ISSN. 1062-3183
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EDITOR
Nancy Gadbow................Nova Southeastern University
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Linda
Howard................Nova Southeastern University
EDITORIAL BOARD
H. K. (Morris)
Baskett……. The
Dale
Cook.....................…...
Karen
Garver..................….
Jan
Jackson....................…..
Janice
Johnson..........……...
Kathleen
King.................….
Mary
Klinger.................…..
Patricia
Lawler................….
Norma Long.................……
Robert
Preziosi..........…….. Nova
Southeastern University
Mark
Rossman.............…...
Burt Sisco........................…
Sue Slusarski..................…
New Horizons in Adult Education, founded in 1987, is a
refereed electronic journal published by
To
correspond with New Horizons in Adult Education send email to
horizons@nova.edu or send postal mail to the
following:
New Horizons in
Adult Education
Nova Southeastern
University
Programs for Higher
Education
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
Volume 16, Number
2, Spring 2002
Editor’s
Preface
Audio
Professional Development Workshops: Less Glamorous, More Cost Effective
by Barbara
Frey and
HOW TO RESPOND TO ARTICLES ON AEDNET
How to Obtain Back Issues and the Cumulative Index
to New Horizons
Call for Manuscripts
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
Volume 16, Number
2, Spring 2002
Distance options for professional and workplace
education programs are being sought by many organizations as a way to reduce
costs. Adult educators are concerned about
the effectiveness of various approaches, as well as the cost factors. Barbara Frey and
M. Cecil Smith and Peggy A. Gallagher have down a
content analysis of
adult development and aging texts to see if their contents
connect to the field of adult education.
Their article Relevance of Adult Development and Aging Textbooks
Contents to Adult Education presents the results of their study in relation
to key areas of interest to adult education. Their results indicate a need for
such texts to link developmental research to adult education theory and
practice.
Readers are invited to make these articles
“interactive” by responding on AEDNET and sharing their comments. (Directions to guide this discussion are
given in this issue on page 28). Readers
also are encouraged to submit an article for consideration by the editorial
board of New Horizons on a related topic or other topic relevant to
adult education philosophy, research, and practice. (See Call for Manuscripts on page 28 for
details.)
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
LESS GLAMOROUS MORE COST EFFECTIVE
By
Barbara Frey, D.Ed.
Abstract
Do you have difficulty scheduling professional
development events because of conflicts of schedules, geographically separated
sites, travel time, room availability, and other logistical problems? How do you reach your faculty and
administrators with professional development activities? Have you wanted to “try out” distance
learning? What can you do to test out
distance learning without expending vast amounts of money?
While not as alluring as
video conferencing, audio conferencing can provide an effective way to deliver
professional development activities. An audio
workshop, furthermore, gives a cost-effective alternative for schools to test
the waters and enter into distance learning.
When evaluating instructional delivery technology, several critical
factors include (a) base technology choice on the curriculum, (b) choice of the
lowest technology common denominator, and (c) selection of the least expensive option that meets
your criteria.
Because of the competitive advantage distance
learning has afforded schools during the past few years; many have begun to
offer courses via distance. With the
increasing number of adult students, accommodations for disabilities, sites
separated by geography, and students with access to technology, distance
learning has become a solution to providing educational opportunities for
students. While many schools have begun
to offer distance learning courses via interactive video, audio, video,
on-line, and the worldwide web, few make use of this option for delivering
educational opportunities for their professional staff. In their quest to be on the leading edge of
technology, some institutions have neglected the use of less flashy, lower
forms of interactive technology available as delivery options. Audio conferencing, a lower level of
interactive technology, represents a viable option for delivering some forms of
professional development.
When people think of audio training they often think
of one-way only communication; for example, radio and audiotapes. Today, improvements in technology provide for
high-quality interactive instructional audio tools, such as audioconferencing. Schools can enter into this form of distance
learning either through investing in the technology or renting time through a
“bridge.” The bridge provides the
service to link together people at two or more locations and offers a fairly
inexpensive option.
The California Distance Learning Project has a good
web site that describes audio conferencing (http://www.otan.dni.us/cdlp/cdlp.html).
Table 1 presents the advantages and disadvantages that should be weighed
when considering audio conferencing.
