The effectiveness of Extension work is highly dependent on the preparedness and professional competencies of Extension practitioners. One area of training that is of importance to Extension practitioners is adult learning. According to Malcolm Knowles, andragogy is the art and science of adult learning. This study looked at the principles of adult…

Improving the quality of educational programs and the demand for accountability have put the professional development of Extension educators high on Cooperative Extension's agenda. Effective professional development facilitates improved program design and implementation, which, in turn, translates into higher clientele satisfaction. The purpose of…

Extension provides non-formal education and learning activities to people throughout the country. The largest non-formal adult education organization in the world, Cooperative Extension takes knowledge gained through research and education directly to the community to create positive changes. Through the use of paraprofessionals, Extension is able…

Given their positions in communities across the United States, Extension educators are poised to have meaningful partnerships with the communities they serve. This article presents a case for the use of participatory research, which is a departure from more conventional forms of research based on objectivity, researcher distance, and social…

This contribution aims at informing readers about a current education and training design approach which is based on theory building and practical experience. It is about the development of comprehensive competence-based education, which is different from earlier attempts to develop competence-based education. In many education development…

Although most articles and chapters on the Cooperative Extension Service (CES) begin with its early history and focus on its development from an institutional or broad programmatic perspective, this chapter examines the relationship between community economic development and popular education. It shows how CES's educational principles are…

To improve the teaching skills of peer educators in Iowa Extension, workshops exposed them to constructivist and transformative approaches to adult education. Attendees identified two challenges as impediments to adopting or adapting the contemporary model for adult education: low confidence in facilitating discussions and concerns about…

Ohio cooperative extension agents who completed the Principles of Adult Learning Scale had low levels of knowledge of adult education principles and practices; a slightly positive attitude toward being adult educators; a more teacher-centered teaching style; a major in technical subjects, not education; and more experience teaching youth rather…

Basic adult education principles should be applied in the change agent-farmer relationship in extension education in Sierra Leone. They include active learners, lifelong learning, teacher knowledge as nonabsolute, and the farming community as the center of problem generation. (SK)

Described some principles underlying a concept which involves a community college without walls - a Community Renewal College. (Author/RK)

A study to identify current methods of delivering agriculturally related educational programs to adults in Iowa found that postsecondary educators (n=42) tended to indicate a higher level of regard for principles of teaching and learning than did extension professionals (n=38). Although respondents placed high priority on use of variety of…

The role of educational media and technology personnel in the development of distance education curriculum is the focus of this fact sheet. The definition and background of distance education are briefly described as nontraditional education involving communication between teachers and learners by such means as correspondence, radio, and…

This book examines the proposal of individuals in England's university extension movement in the final 2 decades of the 19th century to create a part-time teaching university that shared the following similarities with present-day open universities: a policy of admitting all individuals likely to benefit from the university irrespective of their…

Using library search, structured interviews, mail questionnaires, and personal observations, Kenya's Farmer Training Centre (FTC) Program (a 30-year old experimental rural development strategy) was assessed in terms of its curriculum. How structured courses are utilized within the FTC program should be of interest to administrators, trainers, and…

TO STIMULATE PUBLIC DISCUSSION AND ACTION TO IMPROVE PROVISIONS FOR ADULT EDUCATION AND TO BRING ATTENTION TO PROBLEMS WHICH HAD NOT BEEN FULLY CONSIDERED BY THE ROBBINS COMMITTEE, THE NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS PRESENT THIS REPORT OF ALL FORMS OF OPPORTUNITY OPEN TO ADULTS OUTSIDE THE NORMAL FRAMEWORK OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. IT…