Five Perspectives On Teaching In Adult And Higher Education

This work is derived from several years studying the teaching of adults in Asia and North America. It presents five different perspectives on teaching adults. Each perspective is described as a set of actions, intentions and beliefs, and then illustrated within contexts of adult education practice.

Co-published with Colleges and universities are increasingly becoming significant sites for adult education scholarship—in large part due to demographic shifts. With fewer U.S. high school graduates on the horizon, higher education institutions will need to attract “non-traditional” (i.e., older) adult learners to remain viable, both financially and politically. There is a need to develop a better corpus of scholarship on topics as diverse as, what learning theories are useful for understanding adult learning? How are higher education institutions changing in response to the surge of adult students? What academic programs are providing better learning and employment outcomes for adults in college? Adult education scholars can offer much to the policy debates taking place in higher education. A main premise of this handbook is that adult and continuing education should not simply respond to rapidly changing social, economic, technological, and political environments across the globe, but should lead the way in preparing adults to become informed, globally-connected, critical citizens who are knowledgeable, skilled, and open and adaptive to change and uncertainty.The Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education provides rich information on the contemporary issues and trends that are of concern to adult and continuing education, of the programs and resources available to adult learners, and of opportunities to challenge and critique the structures embedded in the field that perpetuate inequity and social injustice. Adult education is a discipline that foresees a better tomorrow, and The Handbook is designed to engage and inspire readers to assist the field to seek new paths in uncertain and complex times, ask questions, and to help the field flourish.The Handbook is divided into five sections. The first, Foundations situates the field by describing the developments, core debates, perspectives, and key principles that form the basis of the field.The second, Understanding Adult Learning, includes chapters on adult learning, adult development, motivation, access, participation, and support of adult learners, and mentoring.Teaching Practices and Administrative Leadership, the third section, offers chapters on organization and administration, program planning, assessment and evaluation, teaching perspectives, andragogy and pedagogy, public pedagogy, and digital technologies for teaching and learning.The fourth section is Formal and Informal Learning Contexts. Chapters cover adult basic, GED, and literacy education, English-as-a-Second Language Programs, family literacy, prison education, workforce development, military education, international development education, health professions education, continuing professional education, higher education, human resource development and workplace learning, union and labor education, religious and spiritual education, cultural institutions, environmental education, social and political movements, and peace and conflict education.The concluding Contemporary Issues section discusses decolonizing adult and continuing education, adult education and welfare, teaching social activism, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and straight allies, gender and its multiple forms, disability, older adults and intergenerational identities, race and ethnicity, working class, whiteness and privilege, and migrants and migrant education.The editors culminate with consideration of next steps for adult and continuing education and priorities for the future.

Part of "Advances in Learning and Instruction Series," this book provides a comprehensive and coherent perspective on the processes and outcomes of a meaningful and worthwhile educational experience in adult and higher education. It discusses the core concepts of responsibility and control.

Providing perspectives across multiple nations and settings, this volume is essential reading for higher education staff, researchers, and policy makers, to ensure higher education across the world is prepared to offer the best quality teaching and learning in the Covid and Post-Covid world.

Exploring Spirituality and Culture in Adult and Higher Education is written from the unique perspective of teacher, researcher, and author Elizabeth Tisdell who has extensive experience dealing with culture, gender, and educational equity issues in secular adult and higher education classrooms, and formerly in pastoral and religious education settings on college campuses. This important book discusses how spiritual development is informed by culture and how this knowledge is relevant to teaching and learning. For educators, an understanding of how spirituality is informed by culture, and how spirituality assists in meaning-making, can aid in their efforts to help their students' educational experiences become more transformative and culturally relevant.

This book offers a range of approaches to teaching higher education design students to learn to design collaboratively and creatively, through transdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning experiences. It highlights that the premise of traditional disciplinary silos does little to advance the competencies needed for contemporary design and non-linear career paths. It makes the point that higher education should respond to the impacts of a changing society, including fluctuating market demands, economic variations, uncertainties, and globalization. Chapters highlight approaches that address this changing landscape, to meet student, industry and societal needs and reflect a range of design education contexts in which the authors have taught, with a focus on experiences at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, but also including collaborations and comparative discussions elsewhere in Australia and globally, spanning Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. The book is positioned not as a definitive theoretical model for transdisciplinary design education but instead as a collective of chapters in which many forms of learning are explored through overarching themes of curriculum design and experiential and authentic learning and collaboration, transforming professional identities, and design cultures.