We used Kolb's Model of Experiential Learning and learning style (LS) theory to design a group workshop (GW) and correspondence course (CC) to instruct adults on reducing cancer risk through diet. Kolb's model has four stages: having a concrete experience, reflecting on that experience, forming abstract concepts about the experience, and actively experimenting with what has been learned. Individuals prefer one stage of learning and are classified into four LSs: divergers, assimilators, convergers, and accommodators. The purpose of the study was to test the relationship of LS and instructional method to knowledge, attitude, and behavior change; knowledge and attitude maintenance ten weeks after instruction; and course attrition. Through mass media we recruited adults interested in diet and cancer prevention. Subjects completed Kolb's LS Inventory II (an instrument to determine LS), demographic questionnaire, and knowledge, attitude, and behavior pretests. Subjects were randomly assigned, by LS, to the GW, CC, or control group. Following the educational intervention, participants completed posttest measures of knowledge and attitude and delayed posttests of knowledge, attitude, and behavior. Both courses improved knowledge and attitude at posttest. However, knowledge gain was not maintained in either course, but attitude was maintained in the CC. Each course increased self-reported behavior scores, but only the GW values were significantly greater than controls. The CC improved "Yellow and Dark Green Vegetable" intake and lowered fat consumption in those subjects who had high fat intakes before the study began. No relationship was found between LS and knowledge and attitude change or maintenance, self-reported behavior, nutrient intake, nutrient density, or attrition. However, the converger LS had a significant decrease in consumption of citrus fruits at delayed posttest as compared to divergers and accommodators. In addition, convergers attending the GW had decreased fruit and vegetable consumption. The negative outcomes of convergers in the GW may be due to their preference for technical tasks rather than people. Thus, successful knowledge, attitude, and behavior change can result from nutrition education programs designed to reach all learning styles. Further research is needed to compare Kolb's model to other theories of behavior change and maintenance.

This thesis examines the ways in which active citizenship is conceptualised by a variety of actors within the Workers’ Educational Association South Wales and is the work of an ‘insider’ with experience of the organisation as both employee and Trustee. The Association is a democratically structured, voluntary organisation with a history of providing adult education in communities throughout south Wales for more than a hundred years. Its reliance on funding from the Welsh Government for the majority of its income is a significant aspect of the background to this study, particularly as one of the Association’s aims is the provision of courses that ‘will assist in the promotion of active citizenship’. The research is set within the contexts of changes in adult education policy during the Association’s lifetime and a contemporary emphasis on the economic purpose of education, the contested nature of the concepts of citizenship and active citizenship and the organisation’s historic role in relation to the Labour movement and past tensions in respect of the receipt of state funding. The study explores through semi-structured interviews with those responsible for the Association’s strategic direction, both senior staff and Trustees, as well those whose role is to implement policy as Development Workers and Part-time Tutors, how active citizenship is understood and whether or not there is a shared understanding within the Association. A picture emerges in which there appears to be uncertainty among a significant proportion of participants about the Association’s purpose as well as a lack of a shared understanding of what active citizenship means and of the kinds of active citizenship the Association could promote. The study also reveals shortcomings in organisational capacity to achieve the aim of promoting active citizenship. The thesis concludes with a series of policy recommendations for the Association to consider.

