From listproc@pulsar.acast.nova.edu Mon Oct 13 18:44:56 1997 Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 08:15:53 -0400 From: listproc@pulsar.acast.nova.edu To: aedmod@fcae.acast.nova.edu Subject: GET HORIZONS VOL8N1 (1/1) Archive HORIZONS, file vol8n1. Part 1/1, total size 66761 bytes: ------------------------------ Cut here ------------------------------ >From horizons Fri Feb 25 17:11:53 1994 Received: by alpha.acast.nova.edu (5.57/smail3.1.27.1/9-8-92) id AA02609; Fri, 25 Feb 94 17:11:53 -0500 Date: Fri, 25 Feb 1994 17:11:52 -0500 (EST) From: New Horizons Editor Subject: NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION, VOL. 8, N. 1 To: aednet@alpha Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: OR ********************************************************** ********************************************************** ******************** ******************** ************* ************* ******* ******* **** **** *** *** ** ** * NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION * * ISSN. 1062-3183 * ********************************************************** Volume 8 Number 1 Winter 1994 ********************************************************** EDITORS Nancy Gadbow................Nova Southeastern University Maria Ligas.................Nova Southeastern University COPY EDITOR Donald Rigg.................Nova Southeastern University EDITORIAL BOARD H. K. (Morris) Baskett......The University of Calgary Ina Sue Brown...............Syracuse University Dale Cook...................Kent State University Karen Garver................University of Nebraska Susan Imel..................Ohio State University Jan Jackson.................California State University Janice Johnson..............University of British Columbia John Kingsbury..............Nova Southeastern University Patricia Lawler.............Widener University Norma Long..................College of Notre Dame of Maryland Robert Preziosi.............Nova Southeastern University Mark Rossman................Walden University Burt Sisco..................University of Wyoming Sue Slusarski...............Syracuse University Marlene Smadu...............Nova Southeastern University NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION is a refereed journal published by Nova Southeastern University's Programs for Higher Education. The journal is transmitted electronically through the Adult Education Network (AEDNET), accessible through BITNET and Internet. There is no charge for NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION as received electronically. Copyright of individual articles is retained by the authors. Any item that appears in NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION may be retrieved without permission. However, when this material is quoted or reproduced, the author, title of the item, and issue must be cited. To correspond with NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION send email to horizons@alpha.acast.nova.edu or send postal mail to NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION, Nova Southeastern University, Programs for Higher Education, 3301 College Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314. Page 2 N E W H O R I Z O N S I N A D U L T E D U C A T I O N CONTENTS Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 I N T R O D U C T I O N Editor's Preface............................................2 A R T I C L E S Planning for an Evaluation of a National Vocational Education Program in a Developing Nation Farmer, Edgar I., Taylor, Raymond G., Kim, Hyunyoung, and Konate, Yacouba.............................................4 Student Diversity and the Culture of Higher Education Rohfeld, Rae W..............................................11 B O O K R E V I E W ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS: ASSESSMENT AND PROGRAM PLANNING FOR ADULTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES Arnold, Ellen...............................................17 F O R Y O U R I N F O R M A T I O N Cumulative Index to New Horizons............................21 How to Obtain Back Issues of New Horizons...................24 Call for Manuscripts........................................25 Announcement of Special Theme Issue.........................26 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 EDITOR'S PREFACE This issue of NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION contains two articles and a book review. The first article PLANNING FOR AN EVALUATION OF A NATIONAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM IN A DEVELOPING NATION, by Edgar Farmer, Raymond Taylor, Hyunyoung Kim, and Yacouba Konate, describes the planning phase of an evaluation process designed for use in reviewing the vocational and technical education programs in Simbabwe, southern Africa. It presents a planning approach which the authors suggest may be applied to other external evaluations of vocational programs in developing countries. Page 3 Rae Rohfeld's article STUDENT DIVERSITY AND THE CULTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION presents the idea of cultural access in higher education, drawing upon the experience of Jane Addams and the Hull House College Extension Program to demonstrate differences between the culture of the university and the culture of the working-class neighborhood. Following a description of a pilot program designed to help bridge such cultural gaps and a review of recent changes in the university, the readers are invited to discuss the concept of cultural access in light of these changes in academia. Questions are posed for NEW HORIZONS readers to consider and respond to in AEDNET for a period following the publication of this issue. This INTERACTIVE ARTICLE is offered to encourage focused response on a particular topic of relevance to adult educators. Directions for response on AEDNET are given at the end of this article. In her review of the book ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS: ASSESSMENT AND PROGRAM