Reviews general principles of adult learning; describes nature of the adult learner as suggested by the current literature; provides suggestions for the design of learning programs for adults; and reviews the implications of accepting ideas about motivation derived from adult learning theories for colleges and staff engaged in correspondence…

Fifty-one adult second-language learners were interviewed, and their answers relating to objectives and psychological conditions were found to cluster around affective factors. Effective conditions included relationship between learner and resource person, self-esteem, friendships with native speakers, and learning in an occupational/vocational…

A free university is defined as a community learning center that connects people who want to teach or learn with resources to meet their needs. The free university for Man, located at Kansas State University in Manhattan, is described. (MLW)

With a fifty-year history of commitment to serving adults, Widener University's University College recently volunteered to participate in CAEL's (Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) Adult Learning Focused Initiative (ALFI) by using the Institutional Self-Assessment Survey (ISAS) and the Adult Learner Inventory (ALI) from the ALFI…

The Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAEL) designed the Adult Learning Focused Institution (ALFI) Assessment Toolkit specifically for colleges and universities that want to retain undergraduate adult learners by providing programs that meet and exceed their expectations. The ALFI Assessment Tools are a pair of survey instruments that are…

NCSALL's (National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy's) Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS), conducted by John Strucker and Rosalind Davidson at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, was designed to describe the various types or clusters of readers enrolled in U.S. adult basic education (ABE) programs, including both native…

The selections presented in this paper are intended to provide readers with a general understanding of some of the key issues and practices that bear on the implementation of educational technologies in adult literacy programs. The sources listed are not exhaustive but cover two dozen major reports, articles, and Web sites produced by the federal…

Most of us realize that increasing the education of adults who did not complete high school is good. Fewer of us realize just how good. This report on one of the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB) Challenge to Lead Goals for Education focuses on the considerable impact of closing the education gap for these adults in SREB states. The…

This brief identifies advantages and challenges to using video-based distance education for adult English language learners (ELLs), describing implementation alternatives and suggesting practical implementation strategies. Advantages include multiple mentoring opportunities and the ability to reach more learners. Challenges include identifying…

This volume contains the proceedings of the 7th international conference on Adults Learning Mathematics--A Research Forum held in July, 2000 in Massachusetts. It includes posters and short oral reports under these section headings: (1) Research into Practice; (2) Large- Scale Issues: Frameworks, Standards, and Assessment; (3) Theoretical…

This paper describes the Pathfinders program in New York (New York), which works to facilitate the full integration of adults with developmental disabilities into workplaces and neighborhoods. The paper is organized around the question of whether students graduating from special education can find paid and volunteer work in community settings,…

Over the past five years, the number of individuals engaging in online learning as well as the number of online course offering has grown exponentially. At the same time, outcome research on online learning design is sparse. This paper describes the development of a constructivist learning environment scorecard and explores its usefulness in…

Learning style has been an important area of study to improve learner satisfaction and learning outcomes. This study examined the effect of flexible learning schedule on learning and application of learning made by a group of undergraduate students. Results revealed flexible learning schedule influenced students' learning. Various reasons why…

This Final Performance Report provides information and data to the U.S. Department of Education for the federally-funded Library Literacy Program. The report includes the following sections: general information; quantitative data; and narrative report. The Chester County Library (Chester, South Carolina) serves a community of 25,000-50,000 people.…

These key features overlap, criss-cross, and reoccur in discussions about postmodernism: plurality of perspectives, antiessentialism, antifoundationalism, antiscientism, and end of metaphysics and ideology. Other characterizations focus on the discrediting of modernism's grand narrative, the positivist assumption that objectivity is the only…