Education Commons^™

Exploring The Experiences And Relationships Of First-Year Teachers And Mentors, Melanie Jane Strey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educators have a moral imperative and job-embedded expectation to effectively teach all students, which requires a commitment to continued personal growth. The purpose of this instrumental project study was to explore the lived experiences of first-year teachers and their mentors who teach in a culturally-diverse school district. The conceptual framework was based on supporting adult learning methods through the theories of critical thinking, constructivist perspective, the theory of mentoring, and culturally-instructional teaching. The guiding research questions addressed the perceptions of 5 first-year teachers and 5 mentors regarding individual and shared learning as a result of mentor-mentee relationship. A constant comparison …

The Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program, Ellen Riina Hirsch

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective professional development is a longstanding problem in education. Locally, the school district in the study lacked a comprehensive system for evaluating their secondary level professional development programs. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the district's professional development program, specifically examining its perceived strengths and weaknesses. The conceptual framework of the study was systems theory and the adaptive schools reform model. The research questions examined the perceptions of various school personnel on their experiences with the current professional development program at the study district's high school. Individual interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 3 teachers, …

Creating Professional Learning Programs That Recognize Teachers As Adult Learners, Nicole Marie Lowe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to recent research, approximately 40-50% of teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years, creating a constant need for teachers. There is evidence that creating a supportive working environment through effective professional learning, drawing on adult learning theory, may reduce teacher turnover and increase student performance. This study explored teachers' perceptions about the professional development offerings available to them, how these perceptions influence their decisions to remain at the school, and what types of professional learning experiences teachers want to experience. Fourteen high school teachers participated in individual interviews and 2 focus groups, which were analyzed inductively for …

Perceived Academic Needs Of Military Veterans Within A For-Profit, Yvonne Rose Ross

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of recent U.S. military veterans attending college has increased due to the Veterans Education Assistance Act; however, retention and graduation rates for this population have declined. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the experiences and academic needs of recent military veterans as they transition from the military to academic life at a for-profit, proprietary college. In addition, this study identified differences in the problems faced by male and female veterans and explored whether veterans understood the resources available to them as they enrolled in higher education. Schlossberg's transitional theory was the conceptual framework used in …

Deep Impact: How A Job-Embedded Formative Assessment Professional Development Model Affected Teacher Practice, Thomas A. Stewart, Gary Houchens

Educational Administration, Leadership, and Research Faculty Publications

This study supports the work of Black and Wiliam (1998), who demonstrated that when teachers effectively utilize formative assessment strategies, student learning increases significantly. However, the researchers also found a “poverty of practice” among teachers, in that few fully understood how to implement classroom formative assessment. This qualitative case study examined a series of voluntary workshops offered at one middle school designed to address this poverty of practice. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews. These research questions framed the study: (1) What role did a professional learning community structure play in shaping workshop participants’ perceived effectiveness of a voluntary formative …

Learner-Centered Instructors' Beliefs About Adult Learning: A Phenomenological Study, Sarah Scherling

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The population of adult learners in higher education continues to increase. In many cases, the majority of faculty teaching adult learners are adjunct instructors. These instructors bring a rich background of experience and expertise to the classroom, but may lack experience in designing and implementing effective instructional practices for adult learners. Instructional practices of adjunct instructors are influenced by their beliefs about teaching and learning. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to examine learner-centered adjunct instructors' beliefs about adult learning and how these beliefs influence their instructional practices. The study used written reflection, interview, and classroom observation data …

Effects Of Implementing A Formative Assessment Initiative, Thomas A. Stewart

Dissertations

This dissertation supports the work of Black and Wiliam (1998), who demonstrated that when teachers effectively utilize formative assessment strategies, student learning increases significantly. However, the researchers also found a “poverty of practice” among teachers, in that few fully understood how to effectively implement formative assessment in the classroom. This qualitative case study examined a series of voluntary workshops offered at one public middle school designed to address this poverty of practice. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews. The researcher used constant comparative analysis to discover patterns in the data for the following four research questions: (1) What role did …

The Characteristics Of Learning In Social Movements: A Pilot Study Of An Environmental Organization, Jihyun Kim

Adult Education Research Conference

This qualitative study addresses the distinctive characteristics of learning in social movements in terms of learning content, motivation, format, and outcomes. Based on the researcher’s constructivist stance on knowledge, social movement activists in a currently active local environmental organization, the Protect Elica Island (pseudonym, PEI), were interviewed. The study showed that PEI activists learned skills and knowledge about the movement, as well as suggestions for more successful organization activities. Participants reported learning about the nature of social movement participation from reflection, and the significance of their social movement activities in more passionate, self- directed, self-controlled, and self-rewarding ways than in …

A Transformative Learning Perspective On Workplace Safety, R. Bruce Dodge

Adult Education Research Conference

Workplace injuries and illness are a problem of epidemic proportion yet safe workplaces can be created. Using the lens of transformative learning this case study, informed by ethnography, examined the experience of a long term seniors’ living facility which had dramatically reduced injury rates and costs. The study sought to understand the apparent perspective transformation of senior leaders and how that change impacted the organization. Disorienting dilemmas, discourse and critical reflection were seen as contributing to a new frame of reference which guided the actions of leaders.