PLANNING FOR ADULTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES, Ellen Arnold details the useful aspects of this manual for adult educators. She also discusses the book's philosophy and approach to helping adult learners in light of the issue of self-empowerment of the learner. A spring issue of Volume 8 is planned for April or May which will include another interactive article. page 4 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 [Editor's note: The following article was accepted for publication under the editorship at Syracuse University.] PLANNING FOR AN EVALUATION OF A NATIONAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM IN A DEVELOPING NATION Edgar I. Farmer North Carolina State University Raymond G. Taylor North Carolina State University Hyunyoung Kim North Carolina State University Yacouba Konate Ministry of Education Republic of Mali, West Africa ABSTRACT This paper describes the planning phase of an evaluation process used by the senior author during his tenure as a W. K. Kellogg Consultant for prospective grant recipients in Zimbabwe. Specifically, this paper presents an overview of the planning that was used in evaluating the vocational and technical education programs in Zimbabwe, southern Africa. The planning process used in this paper is designed to serve as a springboard to a more generic planning approach to be applied to any external evaluation of a vocational program in developing countries. Finally, this paper emphasizes planning as a precursor to logistical arrangements, implementation, analysis, and reporting. For three weeks in the summer of 1991, a team of consultants under the sponsorship of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation evaluated Zimbabwe's comprehensive vocational and technical education system (Bowser, Bartow, & Farmer, 1991). page 5 Thirty-two sites were studied and fifty-three educators and civic leaders were interviewed. Four major cities were visited. A comprehensive report was prepared. The Zimbabwe report contains notes and data that are largely idiosyncratic to vocational and technical education in that country (Bowser, Bartow, & Farmer, 1991). But it also contains information that is useful in devising an evaluation strategy for national programs of vocational education, particularly as such evaluations are carried out by external consultants. The present paper extracts and expands upon that strategy. A General Case for Planning Evaluation planning is impossible unless the purposes of the evaluation are first articulated. Those purposes may be to address suspected weaknesses or known strengths, test the relevance of existing programs to current and projected needs, measure the ability of the program to contribute to economic development (Hultin, 1987), audit the cost-effectiveness of programs (Bas, 1987), or any one or combination of these and other purposes. In Zimbabwe's case, the purpose was to collect information for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to assist decision makers in processing a grant request for the Ministries of Education and Higher Education. Throughout the discussion which follows, it is assumed that the sponsoring agency, the evaluation team, and the host country all share a common understanding of the purposes of the evaluation. Although the importance of planning for any sort of evaluation project is beyond contention (Greenberg, 1981; Spaulding, 1982), the importance of careful planning before engaging in an external evaluation by visiting international consultants cannot be overemphasized. The time constraints for the visitors and the local educators and the cost constraints by the sponsoring agency require thoughtful timing and confirmed advance arrangements. Such arrangements might include the preparation of travel schedules and associated ticketing, the hiring of language interpreters, and the obtaining of special clearances. Advanced planning is needed in order to set the stage for an effective evaluation. Within the host country, one of the most important planning activities is the self-study with its associated articulation and documentation of goals and the gathering of relevant data. Not unlike self-evaluations done for other purposes, domestic or international, a large measure of the page 6 benefit of program evaluation often comes from self- appraisal. Some of the insights one obtains through reflection may be even more useful than the well-articulated opinions of experts. When both sources -- internal examination and external review -- are skillfully synthesized, the possibility of a sustained positive impact on the organization exists. Keeping in mind the contextual or environmental components of planning (McClure, 1978), the sponsoring agency and the evaluation team will need a carefully prepared orientation to the relevant cross-cultural matters which could impact the evaluation. Seven such areas of concern include 1) social systems and institutions, 2) interpersonal relations, 3) policies, 4) religion, 5) politics, 6) economic systems, and 7) educational and technological bases (Ben-Yahya, 1989). Other advance activities should include an orientation for the persons to be interviewed and for the persons who will be called upon by the visiting team to provide information. It is important that the local participants understand and trust the purposes of the evaluation and that they be given encouragement and incentive to cooperate. Mission Statement The articulation of the project's mission statement may well be the first and most important activity in the planning process. It is usually a formal document developed by the sponsor or donor agency. Besides setting forth the immediate purposes of the evaluation, the mission statement may include a brief explanation of the historical background of the agency and a summary of its current activities. Arrangements Planning and advance logistical arrangements discussed here are those completed by each of three groups: 1) the donor agency, 2) the consulting