ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF OLDER ADULT EDUCATION ON SUBJECTIVE WELL‐BEING

The number of educational programs for older adults is increasing. It has been proposed that older adults maintain or increase their subjective well‐being by participating in such programs. Indeed, many educational programs targeted for older adults have objectives that deal with enhancing subjective well‐being. However, program evaluations that assess the subjective well‐being of participants are infrequent. A literature search located only seven research reports including data on the impact of educational programs on the subjective well‐being of older adults. The studies mostly were pre‐experimental, contained a variety of outcome measures, and yielded inconclusive results. In this paper, we discuss a global and multidimensional perspective of subjective well‐being encompassing the constructs of happiness, morale, and life satisfaction by specifying their location on temporal, cognitive, and affective dimensions. We also point out that current scales used to assess these constructs may be inappropriate, because the content of specific items may be inconsistent with program objectives. Recommendations are offered, in terms of measurement and research design issues, for upgrading the evaluation of educational interventions targeted for older adults.     

DEMENTIA BEYOND DRUGS: CHANGING THE CULTURE OF CARE

This article deals with the education of older adults in communities with different levels of well-being. We are interested in whether the educational offerings for older adults depend on the well-being of the local community. We also examine how the educational offerings differ depending on whether the community is primarily rural or urban. In the research, the case study design was used. Municipalities were selected with respect to their level of well-being and compared regarding the educational offering for older adults. The analysis of the selected municipalities shows that the offering of educational opportunities for the older adults is more connected to the degree of urban and/or the rural character of the community than to the well-being of the community. One of the main obstacles for access to education of older adults appears to be geographical distance. In this research, we establish that the providers of education for older adults and the community's organizational cohesiveness in Slovenia do not cooperate with each other as a rule. There is also no in-depth consideration by education organizers for how to attract the older adults who don't take part in educational activities.     

PROJECT INSIGHTS: AN EVALUATION OF A COMMUNITY VISION EDUCATION PROJECT FOR OLDER ADULTS

Project InSights is a community vision education and outreach program designed to utilize trained older adult volunteers to educate their peers about age-related vision loss and the benefits of vision rehabilitation for people who are visually impaired. Volunteers conduct programs that motivate attendees to maintain their vision health and provide information about available services and resources in the community. The overall goal is to prevent unnecessary functional disability among older adults with vision impairment. Peer education is based on the assumption that people are more likely to listen to their contemporaries, and Project InSights uses this approach. A nine-month evaluation of Project InSights was conducted to determine program effectiveness, volunteer and attendee satisfaction, and suggestions for program modification. Data were gathered from two perspectives--program attendees and volunteers--via telephone interviews and evaluation forms completed by program attendees. Program attendees (90 % ) stated that they learned something new that could help them or someone they know who has a vision problem. Volunteers (98 % ) would recommend others to become an InSights volunteer because they are providing an important service. Results indicate that Project InSights was viewed as a valuable community resource by all involved.     

Communities in the making: Pedagogic explorations using oral history

This article discusses two projects supported by the Higher Education Active Community Fund, which involved student and staff volunteers in working with local communities and community-based organisations in two London boroughs. Oral history methods were used to investigate and represent the experiences of elderly people living in Borough A and young people who have been in foster care in Borough B and their carers. Both projects involved collecting detailed life stories on video and editing these for exhibition in the public domain. The video for Borough A was to form part of the Council's website, the older people's portal. The video for Borough B was to be used to train people providing professional services to young people in foster care and to involve the young people in filming, editing and producing a soundtrack. The article discusses the aims and context of the two projects and critically reviews the learning experiences involved. It analyses issues raised by volunteering, working with local communities, and attempting to represent marginalised experience. It reflects critically on notions of community and community development and discusses relations between oral history projects and community definition, higher education and society.     

DEVELOPING FACULTY THROUGH A UNIVERSITY/COMMUNITY NURSING SERVICE PARTNERSHIP

More people are surviving to old age, which places increasing demands on the health care system and accentuates the importance of developing alternate methods of meeting the unique health care needs of older adults. A university/ community partnership, such as the one described in this article is one example of an innovative, alternate community nursing service. The program provides home health services; gerontological teaching, research, and practice opportunities for faculty; and expanded gerontological clinical experiences for nursing students. Critical elements of program development are discussed and recommendations for similar programs are given.     

DEVELOPING A CONFERENCE FOR THE ELDERLY AS PART OF A UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONAL GERONTOLOGY CLASS

The undergraduate course Educational Gerontology taught at Hampton University includes the development and implementation of a community conference for older adults. The conference is developed in conjunction with the local senior center. Students spend two hours each week throughout the semester observing and participating in the programming at the senior center in order to become familiar with the needs and interests of older adults. During scheduled class times, students select an appropriate conference theme and begin conference plans and committee assignments. The class culminates with the conducting of the conference at the center. Such a project gives students the opportunity to get valuable hands‐on experience in educational gerontology programming.     

