Education Commons^™

Women Of African Descent: Persistence In Completing A Doctorate, Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

This study examines the educational persistence of women of African descent (WOAD) in pursuit of a doctorate degree at universities in the southeastern United States. WOAD are women of African ancestry born outside the African continent. These women are heirs to an inner dogged determination and spirit to survive despite all odds (Pulliam, 2003, p. 337).This study used Ellis’s (1997) Three Stages for Graduate Student Development as the conceptual framework to examine the persistent strategies used by these women to persist to the completion of their studies.

Exploring Supports Provided For Student Eportfolio Development In A Professional Development Context, Muireann Okeeffe

Articles

This small scale study aimed to explore and establish if support strategies implemented to enhance student ePortfolios were helpful to students and to identify useful ways of supporting ePortfolio development with future cohorts of students. This action research study was informed through focus group discussion and individual interviews with students.

The importance of reflection for the development professional practice and of creative abilities is discussed. The substantial benefits of creativity within education are investigated and characteristics of creativity that might be developed with students’ ePortfolios are revealed. Specifically this paper seeks to foster Crafts (2011) four characteristics of creativity, pluralities, …

Opting Out: Non-Participation In An Educational Assistance Program, Mary Elizabeth Lucal

Doctoral Dissertations

Educational assistance programs have existed in the United States since as early as 1952. These programs, in which employers pay for employees to complete post-secondary coursework, are popular among employers as recruitment and retention tools (Babcock, 2009; Buddin & Kapur, 2002; Cappelli, 2004; Manchester, 2008; Meisler, 2004; SHRM, 2009). They are viewed by employees as a means to accomplish personal goals (Jacobs, Skillings, & Yu, 2001). Yet, at last count, only 8% to 9% of eligible employees participated in classes through educational assistance (General Accounting Office, 1996). Little is known about why employees choose not to participate in educational assistance …

The Relationship Between Self-Directed Learning And Information Literacy Among Adult Learners In Higher Education, Tiffani Reneau Conner

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-directed learning and information literacy. Participants completed the Personal Orientation in Self-Directed Learning Scale ([PRO-SDLS], Stockdale, 2003) and the Information Literacy Test ([ILT], James Madison University, 2003). The PRO-SDLS is a self-report scale consisting of 25 statements about self-directed learning preferences in college classrooms. The ILT is a 60-item multiple-choice test that assesses the information literacy skills of college students. Correlation, ANOVA, and multiple regressions were used to test relationships and differences between self-directed learning and information literacy. Despite claims that teaching information literacy creates self-directed learners, composite scores …

Being A (Good) Student: Conceptions Of Identity Of Adult Basic Education Participants Transitioning To College, Mina Reddy

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the perceptions of identity of a category of students that has rarely been studied in the context of higher education. These are adults who have participated in GED preparation or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses in Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs. A college education is increasingly necessary for individual economic success and a higher quality of life, and a college-educated workforce is a major element in national economic competitiveness. Rates of college enrollment and persistence of ABE students, however, are low. The study seeks to determine how ABE students and graduates conceive of their …

The Future Of Higher Education Preparation Programs: Implications For Policy And Practice, Sydney Freeman Jr.

Sydney Freeman Jr., PhD, CFD

Half of the sitting university presidents in the United States are over the age of 60 (American Council of Education, 2012a). Thus, they are nearing the age of retirement. This poses a problem and makes the preparation of leaders to replace them of particular importance. Higher education administration programs have been an academic preparation ground for those aspiring to higher education leadership. In prior years, it was most common that higher education program graduates were offered lower- and middle-level management positions in colleges and universities. Similarly some of these graduates developed careers in government agencies dealing with higher education issues …

Dr. Connie's 6 Keys To Becoming A Successful Learner, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Connie I Reimers-Hild, PhD, CPC

I have learned a great deal about students by teaching and advising learners at the University of Nebraska. The fact that I was working on my Ph.D. on a part-time basis while being employed full-time broadened my knowledge about how to be a successful learner. My professional and personal experiences in the world of higher education have enabled me develop some powerful insights on what it takes to be a successful learner. I would like to share my insights with as many people as possible, so here are Dr. Connie’s 6 Keys to Becoming a Successful Learner:

