian Perspective, Saskia Eschenbacher

Adult Education Research Conference

Mezirow borrows heavily from Habermas utilizing core concepts of his theory. However, this activity has serious shortcomings. This paper explores these shortcomings and contributes to the further development of the theory of transformative learning (TL). This paper focuses on three philosophical aspects of transformation theory. I (1) underline inaccuracies and misunderstandings of Habermas' ideas utilized by Mezirow. It will (2) identify theoretical shortcomings and problems in the work of Habermas transposed onto Mezirow's theory of transformative learning. And (3) finally I argue for a way forward for the theory of transformative learning to become a theory in progress.

Prior Learning Assessment: Systematic Review Of Academic Literature, Catherine A. Cherrstrom,, Carrie J. Boden, Todd Sherron, Lindsey Wilson

Adult Education Research Conference

Many argue a college degree is more important than ever and required for many occupations. However, pursuing one requires time and money. Prior learning assessment (PLA) offers one solution to overcome such barriers by documenting outside learning through competency portfolios or assessment testing to receive academic credit. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to examine the academic literature related to PLA within the United States. The review searched 669 databases, across 72 disciplines/fields, and yielded 47 peer-reviewed journal articles, published in 14 journals, during the last decade. Findings included six major themes with implications for adult education theory …

Implementing Theory Of Planned Behavior In Health Profession Education In Ghana, Linda D. Caples

Adult Education Research Conference

The process of clinical knowledge translation contributes to clinical decision-making along with interactions with other healthcare professionals, their patients, and the communities they serve. Clinical practice guidelines, patient care experience, and continuing medical education are some of the components that contribute to clinical knowledge translation. The knowledge and interactions help inform a physician’s salient beliefs. Thus, the use of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) facilitates research into how background factors which include knowledge and interactions influence behavioral, normative, and control beliefs and in turn, how those beliefs influence intention and ultimately, physician clinical practice behavior.

Theorizing Embodied, Collective And Societal Learning Through Prefigurative Social Movements, Margaret L. Cain, Jennifer Kushner, Cassidy Thomas

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper theorizes adult learning as a multi-leveled, emergent process of interactions between individuals, groups, and societal systems. We theorize from the context of prefigurative social movements that are enacting values of direct democracy, solidarity economics, and equity. We analyze Occupy encampments as sites in which individuals, movement groups, and society learn as complex adaptive systems. The theorizing of these learning processes has implications for adult education theory, research, and practice.

Transformative Listening Across Global Contexts: Fostering Authentic Connection To Self, Other And Community, Laurie Anderson Sathe, Tes Cotter Zakrzewski, Alessandra Romano, Anne-Liisa Longmore, Deborah J. Kramlich

Adult Education Research Conference

As a group of global scholars, we see authentic listening, with its focus on attention and presence, as crucial to the formation of trust, connection, and the facilitation of learning. We co-created the Transformative Listening Collaborative and a Transformative Listening Protocol (the Protocol) as a means to increase awareness of the importance of authentic listening as a transformative component of learning through story. The Protocol is intended to improve listening skills, foster deep sense-making, and generate contextually situated spaces in which participants may connect with another, understand another, and/or learn more deeply about oneself.

Action Is Demonstrative Of Critical Reflection And “Disorienting Dilemma” Is Démodé, Carol A. Olszewski, Catherine A. Hansman

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper explores transformative learning and 1) roles of decision-making and actions as outward expressions of critical reflection and 2) vocabulary that encapsulates the essence of the “disorienting dilemma.”

Continuing And Community Education As Engaged Learning, Wendy M. Green, Catherine Hansman, Nancy M. Prattt, Marius Boboc

Adult Education Research Conference

CPE providers focus on understanding learning needs, designing and providing educational offerings, and evaluating programs. Cervero and Daly believe these decisions are made within the contested spaces of the social, professional, institutional, and educational systems; however, CPE continues to focus on the needs of the workplace and economic demands. We argue for a re-framing of how CPE is conceptualized and situated within the realm of adult learning and development specific to higher education institutions which engage in the endeavor, proposing the Community Transformation Model for Continuing and Extended Education to address neo-liberalism bias.

Disability Matters: Ideia, Section 504, And Ada: What Do These Acts Mean For African American Learners Who Experience Intellectual Disabilities? A Critical Literature Review, Marketa President, Elice E. Rogers, Jonathan E. Messemer

Adult Education Research Conference

Adult learners with an intellectual disability have legal protections to access post-secondary learning and vocational opportunities. As individuals strive to maximize potential in the disability space, do cultural barriers of racism disrupt the potential for African American adult learners with intellectual disabilities? One implicit assumption is that race and social status affect advocacy efforts for learners during K-12 experiences, and the adult learners’ ability to self-advocate.

A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis For A Theory Of Interfaith/Interreligious Learning Through Dialogue, Elizabeth M. Pope, Nadira K. Charaniya, Jane West Walsh

Adult Education Research Conference

Interfaith/interreligious (IF/IR) dialogue offers a context through which individuals within various religious communities can learn from and with each other. There are unique aspects to this learning environment. First, learning through conversation. Second, learning through conversation about a difficult topic. And third, learning from and with a religious other. To best understand what learning through IF/IR dialogue is, researchers would benefit from a nuanced understanding of the complexities of the learning environment and the participants within it. In this qualitative meta-synthesis, we examine current research on IF/IR dialogue to outline a theory of dialogical IF/IR learning.

