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2011

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Institution
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Articles 121 - 150 of 339

Full-Text Articles in Education

Essentializing The Experiences And Expertise Of Adult Literacy Educators, Christine Pinsent-Johnson Jun 2011

Essentializing The Experiences And Expertise Of Adult Literacy Educators, Christine Pinsent-Johnson

Adult Education Research Conference

Adult literacy educator expertise is being subsumed by the Essential Skills framework and IALS testing methodology as both are packaged as adult literacy pedagogy. Preliminary findings from an Institutional Ethnography illustrate how educators are becoming increasingly immersed in the discursive relations of the literacy regime as they: 1) get hooked into the discourse of the regime; 2) establish a direct link with assessments and accountability requirements; and 3) are taught to change the way they teach, discounting both research and practice based knowledge of literacy and adult learning.

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State Violence, Learning And The Art Of Memory, Bethany J. Osborne, Shahrzad Mojab Jun 2011

State Violence, Learning And The Art Of Memory, Bethany J. Osborne, Shahrzad Mojab

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper examines the role that memory plays in the learning process of people who have experienced state violence. Our approach to this study has been a critical feminist-anti-racist perspective. Working with a group of women and men who are former political prisoners from Iran living in diaspora, we tried to interrogate questions about the role that memory plays in resistance and community building.

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Getting Situated In A New Community Of Practice: The Early-Career Workplace Learning Of First-Generation College Graduates, Joann S. Olson Jun 2011

Getting Situated In A New Community Of Practice: The Early-Career Workplace Learning Of First-Generation College Graduates, Joann S. Olson

Adult Education Research Conference

A phenomenological study conducted with first-generation college graduates who were working full time demonstrates how these first-generation college graduates’ work environments contributed to a sense of meaning in work. Graduates indicated that co-workers were not, generally, proactive to help newcomers learn their jobs. Participants described their attempts to reconcile ideas of “work ethic,” as understood from families of origin, with the realities of their current jobs. Rather than intentional and learning-friendly communities of practice seeking to incorporate newcomers into the workplace, participants more often found they were left alone to learn their job.

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“Positive Aging” As Consumer Pedagogy: Towards A Theoretical Linking Of Adult Learning, Aging And Consumerism, Trevor Norris, Tara Silver Jun 2011

“Positive Aging” As Consumer Pedagogy: Towards A Theoretical Linking Of Adult Learning, Aging And Consumerism, Trevor Norris, Tara Silver

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper creates theoretical links between aging, adult learning and consumerism through an exploration of the contemporary cultural discourse of “positive aging.” Through the lens of adult education, we examine the pedagogical implication of positive aging as both a process of learning and consumption. This consumerist approach to aging is driven by modern gerontology, which reconstructs aging on the basis of individual abilities needs and functions. As a result, the culture of positive aging raises many questions for adult educators, particularly those who are interested in informal learning.

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Are All Contexts Learning Contexts? Rethinking The Relationship Between Learning And Context In Adult Learning Theory, Kim L. Niewolny, Arthur L. Wilson Jun 2011

Are All Contexts Learning Contexts? Rethinking The Relationship Between Learning And Context In Adult Learning Theory, Kim L. Niewolny, Arthur L. Wilson

Adult Education Research Conference

We explore the “question of context” as a discursive practice in adult learning literature to reveal how the act of identifying learning contexts within complementary (and at times confusing) discourses of adult learning affects our means to understand and organize learning. We specifically focus on the way cognitive and situated conceptualizations of learning are utilized, challenged, and reconfigured in social and in/nonformal learning discourses to give meaning to the relationship between context and learning. We conclude with implications for rethinking the “static” understanding of context in adult education research and practice to expand our contemporary views of learning-in-context.