BOOK REVIEW

Public educators of adults, because of their locally based programs, are strategically positioned to facilitate the learning of large numbers of older people. Little is known, however, about how these educators view the learning needs of elders who live in their communities. We conducted a telephone interview survey, using fixed‐response and open‐ended questions, with 30 directors of public adult education programs in Maine. The instrument assessed how important particular educational goals were for these directors at the time of the interview and how important each should be in the future. We examined both outcome and process variables. Health education was the outcome factor with the largest discrepancy between present and future program goals. Outreach to elders not presently participating in adult education programs was the process factor with the largest discrepancy. We discuss implications of this research for adult education and for potential partnerships between local educators and gerontologists.     

THE RESPONSE OF OLDER WOMEN TO A CREATIVE PROBLEM‐SOLVING PROGRAM

Little work has been done in the development of creativity in older adults. The limited research seems to support the notion that older people are not as creative as younger people.

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether or not creative behavior as measured by Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking can be increased in older adult women through a creative problem‐solving program. The major hypothesis under investigation was: The use of a specific problem‐solving program designed to increase certain creative thinking abilities will increase those abilities at a significant level in older adult women. Forty women volunteers, ranging in age from 60 to 82, participated in the six‐week program.

Experimental subjects did not score significantly higher on the Torrance tests than the control subjects who had not participated in the program. However, information collected via the teacher's log and a questionnaire given to the subjects at the end of the class showed that the experience was unusually positive and creatively beneficial.

It is concluded that the program was not of sufficient intensity and that in order to measure change in creative thinking with older people, a more creative approach in testing may need to be developed.     

Learning Resources

This article presents labor‐force tends that show certain geographic areas, such as Kentucky, Sweden, and Japan, experiencing very limited labor‐force growth and a heavier reliance on older workers because of declining younger‐age populations. The authors discuss these declines and other factors such as participation rates of women and older people in the labor force, retirement incentives of income‐support programs, and educational and training needs. Based on the data and trends presented, this article advocates for research and policy options to be studied in relation to this information if we are to respond effectively to an aging labor force.     

The Use of Think-Aloud to Evaluate a Navigation Structure for a Multimedia Health and Wellness Application for Older Adults and Their Caregivers

Despite the increasing use of health information technologies (HITs) for older adults living in the community and their caregivers, few have been rigorously evaluated for usability by the end users. Think-aloud protocols are a relatively easy method for both clinicians and researchers to use with older adults and those therapists that work with them to provide such an evaluation. In the present report, we provide an exemplar using this method in order to evaluate the usability of a health and wellness technology tool designed for older adults and caregivers. In addition, we discuss methodological and practical considerations for others interested in this approach. The methodology described in this study is easy and practical to undertake, and it can be effectively conducted by researchers and clinicians to find usability issues related to HITs for older adults and their caregivers.     

HIGHER EDUCATION FOR THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE: THE STATE OF THE ART AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

This paper offers some aims for education at the university level for middle‐age and older adults. A review of the scope of knowledge and practice in this field is presented along with a brief analysis of some factors leading to the growing interest in this area, in which a lack of empirical knowledge and clear philosophy is evident. Research findings from life‐span developmental studies on the cognitive, personality, and motivational characteristics of older people are discussed in terms of their implications for higher education. In the light of these considerations, suggestions for planning academic programs for older adults are presented. Academic programs must be rooted in curricula that concurrently foster age integration at the university while attending to the special needs of middle‐age and older adults. Academic programs require programs of action research and training for educators and students of adult development. This is seen as essential to promote future progress in this area.     

Ecological Mural as Community Reconnection

Murals are particularly visually captivating forms of public art due to their size and accessibility. Mural images also capture public attention and provoke viewers to explore layers of meaning and find hidden stories. They are often in places that people come to visit, study, play, congregate and discuss matters that may relate to the content of the mural. To this end, murals can be effective tools for helping communities think about their environmental issues. This article discusses the Mystic River mural project in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA. It addresses how the local art councils, mural artists, local students, community members and non‐profit organisations collaborated to carry out this ongoing mural project. The purpose of this research is to examine how Mystic River eco‐murals were created, what challenges and benefits the eco‐murals provided, how local social concerns were represented through the eco‐murals, how eco‐murals can continue to promote environmental awareness and inspire youth about their community and the local environment, and how the mural can continue to reflect or affect the meaning of the place. This process can serve as an example for other communities that seek to address their environmental concerns through public art.     