team, and 3) the host nation. Donor agency Actions taken by large organizations might be compared to the behavior of elephants. By analogy, it could be argued that long before one can observe any outward manifestation of activity, much preparation has been rumbling deep in the bowels of the organism. To the extent that this is an apt page 7 comparison to the behavior of large foundations, it is impossible to say exactly when the planning for a major project begins. In a broad sense, it reaches back to the value system of the sponsor and its commitment to grant funds for purposes such as improving education, health, and the overall quality of life. In the narrowest sense, it originates when a specific project is considered. In the case of the 1991 study, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's decision to support an evaluation of Zimbabwe's vocational and technical education program is one link in a chain of strategies which include, as precursors, a general commitment to vocational, technical, and community-based education, and, as successors, a commitment to take specific actions to improve the quality of life in southern Africa. The Board of Directors of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation made such a commitment to southern Africa in 1986. Thus, planning for the donor agency includes these aspects, as a minimum: 1. The design of a general context to which the project in question can make a significant contribution; 2. the identification of the general characteristics of the specific project and a tentative budget for the same; 3. the appointment of an internal project director and/or the appointment of an on-site coordinator; 4. the identification of a suitable contractor, consultant, or other configuration of experts, either by way of direct solicitation or a Request for Proposals (RFP); and 5. the negotiation of a final contract and budget. Consulting Team Planning by the contractors or consulting team will involve a great deal of communication with the host country and with the donor agency's project or on-site coordinator. Such planning touches on every aspect of the study that is specified in the contract. The team also has a moral obligation to plan for and anticipate those activities that are related to their areas of expertise, whether or not such activities were contemplated by the sponsor's contract. Part of what the sponsor is "buying" when it contracts with the page 8 team is a high level of professional insight into the formative and summative issues that will invariably be raised within the process of planning. Host Nation The consulting team will meet and hammer out its general strategy. It will negotiate that strategy with the donor's project director and with the on-site coordinator and other representatives from the host nation. Gradually, by iteration, an acceptable and effective strategy will emerge, and the host nation will have a high level of ownership in the strategy. In Zimbabwe's case, top officials representing the Ministries of Education and Higher Education were instrumental in providing essential information for the in-country visit. They prepared the tentative itinerary with discussion on each of the institutions to be visited in the study. Moreover, they made many of the logistical arrangements such as lodging, clerical and office assistance, and transportation with a guide and driver. Summary of the Zimbabwe Planning Process The total process of both planning and executing an evaluation of vocational and technical education across international lines might be outlined in five major steps: 1) preplanning and preliminary commitments, 2) planning, 3) implementation, 4) analysis and evaluation, and 5) reporting. The present paper has discussed only the first two of these steps. In summary, preplanning includes the marriage of a recognized need with a donor agency's commitment to partially or fully respond to that need. In the Zimbabwe case, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation had made a commitment to improve the quality of life in southern Africa, and the Ministries of Education and Higher Education in Zimbabwe had applied to the foundation for assistance in upgrading its vocational and technical education programs. The foundation decided it would undertake an expert study of the Zimbabwe situation for at least two purposes. One purpose was to determine what the future involvement of the foundation would be with respect to Zimbabwe's request for assistance. The second purpose was to provide Zimbabwe with the benefits of the expert study. Given that decision, the project entered a formal planning phase. Planning for an international study of the sort illustrated here involves the independent and the coordinated activities of at least three groups: the donor agency, the page 9 consulting team employed by the donor agency, and the host nation. A project director was appointed by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and, in turn, a consulting team was assembled. The consultants participated in an orientation session so that they understood both the mission of the project as well as the larger mission and philosophy of the donor agency. The consultants then participated in the planning of strategy and in the review of preliminary materials prepared by the foundation and by the host nation. Meanwhile, within the host nation, preparations for the study were in progress. A self-study was organized, executed, and summarized. The itinerary was planned and negotiated with the donor agency and the consulting team. The consulting team made certain that the suggested itinerary provided a sufficient sample of experiences so that reliable conclusions could be reached. Once sufficient information was forthcoming from the host nation, the consulting team had a final meeting to work out the details of the on-site reviews and to coordinate the schedules of individual members. Interview protocols and other data collection devices were designed and