The adult education literature offers little analysis and understanding of the practical knowledge of the program planning process planners hold and use. Rather, a comprehensive review of theoretical sources revealed the widespread use of the academic model, informed by Tyler’s rationale, which has yielded a linear model of planning and a technical view of planners. By contrast, the theoretical sources on practical knowledge and on curriculum and teachers’ thinking pointed to the use of an experiential model, informed by Schwab’s theoretical concepts, which has presented planning as deliberative, and planners as creators and possessors of knowledge. The purposes of the study were to: gain an understanding of the kinds of practical knowledge planners in a university continuing education unit find useful and relevant to their decision making in program planning; acquire a greater understanding of the planning process from their perspective; and develop categories for interpreting these understandings. The research was guided by an interpretive perspective and qualitative methods. The study was conducted in two phases. A pilot and a follow up study. In total, a purposive sample of six planners, two males and four females, none of whom had pursued graduate study in adult education, working in the same institution, were interviewed. It was concluded that practical knowledge, which informs planning practice, consists of three kinds of knowledge: declarative, procedural, and conditional which stand in dialectical relationship to one another; and that planning practice requires that planners have and use all three kinds of knowledge. Further, planning is indeterminate and contingent on the context and planners’ knowledge. These planners’ practical knowledge incorporates a framework of concepts, rules and routines or strategies, beliefs, values, principles, and metaphors of practice. This framework has implications for planners’ criteria of valid and reliable knowledge, informal and formal planning strategies, the ideological character of knowledge, and ethics of practice. As well, these planners use a combination of planning approaches which are directly related to the nature of the planning context and their own capabilities. The contextual and problematic nature of planning is made explicit. The study challenges the prevailing assumptions associated with a traditional view of planning.

<p>This Research sets out to understand the participation experiences of a selected group of adult learners at one of the partner institutionsof the online Intercontinental Masters in Adult Learning and Global Change. The study offers an understanding of adult learners' experiences of success and persistence in relation to online study within a higher education context, and also offers insights into what may costitute successful learning communities. In relation to literature, , the student perceptions obtained via the study largely affirm what 'successiful' can mean to a group of postgraduate adult learners in an online learning environment. This stidy also contributes to the ongoing conversation in terms of the unique experiences of students in one particular cohort of the programme.</p>

This research is a case study. The study investigates the teaching strategies currently utilized in the adult education classroom; ascertains the reasons for the use of such strategies and recommends teaching strategies that could be used in order to improve instruction. The research was conducted at an adult learning centre. In pursuit of his objectives, the researcher aimed to answer the following key questions: • What teaching strategies are currently being utilized in the classroom? • How effective are these teaching strategies in meeting the learning needs of the adult learners? • How do these teaching strategies relate to existing literature? Data was collected primarily by engaging in the observation of actual teaching in the classroom. Structured interviews were conducted with the educator and learners concerned in order to confirm the classroom observation findings. Although the findings from this study are problematic to generalize, the findings will give us a better understanding of teaching strategies. This understanding could be useful to: • Educators of adult learners with a view to improving their practice. • Researchers in the field of education. • Textbook writers and curriculum development specialists. • National and regional policymakers. • Anyone who has an interest in education. This study is guided by the theory of andragogy as expounded by Knowles. This theory is relevant because it informed the study as to how best teaching and learning of adults can be undertaken. Findings from this study reveal that the teaching strategy most frequently used are the mass instruction strategies. The lecture method is most frequently used. This method is made interactive with the incorporation of discussions, recitations and the use of questioning. Individual instruction and group instruction strategies are used to a limited extent. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

Train-the-trainer is an educational method extensively used by organizations for capacity development. Despite the wide spread use of this method, there is little information regarding its use, role in educating adults, and participant perceptions of its utility. Healthcare service providers’ perceptions of a train-the-trainer educational method was investigated in this qualitative study. A focus group methodology was used. Content analysis revealed themes about participant perceptions. The overall theme identified was the need to address location-specific challenges, specifically, recognition by the trainer of the context of communities and programs in which the training occurs. Organizations using this method need be flexible and willing to revise the training plan based in adult learner needs. Service providers recommended that the provision of strategies and examples for transfer of learning into practice was critical as was the tailoring of train-the-trainer workshops in length, facilitation style, resources, and delivery modality to community capacity and needs.

