Trends and issues related to arts and humanities in adult and continuing education can be categorized in three ways: ways of knowing, informal sites of learning, and cultural pluralism. The arts and humanities are vehicles for critical reflection, and they present paths to the individual construction of knowledge that are intuitive, relational,…

Current trends related to older adults have the potential of influencing programs and services in adult, career, and vocational education. The amount and kind of learning in which older adults engage is one trend of interest to educators. A 1997 study reveals that older people are learning in numbers and amounts of time expended at a rate far…

Many new student affairs professionals have had little or no experience in applying such codes to different learners. How to address issues where codes are insufficient and how to make student affairs professionals sensitive to the moral and ethical issues of adult learners are addressed in this paper. It is not meant as a guide, but as a tool for…

This paper describes a project to train service providers in replicating the Home Activity Program for Parents and Youngsters (HAPPY). HAPPY is a family-focused program developed to meet the educational needs of disabled children ages birth through 5 years in rural Nevada. Content of the training modules was developed from a review of literature…

This paper contains the text of a keynote speech given at a Study Day attended by older persons and government and industry officials in England, along with summaries of discussion and workshop reports. The keynote speech, "Citizenship, Adult Learning, and Old Age" (Jenny Scribbins), emphasizes the need to recognize the educational…

This publication, which is based on the experiences gained in a workplace literacy program for learning-disabled workers at a paper factory in Massachusetts, is designed as a beginners' guide to identifying and addressing issues of learning disabilities in the adult education classroom. Section 1 defines the term "learning disability,"…

In November 1996, the National Institute for Adult and Continuing Education arranged a conference on the theme "Museums and Adults--Partners in Learning" held at the British Museum. The conference was attended by numerous local authorities and various adult education organizations, including the Workers' Educational Association (WEA).…

Jack Mezirow's theory of transformative learning has evolved into a description of how learners learn by integrating new knowledge with their existing knowledge, beliefs, and experiences. Centrality of experience, critical reflection, and rational discourse are three common themes in Mezirow's theory, which is based on psychoanalytic theory and…

The learning that parents accomplish through informal involvement in running preschool learning groups was examined through a survey of adults who were actively involved in a Pre-School Learning Alliance program in 1 of 10 locations throughout England. Of the 632 adults contacted, 311 (nearly 50%) completed questionnaires. Approximately 60…

The mechanisms by which adults acquire vocabulary and the relationship between adults' ability to acquire vocabulary and their method of processing information were the subjects of this study. Theoretical bases of the study were ideas from cognitive psychology, particularly the work of Sternberg. Subjects were preservice education majors and…

A study examined the relationship between the motives and needs of 658 adult students enrolled in a Dutch adult high school program and the curricular and instructional design of an educational reform--an open learning program. The population was all 4,442 adult learners in 3 schools who started an open learning experiment. When the students…

Writings in the field of human development and learning in the adult years can be integrated into a simple theory. A theory is defined as a policy, hypothesis, or set of principles used or proposed as a basis for action. The adult years are defined as a time in which one makes choices with a degree of maturity and wisdom and assumes responsibility…

The use of closed-caption television (CCTV) to help teach English as a Second Language (ESL) to adults was studied with a group of adult students in the Arlington, Virginia, Education and Employment Program. Although CCTV is designed for the hearing impaired, its combination of written with spoken English in the visual context of television makes…

This handbook was written specifically for volunteer tutors but is appropriate for teachers, student interns, coordinators, and others working with Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) adult learners. It presents an overview of adult and non-traditional education models, some principles of reading and writing, a…

A study replicated portions of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council's pilot study that addressed the effectiveness of small group instruction. The study contrasted reading proficiency gain and personal goals accomplishment across two instructional modes: small group and traditional one-to-one instruction. Three group instruction sites were…