Community‐based literacy learning

Because reading and writing are social as well as personal activities, many recent curricular reforms that promote literacy development have focused on the relationship between the learner and the community. These reforms have been based on situated cognition theory, which holds that learning is intermeshed with the social and physical contexts of activity and that learning occurs through active participation in a community of practice. Yet there is no distinct orientation to the concept of community across the various educational programs. In fact, at least three different orientations to community appear in the literature on literacy reform: experiential community, classroom community, and anticipatory community. Both experiential and anticipatory community orientations situate literacy in non‐school settings that involve learners in ‘real‐life’ communities. The classroom community orientation attempts to reproduce the roles of mentor and apprentice found in non‐school communities; however, its claim to legitimacy of activity is based more on the learner’s manner of participation than in the activity itself.     

We are what we do: Examining learner‐generated content in the anatomy laboratory through the lens of activity theory

Video and photography are often used for delivering content within the anatomical sciences. However, instructors typically produce these resources to provide instructional or procedural information. Although the benefits of learner‐generated content have been explored within educational research, virtually no studies have investigated the use of learner‐generated video and photograph content within anatomy dissection laboratories. This study outlines an activity involving learner‐generated video diaries and learner‐generated photograph assignments produced during anatomy laboratory sessions. The learner‐generated photographs and videos provided instructors with a means of formative assessment and allowed instructors to identify evidence of collaborative behavior in the laboratory. Student questionnaires (n = 21) and interviews (n = 5), as well as in‐class observations, were conducted to examine student perspectives on the laboratory activities. The quantitative and qualitative data were examined using the framework of activity theory to identify contradictions between student expectations of, and engagement with, the activity and the actual experiences of the students. Results indicate that learner‐generated photograph and video content can act as a rich source of data on student learning processes and can be used for formative assessment, for observing collaborative behavior, and as a starting point for class discussions. This study stresses the idea that technology choice for activities must align with instructional goals. This research also highlights the utility of activity theory as a framework for assessing classroom and laboratory activities, demonstrating that this approach can guide the development of laboratory activities. Anat Sci Educ 7: 361–369. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.     

EFFECTS OF AGE,SEX, AND STATUS ON PERCEPTION OF THE UTILITY OF EDUCATIONAL PARTICIPATION

This study investigated the influence of age, sex, and socioeconomic status on the perception of participants in adult education that their participation is useful. Two forms of utility were postulated: instrumental and expressive. An instrument containing scales of perceived utility, needs, goals, time orientation, and enjoyment was administered to selected classes at various educational institutions in the Chicago metropolitan area and, for comparison, a class in Florida. The results permitted inferences that needs, goals, and time orientation partially determine perception that participation is instrumentally useful and that age, status, and femaleness tend to favor perception of expressive utility. The findings supported previous research indicating that adult educational participation is complex behavior involving more than subject matter interests and motivational orientations and opened a new line of attack on the problem.     

Educational psychology and the adult learner

The middle years of life, from the 20s through the 50s, have been neglected by psychology in general and educational psychology in particular. The current increase in numbers of mature learners calls for more, better, and better-understood psychological data so that learning can be enhanced in this age group. This issue of Contemporary Educational Psychology addresses five relevant questions: (1) What does research tell us about the capacities of adults to learn and retain? (2) What factors other than cognitive functioning affect adult performance? (3) How and in what ways does the adult wish to involve himself as a learner? (4) How might we go about guiding the mature learner, using present knowledge? (5) What theoretical concerns arise from consideration of the foregoing?     

The dimensions of e-learning quality: from the learner’s perspective

The present study was designed to identify the quality dimensions as perceived by adult learners who had taken one or more e-learning courses offered by higher education institutions in South Korea and to identify and confirm the structural features of these quality dimensions. The results of the exploratory factor analysis arising from a survey of 299 learners revealed that from their perspective, there were seven dimensions in evaluating the e-learning quality: Interaction, Staff Support, Institutional Quality Assurance Mechanism, Institutional Credibility, Learner Support, Information and Publicity and Learning Tasks. And the confirmatory factor analysis with responses obtained from another set of 496 adult learners confirmed a good fit of the seven-factor model to the observed data. While most of these seven dimensions are supported by previous studies, some dimensions, such as technology support, content and evaluation/assessment that e-learning providers had highlighted did not appear to be important for Korean adult learners. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed in relation to learner characteristics, e-learning design, and culture, and further research topics are suggested.     