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What’S The Social Network Got To Do With It?!?: An Adult And Higher Education Evaluation Of Perceptions And Motivations To Study Abroad, Shelbee R. Nguyen, Joellen E. Coryell Jun 2011

What’S The Social Network Got To Do With It?!?: An Adult And Higher Education Evaluation Of Perceptions And Motivations To Study Abroad, Shelbee R. Nguyen, Joellen E. Coryell

Adult Education Research Conference

The purpose of this study was to investigate adult learners’ perceptions and motivations to study abroad as well as the kinds of influences, including popular culture and social networks, that influence adult students to study abroad.

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Canadian Adult Education: Still Moving, Tom Nesbit, Budd L. Hall Jun 2011

Canadian Adult Education: Still Moving, Tom Nesbit, Budd L. Hall

Adult Education Research Conference

Two of Canada’s veteran adult educators have recently discussed what they claim as the “death” of the Canadian adult education movement. In this paper, we challenge this claim and provide evidence to show that adult education in Canada remains vigorous and vital, expanding in some areas and overall still deserving of being called a movement.

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Competence Development In Fixed-Term Employment, Gesa MüNchhausen Jun 2011

Competence Development In Fixed-Term Employment, Gesa MüNchhausen

Adult Education Research Conference

A German research project seeks to provide answers on how fixed-term employment affects the development of occupational competences. The objective is to compare the impact of this form of employment on competence acquisition by fixed-term employees and employees in “normal” working relationships from a subjective angle. Criteria for comparison are: scope for activity, task diversity, complexity of work, career opportunities, participation in formal continuing train- ing, social support and integration, decision-making powers, information offer- ings as well as job satisfaction. The project uses qualitative and quantitative re- search methods - that are a guided qualitative survey on the one hand …

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Does The Cap Fit? The Case For Contextualised Initial Teacher Training For Vocational Teachers, Bev Morris, Steve Gildersleve Jun 2011

Does The Cap Fit? The Case For Contextualised Initial Teacher Training For Vocational Teachers, Bev Morris, Steve Gildersleve

Adult Education Research Conference

This case study of UK teacher-training for vocational trainers highlights the tensions between the professionalization of the teaching workforce and the skills and expectations of vocational trainers.

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Theological Education In Action: A Study Of Racial Perspective Change Among Participants In The Student Interracial Ministry Of Union Theological Seminary (1960-1968), Kirk A. Moll Jun 2011

Theological Education In Action: A Study Of Racial Perspective Change Among Participants In The Student Interracial Ministry Of Union Theological Seminary (1960-1968), Kirk A. Moll

Adult Education Research Conference

This qualitative research study investigated the role played by white theological seminary student participation in the Student Interracial Ministry (1960-1968) in the transformation of the participants’ racial perspectives. The central theoretical framework was transformative learning. The role of racism as a disorienting dilemma; interpersonal, affective, and spiritual/religious factors, and transformative learning across the lifespan were explored.

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Clipped Wings: Professionalism Structuring Adult Educators In A Globalized Workplace, Robert Mizzi Jun 2011

Clipped Wings: Professionalism Structuring Adult Educators In A Globalized Workplace, Robert Mizzi

Adult Education Research Conference

Through policy-oriented research and in-depth interviews, this research project investigated what kinds of discourses could possibly be structuring the lives of adult educators who work in international development. One significant theme that emerged in the data was the presence of “image” as a microtechnology of power that not only demanded silence around “controversial” identity- differences, but also encouraged adult educators to adopt a public identity that was more congruent to the accepted norms of the workplace.

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The Intersection Of Racist And Homophobic Bullying In Adult And Higher Education: An Introduction Of The Three Types Of Bullying, Mitsunori Misawa Jun 2011

The Intersection Of Racist And Homophobic Bullying In Adult And Higher Education: An Introduction Of The Three Types Of Bullying, Mitsunori Misawa

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper addresses the author’s recent narrative study on adult bullying in higher education in terms of the intersection of racism, sexism, and homophobia. This paper specifically examines and provides several narratives from gay male faculty of color on three types of bullying that impacted their academic life and citizenship.