Table 1
|
ADVANTAGES |
DISADVANTAGES |
|
Relatively
inexpensive |
Not
as “high tech” |
|
Reach
more people since uses available telephone technology |
Some
of the low end technology may “turn-off” due to poor quality of transmissions |
|
Appeals
to audio learner |
Limited
visual stimulation |
|
Familiar
technology |
People
may be “too” casual and conversational |
|
Interactive
medium, allows direct learner and facilitator participation |
“Noise”
can distract participants as well as cut out speaker |
|
Can
combine with other media for example print, video, computers |
Need
someone at site to coordinate |
|
Potential
for large number of lines on call, several people at location |
Limitations
to interactivity with large number of participants on call |
|
Site
coordinator not needed |
Facilitator
needs to “control” many locations |
|
Technology
fairly reliable |
May
not be have someone available to “fix” |
|
Timely,
shorter lead time to schedule |
Development
time |
|
Accessibility |
Asynchronous
communication |
|
|
Facilitator
may not be able to “read” audience |
|
|
Learners
can “tune out” |
|
|
Limitations
to cooperative learning activities |
|
|
Impersonal
because eliminates nonverbal cues and body language |
|
|
Restrictions
on the type of content that can be delivered in an oral format |
Curriculum should drive the technology, not vice
versa. If for training to be effective,
learners need to see the facilitator demonstrate a procedure, view a technique,
or watch the performance of a behavior, audio conferencing is not
appropriate. If for training to be
effective, the educational experience requires that the facilitator observe the
participants perform, then audio training probably is
not the best choice. If, on the other
hand, learning can occur in an auditory manner, then audio conferencing may be
a viable option.
Because of the familiarity with the medium, people
mistakenly feel that audio conferences do not require much up-front planning
and coordination. People think of an
audio conference as a fancy telephone call.
This misconception is probably one of the major reasons why
audioconferencing fails. In reality,
workshops delivered via audioconferencing require up-front planning,
coordination, and creativity. To hold
the interest of the learner and provide value-added benefits to them, the
conference needs to be more than a voice coming over the telephone lines or a
talking phone.
To use technology as a lever, you need to design the
workshop to maximize the capabilities of the medium, while minimizing its
limitations. The major advantage of
audioconferencing is its two-way interactive capability. Its major limitation is the absence of visual
communication. In designing for
audioconferencing consider the following:
·
Maximizing interaction on the call
·
Offloading information that requires little or no interaction
·
Presenting content in blocks of 10-15 minutes followed by opportunities
for interaction and feedback
·
Providing pre-work to participants, such as articles to read
·
Designating a site coordinator when several people are participating
from the same location
·
Combining site activities with the audio conference
·
Developing pre and post activities at the site to align with
audioconference and give opportunities for face-to-face interaction
·
Complementing audio content with handouts or other visual information
in the form of illustrations, pictures, slides, or videotapes
·
Incorporating several different technologies, such as e-mail,
PowerPoint presentations, computers, electronic black boards, videotapes, and
faxes
·
Providing handout materials that include supplemental readings, study
questions, agenda, participant list, call in numbers, call guidelines,
biographies, and hard copies of visuals
·
Creating a community of learning through providing vehicles for
participants to share learning with each other
·
Providing for follow up on the event
·
Evaluating the event
Table 2 provides questions that should be considered
before selecting audioconferencing.
Table 2
Points To
Ponder
|
QUESTIONS
TO PONDER |
SOLUTIONS |
|
How
might we incorporate visual into audio? |
|
|
Who
will facilitate the call? |
|
|
Will
all participants at the site/on the call know one another? |
|
|
Can
we do some activities at the site more effectively? |
|
|
What
can we do to maximize interaction on the call? |
|
|
What
can we do to increase interactivity among learners? |
|
|
Will
there be more than one participant at each site? |
|
|
Do
you need a site coordinator to organize and coordinate the event? |
|
|
Who
should become the site coordinator |
|
|
How
will we train the site coordinator? |
|
|
Is
there information that people all need to hear at the same time? |
|
|
Should
we have “pre-work” |
|
|
What
type of handouts do we want/need to distribute to participants? |
|
|
What
can we do to incorporate visuals in the workshop? |
|
|
What
is the implementation plan? |
|
Audio Professional Development Workshop On Learning Disabilities
Education Management Corporation is a national system of career-focused schools. The schools offer associate and bachelor’s degree programs and non-degree programs in the areas of design, media arts and technology, culinary arts, fashion and paralegal studies. Throughout the system, various operating groups, task forces, and interest groups use audio conference calls as a common form of communication and regularly scheduled meetings. In general, the meetings are run as a large telephone call with little structure or form. Audio conferencing is not a common media, however, to deliver system-wide training opportunities. While the system has done some experimentation with video conferencing, it does not have a system in place to reach multiple sites. Travel for a face-to-face meetings is expensive, time consuming, and resource intensive.
Each school had someone responsible for Faculty
Development Programs. These people hold
monthly audio conference meetings. On a
number of monthly audio calls, issues were identified by the faculty
development person at various schools related to policies, legal
responsibilities, teaching techniques, types of accommodations, and
philosophies of inclusion. Faced with
issues of limited budget, geographically separated locations, need to provide
training on learning disabilities, and large numbers of people to train, the
faculty development directors decided to pilot an audio conference to provide
professional development experience for administrators. A task force was formed to design, develop
and deliver training on learning disabilities.
