FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SELECTION OF A GERONTOLOGY CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

Educational programs in academic gerontology with differing formats and requirements have emerged in a variety of educational institutions across Canada and the United States during the past decade. In 1986 and 1987, two gerontology certificate programs were initiated in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. One program is offered through the Faculty of Continuing Education at the local university, the other through the community college's Department of Nursing and Allied Health. Although both programs are multidisciplinary, they differ in their relative emphasis on theory, practice, and research.

The above and other differences were examined by a survey designed to probe why students from a variety of disciplines selected one of these programs over the other. It was hypothesized that variables such as preferred learning style, previous experience with specific types of educational facilities, and influence of peers and work setting would be factors influencing program selection. The results of this study lead to recommendations regarding the status of gerontological credentials in Canada and the need for students to be more aware of program choices.     

ARE GRADUATES OF BACHELOR'S DEGREE PROGRAMS IN GERONTOLOGY EMPLOYED? A REPORT OF A NATIONAL SURVEY

Educators and potential students have questioned the employability of gerontology graduates from the increasing number of educational programs in this field in the United States. This study sought to determine the employment of bachelor's degree gerontology graduates, as well as their reaction to their curricula. A national sample of 303 graduates from 17 of the 20 colleges and universities offering bachelor's degrees in gerontology responded to a questionnaire on employment and curriculum needs. Results indicated the majority are employed. Graduates believe they acquired their jobs because they had a degree in gerontology and that a bachelor's degree in gerontology, in contrast to some other degrees, was valuable to their career. There is evidence of needed curriculum additions, especially in the area of business management and related skills. Salary levels representing different areas of employment are summarized. It was concluded that these graduates evidenced a wide variety of career opportunities and if choosing again would repeat their degree choice in gerontology.     

Students' Knowledge of Aging and Career Preferences

The increased number of older adults attributes to a rising need for future professionals to work in gerontology. Understanding the influence of students' career choices is important. A qualitative study was conducted after students' taking a gerontology course to explore students' knowledge and career preference in gerontology. The results were that students reported higher competency in that their knowledge was higher. Although increased knowledge did not necessarily encourage students to choose careers in gerontology, it may have made students more amenable toward accepting working with the aging population in the future. The study offers suggestions on how to increase students' competency level in practice.     

THE INTEGRATION OF RESEARCH,EDUCATION, AND PRACTICE IN GERONTOLOGY: SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

This article focuses on the development of education relating to aging in a specific professional education program: social work at the University of Queensland. A brief outline of features of the aged population and services for the aged in Queensland, an Australian state, is given as a background for describing one approach to gerontology education with the University of Queensland social work faculty. The challenges and tasks of curriculum development in relation to gerontology in a generic undergraduate course are described. Specific training in gerontology at a theoretical and practical level is provided through field practicums in an institution for the aged and proposals to extend this to a community‐based practice research program for the aged are outlined. To give a combined approach to social work, current research programs relating to this program — social policy and aging — are described.     

TEACHING ABOUT THE LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVE: A CLASS PROJECT

The life course perspective is a dynamic framework that attends to individual and family lives within historical, geographical, and cultural contexts. Students of the life course are increasingly interested in how such a perspective can be used to understand family lives. Opportunities for students to examine the utility of the life course perspective to family gerontology may enhance their understanding of the perspective's content and application with older family relationships. Students in a graduate course with a focus on life course and family gerontology completed a project in which they identified life course concepts and developed a model that could be used to explain relationship interactions between immigrant mothers and their adult daughters. Student feedback indicated that the assignment sharpened their knowledge of life course concepts, made the concepts more "real," and increased their understanding of the connections between life course concepts. Suggestions for incorporating this project in another graduate course and using a similar project in an undergraduate course are provided.     

A MODULAR COURSE APPROACH TO IN‐SERVICE AND PRE‐SERVICE TRAINING IN GERONTOLOGY

In order to meet both in‐service and pre‐service training needs in gerontology, North Country Community College has developed an innovative one‐year certificate program. Under the assumption that persons working with the aged in a rural area must have a diverse group of skills to draw upon, the gerontology certificate stresses course work in: communication skills, culture variability, gerontology knowledge, management skills, and service skills. The curriculum approach taken is that of competency based education, with most of the skills courses put into a modular course format. After the first year of the certificate, 53% (N = 65) of the students in the certificate courses are adults or community professionals turning to this community college program to upgrade skills or acquire new ones. This certificate is beginning to meet the training needs in a rural area that were only previously addressed by occasional workshops for the human service practitioner.     

