1. Foundations of Adult Education A Quick Overview

2. Defining an Adult & Adult Education – People should be considered as adults when they perform adult roles and are essentially responsible for their own life. – Adult status implies a person who is largely responsible for their own survival and success. – Adult education is different from other levels of education because of: The voluntary nature of the learning The commitment to growth The deliberate structuring of activities.

3. Adding Value – Adult education involves taking a current condition, analyzing it, and developing a strategy for adding value to what already exists. – The intent is to make it better in some way. – This applies to working with people, programs, legislation, delivery systems, social service agencies, and others to promote individual and societal well-being.

4. Goals of Adult Education – Preparing people for the future – Social change – Empowerment of Individuals – Lifelong Learning – To Provide Education to all who want and need it. Serve minorities, handicapped, older adults, and more… – Provides second-chance education – Reducing cycles of poverty and socio-economic disadvantage

5. – Citizenship, ESL, Literacy, GED, High School Diploma, Family Literacy, Workforce Literacy and more and more and more… – Helping people reach their maximum potential

6. Purposes of Adult Education – Provide access and incentives to reach the greater population – Opens doors which provide people with opportunity and hope – Allow people to become independent – Makes people more marketable in the work force – Brings a different type of learning to the education market – Provides a better forum for adult learning – Prepares people to use technology effectively – More

7. Challenges for Adult Education – Limited and declining funding – How to increase participation and retention particularly among those who are most in need – Keeping pace with technology – Teaching methods, assessment, accountability – Sustainability

8. The Handbook (2000) What does it Say? – For 70 years, seven prior Handbooks of Adult and Continuing Education were a reference on Best Practices, programs and institutions in the field. – Previous Handbooks attempted to describe everything we knew at the time about adult education theory & practice. – The 2000 edition does NOT attempt to catalog everything we know about the field. It uses a “critically reflective approach” to combine the results of formal investigation with the wisdom of practical experience.

9. – In the 2000 Handbook over 60 adult educators share their diverse perspectives in a single volume. They share selective perspectives not a comprehensive perspective. They say this is a “time for adult educators to reconsider the nature of their work & its place in society.” They view adult education as a social practice of prudent and practical action. “In 2000 and beyond One size does not fit all.”

10. The Crisis in Professional Knowledge According to the 2000 Handbook: – There are deep crevasses between how we think professionals carry out their work and what working conditions are really like. – We need a skeptical reassessment of adult education. – We live in a society where things change so rapidly that we cannot rely on old solutions to solve new problems.

11. – Adult education must offer Hope for those who need it the most. – We must encourage more inclusive, collaborative, and democratic forms of adult education. – However, there are no fixed templates, no pat answers, no right way to model, no guarantees or sure fire results. – The context within which adults are asked to learn becomes an essential component.

12. Linking the Learner to the Context – There are two dimensions to the contextual approach to learning: The Interactive Dimension (Authentic, real-life situations. The Structural Dimension (Social and cultural factors including race, class, gender, ethnicity, power, and oppression). – The last 10 years have seen a major growth in interest in learning from experience. – Adult education is a vehicle for self-development and change.

13. There is a definite shift from a top down to a “bottom-up action-learning/action planning approach to learning.” The promise of prior learning assessment has only modestly been realized. – Challenge Exams, Interview, Portfolios to validate what adults already know. – We must help adults find and use their own voices not rely only on voices of unknown experts.

14. Andragogy: Present & Future – Andragogy (Knowles) is a strategy for teaching adults where: The teacher acts as a facilitator and provider of resources. Students are self-motivated and have many experiences that contribute to learning. The classroom is interactive Learning is student directed – Andragogy does not work well for students who do not have the confidence to be self-directing.

15. Adult Education vs. Higher Education – Higher Education policies and procedures do not easily align with adult learning theory and practices. – Higher Education continues to recognize adult learners in relation to policies, mission, research, programming, and evaluation. – Both scholars and practitioners must question the assumptions upon which the mission of higher education is based.

16. A Classic Book on Adult Education – Axford, Roger W. (1980) Adult education: the open door to lifelong learning. Indiana, PA: The A. G. Halldin Publishing Company. ISBN: 0- 935648-01-1. Some definitions of Adult Education Why Adult Education? Social Change Self Improvement, Citizenship, Literacy, Continuing Education for Women, Training and Re-Training, Community Education. Aging The Background of the Adult Education Movement

17. Some Adult Education Pioneers Who is an Adult Educator? Understanding the Adult Learner A Philosophy for Adult Education An “Ideal” Adult Education Teacher The Extension-Outreach Function Programming in Adult Education Promoting the Adult Education Program Funding Adult Education Counseling Adult Learners Evaluating Adult Education Programs Research in Adult Education Evaluative Criteria for Adult Education Programs Conducting a Needs Assessment