agreed upon. The entire process, to the extent it could be anticipated, was reviewed on a day-to-day basis, with the reviewers knowing that after the team completed its work and returned to its home country, it would be too late to obtain certain kinds of potentially important data. Planning depends both on common sense "organizing" and on experience. Even the most fastidious organizer cannot plan well without the benefit of prior experience -- that is, without knowing what to expect. Thus, a close working relationship between the consulting team (the panel of experts), and the donor agency's staff (the reservoir of experience) is crucial in avoiding wasted opportunity. When one considers the close timing and coordination of schedules needed to undertake an expert international evaluation, the pressure on limited human and financial resources, and the delicate nature of the international goodwill involved in such a study, the importance of thoughtful planning is unassailable. page 10 REFERENCES Bas, D. (1987). COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF TRAINING IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. Training discussion paper 19. Geneva, Switzerland: International Labour Office. ERIC ED308319. Ben-Yahya, I. (October, 1989). EVALUATION IN CROSS-CULTURAL CONTEXTS: PROPOSING A FRAMEWORK FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROJECT EVALUATIONS. Paper presented to the American Evaluation Association. San Francisco, CA. ERIC ED314479. Bowser, G.W., Bartow, W.G., & Farmer, E.I. (1991). A REVIEW OF VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ZIMBABWE. Unpublished manuscript. Battle Creek, MI: W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Greenberg, B. (April, 1981). THE POTENTIAL FOR PROGRAM EVALUATION IN A "DEVELOPING" COUNTRY. Paper presented to the American Educational Research Association. Los Angeles, CA. Hultin, M. (1987). VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A REVIEW OF STUDIES AND PROJECT EXPERIENCE. Uppsala, Sweden: Swedish International Development Authority. ERIC ED296064. McClure, C.R. (1978). THE PLANNING PROCESS: STRATEGIES FOR ACTION. College and Research Libraries. Spaulding, S. (March, 1982). EVALUATION OF ADULT NONFORMAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE. Paper presented to the Comparative and International Education Society. New York. page 11 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 STUDENT DIVERSITY AND THE CULTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION Rae Wahl Rohfeld Syracuse, NY ABSTRACT Despite the tremendous growth of participation in higher education over the last century, for some groups colleges and universities have been highly resistent to change. This article considers the idea of cultural access, one of the five types of access in a model that Carol Aslanian developed, as a source of remaining barriers. Using this concept, it draws on the experience of Jane Addams and the Hull House College Extension Program to look at differences between the culture of the university and the culture of the working-class neighborhood. Noting a recent pilot program to bridge such cultural differences, along with changes in academia emerging mainly from feminist and post-modern thought, it invites readers to discuss whether the concept of cultural access and the current changes in the university can help us deal with some of the limits to access that still exist. Since the beginning of University Extension in the U.S. during the 1880s, its practitioners have stressed their role of expanding access to higher education. Despite the tremendous growth of participation in higher education, for some groups colleges and universities have been highly resistant to change. Socio-economic class continues to be a significant influence in the make-up of student bodies (Karabel & Astin, 1975), and discussions about altering the racial and cultural make-up of student populations are endless. Can we redefine the issues in ways that can help us to address the limits to access that seem to exist? Certainly extension programs helped lower barriers to education involving age, geographic location, and competing page 12 adult responsibilities, thus providing what Carol Aslanian (1990) calls geographical and logistical access to education. And, because University Extension offered part-time study, thereby allowing participants to combine employment and education, it also provided financial access for many. (Government programs have further diminished financial barriers, although much remains to be accomplished.) Two other forms of access that Aslanian identified have been more difficult to achieve: psychological access, which relates to believing that one belongs in college; and cultural access, which involves sharing the experiences, world view, and values of the majority in the institution. To try to gain greater insight into the processes and limits of access, I decided to study a 19th century extension effort -- the Hull House College Extension Program -- which seemed to offer a supportive environment for working class entrance to higher education. For a time in the 1890s, when both settlements and university extension were new to Chicago, the prospects seemed good. However, Hull House founder Jane Addams ultimately considered the experience unsuccessful. By the end of the decade she concluded that the University's emphasis on theory, specialization, and objectivity made it incompatible with the needs of working people to integrate knowledge, experience, and action. The difficulties she described seem to relate to the concept of cultural access. Hull House began a strong College Extension program in 1890, the year after the settlement opened. The College Extension schedule showed 21 ten-week courses meeting once a week on six nights of the week and Saturday afternoon. These courses included writing, literature, history, foreign languages, arithmetic, mathematics, and Latin (elementary, Caesar, and Virgil). The teachers were