Structural Model Of Simulation – Social Constructionist Perspective, Bo Chang

Adult Education Research Conference

The purpose of this study is to establish a viable structural model of simulation in learning from the social constructionist perspective. The study is based on one of my empirical studies about knowledge construction in learning community and also the researches on simulation from the interdisciplinary fields. The findings indicate that simulation is a process of designing and practicing a model generated from the representational structure of the real world and modifying the model according to the specific contexts. Simulation is useful for gaining analogous knowledge, knowledge that has similar or relevant structures between the simulatee and simulator.

Expanding The Conversation On Adult Learning Theories: Theorizing African American Women’S Learning And Development In Predominantly White Organizations, Marilyn Y. Byrd, Dominique T. Chlup

Adult Education Research Conference

This study is a qualitative, interpretative examination of nine African American women’s (AAW’s) experiences while working in a leadership position at a predominantly White organization and the learning experiences that emerged from these encounters. Black feminist theory (BFT) is used as a sociocultural framework to explain how the participants learned from these experiences. Three main learning themes emerged: learning from influential sources, learning through divine guidance, and learning through affirmation of self. We posit that sociocultural theories derived from AAW’s ways of knowing is necessary to move the field of adult education toward more inclusive ways of theorizing learning.

Factors Influencing International Students' Academic And Sociocultural Transition In An Increasingly Globalized Society, Chung-Hsien Hsu

Dissertations

This study is a mixed-method study. It consists of a quantitative study and a qualitative study. The quantitative study focused on international adult learners’ experiences of adaptation to American academic and social cultures. The qualitative study then investigated their experiences of cultural transition.

Based on the definition of globalized influences (Finger, 2005) and existing studies discussing the effects on globalized educational environments (Merriam & Young), factors related to globalized influences were selected and used to examine the extent to which these factors have affected international students’ adaptation to learning and life in the American university. Additionally, the other two variables, …

Revelations Of Adaptive Technology Hiding In Your Operating System, Kathleen P. King

Kathleen P King

Pre-publication version of a chapter about the assistive technology tools and resources available for free in Windows OS and Mac OS. Introducing higher education faculty to free resources, features and programs which they can recommend to their students or perhaps use for themselves (for instance for fading eyesight or hearing). In addition, the chapter briefly shares strategies and examples of how they might be used. The book will have an entire chapter dedicated to assistive technology as well. This is a popularized assistive technology chapter for generalist, NON special education, faculty to become acquainted with readily available and free resources. …

Revelations Of Adaptive Technology Hiding In Your Operating System, Kathleen P. King

Leadership, Counseling, Adult, Career and Higher Education Faculty Publications

Pre-publication version of a chapter about the assistive technology tools and resources available for free in Windows OS and Mac OS. Introducing higher education faculty to free resources, features and programs which they can recommend to their students or perhaps use for themselves (for instance for fading eyesight or hearing). In addition, the chapter briefly shares strategies and examples of how they might be used.

The book will have an entire chapter dedicated to assistive technology as well. This is a popularized assistive technology chapter for generalist, NON special education, faculty to become acquainted with readily available and free resources. …

Participatory Adult Learning Professional Development Strategy: Evidence And Examples, Carol M. Trivette

Carol M. Trivette

No abstract provided.

How To Stay A.L.I.V.E. In A World Of Ever-Changing Technology: Keeping Up With Adult Learning In A Virtual Environment, Donna Mancuso, Dominique Chlup, Rochell Mcwhorter

Adult Education Research Conference

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the benefits and barriers for adult learning within virtual environments.

Thinking Inside The Box: Graduate Students’ Perspectives On Hindered Creativity, Michelle N. Anderson

Adult Education Research Conference

This phenomenological study focused on the lived experiences of adult graduate students in relation to creativity. Findings illuminate the influence of professors on educational experiences of hindered creativity.

New Territories In Adult Education: Game-Based Learning For Adult Learners, Bryce O. Anderson, Michelle N. Anderson, Thomas A. Taylor

Adult Education Research Conference

The purpose of this paper is to address the different approaches to game-based learning by focusing on applied examples and implications for adult education.

