An understanding of learning theories can help adult educators become more effective practitioners and meet the needs of the learners they serve. Adult educators who understand how individuals learn can be better prepared to use effective strategies during the learning process. This article addresses the use of concept maps as a strategy to engage…

The commodification of education in all forms has created a lucrative trade, particularly within the realm of continuing professional education. Mandated across a wide spectrum of industries, and particularly salient in healthcare due to rapid advances in medicine and technology, professional education is said to be the vehicle that keeps…

Too often, educators, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of adult education and human resource development rely on traditional curricular materials and an academic body of knowledge for teaching, evaluating, and training adults. This assumes a coherent body of prior knowledge, assumptions, worldviews, and experiences in their students…

Examining media artifacts as a learning method has received little attention in human resource development (HRD) despite it being a predominate form of information and influence in popular culture. As Giroux (2002) opines, media functions as a form of public pedagogy by offering situations and contexts through which viewers can vicariously…

Simulation is often used in nursing education as a teaching methodology. Simulation is rooted in adult learning theory. Three learning theories, cognitive, social, and constructivist, explain how learners gain knowledge with simulation experiences. This article takes an in-depth look at each of these three theories as each relates to simulation.…

A study was conducted to determine the degree of correlation that adult learning theories and adult developmental theories have with educational practice. Two adult learning theories, Malcolm Knowles' phase theories and Daniel Levinson's developmental theories, were researched to determine their relevance to three components of a nontraditional…

Recent research from the K-12 field indicates that professional development (PD) is a necessary (although not sufficient) factor in improving teacher quality. The research also clearly identifies ways to make professional learning activities for teachers effective. Yet the adult basic education and literacy (ABEL) field is not, for the most part,…

Spirituality, religion, and culture are complicated subjects. Indeed, they are fundamental socialising forces that affect how adult learners make meaning in the world. While there has been considerable discussion of the spiritual and religious dimensions of adult learning in North America and to some extent in England, there has been little direct…

Since the construct of "possible selves" was first introduced over two decades ago by Markus and Nurius (1986), a substantial body of research has explored the content, valence, origins, and motivational dynamics of possible selves in a variety of domains, including academic achievement, lifespan development, and health-related behaviors, among…

In this article, we examine adult education literature as it relates to all aspects of popular culture. After an extensive literature review we found that, increasingly, adult educators are investigating popular culture's connection with adult education and learning; however, we argue that much more work needs to be done in this area, specifically…

Chairing the annual Mountain Plains Adult Education Association Conference for 250 adult educators in Coeur d'Alene this past spring provided an opportunity for the author to offer a hands-on, conference planning experience to graduate students. Wanting to try something outside the typical classroom experience, the author organized a special…

After having been in or affiliated with the law enforcement field for over a decade, teaching adults throughout much of that time, the author finds it difficult to think of himself in a strange new role. He will be moving out of state with his family to begin his doctoral studies in the field of adult education. What will he learn as he takes this…

Adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) is a complex undertaking that serves diverse learners with a variety of needs. Although no definitive list of adult education principles exists in the literature, the following principles have been identified in multiple sources devoted to principles of effective adult education: involve learners in…

Jack Mezirow's theory of transformative learning has evolved into a description of how learners learn by integrating new knowledge with their existing knowledge, beliefs, and experiences. Centrality of experience, critical reflection, and rational discourse are three common themes in Mezirow's theory, which is based on psychoanalytic theory and…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on linking human resource development (HRD) theory and practice that was conducted as part of a conference on HRD. "Development towards What End? An Analysis of the Notion of Development for the Field of Human Resource Development" (F. Peter Kuchinke) examines the following alternative views of…