Background: Continuing professional education (CPE) for nurses is deemed an essential component to develop, maintain and update professional skills and practice in order to ensure that nurses respond effectively to care requirements and provide a high standard of patient care. However, there is little empirical evidence of its effectiveness or factors which may influence its application into practice. This thesis explores a continuing professional education programme on the safe administration of medication and how new knowledge and skills are transferred into clinical practice. Design: Realist evaluation provides the framework for this research study. Realist evaluation stresses the need to evaluate programmes within "context," and to ask what "mechanisms" are acting to produce which "outcomes." The realist evaluation cycle for this study had four distinct stages. Firstly, I built initial theories as conjectured CMO configurations (Stage 1 and 2), then these CMO conjectures were tested (Stage 3) and then they were refined (Stage 4). Methods: Data was collected and analysed separately for each of Stages 1, 2 and 3. However, as realist evaluation is iterative, I often returned to a previous stage to clarify meaning or understanding. Document analysis and interviews were used in Stage 1 to commence the process of building CMO conjectures. Realist interviews took place in Stage 2 to refine the conjectured CMO configurations. Stage 3 involved the testing of the conjectured CMO configurations through three embedded case studies which involved interview, clinical observation, analysis of further documents and analysis of data from reported critical incidents and nursing care metric measurements. Findings: This study has shown the significant role of the ward manager in the application of new learning from the safe medication administration education programme to practice. Local leadership was found to enable a patient safety culture and the adoption of a quality improvement approach in the local clinical area. The multi-disciplinary team at both organisation and local level was also found to be a significant context for the application of the safe medication administration education programme into practice. Reasoning skills, patient identification and receptivity to change were identified to be key mechanisms which were enabled within the described contexts. The exploration of the context and mechanisms and their relationship allowed for further exploration of outcomes associated with the context and mechanism constructs. Recommendations: The conjectured CMO configurations put forward at the end of the thesis should be further tested utilising a different CPE programme. These theoretical propositions could inform policy and practice on the factors required to ensure learning from CPE is applied in practice. The realist evaluation framework should be applied when evaluating CPE programmes as the rationale for providing CPE programmes is to maintain and improve patient care.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1988. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 193-211).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 1994. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 260-266). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Teaching and Training Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Idaho, April 2006. / Major professor: Jerry Tuchscherer. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-191). Also available online in PDF format.

This thesis presents an interdisciplinary study of post-Second World War short-term residential adult education, through an investigation of the Shropshire Adult Education College (SAEC), 1948-1976. This was located at Attingham Park, Atcham, Shropshire, now a National Trust property. George Lowthian Trevelyan, its Warden until 1971, was both an educational pioneer and a charismatic New Age leader. The study, conducted with support from the National Trust, examines the importance of memory, place and space and utilises oral history and archival materials to uncover and re-present the story of one college as a lens on a form of adult education which has enduring relevance. The investigation is informed by class-based, political and cultural perspectives. Since the College’s demise little had been done to evaluate this important experimental period of adult education. This study involved a slow uncovering process, akin to restoration. Although some more robust infrastructural ‘markers’ of the College, such as student-made stained glass windows and some mosaics, remain in situ, others, like the ceiling paintings of night sky constellations, have been erased or removed. For many of the former staff, students and academic tutors interviewed, this ‘painting over’ is a metaphorical deletion of a period of history important to them as individuals, and – as the closing down of a space of post-war reconstruction, creative thinking and renewal – socially significant. Many students and staff found their experiences transformational. Early courses, reflecting Trevelyan’s view of citizenship within a “classless” post-war democracy, embraced an eclectic and diverse range of largely local students. He was, however, an innovator and experimenter: along with literature, music and crafts, architecture and conservation, the curriculum evolved, reflecting and articulating his particular vision of cosmological, spiritual and ecological unity. This utopian thinking spoke of the dangers of rampant materialism and destruction of the earth, but was intertwined with a romantic desire to conserve a British way of life overseen by the hereditary aristocracy. An anthroposophical message, based on Rudolf Steiner’s arcane and esoteric teachings, was central. As the ‘New Age’ became Trevelyan’s focus, divisions emerged between his acolytes and those hostile to the changes – including residential and area-based tutors responsible for mainstream courses, governors and students. Students and tutors on ‘esoteric’ courses were increasingly people with privileged backgrounds, drawn from Trevelyan’s own national network. This led to charges of elitism. Ultimately, though arguably a post-hoc rationalisation, this has been seen as key to the decision to close the College.