Adult learners’ social connectedness and online participation: the importance of online interaction quality

ABSTRACT

Online interaction has been associated with positive outcomes, academically and psychologically. Regarding the latter, social connectedness has been recognised as an important outcome on the basis of its link to subjective well-being and course satisfaction. In adult educational settings, how online interaction can foster social connectedness has not been widely examined. The study investigates how (1) adult learners’ online participation operationalised as discussion contribution, collaborative facilitation, and social interaction, and (2) their perceived online interaction quality are related to their feeling of social connectedness. The role of online interaction quality related to the three types of online participation and social connectedness is also examined. A questionnaire was developed to collect data from adult learner participants in Belgium (N?=?170). Multiple regressions and mediation analysis were conducted. The result shows that collaborative facilitation and online interaction quality significantly contribute to adult learners’ perceptions of social connectedness. Furthermore, the finding reveals that online interaction quality fully mediates the relationship between discussion contribution, social interaction, and social connectedness. Thus, the implications for research and instructional design are discussed.     

The Pedagogical Value of the Lecture Method: The Case of a Non-Formal Education Programme in Ghana

Adult learning rests on the foundation of learner experience and involvement in the teaching and learning process. The methods employed in facilitating adult learning have to a large extent sought to place the learner at the centre of the entire teaching and learning encounter. The lecture method is one of the many methods used to facilitate learning in many educational programmes. This article reports on a study that posed the question; How effective is the lecture method in facilitating learning in non-formal adult education programmes? The case study design was used for the study. The National Functional Literacy Programme of Ghana was purposively selected for this investigation. Two classes in the programme comprising 10 adult learners and one facilitator each were purposively selected as sample for the study. It was found that the lecture method was ineffective in promoting learning in non-formal adult education programmes in Ghana since it failed to stimulate the comprehension of subject-matter and learner involvement in class activities.     

ADULT UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMIC PARTICIPATION

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between 10 independent variables and undergraduate academic participation within a weekend college environment. The four demographic variables were age, educational attainment, job type and work setting. The six variables contained in Cross' Chain of Response Model (self‐evaluation of ability, attitudes towards education, goals and expectancy, life transitions, opportunities and barriers, and information) were also investigated. Three levels of participation were identified low, medium, and high. An ex post facto design was employed in the present study. Data were gathered through the administration of a survey instrument to 220 adult students enrolled in a weekend‐degree program. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess instrument sub‐test internal consistency. Internal consistency coefficients ranged between .63 to .88. A statistically significant relationship was found under discriminant function analysis with alpha = .05 between participation and all variables except job type and work setting. Under chi‐square analysis, there was found no relationship between job type or work setting and paticipation. There were no differences found under univariate anaylsis of variance with alpha = .05 between the remaining eight variables and level of participation except self‐evaluation of ability where high participators exhibited greater self‐confidence in their ability than low participators.     

Examining the Role of Advanced Placement® Exam Participation in 4‐Year College Enrollment

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between Advanced Placement (AP) exam participation and enrollment in a 4‐year postsecondary institution. A positive relationship was expected given that the primary purpose of offering AP courses is to allow students to engage in college‐level academic work while in high school, and potentially receive college credit by earning qualifying scores on the corresponding AP exam. Therefore, college preparation and planning is an implicit and explicit part of AP participation. Analyzing a national sample of over 1.5 million students, the current study found that AP participation was related to college enrollment, even after controlling for student demographic and ability characteristics and high school level predictors. For example, the odds of attending a 4‐year postsecondary institution increased by at least 171% for all three AP participation groups (taking either one AP exam, two or three AP exams, or four or more AP exams) as compared to students who took no AP exams. Given the current political environment and the renewed interest in readying high school students for college, these results may help inform and shape educational initiatives targeted at the school, district, state, or even national level.     

