Adult women enter or reenter college for a variety of reasons, one of which is because of the loss of a job and the need to retrain for reentry into the workforce. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the actual experiences of female displaced workers entering community college, as compared with their initial expectations as adult learners. Data were collected through interviews with 23 displaced workers age 25 or older who were either enrolled in or had graduated from an associate of applied science degree program at Northeast State Technical Community. Interview transcripts were analyzed using Glaser and Strauss’s (1967) constant comparative method. Achieving particular grades, obtaining a degree, and being able to get a job were the primary ways in which the participants initially defined success. In addition, they attributed the success they achieved to the encouragement and support of their teachers, their families, and their peers as well as to their faith and personal dedication and determination. The barriers they encountered included dispositional, situational, and institutional barriers. Furthermore, they found their initial fears of not "fitting in" and of being too old to learn to be without merit. While they had underestimated the amount and level of difficulty of the work that would be involved, they had also underestimated their own abilities. Recommendations for future practice included conducting annual orientation sessions for faculty; semester reviews of course offerings and instructional delivery formats; and a series of 10, one-hour workshops, provided at the beginning of each semester, to help alleviate the fears that were consistently expressed. Additional qualitative and quantitative research was also recommended.

Yes / Empirical research on three commercial environmental vocational education and training programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based presage factors, which influenced individual learning and learning transfer to the workplace. The extent to which behaviour change and learning transfer occurred depended on a diverse range of factors, notably the workplace utility of the course; student’s level of personal commitment and position within the employing organisation; strength of the organisation’s environmental culture; level of post-course managerial/supervisory support available within the workplace; and changing workplace circumstances/priorities.

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Limited literacy remains a prevailing issue among older adult populations. This qualitative study sought to answer the following research questions: How do older adults with limited literacy skills navigate and learn to navigate their daily lives in an advanced literate community such as the United States? What types of informal learning strategies and coping mechanisms have been used by these adults, and what perceived barriers and hindrances have participants faced and are facing in their lives? The study included the interviews, data collection and analysis of five women and two men, ages 67-87, two of whose activities also were observed by the researcher. The objective was to investigate their informal learning strategies and coping mechanisms within their current living environment. A thematic analysis of the seven narrative 'life stories' resulted in the emergence of four themes, which represented how these adults with limited literacy skills learned to navigate their daily lives and use informal learning strategies and coping mechanisms to survive in a changing environment: (a) Family support (or lack thereof), (b) social networks, (c) desired GED Program engagement, (d) self-directed gained knowledge. The study concluded that although none of the participants received a high school diploma, all successfully obtained employment and navigated their daily lives by incorporating various strategies. Likewise, given their implementation of self-directed learning strategies (Ausubel, 2000; Knowles, 1990; McClusky, 1974; Tough, 1982), participants viewed some of the dispositional, institutional, and situational obstacles (Cross, 1982), not as barriers, but as navigable and surmountable challenges. Implications of the study suggested limited literacy adults relied upon family support, social networks and self-direction to pursue knowledge and conceal limited literacy. They gained confidence and developed coping mechanisms to navigate daily activities, circumvent barriers and function in an advanced literate society. Future professional practice recommendations included incorporating ABE/GED programs at adult living facilities/community centers; invalidating false assumptions regarding limited literacy older adults; volunteering time and building trust with these adults; and validating their current and desired needs. Research recommendations included investigating limited literacy adult capabilities; shadowing their navigation; conducting similar studies in other U.S. regions; and investigating comparative life-span research. / Ph.D.

The diploma thesis focuses on experiential education as a possible and efficient methodology for teaching ESL to adult learners. The theoretical part scrutinizes the key principles of the method and investigates its background. In addition, the thesis clarifies the concept of learning styles and Kolb's Learning Cycle. The following sections deal with the adult learner as a specific type of learner with his characteristic needs and factors influencing his SLA. Furthermore, the benefits of experiential education for the adult learner are considered. The practical part introduces several concrete activities using elements of experiential education. These activities were described in detail and piloted in a group of adult learners.