TEACHING ABOUT OLDER PEOPLE WITH MENTAL RETARDATION: AN EDUCATIONAL MODEL

Extended lifespans and an increase in community‐based services have created an environment in which it is imperative that educational and service systems focus attention on older people with developmental disabilities. Although the cumulative effects of growing older with a lifelong disability create a unique set of issues and service needs, gerontology courses seldom include content on these elders. An insufficient educational focus translates into a service system inadequately prepared to meet critical individual needs. In this paper we describe an educational model used to prepare students to work with older people who have mental retardation. Students in the course described, part of the Interdisciplinary Leadership Training Program in Aging and Developmental Disabilities at the University of Georgia, are exposed to the ecological perspective as a way to examine various issues related to the aging population with mental retardation. Students explore issues relevant to older individuals with mental retardation and the various contexts in which these individuals function. The six units of the course are: overview of the older population with mental retardation, physiological issues, mental health issues, social support systems, service delivery networks, and legal and ethical concerns. Content from the course model can easily be infused into foundation gerontology courses to expose a greater number of students to the group of older people who have mental retardation.     

LINKING MINORITY AND DISADVANTAGED HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH HEALTH PROFESSIONS TRAINING: A WIN-WIN SITUATION FOR STUDENTS AND OLDER ADULTS

This article describes a pilot project designed to encourage career interest by minority high school students in health professions in geriatrics and gerontology. This multifaceted educational program used a contextual training approach and was conducted over a five-week period. Program components included classroom sessions, group as well as independent activities and research, guided field trips, faculty lectures, and the development of a final report directed at health careers in gerontology. The majority of the students were planning or considering a career in geriatrics or gerontology at the completion of the program. Students' evaluative comments revealed a more positive attitude toward the elderly, significant interest in gerontology careers, and strong support for the program. A strategy for longterm follow-up of participants is presented, as well as lessons learned and plans for future programming. This program was implemented by the Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center, in collaboration with the University of Rhode Island Urban Field Center, in response to the "Kids Into Health Careers" initiative established by the U.S. Bureau of Health Professions.     

Focus Group Effects on Field Practicum Preferences

ABSTRACT

During the coming years the need for professionals to work with the nation's elders will increase several fold. This will place a great responsibility on university educational programs to prepare enough qualified future professionals to work in the greatly expanding field of gerontology. Prior research has identified several nonacademic and academic experiences that influence a student's decision to become gerontological professionals. One area that has been omitted from this work concerns focus groups. This article reports on the impact that observing a relatively simple and inexpensive focus group of professional geriatric practitioners can have on field practicum preferences among advanced undergraduate social work students at a large Texas state university. Findings indicate that observing a focus group significantly influences students' practicum preferences for working with elders, thereby setting them on a trajectory for a career in geriatrics.     

TEACHING RESEARCH IN GERONTOLOGY: TOWARD A CUMULATIVE MODEL

In this article, we consider different approaches to teaching research methods in gerontology across a continuum of educational program levels. Our goal is to offer a conceptual framework and stimulate productive discussion of key issues and challenges in teaching research in gerontology. It is our belief that education in gerontology should include some level of training in research methodologies across all levels of gerontology instruction. Therefore, we have sought to identify those components of research training most appropriate for each level of gerontological education. Thus, basic understanding of research methods is appropriate at the associate's degree level and introductory exposure to basic issues involved in conducting research with elders provides a necessary backdrop to undergraduate programs. More in-depth understanding of gerontological research methods, particularly those involved in applied research, is a component of quality master's level programs. Finally, in-depth knowledge and the ability to apply distinctively gerontological research methods are necessary for conducting advanced original research at the doctoral level.     

Gerontology Content in MSW Curricula and Student Attitudes Toward Older Adults

The unprecedented growth in the nation's older adult population has called attention to the increasing need for geriatric social workers. However, research suggests that social work students hold ageist attitudes that prevent many from pursuing careers in gerontology. The present study sought to identify student perceptions of gerontology content in MSW education and possible correlations with attitudes toward older adults and interest in gerontology. A sample of 252 MSW students participated in classroom surveys. The survey outcomes revealed that gerontology content in MSW curriculum was correlated with positive attitudes toward older adults, but it was not related to increased interest in gerontology.     

Internationalism: A Need in American Education

The author's middle school has created a mediated set of electronic learning resources designed to more effectively meet students' research needs. These research strategies help students with a variety of reading skills and allow students, and their teachers, to focus on higher-level thinking activities because the resource collections provide time-saving shortcuts through open-ended Google searches.     

Intrinsic Motivation and Environmental Factors Affecting Research of Social Work Faculty on Aging

Within the context of Self-determination Theory, this research identifies intrinsic motivation and environmental factors that support social-work-faculty research in aging. Intrinsic factors include faculty's interest in gerontology as a field of practice, the desire to advance knowledge in the field of gerontology, including producing publications that disseminate information about their research, and the desire to make tenure and/or to advance their careers. Environmental factors include institutional supports such as release time to do research, reduced teaching loads, summer research support. Also included are mentoring relationships that complement the faculty's intrinsic motivation and create an environment supportive of research, grant writing, and publishing. Faculty motivation to work in the field of gerontology and institutional support for gerontological research are critical to sustain and expand the capacity of social work faculty to advance science in gerontology research. Such motivation is also needed to create vibrant academic environments that attract students at all levels into the field of gerontology, a field experiencing a rapidly expanding gap between service need and workforce capacity of social-work-faculty research in aging.     