Elitism Or Pragmatism?Faculty Hiring At Top Graduate Programs In Higher Education Administration, Sydney Freeman Jr., David Diramio

Sydney Freeman Jr., PhD, CFD

This study is an examination of the hiring practices of top-ranked higher education administration graduate programs in the United States. A total of 39 program coordinators, department heads, and/or deans were asked using qualitative methods to address the phenomenon of faculty hiring, including why a majority of top-ranked programs preferred hiring faculty who have doctorates from other top programs. One of the findings indicates that top-programs indeed hire them for very practical reason as identified in the study. Findings from this study should inform the decision-making of higher education program coordinators, department heads, and deans as they conduct faculty searches.

The Integrated Basic Education And Skills Training (I-Best) Program: Equiping All Adults For The Global Economy, Robert W. Fox, Mitchell R. Williams

Robert Fox

Abstract In 2004, educational leaders in Washington State, recognizing the necessity of rapidly equipping adults with career skills, developed the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program to meet workforce needs. I-BEST is now operational in all 34 of the State’s community colleges. I-BEST is an instructional method which provides basic skills support to ABE and ESL students while they receive career training. I-BEST uniquely pairs a basic skills instructor with a vocational instructor in the classroom at the same time. Previous research on the I-BEST program has been positive, but it has ignored the pivotal role instructors and …

Talent Management In Education, Stuart M. Wasilowski

Stuart Wasilowski

No abstract provided.

Actores Secundarios En El Movimiento Estudiantil Chileno En 2011 Y 2012: Un Análisis Comparativo De La Asamblea Coordinadora De Estudiantes Secundarios Y La Coordinadora Nacional De Estudiantes Secundarios., Carly Brook

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Chilean student movement, intermittently present in Chile since the beginning of the 20th Through the conduction of personal interviews, utilization of student proposals for a new system of education, occupation of the concepts of social movements of Alain Touraine and concepts of student movements of Manuel Garretón, revision of current news sources, and participant observation, this investigation concludes the dynamic between the ACES and the CONES to be an antagonistic one characteristic of two social actors in competition over control of the definition of the same social resource, a new education system for Chile. It then identifies this antagonism …

Class Dismissed: Exploring The Semiotic Niche Of Academicians With Working Class Roots, Robin Redmon Wright

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper is one part of a larger study of scholars with working-class backgrounds. The purpose was to find factors in their working-class upbringing that led to their pursuit of a doctorate and life in the academy. In this section, I use symbolic conversion theory and biosemiotics to in the analysis and discussion of two major threads running through the study: the role of parochial education and an early passion for reading. Keywords: class, social justice, biosemiotics, symbolic convergence, higher education, embodied.

Violent Transformations: Can Adult Learning Theory Help Explain Radicalization, Political Violence, And Terrorism?, Alex S. Wilner, Claire-Jehanne Dubouloz

Adult Education Research Conference

Learning to be Violent? Adult education is imbued with positive thinking and subjective goals. Social, economic, and political emancipation and value-based shifts in attitudes are its theoretical and practical cornerstones. This is particularly evident in Stephen Brookfield and John Holst‘s Radicalizing Learning (Jossey-Bass, 2011). ―For us,‖ they write, ―adult learning is inextricably tied to creating and extending political and economic democracy – to equalizing democratic control of and access to wealth, education, health care, and creative work, and to promoting collective … forms of decision-making and labor‖ (xii). Adult education‘s ―traditional concern‖ is to create ―critical thinkers‖ able to counter …

Authenticity In The Classroom: A Qualitative Study Of Lesbian Health Educators, Rebecca A. Weiler-Timmins

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper discusses the findings of a qualitative study which implemented a narrative inquiry approach to explore how lesbian health educators navigate authenticity in a heteronormative higher education setting.

Testing A Theory Of Change Model For Evaluating The Impact Of Action Learning Programs, Karen E. Watkins, Aliki Nicolaides

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper reports findings from an evaluation of an executive leadership development program in a large global healthcare organization. The paper offers a rethinking of evaluation from a transfer of learning model to a more open-ended, developmental approach based on a theory of change when learning is action-oriented, emergent, informal and incidental. Included in this paper are data from the evaluation illustrating learning increases in individual, group and system capacities to effectively engage with the demands placed on leaders and organizations in a complex, global context.

