Adults learn simply through life experience and possibly by pursuing an education. Pursuing an education would depend on the setting of the experience. This project aimed to explore the theories and frameworks that inform the field of adult learning today. A course project was constructed of seven individual projects, each exploring different…

Background/Context: The implications of complexity theory have become a recurring topic in the literatures of a wide range of scholarly and professional fields including adult education. This paper builds on literature calling attention to the educational need for pedagogically addressing the implications of the intensifying complexity in the…

Reports that adult development literature proposes various, often contradictory suppositions on the nature and process of adult development. Describes a multifaceted approach to the development of adults. Outlines implications for practice in higher education and directions for further research. (CH)

Learning autobiographies enable adult learners to gain a deeper insight into theories of adult learning. Writing their learning autobiographies helps adults chart how they have grown and developed. (Contains 11 references.) (Author/JOW)

A narrative approach can eliminate the shortcomings of stage and phase models of adult development. Narrative is based on constructivist epistemology and central to human meaning making. Time and narrative are integrally related; narrative is historical and can be understood as interpretation of life stories. Individual and cultural narratives are…

In opposition to the dominant economic agenda in adult education, a new cultural psychology of learning and development emphasizes learning as a social goal and fosters understanding of how people survive, rebuild, and learn through difficult times. Reflective conversations with an unemployed man illustrate the emotional and social processes of…

Chormmunity is a group's collaborative, embodied text-making. It explores interfacings of intention, metaphor, empowerment, inspiration, vision, negotiation, collusion, the propositional, the practical, the experiential, the presentational, the tacit, the sociological, the psychological, epistemology, methodology, and ontology. Chormmunity is…

The mission of lifelong learning encompasses a holistic, universal, educative framework embedded in acts of self-directed, self-initiated learning. Key to these lifelong learning actions are both facilitative environments and resources for individual learning activities, as well as the development of individual structures and processes to create,…

Considers the nature and motivational drives of the adult learner and some of the reasons he begins and continues in a renewed educational adventure. (HD)

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

Article discussed educational programs for older persons and their behavior toward participating in them as well as their natural abilities for achieving mental growth. (RK)

This book presents a theory of how adults learn by making meaning of their experiences. Chapter 1 gives an overview of an emerging transformation theory of adult learning, compares it with other theories of adult learning, and describes the dynamics of the process through which one makes meaning of one's experience. Chapter 2 examines the way…

Explanations of age-related differences in adult memory usually assume two forms: processing deficits and structural deficits. Processing deficit explanations attribute recall differences to a failure of older adults to effectively use the processes of attention, organization, mediation (the use of such devices as visual images and verbal images…

The impact of travel on older adults was examined through semi-structured interviews of a purposively selected sample of eight individuals ranging in age from 56 to 89 years. The interviews were designed to determine whether interviewees' travel had resulted in any transformative learning experiences. The participants (three Caucasian married…

Reviews current findings of empirical research on older adult learning, notes key differences in how older adults and young people learn, and suggests strategies that could be used to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of instruction designed for the elderly. (33 references) (Author/LRW)