Meeting teachers' different needs calls for varying staff development strategies. Options offered by the Charleston (South Carolina) schools include individualized education plans, short-term sabbaticals, substitute teacher teams, teachers as instructors, peer coaching, teacher exchanges, release time, summer workshops, weekend retreats, and…

Knowles' foundational principles of adult learning in making presentations are that (1) the audience should be active participants in a process of inquiry and (2) the process should build on the background, needs, interests, problems, and concerns of the audience. (SK)

Staff should be aware of four adult learning principles influencing their conference learning experience: (1) adults learn what they really want to learn; (2) they learn by doing; (3) their motivations are varied and strong; and (4) their experiences enrich the learning situation. (SK)

A learning contract provides a plan of action for one's objectives in attending a conference and selection of appropriate activities. Fine tuning involves reviewing objectives, deciding whether to stay in a session, and later evaluating the usefulness of the conference experience. (SK)

In response to Cunningham's review of his book "Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning" in the Spring 1992 issue of "Adult Education Quarterly," Mezirow clarifies his transformation theory of how adults learn and points out how his meaning has been misrepresented. (SK)

A good lesson plan has an introduction, body, opportunity for questions, and summary. These components are bound together with time cues, media cues, practice and provide-help paragraphs, instructor's notes, and transitions. Motivational principles guiding lesson plan development are relevance, conceptual framework, learning outcome, method,…

A nursing education course at the Medical University of South Carolina focuses on the student as a person, a learner, and a professional. Important components of the course are the principles and concepts of adult learning that incorporate concepts of self-directed learning and self-awareness. (Author/JOW)

Comparison of a nursing course delivered by videoconferencing (n=21), administration course via audiographics (n=23), and education course via audioconferencing (n=31) showed that, regardless of the technology, learners were most influenced by instructor's teaching style. The importance of relational and interactive factors in distance teaching…

Discusses the importance of ongoing adult education, summarizing four books that provide a comprehensive guide to the themes and concerns of contemporary adult educators, considering various issues raised in the books (borders and boundaries of adult education, impact of economic restructuring, and emphasis on learning) and examining how the…

In the discourse of learner self-management, learners must take responsibility for learning and are offered the possibility of individual autonomy and control. A critical perspective reveals that environmental constraints inhibit the success of technical-rational self-management techniques. An alternative view is the entrepreneurial self, a…

Research findings on cognitive capability of older adults, educational participation, and self-reflection emphasize the importance of contextual and environmental factors in understanding how older adults are learning to meet the challenges confronting them. (SK)

Review of the theoretical foundations and current practices of competency-based training and reflective practice suggests that they function at different levels of teaching and learning but can be complementary. Competence in professional practice is interdependent with the capacity to go beyond competent performance to reflection in action.…

Facilitation in the workplace, especially when undertaken by supervisors, can pose challenges involving hostile conditions and coercion, diminishing its effectiveness for adult learning. It requires examination of the dynamics of trust building, the roles of participants, and the use of facilitators whose interests are independent of the context.…

Studies of informal and incidental learning demonstrate that it takes place wherever people have a need, motivation, or opportunity for learning. Context is central to the process. Despite its unstructured nature, adult educators can assist learners by identifying conditions that hinder or enhance it and by fostering critical reflection. (Contains…

Discussion of the affective domain, learning, and motivation focuses on serious play as a suitable goal for situations requiring learners, both children and adults, to engage in creative higher-order thinking coupled with intense personal commitment and involvement. Suggests that interactive computer games offer opportunities to support serious…