Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed March 8, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 436-484).

Technology has become an integral part of the educational experience for many students and teachers, and institutions of higher education have invested heavily in its acquisition. Instructors tend to adopt new technologies when they perceive the benefits and usefulness of this implementation for their teaching. To facilitate the adoption process and following use, institutions offer professional development opportunities for their faculty. These opportunities provide the tools, guidance, support, and direction to help instructors understand the technologies and to promote effective learning and instruction with them. The main goal of this study is to explore the learning processes and procedures in which higher education instructors engage to be able to use the technology available to them effectively at their institutions. Two overall questions lead this investigation: 1. How do instructors learn how to use the technology available at their institutions? 2. How do instructors use the available technology in their courses? To address these questions, this dissertation examines important aspects of faculty professional development. Effective technology use should be based on sound educational theory. Chapter 2 explores a specific theoretical framework, cognitivism, examining how it can inform instructional practices when using digital technology in higher education. Chapter 3 elaborates further on andragogical and self-directed learning models as a way to provide the foundation knowledge for the understanding of the adult learner and to inform professional development design and implementation. Support, time, and recognition are important factors that contribute to one's use of technology and they are reflected in the availability of helpful training. Chapter 4 examines instructors' perceptions of the available technical and pedagogical training on the learning management system at a Southwestern university. If further training is required to use the technology, instructors usually need to learn more on their own. Chapter 5 investigates the role of instructor self-direction by analyzing what instructors do to learn more about the technologies after they have attended professional development sessions at a Southwestern community college. In chapter 6, the findings from these studies are discussed and they intend to inform the design, implementation, and delivery of effective faculty professional development programs.

The purpose of this research project was to explore a model of transformative learning for the promotion of successful aging in group counselling and psychotherapy. This project explored how a model of life review, including guided autobiography (Birren & Deutchman, 1991) and enactment(s) in group psychodrama (Westwood, 1997) contributes to transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991, 1998). Successful aging emphasizes the potential for psychological growth rather than decline across the life span. In a field study, I used an ethnographic approach with an emphasis on reflexivity (Atkinson & Hammersley, 1994; Fisher, 1995). For this model, seven co-researchers, graduate students and professionals in practise, engaged in life review enactments in the context of group psychodrama. Evidence for communicative and emancipatory action two major domains of transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991), emerged from the data analysis. Six major themes, including four process themes and two content themes emerged: 1) the reflexive reconstruction of the self; 2) co-construction of the meaning of experience; 3) moral betrayal and social injustice; 4) leadership and creating a democratic public space; 5) action planning: individual and social action; and, 6) dreams as a template for actions. These central themes are described. Case examples from the stories of the co-researchers are offered as clarification. Suggestions and implications for future research and practise are discussed.

Much confusion surrounds the term 'self-directed learning', which presently describes a process, a goal, a teaching technique, and an outcome of that teaching. As a process, the literature concentrates mainly on how individuals learn, with little reference to groups that can be as selfdirected as individuals. The purposes of this study were: (a) to reduce conceptual confusion by creating a typology distinguishing different processes of self-directed learning; (b) to explore the phenomenon of group self-directed learning; and (c) to illustrate the effect of environment on learning, and the complex learning dynamics in group settings. This project arose somewhat differently from typical doctoral research. Data from two unrelated field studies conducted for other purposes, completed before this thesis work began, each illustrated self-directed groups learning informally in the contexts of community action and innovative small workplaces. A subsequent review of the literature indicated a lack of attention to this form of group learning, and the field studies were then re-analyzed from this perspective. As a result of the literature review and data re-analysis (1) a typology emerged from the literature review that divides the process of self-directed learning into three forms, each of which is context sensitive but between which learners can continually move back and forth; (2) it appears that the term 'autodidactic' can apply to specific groups which are both self-organized and self-directed in their learning efforts; and (3) that the term 'autodidaxy' as presently defined is as conceptually confusing as the term 'self-directed learning'. This confusion is reduced by the typology proposed by this thesis. Minor findings indicate two continuing problems. The first is reluctance by some to accord non-credentialed learning the value it deserves, and the second is the difficulty often encountered in transferring knowledge from the site of learning to the site of application. This study concludes that 'informalizing' some formal curricula, and encouraging self-directed learning at all levels and in all contexts, may provide some of the tools necessary for living and learning in the twenty-first century.

