Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Idaho, 2006. / Also available online in PDF format. Abstract. "May 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 277-294).

In 1961, Cyril O. Houle, Professor of Education at The University of Chicago, conducted a qualitative study on why adults return to adult education classes. This study was the first of many studies to be conducted in the last twenty-six years. Most of the motivational research flows from Houle's three factor typology. This typology describes the motivations for adults returning to education as either "goal" oriented, "activity" oriented or "learning" oriented. Studies conducted since Houle's, by Sheffield, Burgess, Boshier and others have identified more orientations than did Houle. Boshier (1971) developed the Education Participation Scale (EPS) to identify the orientations of adults returning to adult education classes. This study used the EPS to determine if the orientation of ninety-nine adults enrolled in an adult education program in Northeast Indiana, compared to the orientations of adults who have taken the EPS worldwide. Five of the participants of the adult education program were interviewed over a five month time period to obtain their judgments on why adults return to formal educational settings. These interviews were analyzed for trends, themes and similarities and differences in the content.Findings1. The ninety-nine participants taking the EPS did differ from those participants who had taken the EPS worldwide.2. There were no topics raised in interviews that differed from the topics present in the EPS or existing factors in the EPS.3. Four of the five participants interviewed generally fit Houle's (1961) definitions of "goal" oriented adults. One participant fit Houle's definition of a "learning" oriented adult.Conclusions1. Although the interview data brought about no specific conclusions there were recommendations for further study in the area of motivational orientations of adult students.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Syracuse University, 2009. / "Publication number:AAT 3381592."

Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-53).

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

<p>Recent research suggests that many U.S. students graduate from college with under-developed critical thinking skills. College graduates with deficits in critical thinking skills who pursue legal education face difficult barriers to academic and professional success which, if not effectively addressed, may impact the affected students, as well as the legal profession and society as a whole. Legal education is likewise facing intense criticism regarding educational practices and graduates? level of preparation for the competent practice of law. The purpose of this study was to construct a comprehensive theory of the development of critical thinking skills in law students. Through a process of grounded analysis, the researcher developed a conceptual model of the development of critical thinking in law students based on interview data collected from 14 academic support professionals at third- and fourth-tier law schools in the U.S. The model, referred to as the Critical Thinking in Law Students (CTLS) Model, considers student learning needs, student learning challenges, and legal education system challenges, and identifies twelve factors to optimize the development of critical thinking in law students. The CTLS Model may help law school governing authorities, law school administrators, law school faculty, law school academic support professionals, and law students better understand how critical thinking develops in law students so that students may achieve their full academic, intellectual, and professional potential.

<p> For career musicians who underwent a lockout by their managements, such a traumatic disruption was an opportunity for learning to occur about their profession, music performance, and themselves. Using Jarvis&rsquo;s (2004, p. 106) model of adult learning processes, a phenomenological study sought to answer the research question: <i>How did the lived experience of career musicians during a labor lockout change their self-concept as musicians?</i> To arrive at an essence of that experience, quantitative and qualitative data were gathered by using a demographic questionnaire and interviews. The population was identified from published rosters of two acclaimed orchestras that locked out their musicians in the 2012&ndash;13 and 2013&ndash;14 performance seasons. The qualitative data analysis followed Creswell&rsquo;s (2007, p. 159) method to arrive at a description of the &ldquo;essence&rdquo; of lived experience by career musicians during a labor lockout. Results confirmed the lockouts provided &ldquo;disjunctures&rdquo; as catalysts for &ldquo;lifelong education&rdquo; (Jarvis, 2004), even though musicians&rsquo; self-concept were affirmed. As a group, musicians fit Haiven&rsquo;s (2006) matrix of negotiation when performing with a top-down, hierarchical organization, but not when performing in a collaborative organization, bringing musicians into Haiven&rsquo;s (2006) &ldquo;union zone.&rdquo; However, results departed from Haiven&rsquo;s (2006) matrix by indicating career musicians&rsquo; high need for social networks and less dependency on work deployment within collaborative organizations. The essence of musicians&rsquo; experiences during a labor lockout could inform the fields of labor relations, andragogy, music education, music psychology, and organizational change.</p>

No description available.

This research project investigated the question, What are the qualitatively different conceptions of instruction held by instructors of adults in the workplace? The research approach of phenomenography was used to discover how instructors of adults interpreted their instructional experiences. The sample studied consisted of twenty-two members of the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development who were trainers in various workplace settings. The respondents' understandings of instruction were sought through semi-structured interviews that focused on one of their instructional experiences. Three conceptions were found through an iterative process of examining units of meaning in the context of the individual interview and the context of all the interviews. The global meaning of each conception is: instruction is (a) imparting information to learners who receive and apply it on the job (Transmission Conception), (b) assisting learners to share and apply ideas and experiences (Enablement Conception), and (c) involving learners in an experiential process of discovering and constructing meaning (Constructive Conception). The structure of each conception was then analyzed to maximize the differences among them. Several findings emerged: (a) each conception had several components that were more clearly about learning than about instruction; (b) all the conceptions had one structural component that was the same - learning involves applying new knowledge on the job -suggesting that this may be an essential component of instruction in the workplace; and (c)two characteristics of meaning and connectedness appear to divide the conceptions placing the Transmission and Enablement Conceptions on one side and the Constructive Conception on the other. It was concluded that (a) there are more than the two dichotomous ways of viewing the instruction of adults that is suggested in the literature (teacher-controlled and collaborative); (b) there appears to be a generic conception of instruction common to many settings, that instruction is about transmitting information; (c) understandings of knowledge are related to conceptions of instruction; and (d) the context in which instruction occurs is a framing factor for thinking about instruction. The set of conceptions that was found can be used to study instructors' thinking about instruction in other settings as well as for their training and ongoing development.