Settlement residents (workers), most of whom held B.A.degrees. Course fees were $.50 each. On Thursday nights free popular lectures took place "in connection with the College Extension Classes." The subjects were "literary, scientific, and historical," presented by professors from Northwestern University and a minister (HULL HOUSE SCRAPBOOK, II, 7). Also, the staff urged students to attend the Wednesday night Working People's Social Science Club where speakers presented lectures on contemporary political, economic, and social issues, and the audience engaged the speakers in spirited discussion. (Addams, 1965a) This program was reminiscent of the curriculum at Rockford Seminary where Addams and some of her colleagues had attended college. (Rockford became a degree-granting page 13 institution while Addams was there, and she was in the first group to receive bachelor's degrees.) The Hull House residents who taught the college courses generally had only bachelor's degrees, but that was also true at Rockford. It was not until later in the 1890s that the Ph.D. began to be expected for university faculty (Rudolph, 1990). In the fall of 1892, the University of Chicago opened under the presidency of William Rainey Harper, formerly of Chautauqua. An Extension Division was one of the University's central units, and a class from the Extension Division's Lecture-Study Department filled the place of the Hull House Thursday evening lectures. The first subject was "A Preliminary Course in English Literature" which surveyed many aspects of the subject, and devoted one session each to Shakespeare and Robert Browning exclusively. The cost was $1.00, the same cost as the University's lecture-study courses elsewhere. Addams believed that the Settlement approach enhanced the University's activity and gave course work greater meaning for the students. During that first year of cooperation, she wrote as follows: I ... believe that the best work in University Extension can be done in Settlements, where the teaching will be further socialized, where the teacher will grapple his students, not only by formal lectures, but by every hook possible to the fuller intellectual life which he represents (Addams, 1965b, p. 54). As time went on, however, Addams found the University a disappointing partner. Looking back on several years of University-provided Sunday evening courses, she noted that they differed enormously in their popularity. Although there were notable exceptions, Addams commented as follows: The habit of research and the desire to say the latest word upon any subject often overcomes the sympathetic understanding of his audience which the lecturer might otherwise develop, and he insensibly drops into the dull terminology of the classroom (1961, p. 297). She turned, instead, to developing a settlement approach to education which she distinguished from the approaches of the college and the university. As a colleague of John Dewey, she shared his views on the union of learning and action and applied these ideas to the settlement: page 14 The ideal and developed settlement would attempt to test the value of human knowledge by action .... The settlement stands for application as opposed to research; for emotion as opposed to abstraction, for universal interest as opposed to specialization (Addams, 1965c, p 187). By the first decade of the 20th century, the University had committed itself to a direction of intellectual studies by faculty who were increasingly specialized in their knowledge and devoted to theory-building. The Social Settlements, on the other hand, sought a society in which people actively participated; their educational programs, their research, and their political action complemented each other as means to enhance the environment for community life. Related to their different purposes, settlements and universities developed alternative ideas about the construction and dissemination of knowledge. University scholars adopted a scientific paradigm for knowledge generation. They sought objectivity and designed methods to eliminate bias and emotion in their research. Their goal was to develop theories to explain broad phenomena (Gordon, 1990; Deegan, 1988; Graham, 1978). In the settlement educational philosophy, knowledge and action were inseparable. Knowledge emerged out of thinking and acting; its foundations were cognitive and emotional. Action both contributed to theory and served as its test. Hence learning required community and interaction of the greatest variety possible. These different approaches to knowledge and learning which Addams derived from her reflections on class differences (and, to some extent, gender distinctions) seem echoed in more recent work. Studies on gender (Belenky, 1986; Gilligan, 1982) and race/culture (Shaw, 1993) show the significance of experience, community, and emotion in the learning processes of women and African-Americans. In the mid 1970s, The National Congress of Neighborhood Women (NCNW) instituted a pilot College Program (funded by FIPSE) to overcome the cultural gap it saw between women from working-class neighborhoods and higher education. The rhetoric of the NCNW College Program leaders was amazingly similar to that of Addams: The program is structured as a bridge between the culture of the university and the culture of the neighborhood, integrating women's educational goals with the traditional liberal arts (Haywoode & Scanlon, 1987, p. 102). page 15 The NCNW found its response to the tension between the neighborhood and university cultures in "the pedagogy of working-class feminism" which is deeply grounded in the personal, yet it also expands the students' understanding of the larger society by showing the connections between their experiences and those of others and of events of the larger world (Haywoode & Scanlon, 1987, pp. 103-104). Efforts such as the NCNW College Program have been very limited. However, it may be that recent changes in academia could contribute to a lowering of cultural barriers