This experiment was conducted to examine the hypothesis that learning by analogy will invoke characteristics of an implicit mode of learning. On Day 1, dart novices learned to throw darts as close as possible to the centre of a target under one of three scenarios: control (without instruction), implicit (while performing a distracting secondary task), and analogy (while imagining an analogous physical image). Each participant threw 6 blocks of 40 darts, receiving repeated instructions before each block. The next day (Day 2), participants were tested for retention and for transfer by the addition of a secondary distracting task. The results showed that significant learning took place in all groups over a period of six learning blocks on the first day. There was also significant response to retention and transfer testing on Day 2. Learning to throw darts without instruction was shown to be superior to learning under both of the other conditions – analogy and secondary task. The study demonstrated that dart throwing instruction using analogy was insufficient to induce the beneficial features of implicit learning. The chosen elastic analogy, in fact, led to a significant deterioration of performance when compared to controls during transfer on Day 2. Sex and skill differences are unlikely to have played a significant role in the main findings. The findings are discussed within the framework of current literature. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2007-11-13 09:40:59.568

Using a sociocultural theoretical framework, this study describes the learning experience of three re-entry adult women during their first year of academic study in a university. To situate the learning historically and culturally, cultural factors of both the students and the learning context are considered as well as interactions between the two over time. Information about the students' perspective of their experience was obtained through interviews conducted throughout the year and some textual responses are examined. The women's orientations toward learning are described using three theoretical constructs: transformative or reproductive approaches to learning, connected or separate modes of learning, and rhetorical or arhetorical approaches to text. / Each of the women entered university with a different orientation to learning and each struggled to learn to respond in academically appropriate ways. In her interactions with the learning context, each experienced some disjunction and some support for her preferred ways of learning. One student, entering as an active and sophisticated learner, initially resisted academic tasks that required an arhetorical, reproductive, or decontextualized response. Another student, entering eager to apply her learning to her everyday life, responded with enthusiastic effort, compliant about meeting academic demands and sometimes suppressing her preference for rhetorical and connected learning. The third student, entering with a background as a reproductive and receptive learner, did not become engaged as a learner and avoided writing that required her to transform rather than reproduce ideas. By the end of the year, each student had shifted her pre-entry orientation, moving toward integration of her preferred approach to learning and academic ways. Writing was the activity where integration most often occurred. Changes in orientation occurred through a negotiation process. / This study adds to our understanding of learning as a sociocultural process and provides a description of individuals in transition between one domain of situated cognition and another. It also shows different ways adult women respond to disjunction with their preferred ways of learning within a university setting and ways they integrate their own preferences with academic ways. Finally, it highlights students' need for guidance in achieving intersubjectivity in academic discourse as new participants in an academic community.

Many U.S. corporations have begun investing in the education and training of their personnel in order to implement and maintain the changes necessary to remain competitive in a global market place. Employees have been required to learn and utilize new and/or different competencies.The purpose of this study was to identify formal training and informal learning experiences that were judged as valuable as the learners began the on-the-job utilization of their formal training and/or informal learning activities. Three adult education learning theories (andragogy, proficiency theory, and situated cognition) were examined to determine what formal and informal learning experiences of the respondents, were reflected or contradicted, by these theories.It was determined that interviews with employees to ascertain their perceptions might yield insights as to how they think they have learned new skills. Therefore, 15 employees with various job descriptions and who were employed by three separate and diverse organizations wereinterviewed. This diversity was necessary in order to achieve maximum variation sampling. All of the interviews for this study were audio tape recorded to ensure accurate data collection. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and reviewed item-by-item and line-by-line for emerging trends and important concepts.The findings suggested that the majority of workplace skills or competencies were learned and utilized through informal learning. Formal training was used to initiate, maintain, or validate the informal learning. Content learned during the formal training was more likely to be used if participants were given an opportunity to practice the skills or competencies during the training. Handouts or booklets were used after the training to replicate the skill or competency.The findings suggested that the theoretical description of needs assessment and of the evaluation process were not valid in the current workplace training setting. Respondents suggested improvements for both areas.This study has implications for trainers, training directors, and human resource personnel. Further study is recommended on needs assessment, evaluation, and informal learning within the workplace. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to determine the challenges faced by adult learners in relation to the school curriculum in the Mafikeng District. This research was conducted on how adult learners are experiencing financial problems, accommodation, long distance, family concerns and the irrelevance of curriculum. A questionnaires and interviews found out that there are many learners who drop out due to the challenges that they face. Most adult learners are unemployed and as a result they are unable to pay for their fees. They have numerous problems at home that include pregnancy and looking after children. / M.Ed. (Adult Education) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2006

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: James Raths, School of Education. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 1997. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-241).