This article narrates the rise and fall of a notable adult education programme at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada. The Centre for Adult Education and Community Development was established in 1951, replacing the External Service for Social Education. In the 1950s, the Centre gained an international reputation for excellence in adult…

This qualitative case study focused on career commitment in two types of professional adult educators, extension agents and missionaries. Past research studying extension agents and missionaries had documented decades of early career attrition. Research documented the issues, explored causes, and proposed solutions. Yet, the problem persists. Much…

Extension work also includes a tradition of educational organizing that develops leadership, builds civic capacity, and facilitates learning by bringing people and resources together to identify, deliberate about, and act on important public issues and problems. A practitioner profile illustrates the roles played and the values involved in the…

In March 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao acknowledged that the situation in the Chinese countryside is desperate and claimed new resources would be devoted to healthcare and education. This announcement should have pleased architects of the Chinese "learning initiative" who are building learning cities and villages. The authors describe why…

From 1912 to 1975 the Department of Extension at the University of Alberta provided an impressive range of programmes and services to people across the Canadian province of Alberta. The four Directors of Extension at the University of Alberta during this period became leading figures in the history of adult education in Canada. They positioned…

Empowerment is a multidimensional social process that helps people develop power to use in their lives, communities, and society. The Connecticut People Empowering People program builds on the theory of critical adult education to develop skills and supports for empowerment. (SK)

Strategic planning (SP), which has been used since the 1960s by business and industry, is now being used by schools, municipalities, universities, and even churches. SP is a process designed to assist groups in developing a custom-designed plan to meet the specific needs of their own organization or community. The following are five important…

Describes the adult education programs currently being undertaken by government agencies in Malaysia. (AN)

Extension needs to find its future niche in the urban area where people now are with the same success that it currently enjoys in rural areas. Opportunities for extension programing include at-risk youth and families, environmental quality, and community revitalization. (JOW)

While volunteers are important for Cooperative Extension Services, Extension agents encounter problems in the training of volunteers, the supervision of volunteers, and the completion of reports on volunteers. The use of middle management level volunteer coordinators can alleviate these problems. Extension agents can train their best volunteers as…

Extracts from an article describing the efforts of the University of Nigeria to dispel post-civil war anomia among the rural population, and to direct various reconstruction and rehabilitation programs to rural areas. (Author/JB)

This extension education publication contains insights and tools to help community members develop a strategic vision and action plan for their community. Presented first are an executive summary and an introduction that includes 10 reasons for a strategic visioning process. The first section, which deals with harnessing the power of vision,…

The Antigonish Movement, Farm Radio Forum, and Centre for Community Studies were three Canadian community development programs that supported adult education's social change mission. Current extension practice focuses on cost recovery and marketing courses to those who can pay; these historical examples show a way to renew the mission and vision…

This paper describes the extent and characteristics of extension activities undertaken by the Department of Adult Education, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. It examines the concept of community, the university-community dichotomy, arguments on university community service, literacy development, community development activities, seminars, training…

Outlines a program offered by the University of Nigeria that emphasizes the need for adult education and shows how this program can be made available to all those that might find it beneficial. (Author/LF)