This thesis was undertaken with the purpose of developing a program in Community Adult Education in Lesotoho. The methodology employed by the writer included review of community and adult education patterns in the U.S.A., selected countries of Africa and the Unesco’s perspectives of adult education in developing nations. In addition, the methodology included personal interviews of certain specialists in Community and Adult Education.This thesis has discussed the community adult education patterns which appeared adaptable to Lesotho and suggested recommendations for further research in the area of Community Adult Education.

Print materials for audiences with low levels of literacy usually include illustrations. This is particularly true of health education materials designed to raise awareness of serious diseases like the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and Tuberculosis (TB). When people cannot read well, it is often assumed illustrations will communicate information more clearly than written text. Theories of visual communication, however, suggest that visuals are ambiguous and more likely to be misinterpreted than written text, especially by under-educated viewers in environments where visuals and print materials are scarce. Moreover, the traditional guidelines on illustrating educational materials for adults with limited literacy are dated and often anecdotal. Due to South Africa’s high HIV/AIDS and TB infection rates, effective health education is important. The lack of basic literacy skills among millions of adults presents a challenge. It is important to understand the communicative potential and limitations of illustrations in health education materials in order to maximise their success. This qualitative research analyses how visual meaning is structured in illustrations from health education print materials from a semiotic perspective. A mixed method approach known as hybridised semiotics (Penn, 2000) is used, which in this case combines the semiotic analysis of the illustrations with data collected through interviews. Audience interpretations of the illustrations are contrasted with the producer’s intended meanings. 23 individual interviews were conducted with Zulu-speaking adult participants from ABET Level 1 Zulu literacy classes in two rural and two urban literacy centres in KwaZulu-Natal. The research instrument for the interviews included illustrations in different illustrating styles and with different approaches to content. The content of the illustrations included HIV/AIDS; the digestive system, safety for caregivers, and TB. The illustration styles included artistic techniques, levels of stylization, pictorial depth and background detail. The participants frequently misinterpreted the illustrations, or were able to describe the basic appearance of what was depicted without interpreting the complexities of the intended messages. Reported education levels seemed to influence participants’ abilities to interpret pictures, but not as significantly as expected. Findings suggest that rural participants were more likely to misinterpret illustrations containing symbols and unfamiliar objects, and tended to focus on describing surface details. Even though urban participants were more likely to discuss the connotations of illustrations, they often misinterpreted the intended message. Previous background knowledge and experience of the subject matter of the illustrations seemed to be the factor that enabled participants to infer the intended meanings of illustrations. This study demonstrates the use of a semiotic approach to analysing illustrations, which may help to predict and avoid sources of confusion for audiences with low literacy. It also confirms that certain guidelines remain relevant while others do not, and provides specific recommendations on how to enhance the effectiveness of visual communication in this context. Illustrations have many beneficial roles, and remain essential components of reading material for audiences with low levels of literacy. It is therefore important to understand their complexity, and the reasons why they may be misinterpreted, so that their educational potential can be maximised. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2014.

Train-the-trainer is an educational method extensively used by organizations for capacity development. Despite the wide spread use of this method, there is little information regarding its use, role in educating adults, and participant perceptions of its utility. Healthcare service providers’ perceptions of a train-the-trainer educational method was investigated in this qualitative study. A focus group methodology was used. Content analysis revealed themes about participant perceptions. The overall theme identified was the need to address location-specific challenges, specifically, recognition by the trainer of the context of communities and programs in which the training occurs. Organizations using this method need be flexible and willing to revise the training plan based in adult learner needs. Service providers recommended that the provision of strategies and examples for transfer of learning into practice was critical as was the tailoring of train-the-trainer workshops in length, facilitation style, resources, and delivery modality to community capacity and needs.