and support social demands for greater access. When Jane Addams addressed these issues, positivism was strong in the university. It defined the nature of knowledge and made university scholars the creators, judges, and disseminators of knowledge. Recent developments in postmodern thought, naturalistic inquiry, participatory research, and collaborative learning seem more compatible with a broader view of the nature of knowledge and its construction. How might we use the idea of cultural access and the newer ideas about inquiry, research, and learning mentioned above to open higher education to more diverse populations? How can we alter teaching, student-faculty interaction, and other relationships within the university, and between the university and the community? What efforts can New Horizons readers share that address these issues? REFERENCES Addams, J. (1965a). The objective value of the social settlement, in C. Lasch (Ed.), THE SOCIAL THOUGHT OF JANE ADDAMS. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 44- 61. (Paper originally presented in 1892). Addams, J. (1965b). The subjective necessity for social settlements, in C. Lasch (Ed.), THE SOCIAL THOUGHT OF JANE ADDAMS. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 28- 43. (Paper originally presented in 1892). Addams, J. (1965c). A function of the social settlement, in C. Lasch (Ed.), THE SOCIAL THOUGHT OF JANE ADDAMS. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 183-199. (Essay originally published in 1899). page 16 Addams, J. (1961). TWENTY YEARS AT HULL HOUSE. New York: New American Library (Signet Book). (Originally published, 1910). Aslanian, C.B. (1990, May 1). BACK FROM THE FUTURE. Speech to the National University Continuing Education Association, New Orleans. Belenky, M., Clinchy, B., Goldberger, N., & Tarule, J. (1986). WOMEN'S WAYS OF KNOWING. New York: Basic Books. Deegan, M.J. (1988). JANE ADDAMS AND THE MEN OF THE CHICAGO SCHOOL. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books. Gilligan, C. (1982). IN A DIFFERENT VOICE. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Gordon, L. (1990). GENDER AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA. New Haven: Yale University Press. Graham, P.A. (1978, Summer). Expansion and exclusion: A history of women in American higher education. SIGNS, 3, 759-773. Haywoode, T.L., & Scanlon, L.P. (1987). World of our mothers: College for neighborhood women. WOMEN'S STUDIES QUARTERLY, 15, 101-109. HULL HOUSE SCRAPBOOK (n.d.). II, 7. Jane Addams Memorial Collection, University of Illinois at Chicago. Karabel, J., & Astin, A. (1975). Social class, academic ability, and college "quality." SOCIAL FORCES, 53, 381- 398. Rudolph, F. (1990). THE AMERICAN COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY: A HISTORY. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. Shaw, M. (1993). African American learning-to-learn-to-live in response to diseducation: A phenomenological investigation. In PROCEEDINGS, 34TH ANNUAL ADULT EDUCATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE, University Park, Pennsylvania, 239-244. *********************************************************** [Editor's note: To respond to Rae Rohfeld's article and the questions she raises at the end, please send your comments to AEDNET as follows: Subject: STUDENT DIVERSITY (ROHFELD). Responses and discussion on this interactive article are encouraged for a two-week period ending March 15, 1994.] ************************************************************ page 17 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 BOOK REVIEW by Ellen Arnold Coordinator Learning Institute Rochester, New York ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS: ASSESSMENT AND PROGRAM PLANNING FOR ADULTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES. Calgary: The Learning Centre and Alberta Vocational College, 1992. 302 pages. Postsecondary institutions are being inundated with adults with learning difficulties who want to improve their knowledge and skills in order to be competitive in today's marketplace. Yet few adult educators have been trained in the complex and many faceted aspects of assessment or program planning for these special learners. ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS provides adult educators with a user-friendly manual that effectively fills this void. The authors have integrated theory and practice from international sources that are current, respectable, and easily adaptable. In addition, their sources cross the boundaries of cognitive psychology, neuropsychological testing, literacy models, and dynamic assessment. This blending of research from the works of Brown, Bransford, Gardner, Feuerstein, and Alley and Deshler is a treasure in itself. The layout of this book has been well thought out, with its ease of reading, practical charts, and glossaries. The theoretical and research base is so well incorporated that readers may not even be aware that they have been exposed to so many complex and diverse concepts which appear to flow so naturally within the context of the book. Several outstanding charts serve as valuable resources for a wide range of adult educators, as well as provide useful strategies for adult learners. The manual is also a helpful teaching tool, providing space for the reader to interact with the text through reflection and structured thinking questions. Thus the concepts being discussed are also "modeled" in the structure of the text. In addition, the authors have made page 18 effective use of case studies, which add useful perspective and help demonstrate the application of all the essential elements of assessment and development of an Individualized Program Plan, making the process a dynamic and evolving one, easy to relate to for anyone who has worked with similar learners. The focus of this manual is to help the practitioner learn more about the assessment process. Yet, the theme continues the traditional view of assessment: "I, the professional, am going to diagnose