Toward a sociology of participation in adult education programmes

Membership in voluntary associations and participation in adult education programmes have long been recognized by researchers in the fields of adult education and sociology as closely related forms of participatory behaviour. This inquiry realizes the potential of this relationship for the study of participation in adult education programmes through the reformulation of a sociological construct called personal influence. It is argued that personal influence in the form of face‐to‐face contact with primary and secondary influentials is at the heart of recruitment strategies targeted at adults, is often an important component of an adult's decision to participate in formally organized learning activities, and may play a critical role in retention and instruction of the adult learner. Secondary analysis of research on voluntary associations, social movement organizations, and adult education programmes, together with data on two populations of adult learners from ar ongoing large scale study of Adult Basic Education participants, underscores the importance of personal influence for explaining the entire range of participatory action and interaction.     

DEVELOPING THE RESOURCES OF THE RURAL ELDERLY THROUGH EDUCATION

Older adults want continuing education programs that are more than just recreational activities to fill leisure time. DARE (Developing Adult Resources through Education) is an educational program for the rural aged that provides courses ranging from those of a serious, academic orientation to the hobby/recreational to the practical. A model of why adult learners engage in lifelong learning is applied to the older adult. DARE shows how college and community resources can be used for the educational advantage of the older person.     

Machine behaviourism: future visions of ‘learnification’ and ‘datafication’ across humans and digital technologies

ABSTRACT

This paper examines visions of ‘learning’ across humans and machines in a near-future of intensive data analytics. Building upon the concept of ‘learnification’, practices of ‘learning’ in emerging big data-driven environments are discussed in two significant ways: the training of machines, and the nudging of human decisions through digital choice architectures. Firstly, ‘machine learning’ is discussed as an important example of how data-driven technologies are beginning to influence educational activity, both through sophisticated technical expertise and a grounding in behavioural psychology. Secondly, we explore how educational software design informed by behavioural economics is increasingly intended to frame learner choices to influence and ‘nudge’ decisions towards optimal outcomes. Through the growing influence of ‘data science’ on education, behaviourist psychology is increasingly and powerfully invested in future educational practices. Finally, it is argued that future education may tend toward very specific forms of behavioural governance – a ‘machine behaviourism’ – entailing combinations of radical behaviourist theories and machine learning systems, that appear to work against notions of student autonomy and participation, seeking to intervene in educational conduct and shaping learner behaviour towards predefined aims.     

Adult education and the politics of knowledge: the relevance of Malta's Dun Gorg Preca

This paper sets out to explore the contribution that Dun Gorg Preca made to the development of adult education in the Maltese islands. Preca's achievements are situated historically in order to highlight more effectively his relevance to the development of the field. Qualities underlined in this account are Preca's commitment to the democratization of knowledge, his stance vis‐à‐vis the learner, opting to reach out to communities and to work at the grass roots rather than the formal institutional level, and his conviction that difficult knowledge, often used as a positional good by status groups, can, given the right pedagogical approach, be communicated to all learners, whatever their social and educational background.     

Educational arrangements and social participation with peers amongst children with disabilities in regular schools

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between educational arrangements and social participation amongst children with disabilities in regular schools. The analysis is based on data drawn from surveys of parents of children with disabilities, aged 11–13, who attend regular schools in Norway (N = 262). We have explored the relationships between the variables of interest by means of structural equation modelling linear structural relations (LISREL). The results show that (1) the present educational arrangements may hinder social participation with peers and (2) the type of disability and the degree of impairment have no direct effect on the degree of social participation with peers, but only an indirect effect via educational support and classroom participation. These findings suggest that if children with disabilities are equally entitled to have the opportunity of gaining the same social benefits as their peers, then regular schools should be careful not to segregate them from their peers in mainstream school activities.     

A Model for Social Work Field Practicums in African American Churches

Abstract

In this paper the authors will give an overview of the history of the African American church, discuss the reciprocal benefits of social work educational practicums in this institution for both students and the church, and give a model for practicum learning that can be met through this arrangement.     