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How Modern-Day Traditional Healers Diagnose And Treat Cancer: The Case Of Malaysia1, Sharan Merriam, Mazanah Muhamad Jun 2011

How Modern-Day Traditional Healers Diagnose And Treat Cancer: The Case Of Malaysia1, Sharan Merriam, Mazanah Muhamad

Adult Education Research Conference

Traditional healers are so embedded in the Malay culture that they are often the first and sometimes only source of healthcare even for chronic diseases such as cancer. Our qualitative study was designed to uncover how Malay traditional healers diagnose and treat cancer. Further, we wanted to ascertain their willingness to work with the allopathic system in relieving the cancer burden in Malaysia. Interviews with 14 Malay traditional healers revealed a wide variety of diagnostic and treatment practices, and there is a range of receptiveness for working with the Western medical system with Islamic healers being the most receptive.

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Resonance And The Importance Of Informal Learning In The Literacy Environment, Rebecca Melville Jun 2011

Resonance And The Importance Of Informal Learning In The Literacy Environment, Rebecca Melville

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper describes a study that was done with tutors and students in Frontier College’s Beat the Street/Literacy and Basic Skills program. The study investigated how tutors and students interact and learn from one another in a literacy environment. It was conducted with qualitative methods including focus groups, interviews, reflexive inquiry and ethnographic research. Findings indicate that the informal learning of both tutors and students plays an important role in literacy learning, particularly in creating moments of profound connection that the author refers to as resonance.

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Finding Points Of Intersection: Learning Through Feminist Non-Credit Learning Processes, Christine Mckenzie Jun 2011

Finding Points Of Intersection: Learning Through Feminist Non-Credit Learning Processes, Christine Mckenzie

Adult Education Research Conference

The praxis I develop in this paper comes from this empirical research and is also based on my experience as an adult educator in non-credit contexts over the past 15 years. Following a brief overview of my study, I discuss key findings, which relates to the tension between holistic and challenging practices as methods for bringing differently-located women learners together and the impact of educators’ awareness of their social locations on learning processes. This research revealed the centrality of educators’ identity in their practices and the limitations of intersectionality and interlocking identities frameworks in praxis.

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Exploring The Influence Of Gender On Registered Nurses’ Intentions To Leave The Profession, Stacy L. Lutter Jun 2011

Exploring The Influence Of Gender On Registered Nurses’ Intentions To Leave The Profession, Stacy L. Lutter

Adult Education Research Conference

An aim of this study was to uncover the visible and invisible influences of gender as a social structure in respect to the decision to leave the nursing profession. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven female registered nurses who had serious intentions of leaving the nursing profession. Based on the findings of this study, strategies to influence recruitment, practice, and retention in nursing can be developed.

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Graduate Students Of Color: A Storied Path To The Professoriate, Kathy D. Lohr, Audrey J. Jaeger Jun 2011

Graduate Students Of Color: A Storied Path To The Professoriate, Kathy D. Lohr, Audrey J. Jaeger

Adult Education Research Conference

This article shares the knowledge we gained from the stories of graduate students of color as they discussed their career choices. It provides an emerging understanding of how a graduate student’s background and cultural values influence his or her decision to pursue a faculty career.

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Probing The Icebergs Of Workplace Learning: Findings Of The 1998, 2004 And 2010 Surveys Of Work And Lifelong Learning1, D.W. Livingstone Jun 2011

Probing The Icebergs Of Workplace Learning: Findings Of The 1998, 2004 And 2010 Surveys Of Work And Lifelong Learning1, D.W. Livingstone

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper draws on the findings of recent national surveys of paid and unpaid work as well as formal and informal learning to assess the extent of correspondence between work and learning activities in Canada. The main conclusion is that workers’ learning efforts increasingly exceed the requirements of their paid jobs. We live in a knowledge-rich society but with relatively diminishing opportunities to apply this knowledge in our jobs.