The task force met through audio calls.
This process served several objectives.
It enabled the task force to become accustomed to working together using
the technology, identified technical issues, helped establish guidelines for
conducting calls, and served to model behaviors.
As a project management model, the task force
adapted Kirkpatrick’s (1994) ten-step process for curriculum development to
account for audio conferencing technology.
In general, they applied Kirkpatrick’s components through tailoring the
activities carried out in each step.
Their model containing these components is shown in
Table 3
|
Kirkpatrick
Ten-Step Process |
Action
Items |
|
Determining
the needs |
1. Survey sites to identify
training requirements 2. Interview key
administrators to identify issues related to learning disabilities 3. Research types of
accommodations requested at each site |
|
Setting
objectives |
1. Define Project Goals 2. Define learning objectives |
|
Determining
subject content |
1. Outline content based on
learning objectives 2. Create workshop lesson
plan 3. Develop learning
activities 4. Identify subject matter
experts 5. Assign roles |
|
Selecting
participants |
1. Identify who at site
needed training 2. Define who should attend
call 3. Determine alternative to
train others at site |
|
Determining
the best schedule |
1. Identify numbers of people
who should participate on the call 2. Define number of calls
needed 3. Determine way to reach
various time zones, schedules |
|
Selecting
appropriate facilities |
1. Identify technology
requirements 2. Specify minimum facility
needs |
|
Selecting
appropriate instructors (site coordinators) |
1. Identify selection
criteria 2. Describe function 3. Recommend selection process for schools |
|
Selecting
and preparing audiovisual aids |
1. Create support materials
based on curriculum 2. Identify outside resources
and obtain copies, copyright permission 3. Create audiovisuals 4. Produce participant
handout |
|
Coordinating
the program |
1. Develop time line 2. Produce site coordinators
manual |
|
Evaluating
the program |
1. Learner reaction sheet 2. Presentation of site
workshop 3. Posting of site materials
on intranet |
Note. From Kirkpatrick, D. L.
(1987). Evaluation. In R. L.
Craig (Ed.), Training and development
handbook (3rd ed., pp.301-319).
Through the needs assessment, the task force
recognized that the training need was at two distinct levels: administrators
and staff. The School’s Executive
Committees needed familiarity with the philosophies and concepts to establish
effective institutional policies and practices.
School professionals and staff needed to be able to carry out these
policies and apply appropriate accommodations in the classroom. Thus, the task force addressed the audio
workshop to school executive committees.
Through the generation of comprehensive support materials and guides,
the school’s executive committee could duplicate the model to deliver a site
professional development event.
The task force identified these project goals:
·
Elevate the awareness of learning disabilities on a system level
·
Define reasonable accommodations for learning disabilities
·
Comply with federal laws
·
Share information on learning disabilities
·
Use distance for professional development
·
Manage and locate place where learning accommodations should be made at
the site level
The following learning objectives were defined for the audio workshop:
·
Recognize learning disabilities
·
Make reasonable accommodations for learning disabilities
·
Recognize legal liabilities
·
Value learning disabilities
·
Design, develop, deliver seminar at site on learning disabilities
·
Participate in a distance learning event
·
Provide a variety of strategies to use to address learning disabilities
·
Keep current on thinking and strategies
·
Identify owner and establish policy at site to define learning
accommodations
Based on the objectives, the content was divided
into these content areas:
·
What are Learning Disabilities
·
Challenges for Learning
Disabled
·
Legal Implications
·
Policies and Procedures
Once the categories were defined, the task force
outlined content to be covered under each category. At this point internal subject matter experts
were identified and assigned the role to develop their piece of the curriculum.
Because of the nature of the legal aspect, the task force decided to find an
outside expert to present that piece of the workshop.
Up to this point, the design was very similar to an
on-ground workshop. From this point on,
however, the task force had to consider implications based on the delivery
technology. For example, they agreed on
the following:
·
Hold length of the call to
90 minutes due to attention spans
·
Change activities every 20
minutes
·
Off-load activities that did
not need to be interactive to pre-work
·
Reserve call time for
interactivity
·
Use visual media
·
Provide pre-work
·
Provide experiment for the sites
to drill training into daily operations
·
Develop handouts as
resources for participants to include articles, study questions,
and visual aids
·
Limit the number of sites on
the call, people at the site
·
Identify site coordinator to
facilitate call at the school
·
Develop manual for site
coordinator as support
·
Provide training for site
coordinator through audio conferencing
·
Offer the calls at various
dates and times to accommodate schools and time zones
·
Recommend technology
·
Define minimum facilities
requirements
The people designated to facilitate pieces of the
workshop developed the curriculum and identified support materials for the
participant handout. The task force
prepared support materials based on the Seven Principles of Good Practice and
the 10 Commandments of Good Distance Learning to help the facilitators with
their design. These are shown in Tables
4 and 5.