Non-Western Teaching And Learning Processes: Adult Education Among Women Artists Of Kenya‟S Luo Community., Akinyi Wadende

Adult Education Research Conference

The world over, educators are increasingly expected to serve learners with multiple differentiating conditions, functions of among other things, cultural orientations, modern times, and trends. Additionally, there is increased information exchange in the world due to population migration and the ever increasing access to internet services for hitherto inaccessible Geographical regions and related populations. Internet access has allowed online class attendance and brought needed educational services to learners irrespective of their physical locations around the world. All the above dynamics increase college students‘ diversity when added to the current economic recession felt in the world and which has seen many …

Constructing Latino Cultural Citizenship In The Ged Classroom: Mexican Migrant Students Claim Their Right To An Education, Lucy Guevara Velez

Adult Education Research Conference

According to the GED (General Educational Development) Testing Service, 452,000 individuals earned a GED certificate in 2010 in the United States. Texas, California, Florida, and New York show the highest testing volumes. In Texas, the ethnic distribution of GED passers is the following: Hispanics (44 percent), Whites (39.5 percent), and African Americans (14 percent). Although the average age of the GED tester is 26.8, the 16-18 and 19-24 year olds are the largest age groups served in Texas. This paper examines the value of the GED credential for a group often not studied: Mexican migrants who dropped out of high …

The Role Of Digital Story Telling (About Spirituality And Cultural Identity) In Instrumental, Communicative, And Emancipatory Learning, Elizabeth J. Tisdell, Gregory Carrow-Boyd, Shivaani Selvaraj, Janelle Heiseman

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper discusses the role of instrumental, communicative, and emancipatory learning through digital storytelling in a class that deals with spirituality and culture in the health and education professions in an adult higher education setting, and explores its theoretical and practical implications. Keywords: digital storytelling, emancipatory learning, spirituality and culture

A Content Analysis Of Transformative Learning Theory, Edward W. Taylor, Patricia Cranton

Adult Education Research Conference

For over a couple of years an edited handbook of transformative learning theory (TL), inclusive of an array of well-known scholars, has been under development (Taylor & Cranton, 2012). Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive and critical review of more than three decades of theory development, research, and practice in TL. In addition, it is an effort to promote the study of TL and prevent a reification of the theory, whereby its basic premises about learning have often become unquestioned in adult and higher education. The Handbook had four primary focuses: a) an historical/interdisciplinary development of the field, b) …

How Adult Esl Students Perceive Prior-Experience-Based Instruction, Fujuan Tann, Lee Nabb

Adult Education Research Conference

Experience-based education arguably has been widely venerated by adult educators in the United States for several decades (Lindeman, 1926; Dewey, 1938; Knowles, 1970; Kolb, 1984; Mezirow, 1991). Incorporating students‘ prior experience into the learning experience is commonly practiced in this country, and evidence suggests that adult students favor such instructional strategies (Andresen, Boud, & Cohen, 2000; Wlodkowski, 1999, 2004; Vella, 2002). Moreover, globalization as well as ever increasing immigration and international student populations continue to change the composition of adult learners (Institute of International Education, 2011a, 2011b; U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The U.S. Census Bureau (2010) reported that about 12% …

Wisdom, Complexity, And Adult Education: Emerging Theory And Meanings For Practice, Ann L. Swartz, Elizabeth J. Tisdell

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper discusses various conceptions of wisdom in order to foster theory development of what it means to access and act with wisdom, as well as to educate adults in a way that fosters wisdom in a complex world. Keywords: wisdom, complexity science, and spirituality.