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Older Adults’ Motivation To Learn In Higher Education, Lin Yi-Yin Jun 2011

Older Adults’ Motivation To Learn In Higher Education, Lin Yi-Yin

Adult Education Research Conference

A limited amount of literature has discussed older adults in formal education, especially their motivations to learn in higher education. This study aims to understand older adults’ learning in the context of higher education. Specifically, this study argues that higher education can function as a stimulating learning environment that helps older adults meet their late-life development needs and can lead them toward a meaningful and positive aging experience.

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The Meaning Of ‘Being Literate’ In The Case Of Adult Literacy Learners In Korea, Jihye Lee Jun 2011

The Meaning Of ‘Being Literate’ In The Case Of Adult Literacy Learners In Korea, Jihye Lee

Adult Education Research Conference

This study examines the meaning of ‘being literate’ along with focusing on the relationship with formal education in Korea. For the purpose of this study, adult literacy learners wrote 1,673 articles and they were also analyzed. As a result, the demand for having formal education experience limits and influences the motivation, educational process, and meaning of being literate for adult literacy learners in Korea.

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A Transformative Dance Through “Language Mountains” And “Blind Spots”: Park Educators Learn Responsiveness To Immigrant Newcomers, Elizabeth Lange, Peter Vogels, Zenobia Jamal Jun 2011

A Transformative Dance Through “Language Mountains” And “Blind Spots”: Park Educators Learn Responsiveness To Immigrant Newcomers, Elizabeth Lange, Peter Vogels, Zenobia Jamal

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper describes a project Learning Language, Learning the Land, created to enhance park accessibility and social belonging for immigrant newcomers by combining language learning and environmental literacy in a city park and provincial park setting. This paper reports on the dialectics of transformative learning for parks staff as they discovered the inappropriateness of didactic methods and how effective adult learning emerges from rapport, educational responsiveness and ethnocultural knowledge. Second, through informal learning, staff became allies in these traditionally white, middle class spaces, helping build a sense of place and social belonging.

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Failing To Read Well: The Role Of Public Libraries In Adult Literacy, Immigrant Community Building, And Free Access To Learning, Luis Kong Jun 2011

Failing To Read Well: The Role Of Public Libraries In Adult Literacy, Immigrant Community Building, And Free Access To Learning, Luis Kong

Adult Education Research Conference

This study explores the impact library literacy programs have in the development of immigrant community engagement. Public libraries services are essential to the social, cultural, and economic development of rapidly expanding ethnic communities. A library’s adult literacy programs play an important role in reaching new Americans and expanding their participation in society. Through learner-centered instruction, these programs provide opportunities for advancement and integration. The dialogic exchange among learners promotes reciprocal teaching, and enriches their voices as they link what they learn to what is relevant in their lives. This study concludes with strategies to successfully bridge immigrant transition to become …

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Transformative Professional Development In Unlikely Places: Twitter As A Virtual Learning Community, Kathleen P. King Jun 2011

Transformative Professional Development In Unlikely Places: Twitter As A Virtual Learning Community, Kathleen P. King

Adult Education Research Conference

This case study reveals new dimensions of transformative learning occurring through informal learning opportunities. The research results demonstrate that the individual’s learning spans understanding, networking, professional identity development, and transformative learning. Specifically, virtual online communities facilitated through social media provide professional networks and social relationships beyond the scope of the individual’s usual interactions and experience. Discussion and recommendations include using social media and virtual communities as instructional strategies for graduate studies and continued learning beyond formal education. The educational significance includes facilitating transformative learning in informal learning contexts, and using social media and online communities for professional learning.

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Basis Of Learning In Urban Communities: Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (Chat) And The Limits Of Contemporary Adult Learning Theories, Junghwan Kim, Intak Kwon Jun 2011

Basis Of Learning In Urban Communities: Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (Chat) And The Limits Of Contemporary Adult Learning Theories, Junghwan Kim, Intak Kwon

Adult Education Research Conference

The purpose of this paper is to examine CHAT as an alternative approach to understanding learning in urban communities as a means to overcome the challenges of existing adult learning theories. The authors argue that CHAT provides a comprehensive theoretical view to understand learning in urban communities driven from activities within socio-cultural contexts.