|
Principle |
Action |
|
Encourage
contacts between learner and facilitator |
|
|
Develop
reciprocity and cooperation among students |
|
|
Use
active learning techniques |
|
|
Give
prompt feedback |
|
|
Emphasize
time on task |
|
|
Communicate
high expectations |
|
|
Respect
diverse talents and ways of learning |
|
Table 5
|
Commandment |
Description |
|
Plan
first, implement second |
|
|
Keep
it short |
|
|
Think
interactive |
|
|
People
watch television. They don’t listen to
it |
|
|
Share
your excitement about your topic |
|
|
Take
the student’s perspective |
|
|
Be
prepared |
|
|
Champion
consistency |
|
|
Make
your graphics readable/don’t read your slides |
|
|
Have
fun |
|
|
|
|
Note. http:///www.onetouch.com/tencom.htm, Dave
Lewis
To preserve time on the audio workshop for
interactivity, the task force off loaded these items to pre- and post events
facilitated by the site coordinator:
Pre-Audio Workshop (at site)
·
Introductions
·
Overview of Topic
·
Seminar Agenda
·
Workshop Objective
·
View first ten minutes of F.A.T. (Frustration, Anxiety, and Tension)
City Video
Post-Audio Workshop (at site)
– Roundtable discussion addressing the following:
·
What are the issues at our school?
·
What accommodations do we make?
·
What accommodations should we make?
·
What do we need to do next? (experiment)
·
What policies/procedures should we implement?
To
help to build a community of learning, the task force put the following
components in place:
The site coordinator summarized the discussion that took place during the round table and posted it on the listserv. After the school completed their experiment, the site coordinator posted the following:
· Issues/opportunities
· What we did
· What worked
· What didn’t work
Action steps were taken at schools. These included such activities as the delivery of an on-site professional development seminar, development of school policy, or implementation of accommodations. As support materials, the task force generated a Site Coordinator’s Guide and Participant Handbook.
Site Coordinator’s Guide
This following is a list of the contents included in
the Site Coordinator’s Guide:
·
Project
Description
Goals
Program Outcomes
Workshop Objectives
Project Components
·
Workshop
Purpose
Description
Objectives
·
Workshop Format
Pre-workshop
Audio Workshop
Post Workshop
Experiment
·
Sites
Pictures of Site Coordinators
Names of participants at
sites
·
Workshop Administration
Instructions
Teleconferencing pointers
Schedule
Listserv
·
Site Coordinator
Role
Technology Considerations
·
Administrative Checklist
List of activities to
perform by time frame
List of supplies needed to
order and ordering information
·
Leader’s Guide
Lesson plans
This is a list of the items included in the
participant handout:
·
Seminar instructions
Dates, times
Teleconferencing pointers
·
Goal, Outcomes and Objectives
·
Site Coordinators
List of sites
Names of site coordinators
·
Seminar Outline
Pre-Workshop Event
Audio Workshop
Post Workshop Event
·
Pre-work
Discussion Questions
Articles
Illustrations of what some
learning disabled students see on a printed page
·
Workshop Evaluation Sheet
·
References & Resources
Through the implementation of the event, the task
force identified these lessons learned:
Stick to Structure. Because of the familiarity
of the technology people tend to become very conversational and pulled the
workshop off focus.
Limit content. The task force realized that they tried to cover too
much in the workshop. It is important to
allow time for interaction with a large number of people on the call.
Follow Teleconferencing Pointers. People do not know who’s on the call. Be sure people identify themselves each time they speak. Teleconferencing points are shown in Table 6.
Table 6
Teleconferencing Pointers
|
|
|
|
|
|
Identify where you are getting information. Facilitators should constantly relate back
to participant handbook and be sure everyone is on the “same page.”
Offload as much as
possible. Use the call for
interactivity. Assign reading material
for
pre-work.
Poll participants. Ask for feedback from various sites. Say person’s name first then ask
question.
Limit On-Air Time for
Participants. Have a time limit; for
example 3 or 5 minutes, for
participants to either ask questions,
respond, or participate.
Identify Gatekeeper. Have a person other than facilitator responsible for
keeping on-
time and limiting discussions.
Web: http://www.obtain.dni.us/cdlp.html
Chickering,
A. W., & Ehrmann, S. C. (October, 1996).
“Implementing the
Seven Principles Technology
as a Lever.” AAHE Bulletin, #3.
Kirkpatrick, D. L. (1987). Evaluation. In R. L. Craig (Ed.), Training and development
handbook. (3rd
ed., pp.301-319).