The Impact Of A Ged To College Transitions Program On Student Motivation, Donald Stoddart, Mattyna L. Stephens, Michelle Johnson, Debbie Lechuga

Adult Education Research Conference

Student‘s motivation and persistence are common issues that educators and learners struggle with continuously. This is particularly significant in the field of adult education. According to Hardin (2008) these adult learners, or non-traditional students exhibit characteristics such as; delaying enrollment into higher education until adulthood, enrolling part time, working full time, being financially independent, has family responsibilities and academic deficiencies. Such characteristics can form severe barriers in the quest to pursue higher education. Therefore, understanding self-determination and motivation are necessary to help these learners to be successful. To help students to be successful, scholars and practitioners must engage in longitudinal …

Reconnecting With Your Passion: An Action Research Study Exploring Humanities And Professional Nursing, Melissa J. Snyder

Adult Education Research Conference

The purposes of this study are to examine the process of how nurses engage in a professional development program that draws on reading and creative narrative writing related to their professional values and ideals and to examine the nurses‘ perspectives on how their involvement in the process and program relates to changes in their professional roles.

The Disjuncture Of Learning And Recognition: Licensure-Related Credential Assessment From The Standpoint Of Chinese Immigrant Engineers In Canada, Hongxia Shan

Adult Education Research Conference

Non/recognition of foreign credentials has been criticized for obstructing skilled immigrants from succeeding in the Canadian labour market. Despite the criticisms, rarely is empirical investigation conducted to pin down the gaps and contradictions in specific assessment mechanisms. This paper is an effort to this end. Drawing on an institutional ethnographic study of the credential assessment practices in the engineering profession, the study problematizes the redundant and ad hoc assessment procedures, licensure bodies‘ narrow focus on applicants‘ undergraduate education, and their deficit approach to training from other countries.

A New Normal: Young Men Of Color, Trauma And Engagement In Learning, Joni M. Schwartz

Adult Education Research Conference

This phenomenological study examined trauma experienced by young men of color, trauma‘s effect on engagement in college, and the young men‘s willingness to access counseling. The theoretical and methodological frameworks are Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) respectively. The findings from the study presented in this paper suggest that young men have a ―lived experience‖ of trauma that they perceive as normal which impacts their engagement in learning.

Job Training And The Skills Debate: A Road To Nowhere?, Fred M. Schied, Keon Skelton

Adult Education Research Conference

Training programs have been largely unsuccessful in providing jobs for the unemployed or those employed in low-level jobs. Yet public support for these programs has remained high. This seeming contradiction is explored by reviewing evidence suggesting that what has been created are not policies to train people for jobs, but a thriving ―training industry‖ that only marginally assists individuals in finding employment or in developing skills that allow for career advancement.

Funding Innovative Programs For Adults: Searching For Policy On The Improvement Of Higher Education, Amy D. Rose, Bridget D. Stuckey

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper examines the history of funding policies and grants from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). It examines these policies in light of the changing and ephemeral sense of purpose of adult education.

Self-Directed Learning In The Workplace: Implications For The Legislation Of Trade Union Education In South Korea, Jeong Rok Oh, Cho Hyun Park

Adult Education Research Conference

The purpose of this study is to theorize self-directed learning (SDL) in the workplace from the perspectives of human resource development (HRD), adult education (AdEd), and lifelong learning in order to suggest the implications for the legislation of trade union education (TUE) in South Korea. Since legislation at the national level can promote workers‘ participation in TUE in the context of SDL for industrial democracy through humanization of education, the South Korean government should provide trade unions with appropriate legislative, financial, and administrative support. Keywords: self-directed learning, trade union education, adult education.

Exploring Adult Risk Propensity And Academic Risk-Taking Within The Online Learning Environment, Linda E. Robinson, Alexandra Bell

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper presents a portion of the findings from a larger study of factors related to academic risk-taking behaviors among a group of preservice teachers in the online component of a blended-format course. We describe our study findings and implications specific for the variable of risk propensity and its relationship with academic risk-taking behavior. A synthesis of our findings with the works of other researchers provides the groundwork for exploring factors that instructors can consider in designing learning environments that support academic risk-taking, particularly in online environments. Keywords: academic risk-taking, online learning, risk propensity, blended learning.

The World As It Could Be: Class, Race And Gender For And With Working Class Students, Dianne Ramdeholl, Richard Wells

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper discussed the results and implications of two workshops designed for a university based labor studies center. The goal was to create space for students to grapple with the complex nature of inequality and begin to explore possibilities of a broad based social solidarity. Keywords: critical pedagogy, adult education, critical/critical race theory.