Program providers who do not give refunds should reconsider their policies. Training providers should give all attendees the opportunity to express dissatisfaction, follow up on all complaints immediately and personally, and allow dissatisfied attendees to receive full or partial refunds or attend another session or program without additional…

The authors advocate a holistic approach to program development that transcends the boundaries of the sponsoring agency and provides a link between needs assessment, instructional design and development, learning activities, and societal impact. This frame of reference views the efforts of adult educators and their organizations as means to…

Program failure has been demonstrated to have both detrimental and enhancing effects upon individuals. Two detrimental reactions to program failures are those of self-doubt and embarrassment. The focus of adult and continuing educators should not be on condemning each other for failure, but on exploring program failure, how it personally affects…

Over a 5-week period 43 typical trainers in a nationwide corporation were observed to determine uses and abuses of training techniques. The adult educators who were observed were technically expert, but otherwise untrained. Factors that enhance or detract from training effectiveness were identified, specifically as regards organizing and…

This brief note is a description and invitation to educators, practitioners, and researchers to participate in AEDNET, a special network of electronic mail created for people in adult education. The description of AEDNET provides a history of the network and lists current and future benefits of AEDNET. Information is then presented on joining…

Tips are offered for using the needs/interest survey process to provide continuing and community education programmers with information for setting goals and establishing program objectives. Some of the 50 tips include using only those questions essential to programming, restricting the length, targeting the survey, getting input on topics…

This document offers "reciprocal questioning" as a technique that promotes active learning and that is a practical and powerful way to help students improve their reading comprehension. First, the technique is described in detail. Steps include selection of four to five paragraphs of text; preparation of 10-12 questions over the material,…

This article focuses on using writing activities in adult basic education/General Educational Development level classes to increase students' self-confidence, enjoyment of writing, and opportunities for group instruction. Suggestions are made for early writing experiences as well as later activities. The writing activities most enjoyed by other…

The task of adult educators is to provide students with information as well as opportunities to explore alternatives to the arms race. As a starting point to raising nuclear issues in the classroom and incorporating them into the curriculum, the adult educator can administer a survey or questionnaire to students about nuclear weapons and the…

An "orientation" checklist is proposed to aid the adult basic education (ABE) teacher in preparing for instruction. The list reflects a number of issues teachers should consider carefully before meeting with students. The issues concern (1) information about the learners and their characteristics and needs that can be taken into account in…

For many learners in adult basic education (ABE) or General Educational Development (GED) classrooms, the difference between staying with the program and leaving prematurely is often related to the degree of the student's involvement with other members of the class. Grouping students to work together has both support- and learning-related…

The purpose of this document is to provide a step-by-step outline of the language experience approach. It first explains this technique for teaching both words and sentences to beginning readers. Steps are outlined first for teaching words, then for teaching sentences. What to do and what to say is suggested for each step. Teaching words includes…

Because reading is first and foremost a language comprehension process focusing on the visual form of spoken language, such teaching strategies as language experience and assisted reading have much to offer beginning readers. These techniques have been slow to become accepted by many adult literacy instructors; however, the two strategies,…

Vocational educators need to build bridges for student's transition into and success through the vocational program of their reasoned choice by communicating and cooperating with developmental education instructors. The major focus of the role of the vocational instructor in working with the developmental educator concerns assessment of students…