Lewis,
D. (1994). 10 Commandments for Good
Distance Learning, Retrieved from the
World Wide Web:
http://www.onetouch.com/tencom.html
ISSN. 1062-3183
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RELEVANCE OF ADULT DEVELOPMENT AND AGING TEXTBOOKS’
CONTENTS TO ADULT EDUCATION
Peggy A. Gallagher
Northern
(An earlier version of this
paper was presented at the annual meeting of the
American Educational
Research Association,
Adult educational psychology is
emerging as a legitimate field of study as both educational and developmental
psychologists examine the interrelationships of developmental processes and
educational activities across the adult years.
This work has significant practical implications for adult educators,
but few textbooks exist which integrate this work in a summary fashion. Adult educators therefore rely upon survey
textbooks in adult development and aging to gather information about adult
development. This study was a content analysis of such textbooks, and examined
the texts’ coverage of five general topic areas of great interest to adult
educators. Coverage of these topics was
found to vary: there was extensive discussion of adult intelligence across most
of the textbooks, but little information in regards to the roles and functions
of adult education in promoting adult development. There is a need for adult development and
aging textbooks that link developmental research and theory to adult education
practice.
The roots of developmental psychologists’ interest in adulthood run deep in the history of psychology. As early as the late-1920s, Edward L. Thorndike and his colleagues (Thorndike, Bregman, Tilton, & Woodyard, 1928) had published a text on adult learning. Even G. Stanley Hall--perhaps better known for his epic two-volume treatise on adolescent growth and behavior (Hall, 1904)--wrote a book describing developments in the second half of the life span (Hall, 1922). Pressey and Kuhlen published one of the first general textbooks on the topic of human development from a life span perspective in 1957. Thus, although the study of adulthood has frequently taken a backseat to developmentalists’ preferences for studying the “growing years” of childhood and adolescence, there has always been an undercurrent of interest in the last three-fourths of the life span among some theorists and researchers.
While the evidence is scant, it appears that graduate programs in psychology and educational psychology have offered relatively few courses in adult development until recently--probably within the last two decades (Everhart, Blieszner, & Edwards, 1996; Okun, Stock, & Weir, 1985). In fact, it is likely that graduate students in adult education have, historically, been far more exposed to concepts and issues concerning the development and aging of adults than have, for example, students of developmental psychology (Tennant, 1997). The lack of close attention to adult development has been largely due to psychology’s traditional focus on child development. Developmentalists have long assumed that the post-adolescent years represent states of maturity, and are characterized by aging and decline rather than development. According to Schaie and Willis (1996), this assumption has an historical basis--the pioneering developmentalists in the early part of the twentieth century were more interested in studying how individual behavior is acquired rather than maintained. Others assumed that personality was formed early in life and remained relatively invariant over time--thus, there was little need to study adult development, as profound changes during these years were unexpected.
Developmentalists since that time
have arrived at a better appreciation of the whole fabric of the life
span--that the time from conception to death is marked by change. Rather than
viewing development only in terms of growth, both growth and decline characterize
human development. All change is
therefore considered to be developmental (Baltes, 1987). Several events have contributed to this
change, including (a) numerous scientific contributions from the fields of
geriatrics and gerontology (Botwinick, 1978; (b) findings from longitudinal
studies that have tracked the development of children into their adult years
(Eichorn, Clausen, Haan, Honzik, & Mussen, 1981; Elder, 1999); (c) the
genesis of the field of life span development in the late 1960s (Baltes &
Goulet, 1970); and (d) the widespread attention given to several descriptive
studies of adult development that occurred in the 1970s (Levinson, 1975;
Vaillant, 1977). The adult years have
become fertile ground for the study of developmental processes--a fact that has
been implicitly understood by adult educators for a number of decades (Knowles,
1970; 1973; Lindeman, 1926).
Today, adult educational psychology is emerging as a legitimate field of study as both educational and developmental psychologists examine the interrelationships of developmental processes and educational activities across the adult years. This work has significant practical implications for adult educators as adults’ participation in formal and informal learning activities and programs is likely to continue increasing as (a) the adult population grows, (b) more people perceive the need to acquire workplace skills, and (c) large number of non-English proficient immigrants seek literacy education. The principles and concerns of adult educational psychologists have been presented elsewhere (Smith & Pourchot, 1998), but essentially this field intersects the interests of adult educators, developmental and educational psychologists, and cognitive scientists, among others. Adult educators who are interested in these topics and issues must rely upon relatively few reference materials to orient them to the psychology of adult development (Tennant, 1997; Tennant & Pogson, 1995). Presently, no survey-level textbooks exist to demarcate the “territories” of mutual interest among adult educational psychologists and adult educators. However, the National Institute for Literacy recently published a reference text on “adult learning,” based upon accumulated knowledge in cognitive, developmental, and educational psychology (Cromley, 2000). This text was designed with adult educators and adult teacher trainers in mind—particularly those working in adult basic and literacy education.