Retaining students, particularly in the 16- to- 24-year-old category, is a constant challenge for adult basic education programs nationwide. Educators need to understand factors that affect adult learners' experiences, have a better understanding of ways to motivate adult students in a nontraditional school setting to enhance their engagement, and apply research-based techniques and targeted, practical strategies to improve student persistence. The primary objective of this case study was to investigate the perceived factors that students considered influential on their persistence and retention in adult basic education programs. Knowles's andragogy theory and Tinto's persistence theory were the theoretical frameworks for this study. The research questions were designed to understand the factors that motivate students to remain engaged in academic courses. Ten students enrolled in a high school equivalency program in a large northeastern city participated in semi-structured, individual interviews. Coding and thematic analysis were used to identify, describe, and interpret the data collected. The findings indicated that factors such as individual drive, the instructor's encouragement and high expectations, relevant topics, and connection to school all contributed to sustain a learner's persistence. A professional development project was designed from the findings to provide instructors with research-based best practices and techniques to increase students' motivation and persistence through active learning experiences in student-centered classrooms. The project will impact social change by helping educators to have more insights on theories about adult learning styles and a deeper understanding of current approaches to inspire active participation, sustain learner motivation, and improve student academic performance.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Gerald D. Bailey / Online professional development has the potential to be a dynamic tool to construct knowledge and enhance professional performance. Online collaboration tools have accelerated learning and have made online professional development convenient, dynamic, and flexible. Yet access to powerful learning resources has not always ensured that quality online professional development has taken place or that authentic, transformational learning has occurred. This study has shown that technology has presented challenges that have proved difficult for online professional development facilitators and participants. Consequently, the facilitator's role in professional development has been even more critical in the virtual environment and the facilitator has had to be even more intentional in their actions, decisions, and expectations. The purpose of the study was to research, develop, and validate an online professional development facilitator's handbook that would clarify and demonstrate the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and skills utilized by exemplary online professional development facilitators. This study has also ascertained practical instructional strategies that are effective in planning, implementing, and facilitating online professional development. As a result of this study, an online professional development handbook was developed according to Borg and Gall's (1989) Research and Development (R&D) cycle and methodology using three panels that consisted of expert and novice online professional development facilitators. Findings include: Learning, defined as the process of constructing personal understanding through interactions with others while collectively engaging in challenges that are novel and transferable to other situations and settings, is transformational and has a sustaining impact when skillfully facilitated in the online environment. Online learning communities organized around collaborative inquiry and collective problem solving become co-creators of knowledge in a risk-free, trusting environment. Participants (teachers) become self-determining learners focused on engaging in appropriate endeavors to increase their classroom content knowledge and management skills by identifying their own needs and creating a plan to raise academic achievement and improve their own practices. When educational systems invest in honest dialogue about student work, candidly assess student and teacher needs, make changes based on data and research, and value individual and group contributions, these organizations become cultures of thinkers and communities of learners.

The benefits of effective teaching methods have been well researched and documented. Salient amongst most literature on such benefits is their ability to promote learners’ subject-matter comprehension and their active participation in class activities. Subject-matter and learner participation can be considered key ingredients in promoting effective learning. In adult education, due to the unique characteristics that the learner brings to the learning situation, it behooves the educator to select appropriate methods in promoting learning. By employing appropriate teaching methods, the educator is able to help adult learners achieve the desired learning outcomes. This study therefore sought to comparatively examine the effectiveness of the various teaching methods used by educators in teaching learners in adult education programmes in Ghana and South Africa. The study focused on the National Functional Literacy Programme of Ghana and the Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Programme of South Africa. The study was conducted using a qualitative research approach where the multiple case study design was employed. A purposive sample of 152 participants comprising 72 learners and 4 educators each from Ghana and South Africa were selected for the study. The interview schedule, focus group discussion guide and unstructured observation guides were used to elicit data from the participants. The study revealed, amongst other things, that some of the methods employed by the educators in the teaching and learning encounter were ineffective in promoting adult learning in both programmes. The study recommends that methods employed to teach adult learners should help them effectively to make meaning of the various information or events that they are presented with. As a result, teaching moves from the traditional view of transmission to helping learners to reexamine their meaning-making structures. / UNISA / ABET and Youth Development

This study sought to examine and comprehensively describe transfer students who have earned a two-year technical or occupational Associate in Science (AS) degree at the community college and entered the university to pursue the Bachelor of Science in Applied Science (BSAS). The BSAS degree is a specialized baccalaureate degree program created to allow AS degree holders an opportunity to efficiently transfer into the university affording them full recognition of their two-year degree. This statewide articulated program at the University of South Florida is the first of its kind in the state of Florida. The program only began admitting its first students in the fall term of 2003. Prior to the creation of the BSAS degree, most AS degree holders were not admissible to the university. If they did meet admission requirements based upon competitive freshman admission requirements, only about 15-18 credits of the 60+ credits earned through their AS degree were transferrable. Before the BSAS there were no efficient means for most AS degree holders to pursue higher education beyond their two-year degree. The first five years of this new bachelor's degree program have been very successful. The BSAS program has consistently experienced enrollment growth every year, and the specialized "areas of concentration" have continued to expand offering even greater opportunity for AS degree holders to pursue meaningful baccalaureate studies in support of their academic, professional or personal goals. The AS-to-BS transfer students represent a relatively new student population at the university and this population is steadily growing. The university has historically had little experience with them, and consequently we know little about them. This study was an analysis of AS-BSAS transfer students to determine their characteristics, engagement and success at the university. The study revealed that they are, in fact, a unique student population at the university who are generally disengaged with university life, but performing very well academically. Their average age is 37 years old. They are predominately working adults with family responsibilities. They are conscientious students who are persisting and completing their bachelor's degree in less time than the national average for all transfer students. Overall, the results of this study suggest that we may need to make adjustments to our transfer and articulation policies, our admission practices, and closely examine the broader services of the university to ensure we meet the holistic needs of this new, exclusive, atypical, workforce focused, and growing population of students at the university.