Project Thesis (D. Min.)--Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 278).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-140).

Project Thesis (D. Min.)--Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 278).

La riflessione teorica e l'applicazione empirica del costrutto di comunità di pratica costituiscono fondamentali elementi a supporto di un'idea di educazione che sia continua lungo tutto il corso della vita di un essere umano. La posizione teorica di fondo è caratterizzata dagli assunti secondo cui la conoscenza viene creata attraverso il confronto con altri e il conoscere è un fenomeno sociale in quanto situato in un contesto specifico, che nel medesimo tempo trasforma e viene trasformato. Le comunità di pratica si pongono come luogo privilegiato al cui interno avvengono processi condivisi di costruzione della conoscenza. Frutti della partecipazione a una comunità e benefici per ciascun membro sono da un lato proprio la condivisione dei saperi e delle pratiche, dall'altro la crescita personale. All'interno delle comunità di pratica la singola persona ha la possibilità di acquisire nuove conoscenze, ma soprattutto di rielaborare le proprie esperienze pregresse e le proprie relazioni. Le modalità relazionali presenti all'interno delle comunità di pratica esplicitano il passaggio da una modalità conflittuale a una modalità consensuale di lavoro. Il presente lavoro si pone l'obiettivo di sintetizzare la letteratura relativa alle comunità di pratica, partendo dalla prima teorizzazione da parte di J. Lave ed E. Wenger e proseguendo fino agli studi più recenti. Grazie alle proprie specifiche caratteristiche la comunità di pratica detiene un alto potenziale educativo: analizzandole in chiave pedagogica, infatti, le peculiarità della comunità di pratica permettono allo specialista di educazione degli adulti di supportare il training educativo e trarre benefici dal naturale processo della comunità stessa. / The theoretical and empirical reflections about communities of practice constitute fundamental elements to support the idea that education is a natural process throughout life of human beings. The main theoretical position is characterized by the assumption that knowledge is created through discussion and dialogue with others, and that knowing is a social and situated phenomenon. Communities of practice become centres where processes of sharing experiences and creating knowledge take place. Consequences of the participation to the community are both the creation of a common repertoire of experiences and the possibility for the single to acquire new competencies, as well as to discuss his¬/her story and relationships. The typical way of building relationships inside communities of practice makes explicit the shift from a conflictual typology of working to a consensual one. This dissertation aims to make a synthesis of literature on communities of practice, starting from their first theorization by J. Lave and E. Wenger up to most recent studies. Thanks to its own features, communities of practice show a high educative potential: In fact, through an analysis of them from the pedagogical point of view, communities' of practice peculiarities allow to the adult education researcher to support educational training.

The purpose of this thesis is to find out the central, essential, and important issues concerning teaching adult students within the municipal adult education system in Sweden. In accordance with the used method, Grounded Theory, the research question runs as follows: What is the main concern of adult educators and how do they deal with it? Formal and informal conversations with and between adult educators, classroom observations and events occurring outside the classrooms were used as data. A constant comparative analysis of empirical data, supported by literature and results from previous research ended up in an empirical grounded theory. The main concern of the adult educators is the high degree of absence and the many dropouts among the students. To avoid this, a majority of the educators perform motivational work through pedagogical and social actions and try to find a balance between teaching and caring. A majority of the adult students, though, have needs that are of a socio-emotional kind; a caring dimension seems to prevail. So, the educational assignment becomes secondary to the social one, but the acts of caring are both of final and instrumental value. By teaching and caring, the adult educators try to help their students to lead a good life either at the moment or in the future, and to experience Quality of Life, the latter have to be motivated to attend school regularly. According to the andragogical principles, adults are responsible and motivated to learn by nature. However, this study shows that there is a distance between the ideal adult student and the actual one and that adult educators have to take on both the responsibility and motivational work. An informal theory, generated out of a basic set of values and an experienced-based knowledge that is vital to adult education, is thus put into educational practice.

La tesi si pone all’interno di una cornice di senso propria dell’educazione degli adulti ed esplora i processi di apprendimento e di costruzione della conoscenza che accadono nei contesti familiari. È stato condotto uno studio comparativo su due campioni: uno composto da quarantatré genitori italiani che vivono a Milano, Italia, e l’altro da ventisette genitori italo-americani che vivono a New York City, Stati Uniti. La decisione di condurre uno studio comparativo è motivata dal tentativo di comprendere e confrontare come i genitori, con, al di là e attraverso i propri posizionamenti culturali, costruiscono conoscenze, configurazioni identitarie, traiettorie di partecipazione, e forme di appartenenza alle famiglie di cui fanno parte. L’indagine prevede un secondo segmento che presenta l’applicazione di un approccio educativo diretto a sostenere gruppi di genitori nell’assunzione di azioni trasformative. / This paper describes a research on the processes of learning and of knowledge construction occurring within the family contexts. The aim of such research is the development of educational action logics able to intercept, promote and validate the knowledge and repertoires of practice that the family systems generate.

Malcolm Shepherd Knowles was a key writer and theorist in the field of adult education in the United States. He died in 1997 and left a large legacy of books and journal articles. This thesis traced the development of his thinking over the 46-year period from 1950 to 1995. It examined the 25 works authored, co-authored, edited, reissued and revised by him during that period. The writings were scrutinised using a literature research methodology to expose the theoretical content, and a history of thought lens to identify and account for the development of major ideas. The methodology enabled a gradual unfolding of the history. A broadly-consistent and sequential pattern of thought focusing on the notion of andragogy emerged. The study revealed that after the initial phases of exploratory thinking, Knowles developed a practical-theoretical framework he believed could function as a comprehensive theory of adult learning. As his thinking progressed, his theory developed into a unified framework for human resource development and, later, into a model for the development of self-directed lifelong learners. The study traced the development of Knowles’ thinking through the phases of thought, identified the writings that belonged within each phase and produced a series of diagrammatic representations showing the evolution of his conceptual framework. The production of a history of the development of Knowles’ thought is the major outcome of the study. In addition to plotting the narrative sequence of thought-events, the history helps to explicate the factors and conditions that influenced Knowles’ thinking and to show the interrelationships between ideas. The study should help practitioners in their use and appreciation of Knowles’ works.

The theses is focused on the topic of museums and their role in adult education and learning. It provides a basic overview of the development of museums and their educational role in history. A special attention is also paid to adults as a specific target group of the museum education, their specifics in terms of the leisure education and the educational process. It is also devoted to the educational offer of museums in the field of formal and non-formal education and informal learning. A part of the thesis is a qualitative survey that focuses on the educational offer of selected museums and to what extent the specifics of adults are taken into account by the staff in the area of the museum education. Key words museum, museum education, adult, adut education, leisure education, non-formal education, informal learning

This thesis outlines the current state of adult media literacy and education in the Czech Republic. It defines basic concepts, present and historical approaches of media literacy and its anchoring in the Czech legal order and international documents. It further focuses on current phenomena of media world and selected media institutions involved in media literacy development. The analytical part compares and evaluates Pan-European and Czech research aimed at measuring the level of media literacy of adults. Key words media literacy, media education, media, adult education, longlife learning, civic education

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