This article reports on a study of adult literacy and learning in a public computing center where people contend with the new literacy demands of online government and other automated technologies. The study asks, (1) What literacy and learning practices are associated with digital governance? (2) What pedagogies support people to navigate digital…

The purpose of this study was to make the teachers in a particular private night high school participate in a School Based Professional Development program for their needs in educational technologies and adult learning theory so that the effectiveness of teachers in Private Night High Schools could improve. This was a case study including…

After more than three decades of development, transformative learning theory is currently a major theory of adult learning. It has also attracted substantial critique, leading to further development, application and differentiation. Recent contributions to this vast scholarship show a quest for a more unified theory. This article examines…

This study focuses on documenting and analyzing the experience of eight adults as they engaged in an adult education program that focused on developing and enhancing their capacity for spiritual knowing. Situated in adult learning theory and practice, the methodological approach chosen for this study was qualitative instrumental case study. Four…

The American Nurses Association advocates for nursing professional development (NPD) specialists to have an earned graduate degree, as well as educational and clinical expertise. However, many NPD specialists have limited exposure to adult learning theory (ALT), and this lack of exposure may reduce organizational knowledge transfer (KT) and the…

Play, along with curiosity, confidence, challenge, control, and communication, is one of six components of an intrinsically motivated museum experience (Perry, 1993). The potential of play in museums is centered in its ability to promote situations where a person is not only motivated to learn, but is propelled into the learning process, and finds…

This article centers on theories of adult learning methods and how they relate to the practice of using icebreakers in the adult classroom. While one's language is geared toward the adult learning world, one's experience has been that these practices also work well in a variety of classroom and group settings, both traditional and non-traditional,…

While there may be similarities between adults and children in how they learn (such as language, interaction and communication), many writers argue that adult learners are different from child learners in a number of ways. This article aims to review how adults learn through examining one particular theory of adult learning. Two conflicting…

The purpose of this study was to investigate Pakistani Workplace Learning and Performance (WLP) practitioners' perceptions of the importance of WLP competencies at the present time and in the next five years. The goals were to: (1) identify and characterize a profile of Pakistani WLP practitioners; (2) analyze perceptions of the current and future…

This paper deals with specific characteristics of elders,1 bearing in mind both their cognitive and their non-cognitive aspects. Regarding their way of learning, the paper refers to basic principles for this group of people: active learning, situational analysis, their experience, awareness that they have--and need--specific time and rhythm for…

Drawing from Bloom's 1956 Taxonomy and Western theories on adult learning, the authors argue that adult teaching methods in China feature a teacher-centered, information-based and test-driven instructional format. An author-designed survey instrument called Lower-Order Thinking Skills and Higher-Order Thinking Skills (LOTSHOTS) was used to…

Emotion-laden images that arise within adult learning provide a symbolic language for helping teachers and learners understand and facilitate transformation at both the individual and group levels.

Adult learning theories do not address the real learning needs of women, people of color, or working class learners. Adult educators should teach nondichotomous ways of knowing, acknowledge and foster alternative forms of knowing, construct a supportive environment, and teach with love. (SK)

This chapter describes a four-lens model for understanding adult learning theories and provides adult educators and administrators with a useful conceptual framework for working with adult learners in adult degree programs.

Through the use of two propositions, the author presents his perceptions of how effective teaching/learning transactions in the adult learning process can be effected. Discussion also covers the job of the developer and trainer, and certainties about the learning process. (SH)