Survey textbooks can provide convenient sources of
information about adult development and aging, and may be the primary sources
to which adult educators turn when seeking specific topic information. Because of the remarkable growth in the study
of adulthood over the past 30 years, there are now a number of such
introductory-level textbooks on adult development and aging. Also, a few adult development survey
textbooks exist that are written by adult educators (Merriam & Cafarella, 1991;
Tennant, 1997), although these tend to be somewhat limited in the scope of
their coverage. The purpose of the
investigation reported here was to examine the extent to which adult
development and aging survey texts contain information that is meaningful and
useful to students and practitioners in adult education.
The analysis was limited to introductory textbooks
published within the past several years (1992-2001), as these would be most
likely to be adopted in courses in adult development. These textbooks were identified in several ways:
(a) through examination of reference citations in various textbooks and
articles on adult development; (b) by checking the bibliographic resource,
“Books in Print;” and, (c) a search was conducted for “adult development” books
on the Amazon.com web site. The
first author, who teaches a graduate course in adult educational psychology
(adult development), also possesses more than a dozen reference texts on adult
development and aging, and adult learning and education, including several
introductory-level survey texts.
Nineteen texts were identified and obtained and the sample consisted of
11 textbooks randomly selected from this group.
These texts are listed in Table 1; all share the characteristic that
each can be adopted as a primary textbook for advanced undergraduate or
entry-level graduate courses in adult development, or as a supplementary text
in adult education courses.
Content analyses are generally conducted in order to
study human behavior indirectly--through an analysis of communications, such as
textbooks in the present case (Frankel & Wallen, 1996). Our purpose was to determine, in a
straightforward manner, the type and extent of information on adult development
that would be of most relevance to adult educators.
Although various types of data may be obtained from
content analyses, two types are generally identified--manifest and latent
content. Manifest content is the obvious surface content (words in a
text). Latent content is the underlying
meaning of the
Table 1.
Number of textbook pages per topic.
|
Text: Topic |
Aiken |
Bee |
Bels |
Cavan |
Lemm |
PCF |
RRH |
S&W |
S&S |
SL&C
|
WWhit
|
|
Assess learning. |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
|
Motivation |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
31 (6%) |
0 |
6 |
0 |
|
Cognition Memory -Age changes -Dimensions -Aid and Strategies Intelligence -Age changes -Assessment -Dimensions |
4 X X X 18 (5%) X X X |
8 X X X 34 (8%) X -- X |
14 X X X 27 (6%) X X X |
41 (8%) X X X 29 (5%) X -- X |
9 X X -- 22 (5%) X X X |
37 (7%) X X X 28 (5%) X X X |
20 X X -- 24 (5%) X X X |
34 (7%) X X X 48 (9%) X X X |
25 (7%) X X X 9 X X -- |
8 X X X 11 -- X X |
14 X X X 16 X X X |
|
Personal Character Adaptation Creativity Self-Efficacy Wisdom |
3 4 1 0 |
9 6 4 3 |
2 2 7 3 |
5 7 4 3 |
0 9 10 4 |
10 16 0 12 |
17 12 0 10 |
0 10 2 4 |
4 3 0 3 |
7 11 1 2 |
3 12 0 4 |
|
Adult Education. |
5 |
9 |
3 |
1 |
12 |
11 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
12 |
0 |
Textbook Key Total pages:
Aiken Aiken 366
Bee Bee 453
Belsky Bels 437
Cavanaugh Cavan 538
Lemme Lemm 468
Papalia, Camp, & Feldman PCF 525
Rybash, Roodin, & Hoyer RRH 491
Schaie & Willis SW 518
Schulz & Salthouse SS 357
Stevens-Long & Commons SLC 541
Whitbourne Whit 445
X = Topic covered
content. Our focus was on the manifest content, as
this content pertained to how the authors described five topics that we regard as
essential information for adult educators. These topics are the following: (a)
assessments of adults’ learning (why assessment is important; what methods
exist for measuring learning outcomes); (b) the role of motivation in adult
learning (theories and explanations); (c) cognitive processes (memory) and
intellectual functions, developmental changes in these processes and functions,
and the implications of these changes for adults’ educational experiences; (d)
the significance of personal characteristics, such as adaptive and coping
skills, creativity, expertise and problem-solving abilities, self-efficacy
beliefs, and wisdom to adult development; and, (e) the roles and functions of
adult education in promoting adult development.