you and plan for you. I will ask for your input and you should be involved in the planning, but I will continue to be the professional diagnostician." What would happen if the goal of assessment would become "my role as the professional is to help you, the learner, become your own diagnostician and program planner?" The challenge for today, in light of the research on learned helplessness within school-aged special education populations and the increased focus on the importance of self- advocacy, is to help these adults learn the elements of self- reflection and self-diagnosis. The professional can suggest strategies to accomplish a specific task, but unless these adults learn how to judge the appropriate context of the learning, to assess their own learning strengths, to generate their own learning strategies, and to adapt strategies to any given learning context, we are creating further dependence on the professional! These adults are asking for ways to effectively deal with the helplessness they feel as learners. If we truly believe in the empowerment of the adult learner, even one with learning difficulties, we must help them understand that there is never one way to learn and that by learning the language to describe their learning needs, compensation techniques, and accommodations, they can be successful in any learning situation. This means that the professional must take a broader view of the learner rather than focusing on a learner for reading, spelling, or mathematics. Helping learners truly understand their natural learning pattern enables them to adapt this process to any learning situation. Since the learners' context continues to change, it is important that these adults believe that they are empowered learners, that they have a metacognitive strategy for interpreting the learning demands, are able to think through appropriate steps based on their strengths as previous learning patterns, and can develop their own creative solutions. If we take that responsibility away through complex assessment that focuses on the professional gathering the information, are we not recreating the mistakes of the last 30 years of special education? page 19 Considerable emphasis is placed in the early section of the book on the identification of beliefs about learning and intelligence for the adult education practitioner, but this same emphasis appears to be missing when developing the individual plan for the adult learner. Belief in oneself as a learner and feeling in control of the learning process (regardless of the teaching style used) are critical elements in becoming a self-directed learner; these concepts should be explicitly considered as part of any program planning. An example may help to illustrate the importance of these concepts for the learner. If John has problems with organization of written language, the professional can gather information from John's experience, from tests, from teacher observations, from psychological evaluations, and from interacting with John. If the goal is to help John with his writing, then the professional would take all this assessment information and make specific recommendations for the strategies John should use to improve his writing. But if the goal is to empower John as a learner, then John would also understand that as a visual learner, for example, he can successfully develop and use visual maps prior to writing as a way of organizing his thoughts and breaking writing down into components that he can successfully master. But John also needs to learn that he can adapt this strategy to develop an organization chart of questions/concerns he has prior to meeting with his child's teacher or before meeting his physician for an examination. His organization of language problem exists in all elements of his life; his writing problem is just one symptom. Should not the assessment process, therefore, address the whole person and not just the specific task of writing? Should not John be empowered to learn more about why certain strategies have been effective for him, so that he can use his creative problem-solving skills (most adults with learning difficulties have been extremely creative in either hiding or compensating) to be successful, regardless of the learning task? The frame developed by the professionals in Calgary lays a solid foundation for assessment. If they added another category to their Individual Planning Profile on how the student has learned to transfer the use of a strategy to other settings besides the context originally designed, a critical aspect of learner empowerment would be added. Maybe this addition would force the reader to think through the issue of "responsibility for learning." page 20 The authors' discount the usefulness of identification of learning styles, stating "there is real danger in classifying students according to their preferred style" (ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS, 1992, p.45). Their otherwise comprehensive synthesis of current research omits the research on the effect of learning style accommodation. Some research indicates that envirnomental issues and modality preferences can impact academic achievement (Dunn, 1986). Learning styles can be helpful in assessment provide insight into why certain strategies or learning environments may be more beneficial than others. Ignoring these easily alterable variables (light, sound, type of furniture, etc.) sets learners up to work harder than necessary to accomplish their own goals. Although mention is made of the theory of multiple intelligence, (Gardner, 1993) no mention is made of the powerfulness of this model in helping learners understand their own strengths and weaknesses or how it provides a fascinating perspective on why traditional education may have been so difficult for adults with learning differences. In summary, this text provides an excellent synthesis of practical information that will allow adult educators to stretch their assessment skills. The authors are to be congratulated