<p> Engineering students entering the workforce often struggle to meet the competency expectations of their employers. Guided by constructivist theory, the purpose of this case study was to understand engineers&rsquo; experiences of engineering education, deficiencies in practical skills, and the self-learning methods they employed to advance their technical and professional competencies. Working engineers were asked about their experiences overcoming practical skill deficiencies and bridging the gap between education and practice. Interviews with 15 chemical, civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers were analyzed by coding for common statements and identifying themes. Firsthand experiences of the participants captured 3 themes: overall perceptions of engineering education, deficiencies in skills, and self-learning experiences. According to study findings, engineering education did not supply sufficient practical skills for working engineers. The study also provided descriptions of training and self-learning methods employed by practicing engineers to advance their technical and professional competencies. The study found that although universities might provide some practical skills through industry collaboration, engineering graduates still required professional development to ensure a smooth transition from academic learner to acclimated working engineer. The project is a practical training, developed for recent graduates, that could achieve positive social change by making strides toward bridging the gap between theory and practice for the participants. This study may also incite positive social change as it contributes to the evidence that there is a lack of practical experience in colleges of engineering, which may therefore improve their curriculum.</p><p>

The purpose of this review is to organize the findings of studies on adult education methods according to the Verner conceptual scheme, defining adult education processes according to their inherent characteristics, and to extend or clarify any parts of that scheme. The material reviewed, mainly empirical research conducted with adult subjects, is used to describe the method, the effects of the learning and the characteristics of the participants. The learning goals are classified as information giving, skill developing and knowledge supplying. As the majority of methods had been studied for their uses, little research was available on their maximum learning potential. Prom the description of the methods the key element emerged as the amount of overt participation built into the method, ranging from lowest in methods whose goal is to impart information to greatest in those where learning is conducted on-the-job. The participant studies revealed that the structure of some methods must be modified for more efficient learning. The research showed that the learning goal became more concrete as the amount of overt participation Increases. Therefore a two-dimensional classification scheme has been developed with the amount of overt participation occupying one dimension and the degree of abstraction of the learning goal the other. Areas requiring further research have been indicated. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to determine whether one form of non-formal adult education, collective investigation (C.I.), significantly increased an individual's ability to formulate problems. Collective investigation is an adult, non-formal, group educative process. Through C.I., participants identify, isolate and critically question their "social reality." Learning occurs through self-reflection and shared experience. The concept of individual experience was used as the basis for the framework which guided this study. C.I. provided a vehicle to identify and transform everyday problems facing the participants. A hypothesized model was developed to describe the process of problem formulation. This model draws upon the literature regarding C.I. and "practice knowledge," an application of adult learning in the work environment, to describe potential learning through a collective educational process. The study used a quasi-experimental research design to examine the affect of an intensive C.I. workshop experience on individual's problem formulation abilities. The experimental group was compared with two control groups: 1) a more traditional approach to adult education (pre-readings and didactic lecture), and 2) a non-treatment control group. The lecture method was not seen as an alternative method to teach problem formulation but was used as another type of control group. The data source was representative samples of child welfare personnel employed in British Columbia. All groups were pre and posttested, using a semi-structured instrument. Nine research hypotheses centered around learner information-production and problem formulation strategies were tested by ANCOVA. The results were significant in several instances, allowing for the rejection of four of the original nine null hypotheses. However, in all nine instances the C.I. group scored the highest, suggesting a general trend. The results showed the collective investigation workshop experience significantly increased participant production of information. The workshop group also demonstrated a significant increase in specific, occupational information which was used for individual problem formulation. Workshop training for other applications of the production of information, (identification of contextual variables and problem solving) was not provided. The scores in these applications did not significantly increase. In addition, the findings showed that a significant difference exists between the perceptions of the C.I. group and the Lecture group. The individuals in the C.I. group perceived the activities and structured interaction of collective investigation to be beneficial to their learning. However, this study showed no impact on qualitative aspects of learning. Based on these findings, it was concluded that collective investigation affected group communication and encouraged the development of supportive networks. Furthermore, collective investigation promoted individual confirmation and enhanced "personal power" providing effective motivation for learning. The opportunity to practice new skills during the collective investigation process also developed performance strategies. Since such outcomes affect instructional design and the practice of non-formal adult education, they merit consideration among the range of adult education methods available to adult educators. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Because of increasing technological change in work situations, adult education has begun to focus more upon the role of occupations in urbanized societies. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between participation in adult education and measures of occupational status, category, mobility, and job satisfaction among non-farm residents of two rural areas in British Columbia. West Kootenay and Vanderhoof West, representing areas of low and high socio-economic standing, were selected for analysis from fifteen areas surveyed by the ARDA Canada Land Inventory Socio-Economic Project in British Columbia. Interview schedules completed in 1967 surveys of those areas were used as the source of data. Excluded were schedules for farmers, retired, and unemployed persons. The West Kootenay sample consisted of 104 respondents, twenty of whom were participants in adult education, while Vanderhoof West was represented by 130 respondents, including twenty-four participants. Opportunities for participation in adult education appeared to be equal between the two areas, although the areas differed significantly with respect to the distribution of courses among functions of adult education. Participants differed significantly from non-participants as they had higher occupational status than non-participants in both survey areas. West Kootenay participants exhibited upward sequential job mobility to a significantly greater extent than did West Kootenay non-participants. A general trend for participants to have greater upward occupational mobility than non-participants was evident, although the differences were not always significant. When participants in both areas were compared, no significant differences were found with respect to any of the four occupational variables. The results of the study suggest that participation in adult education by non-farm residents of rural British Columbia is not strongly associated with occupational measures. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis was to review research on the developmental physiological processes of aging which have significance for adult learning. Attention was directed, specifically, to the progressive, age-related changes most immediately associated with the skills of communication: vision, audition, speech, reaction and movement times to visual and auditory stimuli, perception, retention, and performance facility. Affective reaction to physiological aging was also considered. In recognition of the interdisciplinary nature of the relationship of aging to learning, research from diverse areas was examined. Psychological inferences, in some instances, predominate since the study is concerned not with aging but with learning concomitant with the aging processes. References of recent date were normally consulted. Investigations have revealed no "typical adult" nor even a typical or an average progression in any aspect of physiological development; therefore, an individualized response to any adult learning situation can be expected. The evidence with the greatest impact for the education of adults lies in the areas of previous learning, recency of learning, and habits of learning. There are educational needs not now met by adult education; not the least of these is the need for understanding the processes involved in physiological aging. It is well categorized that older people can learn and under certain conditions do learn, but adults being different learners require a different social, educational, and physical environment in which to learn. The facilities at present provided for child-youth education and "adapted" for adults present some frustrating physical limitations for adult learners. Adults have distinctive needs for learning. Where these needs have been catered to, the measure of success has been high, the failure rate low. There is an awareness of the fallacy of setting arbitrary limits to successful achievement based solely on chronological divisions. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Most research on participation in adult education has described participants using static variables, however, it has been suggested that dynamic factors which describe the relationship between the individual and the organization have more potential value. This study included both types of variables when analyzing the factors which influence participation in adult education in a rural Canadian setting. The data for this study were collected during the summer months of 1967, when interviews were completed with 881 household heads in six rural regions of British Columbia. The 126 respondents who were classified as participants and an equal number of randomly drawn non-participants were compared using both static and dynamic variables. The distributions within the groups were tested for significant differences using the chi square statistic while linear relationships were indicated by correlation coefficients. To remove the effects of the variables of age and education from the relationships existing between the two groups a second sample of non-participants was matched with the participants on these variables. The new groups were then compared using the static and dynamic variables on which the original groups had differed significantly. The first and second hypotheses which proposed significant differences between the two groups with respect to certain static and dynamic variables, were tentatively accepted when the original samples of participants