Both authors of this paper reviewed the chapter contents of each text,
examined chapter heading and subheadings, and the subject indexes to locate
information regarding the five topics. Disagreements, which were few, were
resolved by discussion.
The results of our content analysis and review, as they
pertain to the five topics presented in the preceding section, are described
below:
Virtually no attention was given to methods of assessing
adults’ learning--with the exception of Schaie and Willis (1996) (Table
1). They devote some attention to adult
education and provide several suggestions for testing the memory skills of
older adults. Multiple-choice and true-false items, for example, may be more
effective procedures for assessing the learning of older adults because both
procedures involve recognition memory--which adults perform equally as well as
younger adults, according to Schaie and Willis.
Older adults also do well on essay tests where they can discuss topics,
but short-answer tests that require the recollection of specific information
are difficult for them. Also, Schaie and
Willis note that older adults need more time for test taking. Teachers who work
with older adults should therefore avoid placing them in testing situations
that require rapid responding until time-limited conditions.
Although not specific to assessing adults’ learning,
Aiken (1998) describes several general characteristics of older learners that
adult educators should consider when providing instruction to them. These characteristics include a preference
for slower instructional pacing, cautiousness, being less likely to
spontaneously use strategies to improve memory, and having less tolerance for
information that adults deem irrelevant to their lives.
Knowledge of various approaches to assessing adults’
learning is vital to adult educators because most of the significant learning
in adult life occurs informally rather than within the constraints of a
curriculum. Descriptions of developmentally
based assessments that are either retrospective (used to evaluate prior
learning) or prospective (used to predict learning and developmental outcomes)
would be valuable additions to adult development textbooks (Fiddler &
Marienau, 1995).
Once again, few of the textbook authors devote any
attention to the role of motivation in learning or the developmental course of
adult motivation (Table 1). Schaie and Willis (1996), however, include an
entire chapter on this topic.
Achievement motivation is particularly relevant to adult educators and a
dimension of motivation that is well understood by educational psychologists.
While Schaie and Willis cite research that shows achievement motivation
decreases in the second half of life, they also note that achievement
motivation takes many forms in adulthood.
Two other texts describe motivational processes rather briefly and in
the context of work rather than education (Bee; 1996; Rybash, Roodin, &
Hoyer, 1995). Stevens-Long and Commons (1992) describe two general theories of
motivation--the psychosocial model of Erikson and Maslow’s needs hierarchy--but
do not suggest implications for adult educators’ instructional practices
arising from these theories.
The study of developmental dimensions of adult motivation
is only beginning to emerge in the literature (Heckhausen & Dweck, 1998;
Pourchot, 1999). Pourchot’s research, for example, has suggested that the
development of a sense of generativity in middle adulthood is positively associated
with increased intrinsic motivation. As
adults develop, they are therefore likely to experience changes in how and
where their motivation is directed.
Adult educators should assist adults in appropriately channeling their
motivation in order to accomplish their personal learning goals.
Given the significant role of motivation in most human
endeavors, it is rather surprising that few of the textbooks offer much
information about the nature of motivation, how motivation impacts adult
learning, and the ways in which motivation for learning might be enhanced. Student motivation is critical in domains
such as adult literacy education, for example.
Adult literacy instructors are often ill equipped to cope with the lack
of appropriate motivation on the part of their students (Malicky & Norman,
1996; Stanfel, 1996). This is an area
where adult educational psychologists, in collaboration with adult educators,
can evaluate student motivation and design instructional programs that take
advantage of intrinsic motivation for learning.
The textbook authors organized descriptions of these
topics in different ways and from a variety of perspectives. As shown in Table 1, all of the textbooks
devoted considerable attention to cognitive processes and intellectual
functioning in adulthood, ranging from 19 to 82 pages of text. This information is arguably of greatest
importance to both adult educators and developmentalists and receives the
lion’s share of attention in most texts--in several cases two or more chapters
are devoted to these topics. Six texts
contained single chapters devoted solely to descriptions of adult memory (type
of memory; memorial processes; aids for improving or maintaining memory skills,
and age-related changes in memory functioning).
The specific issues pertaining to memory were in regards to descriptions
of different memory components (long- versus short-term), age-related changes
in memory abilities, and various memory aids and strategies to enhance or
maintain memory skills. Six texts also
contained single chapters that focused singly on psychometric intelligence
(what is IQ and how is IQ measured), developmental changes in intellectual
abilities, and the components of intelligence (fluid versus crystallized).
A number of personal attributes, skills and
characteristics are important to adults’ success in educational and learning
activities. These include the capacity to
adapt to changes in the environment, perseverance in the face of adversity,
exercising good judgment in uncertain situations, responding creatively to
difficult tasks, and having confidence in one’s ability to perform well when
faced with challenges. We examined how
these texts described the nature of adults’: (a) adaptive or coping skills; (b)
creativity, expertise, and problem-solving abilities; (c) self-efficacy; and
(d) wisdom, as these issues are psychological topics of great interest to both
adult educators and psychologists.
