This document examines issues and techniques related to assessment of online learning for adult, career, and vocational education. The document begins with an overview of the disadvantages of assessing at a distance and the issue of security in the online environment. The following aspects of continuous assessment are discussed: characteristics…

The professional development strategies and activities of vocational education and training staff at further education (FE) colleges in the United Kingdom were examined through a mail survey completed by 891 staff members at 108 colleges throughout the United Kingdom (representing 24% of the FE sector). Most respondents (92%) stated that their…

This report describes apprenticeship system development in Australia and provides a quantitative macro-level analysis of apprenticeship, traineeship, and new apprenticeship trends. Following an introduction (chapter 1), chapters 2-3 trace its European origins and establishment in colonial Australia, development and evolution through the twentieth…

The School to Work Opportunities Act of 1994 requires that all young people, including young people with disabilities and out-of-school youth, have equal opportunities to participate in the activities funded by it. Local intermediary organizations that provide a critical convening role and offer services to core education and business partners can…

This document showcases 129 exemplary workforce development-related programs at elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, adult centers, school districts, vocational-technical centers, and two- and four-year colleges in 15 counties in Florida's western panhandle region. The 15 counties are: (1) Bay; (2) Calhoun; (3) Escambia; (4) Franklin;…

This guide offers insight, advice, examples, and resources aimed at community education practitioners in the United Kingdom who want to establish sustainable community education and neighborhood renewal programs promoting active citizenship and social change. The following topics are discussed: (1) neighborhoods in crisis; (2) proposed government…

Ireland's economic and social problems in the 1980s spawned a new kind of community education. Key characteristics of the new community education are as follows: (1) it is a learning environment and located in the community; (2) it provides learning programs based on identified needs; (3) its control remains in the local community's hands; (4) its…

A work group consisting of representatives of public agencies, education, the health care industry, and unions and professional associations was formed to examine education and training issues related to the shortage of health care workers in Washington state. The group concluded that the shortage of available workers in many health care…

Increasingly, adult educators are using narrative and stories for many reasons, including their deep appeal, satisfaction, and cultural transcendence. As a fundamental structure of human meaning making narrative is a valuable classroom tool in that it can enable students to understand life events, personal actions, and solidify identity formation.…

This document contains 10 papers about and from a national forum that was conducted by the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium (ALNARC) to gather various perspectives on the inclusion of literacy and numeracy standards in Australia's national training packages and to discuss research about the implementation of training…

Educational strategies for social inclusion are based on particular definitions that do not always take account of the complexities of exclusion and inclusion. By attempting to "normalize" the unemployed and disaffected, social inclusion efforts often legitimate the status quo of systems that might otherwise be regarded as contributing…

This document summarizes the activities conducted by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) during 1998 in its continuing efforts to accomplish its primary objective of linking research, policy, and practice in vocational education and training (VET). The following are among the 1998 CEDEFOP projects and…

This document contains three symposium papers on advances in distance learning. "The Adoption of Computer Technology and Telecommunications: A Case Study" (Larry M. Dooley, Teri Metcalf, Ann Martinez) reports on a study of the possible applications of two theoretical models (Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations model and the Concerns-Based…

Education has traditionally been seen as a pedagogic relationship between teacher and learner. Although andragogy has provided many useful approaches for improving educational methodology and has been accepted almost universally, it still has connotations of a teacher-learner relationship. Some have argued that the rapid rate of change in society…

Research on various facets of adult learners' experiences in postsecondary education has established the following facts: (1) instructors who help adult learners connect their real-world experiences and what they already know to what they are learning in the classroom are perceived as most helpful and motivating; (2) adult undergraduates generally…