Several national trends are converging to impact adult education today. First, the increasing presence of adults in higher education is accentuated by the expansive Baby Boom generation who are demanding greater access to the higher education system in the United States. Second, regarding workforce and economic development in the 21st century,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to critically examine an assessment task, undertaken by pre-service science teachers, that integrates the use of technology (in this case digital video-recorders and video-editing software) whilst scaffolding skill development. The embedding of technology into the assessment task is purposeful, aiming to…

A series of five experiments tested the importance of four types of skill development (single-word decoding, vocabulary knowledge, knowledge of text schemas, and question-answering skills) for reading comprehension improvement. In two of three experiments involving undergraduates with no known reading problems, results indicated that teaching text…

The material in this monograph is part of the study materials for the one-semester distance education unit, Non-Formal Learning, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University (Australia). It is designed to raise issues relating to skill definition. "Choosing a Worker or How Good Are Your Job Descriptions?" explores why interpersonal or…

A training program is presented for helping teenagers and young adults deal creatively with interpersonal conflict and violence. It explores the dynamics of anger, hurt, conflict, communication, cooperation, and assertiveness as it teaches listening, mediation, and conflict-defusing skills. The manual consists of 10 sections, 8 of which form the…

The use and effectiveness of personal development plans (PDPs) in planning career and skill development activities for individuals within employing organizations in the United Kingdom was examined through case studies of seven firms and telephone interviews with representatives of seven other firms. The case studies/interviews focused on the…

The relative difficulty of the seven test-wiseness skills measured by the Gibb Experimental Test of Testwiseness, a measure of cue-using skills, was studied. Participants were 243 undergraduates from 3 universities, 79% of whom were Caucasian. Participants reported a mean grade point average of 3.0 on a 4-point scale. Results suggest that some of…

A course was developed at Austin Peay State University (Tennessee) which offered an opportunity for hands-on experience with the essential components of modern analytical instruments. The course aimed to provide college students with the skills necessary to construct a simple model instrument, including the design and fabrication of electronic…

This paper illustrates and explains the relationship between drawing ability and spatial and visual-perceptual ability; it defines those terms and explores their connection to intelligence and information processing as well as their potential implications for education and training. Discussion covers results of recent studies, which suggest that…

The United States is transitioning to an information age society, requiring that the citizens and workers of the future be highly literate in their use of information. Information literacy is the ability to evaluate, analyze, and apply critical thinking to the use of information. Educators need to answer basic questions about how students become…

Evaluation is an important component of measuring educational effectiveness. The purpose of this survey is to analyze the attainment of "graduate standards," a school district's list of ten statements of adult roles, skills, and education all students need in order to be successful after high-school graduation. These standards encompass areas such…

The concept "learning to learn" assumes that teachers help students develop study skills and that students are encouraged to use higher order cognitive strategies. Fifty-four teachers of Dutch and mathematics in five secondary schools in Flemish Belgium were interviewed regarding their subjective interpretations of "learning to…

This report provides an overview of the use of functional assessment in the evaluation of individuals with psychiatric disabilities. It begins by discussing the difficulties with traditional forms of assessment and the development of functional assessment, particularly in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation. The need to not rely on any single…

This Ready--Set--Read Kit includes an activity guide for families, a 1997-98 early childhood activity calendar, and an early childhood growth wallchart. The activity guide part of the kit presents activities and ideas that families (adults who have nurturing relationships with a child--a mother, father, grandparent, other relative, or close…

Critical thinking has been identified as essential to development of the professional nursing role. A process, "cognitive reengineering," has been created to facilitate critical thinking skill development in RNs. The process is derived from adult learning principles, techniques of consciousness-raising, and transformational theory. Its basic…