A study examined achievement and attitudes of traditional and nontraditional age students enrolled in an undergraduate behavioral sciences statistics course. Performance and attitude data were collected from a class of 25 traditional students (average age 22) and from a class of 15 nontraditional students (average age 35). The two groups were…

Adult learning at Penn State, New Kensington Campus, is discussed. The history of adult continuing education is presented, noting the precedent for adults to attend college was set after World War II. The 1980s has been a decade where the trickle of adult students has become a flood with the addition of adult women returning to campuses across the…

These guidelines are adapted from Verderber and Verderber's "Inter-Act," a manual for interpersonal communication. The examples are from English composition classes, but the general principles are applicable in any situation involving criticism. Guidelines for giving constructive criticism include making the criticism relevant and…

This booklet addresses two of the competencies needed by part-time faculty who teach adults. The competencies are adult learning and the need for quality in preparation to assure quality in instruction. The booklet begins with a discussion of just who the adult learners are. The next topic is adult motivation to learn at the beginning, during, and…

The Personal Adult Learning Lab, part of the Georgia Center for continuing Education, was established to (1) provide the type of learning environment that can support adult learners in their efforts to develop and direct their own learning projects and (2) enable researchers to learn more about the nature of self-directed learning as demonstrated…

Recent research in preservice and inservice teacher education has led to four generalizations concerning effective staff development: (1) teachers should be actively engaged in their own learning; (2) collaboration based upon mutual trust and respect between institutions of higher education, school districts, and the community is essential; (3)…

This study examined writings of Canadian adult educators for the purpose of describing their field of inquiry. The study described the field by its four basic areas of inquiry--learner, learning, process, and environment--and by the components of each area. The methodology was divided into three phases: creation of a glossary of descriptive adult…

Despite the exponential growth in online learning, student retention rates in the online environment remain a concern to educators. Online learning @ UniSA is a learning object aimed at laying foundations for online learning for prospective students. It uses the voices of student peers to explore the qualities needed to succeed. Through the…

The thesis of this paper is that television can effectively disseminate information to adult learners, thereby freeing the instructor from repetitive tasks and allowing him to assume a facilitative, diagnostic, and consultative role for larger numbers of adult students on an individualized basis. Research data and an example of a mediated…

Thirty mothers of Title 1 children (5-11) were matched for marital status, sex of children, ethnic background, age, and level of formal education. They were randomly assigned to a waiting-list control group, a parent treatment group, and a parent-and-significant-others treatment group. The dependent measures were the following: (a) "the way I feel…

The operational criteria for a center for continuing education is examined in the context of the center's mission, as the mission is described and developed from specified definitions of adult education, further education, and continuing, lifelong education. (AG)

Reports on 2 investigations of problems of teaching adults (ages 18-40) vs. teaching pupils 10 and 11 years old. Differences are observed in character, temperament, motivation, work capacity, mental processes. Learning ability increases with degree of education rather than age alone. This fact must be considered in a differentiated methodology.…

The author expands on the false assumptions implied in the title and shows how they are in error. (AG)

A teaching strategy is outlined which has been found useful in an adult, multi-level second language class. Basic to the model is effective planning in which attention to group structure, class organization, and the development of learning activities and materials are central considerations. Each of these considerations is discussed and presented…

The process model of reading suggests that even the effective reader makes recurring regressions to lower levels of functioning when faced with unfamiliar topics or texts. The gradual formulation of new linguistic and cognitive structures necessitated by the task of reading is similar to the acquisition of language, and the process model suggests…