This thesis examines the growth in adults' take up of qualifications over the last 20+ years. The thesis asks who the participants are in terms of their social characteristics, and coins the term 'new adult qualifiers' to refer to this expanding student population. It aims to (I) locate the expansion in its wider social/historical context; (II) examine theories which might explain the increases, and (III) draw on a number of in-depth interviews with new adult qualifiers to explore the relevance of Giddens' concept of reflexive modernisation (RM). Part One of the thesis provides a statistical picture of trends in adults' participation in qualifying and non-qualifying courses in the UK since 1970. This shows that there have been substantial increases in the numbers of adults (21 +) and, particularly, older adults (25+) who pursue qualifications in the FE and HE sectors. The statistical account identifies the social, economic and educational diversity of this older mature student population. Part Two of the thesis discusses existing explanations for the expansiOn of qualifications in industrial societies (Dore 1976, Collins 1979), and identifies why they are of limited use in explaining the rise in adults' take up over the past two decades. It goes onto suggest that the RM thesis (Beck 1992, 1994; Giddens 1990, 1991, 1994), which is a general theory of social change as well as an evocative description of contemporary society, may provide the basis for an alternative explanation. The RM thesis provides a way of understanding how social and economic conditions, characterised by uncertainty and opportunity, have been produced. I hypothesise that it is these conditions that underlie the rising take up of qualifications by adults. This perspective is explored via a study of ten men and women who, in mid-life, have recently pursued first degrees at a university in England (Part Three). In the final chapter, I identify the strengths and weaknesses ofusing the RM thesis to help explain adults' changing relationship to qualifications. I conclude that the gap between the general social theory and the specific case of qualifications makes it unwise to claim that the perspective can fully explain the growth of qualifications for all adult groups.

The thesis will establish, through philosophical argument, particularly in philosophical psychology, that professional practitioners in adult education are those who see themselves (and indeed are also seen) as agents of the integration of (a) adults' learning from their experiences (the authenticity aspect), with (b) the values of 'education' (the integrity aspect). That is, such practitioners employ 'know how' to bring such integration about, and they may ideally exemplify a kind of wisdom in 'knowing why' they act as they do. We will call this the 'integrationist' model of adult education practice. This integrationist thesis, drawing mainly upon Wittgenstein, Kant and Aristotle: * takes the very phenomenon of the practices of adult educators as its starting point, rather than analyse concepts or language per se, and treats ethical and epistemological dimensions of this practice as interwined and equally central in such phenomena; * requires extensive treatment of the formation of the 'appropriateness' or efficacy of the ethical and epistemological ingredients of professional practice, and subsumes this 'know how' in the significance of sociocultural location; * assumes such people are still 'students' in the broad sense that they are integratively learning from their practical experience and that socio-culturally located workplaces provide the most significant context for their practice (intentionality and competence are especially addressed); * re-examines the emphasis in adult education on the role of experience and the self, and accordingly revitalises a constructivist approach more firmly based in ontological considerations; * accordingly, moves beyond an atomistic conception of professional competence and the sovereignty of the agency of the individual practitioner, * develops an emphasis on teleological considerations - adding 'knowing why' to a more holistic 'know how' and, in that sense, signals a retrieval of the notion of 'vocation', with an orientation towards the attainment of the 'rightness' of practical wisdom (phronesis) as the purpose of adult education as professional practice. Integrationism is thus also constructivist: professionals in any field are expected to make a positive difference. There are general features of the analysis pertinent to any practice where adults' circumstances are up for amelioration.

Specialist degree in education, Eastern Illinois University, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-73).