Adult educators have been identified in the academic and policy literature as crucial to the success of national and regional strategies to deliver quality teaching to adult learners who require new knowledge and skills to meet changing social and economic needs. However, the majority of adult educators are part time practitioners who frequently lack any formal training or specialized expertise for teaching adults (Andersson, Köpsén, Larson and Milana, 2012; Jarvis, 2004). Across the world, limited attention is given to their professional development, leaving the majority of them to assume this responsibility by themselves. This is the case in Cyprus. The Cypriot adult education sector is characterised by part-time practitioners with low pay, limited professional development opportunities and uncertain career prospects. The professionalization of the sector and the development of adult education as a recognised profession has not been a priority. This study used a mixed-methods approach rooted within the pragmatic paradigm. This allowed a range of opinions to be heard, analysed and interpreted, and for some conclusions to be drawn regarding the ‘essential features’ of professional development and how these can contribute to the professionalization of the adult education sector in Cyprus. Questionnaires and group interviews were used to understand the perceptions of adult educators regarding their professional development and to identify emerging issues relevant to their professional identity and to the professionalization of the adult education field in Cyprus. Policy-makers and academics were also interviewed. The findings demonstrate the high levels of motivation that adult educators have to participate in professional development both to improve their teaching competences and to meet the needs of their learners. They reveal the personal fulfilment that adult educators gain from their work, despite their low professional status and uncertain prospects. The research shows that adult educators seek professional development focused upon classroom-based and didactical skills that can make them better teachers of adults. The establishment of a supportive environment, identification of adult learners’ needs, acknowledgment of adult educators’ prior experience, placing the learner at the centre of the teaching process, reflective practice and experiential learning, are seen as important components of professional development. The research findings have important implications for policy and practice in Cyprus. They inform recommendations for systematizing the adult education sector, defining its philosophical framework and priorities, and establishing a responsible body to monitor the professional development of adult educators and the sector in general. There are implications for practice; that the developmental needs of adult educators can be met through systematic professional development provision and that this should draw upon key stakeholders (adult educators, academic organizations and professional development providers) for its design. Finally, the research contributes to professional practice and academic discipline by providing a better understanding of adult educators working in this sector, the challenges they face, how they define their professional identity and their perceptions on how to improve their professional future. By offering insights into professional development and professionalization from the perspective of adult educators, it is hoped that the research can contribute towards positive change for adult education in Cyprus, to the advantage of educators and learners, and thereby to the advantage of Cypriot society in general.

In this dissertation, I offer a theoretical concept to guide educational program development during refugee transition. The premise behind the concept is that women, as a category of people, routinely experience wide-ranging, often culturally sanctioned, forms of violence and discrimination. In 1995, one in every 130 people in the world are refugees and displacees. Of these, 80 percent are women and their dependents (Women's Commission, 1993). I suggest that a point of entry to combat female-directed injustice is during the time of greatest cultural disruption in the refugee experience. Three factors build together to create this potential. Most refugees migrate from a "developing" country to a "developing" country. A comparison of the global pattern of refugee migration and the pattern of female illiteracy indicate a marked correspondence. Coupled with the fact that most refugees are female, the first factor is that the typical refugee will be a female with a history of unequal access to education. The second factor is that during refugee transition, which I define as the times of greatest cultural disruption in the refugee experience, traditional norms are in flux. The refugee is propelled into places where traditional patterns of social interaction are ruptured and not yet reestablished. In this environment of basic survival, a woman performs roles shaped by necessity rather than the social norms of her home culture. The third factor is that during refugee transition women cross traditional gender roles. Research indicates that women may actually "gain" from refugee flight. The new environments call upon women to expand beyond traditionally restrictive roles to develop a wider, and more influential, range of public skills and responsibilities. I suggest that the convergence of these factors during refugee transition creates a potentially rich, and unusual, learning environment for women. For further analysis, the concept is applied to a case study of Iranian refugees in Turkey.