Online Focus Group: A Tool to Evaluate Online Students' Course Experience

This study suggests that virtual focus groups can be used as a powerful research tool to evaluate students' online course experiences. Students taking courses through the Internet want to be in control of when to access their course content. They also want to be able to decide when and how they interact with their peers and professors. In other words, students are striving for flexibility. Due to the fact that online courses require a different array of preparation, infrastructure, technical support, technology expertise, and course methodology; the evaluation of student online course experience(s) requires a different evaluation paradigm. In this study, the researchers combined the focus group with the Delphi technique and were able to verify the important matters that made an impact on students' satisfaction with the online course(s) they took. The uniqueness of this study is related to the adoption of asynchronous communication into the focus group research technique.     

Students as Scholars: Integrating Independent Research into Undergraduate Education

Undergraduate programs across the country are working to develop students as scholars, integrating independent scholarly experiences into traditional undergraduate classroom environments (see, e.g. George Mason University's Students as Scholars Quality Enhancement Plan; Boston University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program; University of Houston’s Learning through Discovery; University of Michigan’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program; etc.). Scholars and universities have touted the benefits of engaging students in research experiences for students as well as faculty. However, there is little empirical work exploring how undergraduate students adapt to their new role as scholars. In this paper, we explore the process of students integrating research into their undergraduate classroom experience. Based on participant observation and pre and postsemester survey data, we discuss the process of students learning as scholars in a capstone Criminology, Law & Society course. We focus on how students gathered and analyzed data and integrated their research experience into their overall learning for the course. We find the process of research reinforces the learning objectives of the course.     

Using the Internet for Gerontology Education: Assessing and Improving Wikipedia

Older adults, students, professionals, and the general public increasingly turn to the Internet and to Wikipedia for information. Wikipedia, the world's sixth most used website, is by far the most widely used open-source information site. Among its nearly four million English-language encyclopedia articles, how thorough is coverage of key gerontology topics?

Focusing on 315 important terms found across four leading gerontology sources, almost 3 out of 10 terms had no Wikipedia article at all, including some surprising omissions. And another 3 out of 10 terms had articles that treated the topic without any specific mention of aging. Only about 4 out of 10 terms had articles with content focusing on aging; however, using various measures, the articles that were relevant rated comparatively high overall.

This popular encyclopedia is a work in progress and was found to have considerable room for improvement in its coverage of gerontology. Interested parties can upgrade its content by working as individuals, as organized WikiProjects, or in academic courses. This paper describes how faculty can incorporate assignments where students expand and improve Wikipedia pages based on course research about specific aging topics. While educating their students, they can simultaneously help educate older adults as well as the general public about gerontology.     

A Service-Learning Collaboration: A Graduate Gerontology Program and a Foster Grandparent Program

ABSTRACT

Historically, American institutions of higher learning have embraced community service as a necessary component of students' learning experiences. Recent initiatives through the Corporation for National and Community Service emphasize the idea that civic responsibility is an important element of an adequate education at all levels of learning. In this article we discuss the feasibility of integrating a graduate gerontology program and a Foster Grandparent Program. The integration is designed in such a way that, beyond sustaining the Foster Grandparent Program and introducing students to practical field experiences, greater community needs can be met. Ideally, positive outcomes will be achieved through such a collaborative effort, and will affect change at the individual, community, policy, and social structural levels.     

EDUCATION FOR OLDER ADULTS: OUT OF THE COLLEGE AND INTO THE COMMUNITY

On investigation of Union College, a two‐year college in New Jersey, it was discovered that senior citizens failed to take advantage of free college classes, for deep‐seated psychological as well as logistical reasons. In 1979, the college launched a program of bringing classes to older Americans in their own settings (Y's, churches, senior housing complexes, etc.) in subjects and at times of their own choosing. Clearly meeting a great need, the program expanded until it reached nearly 600 students in 25 classes. Success is in large part due to the work of skilled, compassionate teachers. An ongoing teacher‐training regime with emphasis on gerontology keeps them abreast of new techniques and ensures a continuing exchange of ideas. In the course of this training, it has become evident that much remains to be learned about education and the older adult. As a consequence, a joint research project of Union College and the Rutgers University Institute of Aging has been planned, with the Union College classes serving as a field test of the program and more generally of the impact of education on older Americans.     

LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM: THE UNDERGRADUATE GERONTOLOGY INTERNSHIP

This article describes an undergraduate gerontology internship program that provides an intermediary level of involvement between a service-learning activity and a pre-professional graduate school internship, presents a case study of a student's learning experience, and suggests a teaching and learning structure that may be scaffolded to fit individual student needs and goals. A humanistic teaching orientation is discussed as a method to facilitate learning and a deeper understanding of internship experiences.