Program Closures: What Happens To Faculty Left Behind?, Lilian H. Hill, E. Paulette Isaac-Savage

Adult Education Research Conference

This autoethonographic study documents the stories of two adult education faculty members’ experiences when their academic programs were closed. In both cases, they each became programs of one after colleagues retired or left for other reasons. Despite their isolation as the only faculty members with adult education credentials, both continue to conduct research, teach, mentor students and colleagues, and remain engaged with the field of adult education.

The Power Of The Mindbody: Collective Somatic Learning In Community Organizing Groups, Jessica Roadman

Adult Education Research Conference

Embodiment theory posits that learning is not limited to the cognitive functions of the brain, but is the adaptation resulting from multi-system responses to inputs. Somatics offers techniques for increased awareness of response mechanisms, which allows for more controlled self-regulation. This paper explores the benefits of engaging in somatic practicing as a tool for individual grounding catalysed for change in the context of the organizing group the Powerful Moms Who Care. It focuses on the emergence of connected activism through trauma processing, gaining body autonomy, and unconstrained visioning of the future as a result of integrating somatic practices.

Development Of Ego Stages And Intercultural Sensitivity Through Doctoral Study, Abigail Lynam, Steven Schapiro

Adult Education Research Conference

This study explores the developmental diversity of incoming and graduating students regarding ego stage and intercultural sensitivity and how students develop in the context of their doctoral studies. It also examines the relationship and correlations between the two domains and how they each develop. In this paper, we report on the results in process in year two of this multi-year longitudinal study.

Human Sustainability: Collaborative Learning For Health And Well-Being In The Academy, Edith Gnanadass, Wendy Griswold, Donna Menke

Adult Education Research Conference

This roundtable will help educators develop a holistic focus on their mental, physical, and spiritual well-being to engage fully with learners (hooks, 1994). Faculty affected by the global pandemic and stressors of academia took control of their work-life balance crucial to human sustainability (Sheared, 2019). Researcher One participated in a diabetes prevention program, experienced improved health and overall well-being, then used a community education model to share her learning with colleagues. The researchers are exploring their informal self-directed learning process using Prochaska and DiClemente’s (1982) transtheoretical model, Lave and Wenger’s (1991) community of practice, and Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning model.

Strengthening Adult Literacy Through Creative Writing, Elizabeth Santiago

Adult Education Research Conference

This Roundtable will discuss a qualitative study that investigated how creative writing strengthens and deepens the literacy skills of adults. Specifically, the study explores two sub-questions: How can creative writing processes support students’ achievement of personal and/or academic goals? How does a curricular focus on individual storytelling build literacy confidence and/or student agency? Data include: pre- and post-surveys, pre- and post-interviews, curriculum design based on best practices in writing instruction and adult learning, and student writing. The study suggests that creative writing is a viable and effective tool to promote literacy acquisition, build student voice, and support student-centred learning.

The Unintended Consequences Of Good Intentions, Debra Tavaras

Adult Education Research Conference

Adult education programs encourage adults to attend college after they receive their GED, yet the programs do not prepare them for the transition or on how to be successful. Colleges and adult education programs do not give enough attention to the challenges and barriers the adult learner faces. Programs assume that adult learners know how to balance the rigour of college and their other responsibilities. After all they are adults. Yet, studies have shown that 77% of GED graduates who attend community and technical colleges withdrew at the end of the first semester.

Using The Critical Mathematics Pedagogical Framework To Teach Adult Basic Education Learners: A Transformative Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Study, Matthew D. Gromlich

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The goal of this study was to design and implement curricula in the Adult Basic Education classroom that aligned to the Critical Mathematics Pedagogical Framework. Specifically, this study assessed if ABE students’ mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-efficacy ware affected by curricula that aligns to the Critical Mathematics Pedagogical Framework. Using a transformative convergent parallel mixed methods study, this study showed that students taught using CMPF-based lessons specifically reflected on their own attitudes towards mathematics self-efficacy, mathematics anxiety, number positioning, and the need for societal change around mathematical concepts. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed to highlight student reflections and …

An Exploration Of The Perceptions Of Institutional Advancement Leaders On Their Role In The Survival Of Private Hbcus: A Qualitative Study, Evelyn Leathers, Comfort O. Okpala

Journal of Research Initiatives

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of institutional advancement leaders on their role in the survival of private HBCUs. The major goals of the study focused on how advancement leaders perceived their leadership roles in generating funds to sustain private historically Black colleges and universities in the southeastern region of United States. Purposive sampling technique was utilized to select seven experienced and successful advancement leaders for the study. Through in-depth phenomenological interview and analyses, four themes emerged. The findings from the study show that the participants strongly perceived that their leadership role in fundraising to …

Doctoral Student Online Learning: Addressing Challenges Of The Virtual Experience, Dejuanna M. Parker, Kent Willis, Barbara D. Holmes

Journal of Research Initiatives

Abstract

This qualitative study sought to understand student beliefs and perceived levels of confidence in a primarily online professional doctoral degree in education. Before accessing course material and formal instruction, respondents assigned scores to a Likert-style survey and answered open-ended questions about their understanding of basic educational research methodology. The rise of distance education follows the rapid growth of technological advancement, yet, much is still unknown about pedagogical practices that contribute to improved learning outcomes for students in the virtual environment. Themes that emerged from this study suggest that (1) student expectations do not align with prior preparation, (2) student …

The Therapeutic Nature Of Qualitative Interviewing: Benefits Of Research Participation, April Perry, Mary Grace Bigelow

Journal of Research Initiatives

This research explored the notion that interview studies can be therapeutic for participants. It examines the common themes that participants report as beneficial from participating in a study about the transition from higher education to post-university life. The findings are presented as common themes and illuminated by participant excerpts. It is concluded that there are therapeutic characteristics to the qualitative interview process that mirror some of the benefits individuals can receive from the counseling process.