Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / Eduard Lindeman (1926) stated, “the approach to adult education will be via the route of
situations” (p. 8, emphasis in original). Training professionals often face situations that require
them to develop and present training programs on subjects for which they have limited or no
previous content expertise. This occurs even though the literature stresses the need for trainers to
be experts or masters on the material they present (Bernthal et al., 2004; Brookfield, 1990;
Draves, 1984, 2000; Galbraith, 1990; Houle, 1984; Long, 2002; McArdle, 1993; McCain, 1999;
Slusarski, 1994; Symonds, 1968; Wlodkowski, 1999). Although there is considerable literature
on the roles and responsibilities of trainers (McLagan & Suhadolnik, 1989; Nadler & Nadler,
1989), self-directed learning (Candy, 1991; Knowles, 1975; Tough, 1979), and developing
training programs (Caffarella, 2002; Long, 1983; McCain, 1999), very little links these areas
with the knowledge acquisition process trainers use.
This dissertation describes the phenomenological inquiry into the nature of the process
trainers use to acquire the knowledge necessary to develop and present training programs for
which they have little or no previous content expertise. The population was selected because of
the researcher’s background in training and adult education. Criterion, snowball, convenience,
and maximum variation purposeful sampling techniques were used to identify trainers who met
the criterion of the study. Potential participants were contacted by the researcher and asked to
participate in the study. Data was collected via semistructured interviews until thematic
saturation was reached. Constant comparison was used to analyze the transcripts of the
interviews.
Twenty-six common themes were identified during the study and were categorized into
six different categories. The six categories are self-directed learning, the training and development process becomes part of the trainer’s life, the needs assessment is part of
knowledge acquisition, knowledge acquisition is a continuous part of the trainer’s life,
understanding the importance of adult learning principles, and reflection. The results of this
study have implications for the adult education, self-directed learning, program planning, human
resource development, and training literature.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:KSU/oai:krex.k-state.edu:2097/77 |
| Date | January 1900 |
| Creators | Johnson, Daniel P. |
| Publisher | Kansas State University |
| Source Sets | K-State Research Exchange |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 678387 bytes, application/pdf |
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