TRANSFORMING OLDER ADULT EDUCATION: AN EMERGING PARADIGM FROM A NATIONWIDE STUDY

Educational opportunities for older adults have changed dramatically in the past 20 years due, in part, to the rise of new institutions (e.g., learning in retirement institutes, Shepherd's Centers, OASIS institutes) and modification to earlier programs based in senior centers and community colleges. Little systematic research has examined the shared characteristics of these program types—how the are organized, funded, governed and so on. In response, with funding from the AARP Andrus Foundation, a national study of older adult education organizations was conducted during 1992‐1993. A “Critical Pathways Taxonomy” was devised in surveying 260 organizations that provide educational programs for seniors. Five program models were studied and compared. New roles for older learners were identified in areas of planning, teaching, governance, and community service. The study suggests that a new paradigm of older adult education is emerging.     

虚拟学习社区定量研究框架

随着计算机网络及通讯技术的发展和广泛应用,人们对虚拟学习社区产生了浓厚的兴趣。由于虚拟学习社区的形成不同于现实生活中的社区,其成员之间是一种隐性关系,这种关系会随着时间的推移而发生变化。因此对虚拟学习社区的研究是网络时代不可回避的课题。为了帮助人们更好地理解虚拟学习社区,以便对其的建立、运行、预测和管理提供可测量的依据。文章就此提出了虚拟学习社区的定量研究框架,并讨论了其中的关键技术。     

LGBTQIA+ youth as multicultural educators

ABSTRACT

Multicultural education generally takes place as culturally competent adults prepare other adults to work with a variety of student youth. In this paper, we present an alternative that disrupts the pattern of adults teaching about youth. Our alternative has youth educating adults in ways that centre youth’s experiences and insights with schooling. We discuss the educative efforts of Chroma, a youth community for LGBTQIA+ and allied youth aged 12–20. First, we tell the story of Chroma’s educative efforts. Then, we discuss our methodology. Next, we discuss three key sets of insights about their educative efforts – anchoring expertise, meeting adult learners halfway, and barriers to learning. We raise questions inspired by these findings. At last, we conclude with a deconstruction of the adult–youth binary in multicultural education and ethnographic research.     

Pedagogies on the edge: researching complex practice in youth and adult community education

This research arose from our involvements in adults and community education, adult literacy, youth issues, and in researching the new movement in Australia for the inclusion of ‘generic skills’ in education and training curriculum. We recruited twenty-two practitioners in Adult and Community Education (ACE) in a participatory action research approach to assist us in exploring how ‘generic skills and attributes’ are fostered in the context of adult and community education and to theorise pedagogies of ACE in the light of the changed demographic of those who access ACE programs (especially disaffected young people and older unemployed men). A ‘Framework for ACE Pedagogy’ was one outcome of the research. In this paper we describe the five ‘elements’ which we found to constitute ‘The Teacher’ in ACE. The elements include: personal engagement with learners; self-reflection on one's teaching and one's own learning journey; improvisation and risk-taking; awareness of relations of power; and having patience and trust in the learning process.     

Perceptions of peer-led learning among older adults in a community-based aquatic exercise program

While aquatic exercises have been considered one of the most appropriate learning activities for older adult learners because they are safe and beneficial for health, limited evidence exists regarding how older adult learners perceive their learning environment and different learning strategies. Thus, our research explored older adults’ perceptions of peer-led aquatics classes. We interviewed 19 individuals who participated in aquatics exercise courses in a community recreation center in order to answer the following research questions: (a) How do older adults perceive a peer-led aquatics class? (b) How do older adult learners describe their interaction with their instructor and other learners in their learning environment? Using constant comparative analysis, we identified the participants’ perceptions of peer-led learning with regard to their perceived relationships in class, optimistic views on the peer-led learning concept, mixed and neutral attitudes, and professionalism of teaching. From our findings, we discussed empathic relationships, mixed perspectives derived from learners’ physical condition and personal value, and a lack of peer instructor training programs, especially in a senior fitness field. Findings have implications for senior fitness instructors and educators of older adults.     

A HUMANISTIC APPROACH TO EDUCATION OF OLDER PERSONS

Many older adults will seek additional education during their lifetimes. Since these persons differ widely in their physical, social, intellectual, and psychological characteristics, it is important that educational programs for older people recognize the uniqueness of the learner, that these programs be humanistic in design and implementation. The perceptual‐humanistic frame of reference is used as the basis for the discussion of learning and a consideration of the qualities that determine teacher effectiveness. The desirable characteristics of educational programs for older persons are then derived in terms of the perceptual‐humanistic point of view. The need in such programs for emphasis on the fundamental and individual worthiness and capabilities of the older learner is noted.