and non-participants were shown to differ significantly on thirteen static and eight dynamic variables. The third hypothesis which proposed differences between vocational and non-vocational participants was only partially accepted as the two groups differed on the variables of occupational prestige and income. The findings with respect to the first two hypotheses were modified when the matched groups were shown to differ significantly on only five static and two dynamic variables. On these variables the participants reported better job training and better jobs, fewer but better educated children, and greater formal social participation. They also reported a greater felt need for further education and stated more willingness to give up spare time for this education. A general conclusion was proposed which suggested that the participants exhibited a more favourable attitude to education than did the non-participants. But this conclusion is tentative as the findings of the study emphasize both the need for further research with dynamic variables and the control of age and education variables when comparing participants and non-participants. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

In North American urban society, people of lower socio-economic status have a poor record of participation in adult programs. Vancouver, Canada's third largest metropolitan area, was selected for study into the needs for adult education by married women in this sub-culture. An unstructured sample of residents in three widely divergent areas of lower socio-economic index was studied to discover (l) why these women do not participate in adult education, and (2) what their needs in adult education are. An analysis of the data revealed that the majority of the respondents in all three areas were between the ages of 15 and 44, married, and had families of one to four children. While most of the women in the study had gone beyond Grade 8, less than one out of three had completed high school. Most of those who had participated or are presently on continuing education programs are high school graduates. Non-participation in adult education programs by these women of lower socio-economic status was attributed to a variety of interrelated reasons. In order of importance these reasons were: lack of facilities for care of small children; expenses involved in tuition fees, transportation and related costs; and feelings of inadequacy in meeting the standards of course requirements. Some of the women also expressed fear of institutionalized programs. This was mainly among new Canadians of ethnic origin, other than British, who tend to cling to their own language and culture, and were hesitant to leave their immediate neighborhood. A conflict of priorities appeared to exist between the concepts of needs as perceived by resource personnel and those perceived by the respondents. The resource personnel had a more global approach related directly to the objectives of the institutions that provide services within the community. Most of the women placed highest priority on education for future employment. Although the order of priority differed, both groups expressed need for education in the following categories: (1) cultural orientation, (2) family relationships, (3) nutrition and home management, (4) citizenship, and (5) employment. Nevertheless, success of adult education programs is dependent on two conditions: (l) that these married women should share in the planning process, and (2) that the choice of the areas of study should be consistent with the priorities as set by the women. In order to assist married women of this sub-culture, efforts must be made to remove barriers to opportunity imposed by tuition costs and lack of child care services. More attention must be given to counselling, to flexibility of program design and to part-time study. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The principal concern of this thesis was to examine the role of education in altering the personal and social characteristics of the disadvantaged adult, and to select Information of functional value to program design for those educators or agencies contemplating remedial educational programs with disadvantaged adults. The sources of data for this descriptive study were limited to research reports on special retraining and remedial educational programs for the disadvantaged. Descriptive data on poverty and characteristics of the disadvantaged were also used selectively. As a group, the disadvantaged have the lowest Income, the poorest education, the largest families, the most Inadequate housing, the highest Incidence of III health, and the least hope or promise of a better future. In addition to such socio-economic handicaps, the disadvantaged are hampered by certain psychological disabilities including a lack of self-confidence, low self-esteem and a high degree of dependency. Because of a limited perception of the value of education, the disadvantaged display neither the aspiration nor the motivation to achieve educational goals. They are further handicapped by a lack of verbal facility which limits their communication with society. The research provides a depressing picture of the relationship between the disadvantaged and society. Largely because of discrimination, the poverty sub-culture has been compelled to evolve its own operational way of life. The customary associationaI contacts of the middle-class society are not functional to the disadvantaged and they participate instead through casual, close, and often intimate primary group relationships. Remedial programs are characterized by: programs of lengthy duration with a distinct preference for the classroom method; Instructional agents with little or no specialized training for the clientele; use of a limited number of Instructional techniques; heavy reliance on Instructional devices and materials; extensive use of pre-adult tests for both placement and evaluation; and a preponderant number of descriptive and subjective evaluations. Because of the scarcity of substantial research, specific details of educational planning for the disadvantaged cannot be stated with assurance. The rejection of the Institutionalized patterns of education by the disadvantaged Is Indicative of the need to discover new patterns which will be acceptable to them. The present pattern of remedial educational programs offers little hope of answering the needs of the disadvantaged. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Automation and machines are replacing unskilled manpower at a rapid rate; these unskilled, untrained people are today's unemployed. They must be given the opportunity to secure the educational tools necessary to take advantage of vocational retraining programs. Both economic and social upgrading are necessary for realization of the potential of these undereducated adults. Provision of Adult Basic Education (A.B.E.) programs is the first step in preparing the functionally illiterate to become a participant in today's society and to become strengthened and extended as an individual. This descriptive study has focused on the functionally illiterate adult and certain elements of an instructional program designed to meet his needs. The learning abilities of the undereducated adult are influenced by certain social-psychological characteristics which develop out of his restricted environment. These characteristics influence student recruitment and necessitate a flexible, informal learning climate. Careful selection of teachers who understand the students' background and needs is emphasized. The objectives of an A.B.E. program, based upon the communication needs of the functionally illiterate, are met through utilization of a variety of teaching techniques. Examples of techniques which may be used with any published reading system are suggested. This study reviewed eleven selected reading systems, concentrating in each case on approach, content, format and evaluation and appraisal where available. The following systems were reviewed: 1. Mott Basic Language Skills Program 2. American Incentive to Read materials 3. Reading in High Gear 4. System for Success 5. Behavioral Research Laboratories 6. The Streamlined English Series 7. ABC-EDL Basic Adult Education System 8. Holt Adult Basic Education Series 9. The Steck Publishing Co. 10. Words in Color 11. Operation Alphabet TV Home Study Book. A similarity of content appeared to exist in most reading systems reviewed. A need exists for more content related to the student's environment and his social and vocational problems. More stimulating, enriching and meaningful content would contribute to student interest and motivation. The elements of drama and humor which are appealing to students are lacking in most materials. Where published materials are unavailable or inadequate, the creative, innovative teacher can produce valuable materials based on topics of local needs and interests. An urgent need exists for more empirical research on the evaluation^ of materials for effectiveness and student retention. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This study examines community economic development (CED) and its educational elements. CED is a process of community residents' learning and developing appropriate responses to their collective and individual socio-economic needs. In this process, learning and development are interactive and evolve into further stages. While a guiding CED organization, resources and collaboration with public and private sectors are necessary elements of CED, the heart of CED is the direct participation, ownership and management of the CED organization and businesses by local residents. The educational significance of CED is that it can motivate people, especially low income people who are often alienated from education, to participate in CED and its education programs. What motivates poor people are: their need to satisfy their basic wants, the encouragement from fellow members of CED groups, and the empowerment that arises from a more egalitarian structuring of ownership and management of economic enterprises. Both the accomplishment of these ends and the learning experienced in the process provide satisfaction. This is likely to encourage further learning. Four CED case studies — the American, Canadian, Tanzanian and Sri Lankan — are compared according to two models of CED stage development. Analysis of these case studies indicates that community exploitation, "crises," visionary ideas and popular education spawn CED movements. To develop organizations and implement businesses, these movements then need to develop a managerial and professional expertise. While none of the four CED situations has been able to integrate effectively this expertise with their CED movements, Sri Lanka has been the most successful in this regard, and Tanzania the least. The problem has been that professionals, such as managers, educators and bureaucrats, have tended to impose their view of CED and their own interests rather than work with and support the people's views and interests. Canadian and American CED organizations, in their desire for social and governmental support, have professionalized at the expense of their movements. Thus, the people most in need of socio-economic interventions are often not the recipients. This study therefore recommends that CED movements be nurtured, while being effectively combined with a professional approach that serves the movement. This can be done through popular education (on CED philosophy and practice) and ongoing dialogue by all sectors of society; and by creating and strengthening member groups concerned with a more egalitarian structuring of their organizations and economic enterprises. This would require education practitioners and theoreticians to play a key role in helping to implement CED. Finally, research would need to be undertaken to evaluate whether CED and its education programs do motivate community residents to participate in their own educational and socio-economic development. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate