Australian Journal of Adult Learning
Critical thinking and research in the field of adult learning
Author: John Collins, Private researcher, Merungle Hill, NSW
Edition: Volume 53, Number 2, July 2013
Summary: 170 years on, the Folk High School continues to supply Denmark a valued educational and social service. Does the modern Folk High School system offer Australian educators a model of relevance?
Keywords: Folk, education, relevant, Scandinavia,
Share a copy of this abstract.
This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.
Author: Theresa Millman, University of Wollongong
Edition: Volume 53, Number 2, July 2013
Summary: In responding to a global audience, universities are increasingly bound up in priorities of maintaining viability within landscapes of globalised market imperatives, and with changing paradigms of purpose; universities need to be accessible to all. In Australia, pathways to university provided by Credit Transfer have increased student mobility; the dichotomy however, is that alongside discourses of inclusivity is the need for students to adjust to the often rigorous academic demands of higher education. This paper examines the Bachelor of Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong (UOW), and the Diploma of Communication & Media Studies at the Illawarra Institute of Technical and Further Education (TAFE). Some of the common challenges transitioning students face in their first year at UOW are discussed, including; adapting to different workloads and the demands of self-directed, independent learning. A potential solution is a pre- university entry induction program for TAFE students.
Keywords: transition, credit transfer, advanced standing, Mezirow, transformation
Share a copy of this abstract.
This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.
Author: Sasa Milic: University of Montenegro
Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013
Summary:
In recent years, major universities and governmental and nongovernmental organizations around the world have been engaged in discussions about implementing the principles of lifelong learning as fundamental principles of individual education. Until about a decade ago, adult education in Montenegro (whose development resembled that of adult education in the other republics of the former Yugoslavia) was characterized by the founding of workers’ or people’s universities; establishment of training centers at major companies and factories; and continued professional training, which included part-time enrollment in traditional universities. In other words, adult education was treated as an integral part of the formal education system but was not included in the state budget for education. Over the course of the last ten years, Montenegro has lost its old system of adult education, but it is still quite far from establishing a new one. Tellingly, no strategic document pertaining to adult education in the country recognizes the University of Montenegro as having a major role in lifelong learning. This essay problematizes the place and role of the university within the system of adult education and offers a comparative analysis of the development of the concept of lifelong learning at the university level in Europe.
Keywords: lifelong learning, adult education, expanding accessibility, different learning styles, social partnership, social justice.
Share a copy of this abstract.
This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.
Authors: Pamela M.Clayton: University of Glasgow, Scotland; Silvana Greco: University of Milan, Italy; Maria Jose Lopez Sanchez: University Miguel Hernandez of Elche, Alicante, Spain.
Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013
Summary: Despite still widespread unemployment in Europe, there is a growing shortage of labour, due to the ageing of the population and discrimination against old people both in and out of employment. Following the long history of human rights legislation, such discrimination is now outlawed but many third-agers have become discouraged or do not know how to make their careers more secure. Vocational guidance, therefore, is needed in order to reintegrate them into the labour force and manage their careers effectively.
Keywords: ageing, population, human rights, career, guidance
Share a copy of this abstract.
This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.
Author/s: Rick Flowers and Elaine Swan: University of Technology, Sydney
Edition: Volume 52, Number 3, Nov 2012
Summary: We convened this special issue on Food pedagogies to start to address what we saw as lacunae in both research on adult education and food studies. Thus, in spite of the expanding body of work on informal learning and pedagogies amongst adult educators, food has been relatively neglected (see Cook 2009; Jubas 2011 and Sumner 2011, for exceptions). This is somewhat surprising as many good studies academics argue: the growing, buying, preparing, provisioning, cooking, tasting, eating and disposing of food have become the target of intensified pedagogical activity across a range of domains (Kimura 2011; Short 2006; Coveney 2006). Hence, many different “pedagogues” – policy makers, churches, activists, health educators, schools, tourist agencies, celebrities, chefs – think we don’t know enough about food and what to do with it.
Keywords: food, pedagogy, adult education, adult learning
Share a copy of this abstract.
This article is part of AJAL, Volume 52_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.
Author/s: Tom Short
Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006
Summary: In the course of my doctoral study, I am exploring the strategic linkages between learning activities in the modern workplace and the long-term success they bring to organisations. For many years, this challenge has been the Holy Grail of human resource development practitioners, who invest heavily on training and professional development projects each year but readily admit to their inadequacies when it comes to evaluating the full benefits. In the UK alone, estimates for 2008 indicate that this expenditure will reach over 23 billion pounds sterling (Mann 2006:13).
Keywords: learning activities, modern workplace, training and development
[wpdm_file id=192]
Author/s: Ann Lawless
Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006
Summary: Universities are funny places. They have a strong sense of hierarchy and rank. They have an amazing disparity in salary levels and status between staff, are class conscious, and are run by a large bureaucracy that oils and keeps the machinery going. They operate as educational institutions and yet also are entrepreneurial, marketing themselves in a competitive search for students and research resources.
Keywords: universities, hierarchy, rank, status, class conscious, competitive
[wpdm_file id=191]
Author/s: Eissa M. Alansari
Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006
Summary: The purpose of this study is to review the success of implementation of cooperative learning in various courses delivered at the Center for Community Service and Continuing Education at Kuwait University. According to recent research in the field of social cognition, learning situations which make use of the social context often achieve superior results over individualistic experiences. Interviews with 200 university teachers conducted for the last two years showed their experience and opinions about the effects of cooperative learning in their classrooms on the achievement of content knowledge, retention and students’ attitudes toward it. The results of this study revealed that about 75% of the teachers believed that cooperative learning had been successfully implemented. The present analysis offers a series of positive findings and recommendations to improve further the educational standard of the Centre in Kuwait University.
Keywords: cooperative learning, Kuwait University, social cognition, outcomes
[wpdm_file id=190]
Author/s: N. S. Okoroma
Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006
Summary: The poor performance of the education sector in Nigeria has become very worrisome. What is the problem? Is the educational policy faulty or is it the implementation that is faulty? What are the implications for national development? These are the issues explored in this paper, based on a literature review approach. The findings blame the distortions in the educational system on the ineffective implementation engendered primarily by lack of political will, lack of continuity of programs, and corruption. The situation has hindered national development and, until urgent action is taken to review Nigeria’s educational system, its national aspirations will continue to be compromised. The paper recommends the discontinuation of the National Policy on Education fashioned after the American system and the adoption of the model practised by Asian countries such as Japan, China and India which takes the culture of the people into consideration. In addition, the 2provision of qualitative education should be made compulsory and entrenched into the Constitution in order to encourage result oriented implementation. Sustained political will and eradication of corruption are necessary for effective policy implementation.
Keywords: Nigeria, performance, culture, outcomes, performance
[wpdm_file id=189]
Author/s: Errol Lawson
Edition: Volume 46, Number 1, April 2006
Summary: The thesis drew together threads of the representation of real-world entities as systems, the life-cycle of groups of people, the nature of problem-solving and related issues associated the learning processes in the development and application of new knowledge in a group. These threads were consolidated in a Social Systems Evaluation Framework (SSEF) that was based on the forms of capital concepts of Bourdieu, namely embodied, social, institutionalised, economic and objectified capital. The Social Systems Evaluation Framework can facilitate the evaluation of the social system of an engineering project at any stage from initiation to disbandment and provides guidance on the encouragement of high performing teams or on the need for early intervention in a dysfunctional team by management.
Keywords: social systems evaluation framework, SSEF, management, dysfunctional teams
[wpdm_file id=183]