IMPACT OF ANOMIA AND LIFE SATISFACTION ON OLDER ADULT LEARNERS

An examination of the relationship between the attitudes of two populations of older adults and their participation in education‐related activities reveals statistically significant associations in both populations between Anomia and Zest and Participation in Educational Activities, and between Life Satisfaction, Mood Tone, and Zest and Self‐Directed Learning Participation. These findings indicate that self‐directed learning participation is correlated with a person's affirmation of self and its accomplishments, sense of satisfaction and pleasure, and a high level of enthusiasm and ego involvement in activities. The correlation between Anomia and Zest and Participation in Educational Activities reinforces the need for a strong social dimension in education‐related activities among older adults in order to mitigate the effects of personal isolation or anomia. The findings also call for an understanding of nonpartidpation in education‐related activities as an expression of anomia, alienation, or power‐lessness. Practitioners are encouraged to consider how educational programs may effectively bridge the gap of powerlessness and alienation experienced by many older adults.     

Inter-Life: a novel,three-dimensional,virtual learning environment for life transition skills learning

This paper presents the findings from one of the first empirical research studies which has investigated the impact of Inter-Life; a novel three-dimensional immersive virtual learning environment, on learning and development of social and educational life transition skills in a group of looked after and accommodated children. Drawing on social constructivism in which meaningful learning is related to context and situated in practice, we report on a series of Inter-Life workshops that enabled young people to work together and through the processes of participation in authentic learning activities contributed to the development of life transition skills such as self-confidence, empathy, negotiation and mediation skills, teamwork and active problem-solving skills. The novel affordances of the Inter-Life virtual world which contributed to the development of the learning community included the ability to personalise learner engagement and activities from the outset along with ‘co-presence’ and ‘immersion’ and the flexibility provided by the innovative, technology-enhanced Inter-Life platform. This study presents some empirical evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of new models of learning that are mediated by innovative malleable technologies that can be shaped by the learner in a participatory manner.     

教育社会学中的新制度学派:基于问题史的研究

本文批判性地总结了1970年代以来美国教育社会学界兴起的新制度学派的发展轨迹,新制度学派提出三个基本的理论命题:(1)现代教育是伴随世俗个人主义而出现的一种独特的社会实体,本质上是一种制度神话和理性仪式;(2)教育组织是松散联接的系统;(3)现代教育的效果主要是对人和知识进行合法化分类。在对经典社会学家韦伯和涂尔干的继承上,新制度学派与美国当时盛行的结构功能理论和冲突论有明显的差异,认为现代教育不是维持地方国家或者特殊阶层需要的地域性事业,而是超越民族-国家和特殊群体利益的世界性制度。新制度学派对教育社会学的贡献,不只是对教育组织和教育效果的深度理论分析,而且其对教育扩张和课程内容的经验研究已经成为当代教育社会学中一个重要的学术传统,在问题意识上有其独特的价值。在借鉴新制度理论时,必须坚持中国经验本位,避免简单地套用和比附新制度理论,应解释和揭示中国教育经验内隐的深层机制,以中国经验丰富和发展新制度理论。     

Linking learning theories and learning difficulties

Abstract

Developing effective strategies to support secondary students with learning difficulties is important because they are the most prevalent students with special educational needs in contemporary mainstream classes. A learner‐focused instructional approach that incorporates meaning‐making, student control, and acceptance of errors, combined with explicit instruction will facilitate the learning of students with learning difficulties. This approach derives from an instructional setting model of learning difficulties, as distinct from a deficit model or an inefficient learner model, and draws on principles from constructivist learning theory and whole language theory. Guided by this model and these principles, secondary teachers can design curricula and classroom environments that support the needs of all students.     

Exploring the link among entry characteristics,participation behaviors and course outcomes of online learners: An examination of learner profile using cluster analysis

Online learner profiles have diversified such that now, they include all types of participants from a variety of backgrounds. This study analyzed online learner profiles in regard to their entry characteristics, participation behaviors and achievement of course outcomes. The sample consisted of 186 participants from an online course that required the employment of synchronous and asynchronous communication methods over the Internet. The data were collected through five online questionnaires and included 10 variables (gender, age, work status, self‐efficacy, online readiness, self‐regulation, participation in discussion list, participation in chat sessions, satisfaction and achievement). A two‐step cluster analysis, chi‐square analysis and multivariate analysis were used to analyze the collected data. The results indicated that online learners fell into three significantly different clusters and within each cluster, learners had a close combination of employment characteristics, gender type, age level, perception of self‐efficacy for online technologies and participation behavior level.