A Phenomenological Study Of The Educational Experiences Of Black Women: Learning As You Go, Eva Young, Mary Ziegler, Kathy Greenberg

Adult Education Research Conference

This research study provided a descriptive picture of educational experiences of three sets of Black sisters who grew up in the inner-city. A qualitative existential-phenomenological research study design was used to derive common themes that represented the universal essence of the participants’ experiences. This study illuminated the formal and informal learning experiences of Black women and the profound role cultural experiences of family and community play in shaping their learning experiences through adulthood. Findings suggest that the educational experiences of Black women influenced their development, voice, self-esteem, and self-defined achievement and success. These findings dispute adult development theories that suggest …

“I Learned More Than I Wanted”: A Phenomenological Investigation Of The Experience Of Having One’S Beliefs Challenged In An Undergraduate Religion Course, Steven B. Frye

Adult Education Research Conference

This phenomenological study explored the experience of having pre-existing beliefs challenged in learning. Themes of an environment of challenge, the powerful role of the teacher, and choice stood out against the ground of the learners’ expectations of being challenged in the undergraduate religion class.

Oh, East Is East, And West Is West, And Never The Two Shall Meet: A Critical Review Of Museum Studies And Adult Education Literature, Dana Dudzinska-Prezesmitzki, Robin S. Grenier

Adult Education Research Conference

Both museum and adult learning researchers seek to understand how to best educate adults. Despite a plethora of common areas where the two fields intersect this review found limited evidence of shared epistemological, theoretical and empirical research or “roots”. Given the mutual interests of these fields it is argued that sharing of epistemological, theoretical and empirical research would benefit both. Implications and future research opportunities are discussed.

Cultural Components Of Technology And Its Implications For Adult Education, Jim Berger

Adult Education Research Conference

This article seeks to describe technology and how its design and use embodies values embedded in the dominant culture and is meant to support the hegemonic goals of the dominant culture while suppressing the growth and development of marginalized groups and propose a means of researching between technology and adult learners.

A Holistic Conceptualization Of Adult Learning And Its Critiques Of Selected Concepts And Theories, Baiyin Yang

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper critically evaluates several contemporary concepts and theories of adult learning. Most of existing adult learning theories and conceptualizations tend to narrowly define knowledge and learning. Holistic learning theory provides an integrative framework that can be used adequately explain many propositions of major contemporary theories and concepts of adult learning.

A Different Definition Of “Boob-Tube”: What Dr. Catherine Gale, Of The Avengers, Taught Women, Robin Redmon Wright

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper summarizes a qualitative research project exploring the impact of the first feminist television character, Cathy Gale, of the 1962-64 British television program, The Avengers. Contemporaneous British women viewers reveal how Gale’s character helped them reject traditional roles, incorporate the character’s strengths, and seek out other feminist role models.

A Critical Review Of The Empirical Research Of Transformative Learning (1999-2005), Edward W. Taylor

Adult Education Research Conference

This is a review of transformative learning (TL) since 1998 involving 40 empirical studies. Findings include trends of less emphasis on identifying transformative experiences in different setting, and more about fostering TL and better understanding the nature of critical reflection, relationships, a perspective transformation, and context. Also, research designs are becoming more sophisticated.

The Role Of Learning Experiences In The Development Of Expertise, Robin S. Grenier

Adult Education Research Conference

This study examined the types of learning experiences leading to the development of expertise. A qualitative research approach was employed with twelve participants from a purposeful sampling of four historically themed museums. Analysis revealed learning experiences leading to expertise development included formal training and continuing education and informal and incidental learning.

Reorienting To Expectations Of Change, Elizabeth Grigoriu

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper explains implicit and explicit theoretical assumptions of change and an emerging reorientation to expectations of change by using activity and meaning making theory to uncover a more expanded, integrated understanding of our expectations of change. The purpose of this reorganization is to better navigate social interactions as practitioner theorists.

Thoughts And Feelings Of A Beginning Tertiary Group Of Adult Learners In A Human Resource Development Course, Bryan W. Smith

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This is a study of a case of adults entering tertiary study for the first time, and their mental life concerning their own self-performance, constructed across four instances. The purposes of the study were to identify some characteristics of the four participants’ covert behaviour during their learning in a course on Human Resource Development (1-IRD), to gain some insight into the conception of self-performance held by the participants and the attributions of this self-performance, to examine the approaches to learning held by each participant, and to contribute to closing the gap between adult education and educational psychology. Three consecutive three-hour …