Education Commons^™

Reporting Program Impacts: Slaying The Dragon Of Resistance, Nancy K. Franz, Mark Mccann

Nancy K. Franz

Virginia Cooperative Extension has responded to today's environment of enhanced accountability by improving the organization's program impact reporting. Successful strategies to enhance the quantity and quality of program impact reports include new hires, training faculty and administration, individual and small group technical assistance, development of reporting tools, and tying impact reporting to performance and recognition. This holistic approach resulted in enhanced reporting and use of program impacts as well as improved program design and evaluation.

The Implications Of Standardized Testing At Head Start, Kathleen A. Strub-Richards Dr.

Kathleen A Strub-Richards

No abstract provided.

Adult Education Theories: Informing Cooperative Extension's Transformation, Nancy K. Franz Dr.

Nancy K. Franz

As the largest adult education institution in America, Cooperative Extension should ground organizational operations in adult education theory. This connection with theory is especially important as Extension systems work towards organizational transformation to create more participatory and democratic learning. Adult education theories of transformative learning and critical reflection from a critical theory perspective are especially pertinent to inform this type of transformation. This requires that Extension create opportunities for learners to experience disorienting dilemmas, critically reflect on their assumptions, and facilitate how to learn not just what to learn.

A New Abel Inversion By Means Of The Integrals Of An Input Function With Noise, Li Huang

Li Huang

Abel’s integral equations arise inmany areas of natural science and engineering, particularly in plasma diagnostics. This paper proposes a new and effective approximation of the inversion of Abel transform. This algorithm can be simply implemented by symbolic computation, and moreover an nth-order approximation reduces to the exact solution when it is a polynomial in r2 of degree less than or equal to n. Approximate Abel inversion is expressed in terms of integrals of input measurement data; so the suggested approach is stable for experimental data with random noise. An error analysis of the approximation of Abel inversion is given. Finally, …

Reflection And Its Role In Fostering Teachers’ Professional Development During In-Service Training, Suraya Sulyman, Arshad Abd Samad, Khairuddin Idris, Sharifah Mohd Noor

Arshad Abd Samad

This article reports on a study that explores and describes English as a Second Language or ESL teachers’ reflection on their learning experiences during a 12-week in-service training or INSET course on how the INSET promotes their professional development. Data were collected through interviews and teaching journals involving several ESL teachers during their training. Two major themes encompassing five sub themes emerged from this qualitative study, highlighting the interaction between reflection and training and the role reflection can have in developing the professional self of teachers. Several implications of the results towards training programmes are also discussed in this article.

La&S Team Gives Kenyan Youth A New Way To Combat Hiv/Aids, Leah Christina Neubauer

Leah C. Neubauer

No abstract provided.

Kenneth A. Mchugh Quality Staff Service Award: Past Award Recipients, Leah Neubauer

Leah C. Neubauer

No abstract provided.

Harnessing Innovative Technologies In Higher Education, Kathleen P. King, Joan K. Griggs

Kathleen P King

This publication is an attempt to capture the evolution of distributed higher education over the last decade by tracing the applications of new technologies funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). As FIPSE surveyed the current state of distance/distributed education, there existed an opportunity to help post econdary education make the transition to this new generation of distance education made possible by the explosive growth of the Internet and other new technologies. These technologies created the potential for students to access learning that was interactive, customized, and self-paced; to more easily merge lifelong learning with the …

Bamberg Donates Time: Andragogues Develop A City, Jost Reischmann

Reischmann, Jost

A project of cultural learning in a community in Germany is described: Students of andragogy organized a public exchange of “gifts” without material value; the idea was that the donator offered to share two to three hours of the personal life in a joint activity. About 200 people including local respected authorities participated. The event on the market-place before Christmas became a public festival; the idea was widely welcomed with joy. The regional press reported; many gift-encounters took place. A challenging discussion took place about the relationship to adult education and andragogy.

