Changing Cultures Adult Learning

The following papers from a conference dealing with the interaction of adult learning, educational practice, and cultural context are presented: "Radical Adult Education: Back to Basics" (Allman, Wallis); "Teaching To Be Competent" (Armstrong); "Universities and Adult Education: A New Relationship?" (Boud, McDonald); "Theories-in-Use, Reflective Practice and the Teaching of Adults: Professional Culture in Practice" (Bright); "Changing Culture of Medical Education: Teaching What We Know" (Crandall); "And Finally: Changing Cultures of Educational Institutions and Practices" (Duke); "Culture Change/Changing Culture: 'Multi-skilling' the Practitioner in Post-Compulsory Education and Training" (Edwards); "Situating Access to Higher Education in Its Political Culture" (Fieldhouse, Benn); "A Culture of Change? Perspectives on Adult Education in the Workplace" (Hamilton); "Changes in Adult Education Policy and the Impact on 'Client Groups' with Specific Reference to Gender" (Hester, Florence); "The Culture of Difference: Women's Education Re-Examined" (Malcolm); "Adult Learning and Cultural Change in an M.Ed Course: The Case of the Examiners" (Miller, Fletcher); "Adult Education and the Changing Research Context" (Murphy); "Lessons in Citizenship: University Adult Education and Modernity" (Steele); "Employers and the Continuing Education of Employees with Particular Reference to Employee Development Programmes" (Taylor); "New Cultural Contexts for University Adult Education: The Potential of Partnerships with Non-Traditional Agencies" (Thomson); "Nine Facets of Continuing Education for the Professions" (Watson); "Cultures and Double Beings: Linking Adult Learners and Their Environments" (Zeldin); and "Cultural Conflicts: Adult and Further Education Teacher Training in Higher Education" (Zukas). (MN)

This book provides educators and facilitators with a comprehensive overview of the historical underpinnings and philosophical orientations of adult education and adult learning while attending to the various roles individuals play both within and beyond the formal constraints of the classroom. Positioning learners' and instructors' educational narratives as central to the theories that inform adult education, Pathways of Adult Learning opens up a dialogue among students, educators, community members, scholars, and working professionals about the many possible avenues toward knowledge sharing. Employing a personal, accessible tone, Janet Groen and Colleen Kawalilak take up a relational approach that encourages readers to reflect upon their own experiences as learners within the broadening context of adult education. Conscious of the power imbalances that can emerge in both institutional and professional work and learning environments, this text explores specific teaching and facilitation strategies that effectively generate ideas and accommodate adult learners of varying gender orientations, socio-economic backgrounds, and ethnicities. Through their collaborative analysis of a diverse collection of first-person narratives, provided by both students and scholars working in the field, the authors construct a multi-faceted portrait of the status of adult learning today. Integrating a critical lens to explore how social, cultural, and economic factors influence and shape individual and collective pathways toward lifelong learning, this text is an indispensible guide for anyone studying or facilitating educational programming for adults in diverse work and learning contexts.

As ecological issues increase and concern worldwide is mounting about the changing nature of work and cultural life, the field of adult education must respond. Adult education holds much potential for its ability to highlight cultural knowledge, promote change, and maximize the capacity of adults to work together in strengthening mutually supportive communities that contribute to a sustainable future. It is imperative that we (re)educate adults about productive but sustainable work and stronger local community living within an understanding of the relational being and the interdependency of all things. This edited collection explores the cultural roots of the ecological/cultural crisis and its relationship to adult education. The development of sound practices and new cultural understandings among adults are emphasized. Certainly, there exists evidence of small grassroots work that builds hope and skills for the coming of a new age of sustainable and just life. This volume discusses the: Connections between sustainability, environmental and ecojustice education, Forms of radical sustainability adult education, Established cultural institutions as potential agents of change, Principles of ecojustice education, and Implementation of these principles in formal and community education settings. This is the 153rd volume of the Jossey Bass series New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. Noted for its depth of coverage, it explores issues of common interest to instructors, administrators, counselors, and policymakers in a broad range of education settings, such as colleges and universities, extension programs, businesses, libraries, and museums.

"Grounded in the field of adult education, this international compilation offers a range of critical perspectives on popular culture as a form of pedagogy. Its fundamental premise is that adults learn in multiple ways, including through their consumption of fiction. As scholars have asserted for decades, people are not passive consumers of media; rather, we (re)make our own meanings as we accept, resist, and challenge cultural representations. At a time when attention often turns to new media, the contributors to this collection continue to find “old” forms of popular culture important and worthy of study. Television and movies – the emphases in this book – reflect aspects of consumers’ lives, and can be powerful vehicles for helping adults see, experience, and inhabit the world in new and different ways. This volume moves beyond conceptually oriented scholarship, taking a decidedly research-oriented focus. It offers examples of textual and discursive analyses of television shows and films that portray varied contexts of adult learning, and suggests how participants can be brought into adult education research in this area. In so doing, it provides compelling evidence about the complexity, politics, and multidimensionality of adult teaching and learning. Using a range of television shows and movies as exemplars, chapters relate popular culture to globalization, identity, health and health care, and education. The book will be of great use to instructors, students, and researchers located in adult education, cultural studies, women’s and gender studies, cultural sociology, and other fields who are looking for innovative ways to explore social life as experienced and imagined."

A study of the increasing importance of community and workplace adult education in the First and Third Worlds. Marjorie Mayo looks at the impact of globalisation, economic restructuring and the enhanced role of community and voluntary organisations. She presents the case for wider understanding of the context and possibilities for local development as part of longer-term strategies for transformation. Marjorie Mayo examines the implications of adult learning for sustainable development for social justice, defined by local communities themselves. She takes case studies from Tanzania, Cuba, India and Nicaragua as well as from the industrialized 'North' to illustrate her themes. The book concludes by focusing on issues of culture, identity, diversity and changing consciousness; and the role of community education in strengthening collective confidence to effect social transformation.

This book provides a critically informed overview of adult education today with contributions by leading researchers and practitioners from across Canada. It examines the contexts of adult education today - the historical contexts that shape the practice; the philosophical contexts that underpin their activities; the socioeconomic contexts by which practitioners are informed; the community contexts in which they are located; and the practice contexts that their activities reveal.

"This book provides a global look at educational technologies for adult learners with content drawing from theory, research, practice, individual experience, and offers insight by leading scholars, theorists, and practitioners worldwide"--Provided by publisher.