History tells the Civil Rights struggle through the lens of Selma, Alabama. Bloody Sunday, an event that galvanized a generation, provided the background for an interdisciplinary team of scholars, educators, local historians, and community members to focus on place-based learning experiences and explore civil rights education. The Selma event is…

A 19-question online survey was administered to all 115 directors of Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLIs) across the United States to explore the extent to which research is being conducted and for what purposes. A response rate of 87% was attained. Findings revealed that most research focused on issues such as course and instructor…

This article examines the growth of practitioner research in England through the creation of the Learning and Skills Research Network (LSRN) and identifies its effect on subsequent developments in what is generally known as the Lifelong Learning Sector (LLS). It offers an analysis of this development as a case study in developing practitioner…

The aim of this article is to provide an introduction to the work of OECD in the field of education through its recent projects and reports. It makes no pretence to be exhaustive. It relies heavily on published results of international reviews and comparisons where relatively clear messages have been identified, rather than single country…

This article draws upon results from an ESRC-funded research project exploring young graduates' attitudes to, and experiences of, further education or learning postgraduation. Respondents' narratives indicated a strong emphasis upon job-based learning, or training, over and above an oft-stated desire to do further study "for its own sake". Whilst…

This collection of speeches and essays concerns various viewpoints on the subject of adult education research. The first paper, Lifelong Learning: Problems in Research (Apps), examines the viewpoint that the majority of research as now practiced is not consistent with the major assumptions in the field of adult education. The next essay,…

A community based study of 268 randomly selected subjects over the age of 65 provided information concerning major limitations that prevent older adults from taking advantage of existing or future educational programs. The three most prevalent were poor vision, home responsibilities, and lack of transportation. (Author)

To determine why they were not attending a free audit program at the university and to ascertain their attitudes toward education for the elderly, 99 subjects aged 62 and older were interviewed. Results indicated 68 percent of the subjects were not interested in attending university classes. (Author)

In order to determine the specific counseling needs of the adult learner, staff of the Adult Counseling Project began by conducting a literature search pertaining to the problems of returning students and those considering a return to school. The review revealed that little is known about the educational and vocational needs of the returning…

The authors describe a starting point in spreading adult education to the lower classes--a community education program in a large housing project in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, which involved working class mothers in discussions of child development. (MF)

The instrumental and expressive utilities of participating in education differ among participants. To ascertain how age affects their perception of these forms of utility, questionnaires were executed by 400 middle class participants ages 18-84 in 45 classes for adults in the Chicago area. Independent variables influencing perception of utility…

This index contains abstracts of 173 doctoral dissertations about the following aspects of adult self-directed learning: program areas of adult education (AE); instructional methods/techniques; institutional sponsors of AE; personnel and staffing in AE; education of particular clientele groups; processes of program planning and administration;…

An experiment, involving the recruitment of adults for participation in study circles, to test and evaluate measures for eliminating obstacles which exclude adults with short and defective youth education from participating in public adult education is described. (Author/JH)

Possible ways of conducting research examining the changing context of workplace basic skills policy in the United Kingdom were explored. First, workplace literacy was examined from the perspective of its role in the U.K. government's lifelong learning agenda, and existing research in workplace literacy policy and related studies were reviewed.…

Three abstracts and seventy-five acquisitions related to adult literacy are presented. A few of the acquisition entries are in French. The abstracts are of the following: "Directory of Organizations Offering Literacy Training Courses," by the International Institute of Adult Literacy Methods; "Directory of Universities and Institutes Offering…