These four newsletters focus on issues related to adult basic education and the challenges faced when teaching adult learners. The first issue looks at the characteristics of learning disabilities, providing information to help teachers determine whether a learner has a learning disability and who might be appropriately referred for testing. The…

These four newsletters focus on issues related to adult basic education and the challenges faced when teaching adult learners. The first issue introduces the LDA (Learning Disabilities Association) Learning Center, a private, nonprofit agency intended to maximize the potential of all people with learning disabilities or related learning…

This inaugural issue of the Journal of the National Institute on the Assessment of Experiential Learning begins with the article, "Semantic and Conceptual Ambiguities in Prior Learning Assessment" (Richard J. Hamilton). It is the basis for a session presented at the National Institute on the Assessment of Experiential Learning in June…

This publication lists 29 suggestions for ways in which practitioners can develop self-esteem in adults with learning disabilities. It defines self-esteem and discusses the benefits of fostering an individual's sense of self-esteem. Incorporation of these suggestions into the learning situation is recommended as a way to help establish an…

Educational literature is replete with calls for schools to become learning communities. Educational leaders are charged with creating organizations that enhance adult as well as student growth. This publication was written by members of a community of learners who are deeply involved in an ongoing struggle of almost 2 decades to create…

The 12 articles and stories in this issue focus on the integration of work and learning and on adult learning. "An Introduction to 'Work and Learning'" (Lee Herman) outlines the scope of the volume. "Child's Work" (Nancy Wallace) shows children's independent play to be important intellectual work. "Learning to Write"…

This issue contains interviews with adult educators on contemporary topics in the field. "Beyond the Adult Learner's Dependency" (Shannon Whelan) is an interview with Malcolm S. Knowles, who introduced the term andragogy, the notion that teaching adults is fundamentally different from teaching children. "Self-Directed Learning: The Role of the…

Research has indicated that the elderly retain the ability to learn, and specifically to learn new languages. Furthermore, the increasingly greater proportion of old people in the population demands that their need for continued intellectual stimulation be met. In the absence of explicit motives for learning an ethnic language, Esperanto is a good…

Conclusions drawn from learning and memory retention research which are applicable to adult learning are provided in this brief review. Findings indicate that: (1) teaching methods which stimulate the widest variety of senses will generally be the most effective; (2) the greater the degree to which a student participates orally, the greater the…

This report describes developments in Britain and the United States which enable people to use, in an education or training context, components of their achievements drawn directly from their prior experience. The report is divided into three sections. The first section consists of an account of the present situation in Britain concerning further…

Selected college and university programs established to assist adults in continuing their education, earning their degrees, and learning about whatever interests them are described, and an essay on lifelong learning is presented. In "Curriculum Development for Lifelong Learning," Charles S. Claxton describes how life cycle research,…

This issue of a quarterly newsletter focuses on the theme of critical thinking skills. "Critical Thinking Skills: An Interview with Dr. Richard Paul" (Barbara Christopher) is the text of an interview in which the director of research at Sonoma State University's Center for Critical Thinking examines the meaning of critical thinking and…

To bring a comparative education perspective to the practical problems of recurrent education and lifelong learning, the essays in this collection are written by authors from around the world. Parts 1 (Orientation) and 2 (Major Issues) clarify concepts and issues of general application. Topics include work/leisure/education life cycle, definitions…

Themes and thoughts (rather than a literal transcription of proceedings) are presented on a symposium held in November, 1979, on the research, policy, and practice of adult learning. Participants were federal officers, adult education professors, researchers in business and education, and policy developers. The symposium was organized around four…

A collection of three excerpted stories is provided in this paper about cross-cultural communication. The paper presents excerpts from papers written as assignments by teacher/students in a course about first and second language development. In the paper's first excerpt, Angela Jordahl tells about her involvement with Kurdish students in a…