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Methodological Challenges In Studying Transformative Learning, Seon Joo Kim, Sharan B. Merriam Jun 2011

Methodological Challenges In Studying Transformative Learning, Seon Joo Kim, Sharan B. Merriam

Adult Education Research Conference

First discussed are philosophical perspectives in relation to the research design and methodology for studying transformative learning. Second, several promising research designs for studying this phenomenon are reviewed including narrative analysis, arts-based research, critical approaches, and action research. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of methodological challenges at this point in the evolution of the knowledge base of transformative learning.

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‘Unexpected’ Mentoring Moments Experienced Through Dialogue With Elder Colleagues1, Colleen Kawalilak Jun 2011

‘Unexpected’ Mentoring Moments Experienced Through Dialogue With Elder Colleagues1, Colleen Kawalilak

Adult Education Research Conference

This autoethnography focuses on the author’s experience of being unexpectedly mentored by senior/Elder faculty members throughout her learning journey as an undergraduate and graduate student, and as a developing academic and researcher. Now, an associate professor, conducting research on tacit knowledge acquired, over an extended period of time by Elder faculty members in university settings, the author reflects on the significance of unexpected mentoring moments experienced along her own circuitous adult learning pathway.

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Convergence Or Divergence Of Continuing Vocational Training In Europe? Empirical Findings And Theoretical Conclusions For Adult Education, Bernd Kapplinger Jun 2011

Convergence Or Divergence Of Continuing Vocational Training In Europe? Empirical Findings And Theoretical Conclusions For Adult Education, Bernd Kapplinger

Adult Education Research Conference

The paper describes trends of convergence and divergence in enterprise-provided continuing vocational training in Europe between 1999 and 2005. Based on the survey CVTS, the indicators for courses incidence, access, intensity, direct costs and the indicator learning at the workplace will be analyzed. The paper concludes with an outlook with references to sketches of an educational theory to be written for this field of adult education.

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Learning Lives With/In Digital Media: Emergence Of Online Economy Disputants In The Midst Of Economic Crisis In South Korea, Dae Joong Kang, Seon Joo Choi, Seunghyeop Lee Jun 2011

Learning Lives With/In Digital Media: Emergence Of Online Economy Disputants In The Midst Of Economic Crisis In South Korea, Dae Joong Kang, Seon Joo Choi, Seunghyeop Lee

Adult Education Research Conference

This study aims to understand adult online informal learning illuminating a way of becoming an influential social figure. We interviewed five famous online economy disputants whose postings were very popular in Korea during the global financial crisis in 2008-2009. We explored how they learned and found that their self-directedness interplayed with the context of other- directedness, a sense of being stimulated and indebted enhanced their learning process, and dynamics of anonymity and social recognition were keys to their emergence.

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Watch, Learn And Become: How Undergraduate Nursing And Medical Students Make Sense Of Cultural Representations Of Their Professions, Kaela Jubas, Patricia Knutson, Kerry Mcarthur Jun 2011

Watch, Learn And Become: How Undergraduate Nursing And Medical Students Make Sense Of Cultural Representations Of Their Professions, Kaela Jubas, Patricia Knutson, Kerry Mcarthur

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper discusses preliminary findings of a study exploring the pedagogical functions of pop culture. We use Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs to explore cultural portrayals of and messages about work-related learning with undergraduate medical and nursing students. Thematically, our analysis emphasizes learning about identity, ethics and pedagogy.

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Banned From The Discourse: Race To The Top And The State Of Texas’ Exclusion Of Welfare Recipients From Educational Policy Discourse, Michelle Johnson Jun 2011

Banned From The Discourse: Race To The Top And The State Of Texas’ Exclusion Of Welfare Recipients From Educational Policy Discourse, Michelle Johnson

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper explores the tensions that exist between the espoused purpose of Race to the Top education reform and the state of Texas educational plans to enhance the state’s economy through increased education. We use Fairclough’s (1995) critical discourse analysis (CDA) as the basis of our analytical framework.

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