Adaptation and coping
Two textbooks extensively describe adaptive mechanisms
and coping responses in adulthood. Papalia, Camp, and Feldman (1996) describe
four models of coping: environmental, behavioral, coping style, and cognitive
appraisal. The authors delineate the
characteristics of each model, describe their relative strengths and weaknesses
in accounting for adaptative and coping behaviors, and summarize supporting
research. Rybash, Roodin, and Hoyer
(1995), on the other hand, focus on stress and adults’ responses to stressful
situations. They describe a cognitive
model of coping, the various methods for measuring stress, and the ways in
which people typically cope. Because
adults can be explicitly taught a variety of strategies to enable them to
effectively cope with stressors in their lives, information about adaptation,
coping, and stress is very useful to adult educators.
Creativity, expertise and problem solving
Papalia et al. (1996), Rybash et al. (1995), Schaie and
Willis (1996), and Whitbourne (2001) discuss adult creativity at length. Papalia et al. and Rybash et al. define
creativity and indicate how it is studied and measured (psychometric and
biographic approaches). Both discuss
developmental changes in creativity.
While Papalia et al. describe qualitative versus quantitative
distinctions in creativity, Rybash et al. contrast ordinary creativity to
genius-type creativity. These texts and
Schaie and Willis, Stevens-Long and Commons (1992), and Whitbourne summarize
the well-known work of Simonton (1988) who has investigated the lives of highly
creative, highly productive individuals.
Lemme (1999) provides an overview of the study of expertise and
contrasts the abilities of experts and novices.
Only five texts discuss expertise and the treatment of this topic varies
little across these textbooks.
Generally, descriptions of expertise and problem-solving abilities
overlap.
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy concerns individuals’ beliefs and
expectations about their ability to successfully complete challenging
tasks. Only one textbook (Lemme, 1999)
devotes extensive discussion to self-efficacy in adulthood. Lemme describes various sources of
self-efficacy, gender differences in self-efficacy, and the relationship of
cognitive performance to self-efficacy, among other issues.
Wisdom
The Papalia et al. (1996), Rybash et al. (1995), and
Whitbourne (2001) texts describe wisdom as a feature of intellectual
ability. Each discusses the features of
wisdom in detail. Papalia et al.
contrast recent psychological accounts of wisdom with ages-old beliefs about
the nature of wisdom. The work of both Clayton (Clayton & Birren, 1980) and
Baltes (Baltes & Staudinger, 1993) are summarized as examples of recent
psychological investigations of wisdom.
Rybash et al. also contrast philosophical with practical wisdom.
Several of the texts devote some attention to the role
that education plays in adults’ lives (Table 1). Schaie and Willis, for example, suggest that
“adult education can also be useful in compensating for the deficits that
often...occur with aging” (1996, p. 352).
According to their account, the goals of adult education are different
from childhood education and are related to adult transitions, particularly
those transitions that have to do with careers and personal development. They see an important need for adult
education, especially in regards to improving basic skills in reading and math
to meet the employment demands of the high-technology job market. Schaie and Willis also discuss educational
programs for elderly adults and suggest that these take into account older
adults’ needs for instruction in how to learn (memory strategies) as well as
content instruction.
It is important to acknowledge that none of the texts
were written with explicit applications to adult education practices. These general survey textbooks are targeted to
upper-level students in developmental psychology--individuals who are unlikely
to work in the field of adult education.
Nevertheless, these books are among the best sources of information for
those students interested in an overview of developmental topics and can be
(and are) adopted in graduate-level adult education courses as “foundational”
material. Students should explore and discuss the relevance and applicability
of the developmental research findings summarized in these textbooks to adult
education practice.
We did not investigate the extent to which adult
educators utilize these textbooks to increase their knowledge of adult
development or to plan educational programs on the basis of meeting
developmental needs. Such information
would be useful in determining the extent to which adult development textbooks
are useful to practitioners in the field. We also did not evaluate the accuracy
of the information contained in these texts, although there was a high level of
consistency of information across them.
Our summary analysis suggests the need for introductory-level textbooks
that not only describe theories of adult development and learning, and research
on aging and development, but also illustrate the relevance of this knowledge
to the field of adult education and to those who are educators of adults. Because the contents of these books has
little direct application to the practice of adult education, they should be
supplemented by other texts (e.g., Tennant, 1997) and materials that help adult
educators translate theory and research into practice.
References
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Baltes, P.B. (1987).
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611-
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P.B., & Goulet, L.R. (1970). Status and issues of a life-span developmental
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* indicates a textbook that
was used in the content analysis.
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