Guided by the principles of the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) instructional design (ID) model, this creative instructional product presents a learning/teaching approach that is fundamentally constructivist. For the purposes of designing effective instruction in an academic preparation course, a…

A tuition-free, vocational, English as a second language (ESL) program offered at a large community college suffers from high attrition as well as student dissatisfaction with curriculum. The purpose of this quasi-experimental, longitudinal study was to assess the effectiveness of a specific ESL curriculum supplement as an intervention to…

A survey method was developed and used to determine interest in new course topics at the Learning Institute for Elders (LIFE) at the University of Central Florida. In the absence of a known validated method for course concept testing, this approach was modeled after the "message pretesting," or formative, research used and validated in…

Theoretical and practical guidance is provided to anyone involved in teaching, curriculum development, or program planning for writing instruction for adult students. A broad range of situations in which adults learn to write are explored. Three parts include 13 chapters on the following topics: (1) understanding the distinctiveness of adult…

Through support from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, a model for providing graduate programs to full-time employed adults residing in remote locations of southern West Virginia was designed by the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies, a college that does not have a campus. The essence of the delivery model was to…

Results of a national survey, "Attracting and Retaining Adult Learners" (ARAL), by the American College Testing Program are summarized. Attention is focused on programs and services that have been successful with adult learners. ARAL respondents were from three types of institutions: (1) those for whom adult learners represent a primary thrust of…

This set of reports contains materials related to a 3-year project to develop, implement, assess, and disseminate three interdisciplinary courses in the humanities and social sciences that were designed especially for adult baccalaureate students at the New School for Social Research. Included in the first report are a project summary, executive…

The Alberta Vocational Center (AVC) developed a portable competency-based learning system for use in non-institutional adult basic education community programs. The system addresses needs identified by the 1971 census which found 28% of Alberta's residents (over fifteen and out of school) had less than a ninth grade education. Administered through…