Teaching Communication: Getting To The Heart Using Visuals As An Instructional Tool, John Fisher, Melody Hubbard

Dr. John R. Fisher

Students become much more engaged in movies than in most other visual aids because they find them entertaining and see greater applications in their own lives. However, the instructor’s goal in showing films is more than to entertain or fill time; it is to assist in learning. By increasing student involvement, higher levels of learning can be achieved. This paper applies a taxonomy of engagement suggested by Rößling and Naps (2002) to the teaching of communication. By engaging students, beyond viewing, in responding, changing, constructing and presenting, greater learning outcomes can be achieved.

The Mini Golf Project, Kathleen Strub-Richards

Kathleen A Strub-Richards

The Mini Golf Project was a collaboration between the preschoolers and the teachers at a Reggio Inspired preschool in Massachusetts. In this long term project, 3-5 year olds, and their teachers, co-constructed a viable miniature golf course.

Kindergartners Perception Of The Classroom Computer, Kathleen Strub-Richards

Kathleen A Strub-Richards

Computers have an overwhelming influence in the school and home environment. Computers are available in many early childhood classrooms and young children have easy access to them. This case study examined the youngest members of the elementary school’s perception of the classroom computer. A seven-week research study explored the role of the computer in a kindergarten classroom. Sixteen kindergartners were interviewed and observed. The children’s perceptions of the computer were recorded through conversations, interactions with the computer, classroom observations and computer lab observations. Computer programs, computer integration and the role of the teacher were examined. Results from the interpretation of …

Transformative Learning In Extension Staff Partnerships: Facilitating Personal, Joint, And Organizational Change, Nancy K. Franz

Nancy K. Franz

Partnerships can enhance individual and organizational success through more effective problem solving and improved adaptation to change. Learning is often required for successful collaboration that may transform the partners. This article discusses a study that explored learning in Extension staff partnerships that transform the individual, the partnership, and the organization. Three types of learning and eight types of transformative learning are identified. Conditions that promoted transformative learning in successful partnerships included strong partner facilitation, critical reflection, critical events, partner difference bridged by common purpose, and independence with interdependence. Recommendations for nurturing transforming Extension staff partnerships are shared.

Extension Workers As Orchestrators Of Civic Renewal Through Civic Professionalism, Nancy K. Franz

Nancy K. Franz

I have a passion and a bias. I am passionate about the important role of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) in civic renewal. My bias is that extension workers (also known as agents or educators) are the key to civic renewal throughout the United States. No other institution has the same ability to reach all of America with education and organizing efforts. With extension workers in every county in the nation, this group of professionals and their work cut across age, race, ethnicity, religion, geography and many other demographic characteristics. Extension has a long history of being active in civic …

Being True To What We Profess: Management Education And Inquiry - A Black British Perspective, Gloria Gordon Phd

Gloria Gordon PhD

The term ‘towards bicultural competence’ in the title of my doctoral thesis: Towards Bicultural Competence: Researching for Personal and Professional Transformations refers to my desire to become competent in negotiating the two cultures (British and African Caribbean) of my dual heritage. The lack of competence which is implied in the title has been a major problem in my personal and professional life and was therefore an important insight thrown up by my research efforts.

An Exploratory Resource Allocation Model For Implementing Supported Employment Services, Philip S. Hall, John J. Wheeler

John J. Wheeler

Innovative Approaches To Education And Community Service: Models And Strategies For Change And Empowerment, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Adult Education In West Germany In Case Studies, Jost Reischmann Prof. Dr.

Reischmann, Jost

This book documents in 14 case studies the main strings and the most important institutions of adult Education in Germany, followed by a summary that tries to categorize the case studies.

Learning “En Passant”: The Forgotten Dimension, Jost Reischmann Prof. Dr.

Reischmann, Jost

"Lifewide learning" is understood as a continuous life process, including formal as well as self-directed learning, but also unintentional learning, "learning en passant" (learning by passing by). Focusing on this type of learning seeks to broaden the understanding of learning and asks about the consequences for the theory and practice of Adult Education.