for taking a difficult process and making it effectively useful to the practitioner. They have asked many of the right questions, but the question that they still need to address is " How can we help the real expert, the learner, make effective use of this information?" Maybe the answer to that question is being reserved for Volume 2! REFERENCES Dunn, R. (1986). Learning styles: Link between individual differences and effective instruction. EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP, 2, 3-22. Gardner, H. (1993). MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES: THE THEORY IN PRACTICE. Basic: New York. page 21 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 F O R Y O U R I N F O R M A T I O N CUMMULATIVE INDEX OF NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 1 Number 1 Adult Education in Nicaragua: Adapting and Growing in a Changing Reality by Samuel Simpson Volume 2 Number 1 Propaganda in Adult Education by Richard Novak The Informing of Adult Education by Adult Development by Nancy E. Hagan Procedures for Writers in the Field of Adult Education: How to Make Your Writings More Consistently Accessible within Computerized Information Databases by Judith Gwinn Adrian Feminist Methodology: A new Way of Knowing? by Carolyn Chase Volume 2 Number 2 Into 'Terra Incognito': Considerations on the 'Timeliness' and 'Importance' of the Carnegie Corporation's Early Involvement in Adult Education by Michael Law page 22 Women and Literacy in Tanzania by Sharon Cramer Bell Physical Learning Environments: Why Be Concerned? by Rodney Fulton Introducing Metaphors of Chaos to Adult Education by Robert Domaingue Volume 3 Number 1 Comparison of Computer and Audio Teleconferencing: One instructor's View by Norman Coombs Intellectual Suppression: Australian Case Histories, Analysis and Responses by Roger Boshier Volume 4 Number 1 Straight Time and Standard Brand Adult Education by John Ohliger A Comparison of Folk High Schools in Denmark, and East and West Germany by Robert Wendel A Descriptive Appraisal of Functional Literacy in Nigeria by Muyiwa Igbalajobi and Ayodele Fajonyomi Intentional Changes by David Price Volume 5 Number 1 Community Adult Education In America: An Overview by Michael W. Galbraith and David Price page 23 Community Adult Education In Developing Countries by Linda Ziegahn Facilitated Community Development In A Rural Area by Allen B. Moore and Mary Anne Lahey Envisioning A Sustainable Society: Learning Our Way Out by Daniel V. Eastmond Volume 5, Number 2, Fall 1991 Technology in the Classroom of the Future by Wayne Hurtshuh Model Building and Strategic Planning in Continuing Higher Education by Paul J. Edelson Culture Wars by Michael E. Ehringhaus Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 1992 Characteristics of Adult Education Students and and the Factors Which Determine Course and Program Completion: A Review by Mary F. Sheets Working Toward More Effective Adult Christian Education: A Case Study of Youngville Baptist Church by Robert C. Ballance In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development by Susan Slusarski Volume 6, Number 2, Fall 1992 Customer Satisfaction Studies: Implication for Job Related Continuing Education by J. A Farmer, J. G. Land, L. L. Gilbert, & J. R. Ainsley. page 24 Bringing the Partners Together in Workplace Literacy: A Canadian Perspective by M. C. Taylor, L. Shohet, & C. Macleod. Killing the Spirit: Higher Education in America by Terrence R. Redding Volume 7, Number 1, Spring 1993 Radical Adult Education with Older Persons by Eric Friedrich Theory-based Practice: A Model SDLS Program by John L. Lewis and Barbara K. Mullins The Need for Continuing Education for the Deaf: Are Adult Educators Listening? by Kimberly A. Townsend Towards an Anti-Racist, Feminist Teaching Method by Tania Das Gupta NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 HOW TO OBTAIN BACK ISSUES OF NEW HORIZONS To obtain any issue of NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION, please send your email request as follows: Address message to: listserv@alpha.acast.nova.edu (NOT to AEDNET) Subject: (not necessary) Message get horizons vol6n1 (In this example vol6no1 is the requested issue as selected from the index.) page 25 To request an index, type the following in the body of the message: index horizons NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 C A L L F O R M A N U S C R I P T S New Horizons in Adult Education, founded in 1987, is a refereed electronic journal which provides faculty, graduate students, researchers, and practitioners with a means for publishing their current thinking and research within adult education and related fields. The journal is published two or three times a year and is transmitted through this electronic network -- AEDNET. New horizons publishes research, thought pieces, book reviews, point-counter-point articles, conceptual analysis, case studies, and invitational columns. The editorial staff welcomes articles for review submitted either electronically through AEDNET or as conventional paper copies through regular mail. If you would like to submit an article or obtain guidelines for manuscript submission, you may contact New Horizons in Adult Education by e-mail or mail. E-mail address: horizons@alpha.acast.nova.edu Mailing address: New Horizons in Adult Education Nova Southeastern University Programs for Higher Education/FCAE 3301 College Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314 page 26 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 S P E C I A L T H E M E I S S U E A special theme issue is planned for late 1994 or early 1995 which will focus on TECHNOLOGY AND ADULT EDUCATION. With the rapid pace of change in technology which may affect teaching and learning, we are confident that a diverse range of topics can be addressed in this special issue. We encourage interested persons to submit articles for review related to this theme. ------------------------------ Cut here ------------------------------